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By this time darkness began to fall so we could'nt see very much, but once we nearly ran aground on a mudbank, but managed to slither off again with furious puffs and snorts from the engines, and with the paddle wheels churning the water for all they were worth. Soon it was nine o'clock and we came to another jetty by the river, and the ship was tied up to the posts on the shore, the gangplank put down, and then a great mass of coolies rushed aboard pushing everyone out of their/.way, and talking "nineteen to the dozen". They all wanted to be first on the boat so that they could carry off all our kit and the luggage of the passengers, and those first there would perhaps be able to come back for another load. Now we were on the top deck — there were only two — so up rushed the coolies and the first one or two began to try and make their way down the steps to the gangway. I'm afraid Daddv and others could'nt help laughing because the coolie who had Daddy's box on his head was wedged on the stairs, unable to move anyway at all, and meanwhile lots more coolies were trying to get up the stairs, and some with luggage, down. A tremendous hullabaloo was going on and they were all shouting and swearing at one another. If this had been allowed to go on there would have been a riot, so Daddy, with the help of one or two of his men, went a little way down the stairs and pushed all the coolies down, and after that only let one or two up at a time. Well, at last we got off the boat, and then into another train which was to take us to Akbaura. We were unfortunate because our carriage, like many of the others, was in darkness — due to the fact that Indians had stolen the lamps — but one of the men with us was returning from leave, and was used to Indian Railways so carried a Hurricane lamp with him, so we were able to have some light after all. It was a very hot night and rain was falling, and what with all our kit and the little space we did'nt sleep, and listened to the puff puff of the engine for the next six hours. On the way we stopped at a station and managed to get some char, and at the same time broke into some more of our "K" rations By the time the six hours were finished we were all very sleepy and about four o'clock in the morning, we at last arrived at Akhaura. Here we tumbled out of the carriage all looking and feeling very dirty indeed, and collected some more coolies who carried our kit down the platform till we came to a little shelter. This proved to be a good idea because shortly after we were under a thunder storm. After we had had some more char at a dirty little stall which was marked "Salvation Army", Daddy rang up the camp at Singarbil and asked them to send a lorry down. This arrived in due course as the camp was only five miles away, and we got soaked to the skin while walking only a few yards from our shelter to the lorry. I don't think I've told you before, but all motors and other vehicles except trams, are called gharris in India. You may depend we were too tired to notice much about the scenery while going to the camp, but we did notice some big holes in the road, these shook us into a little more activity. By about five in the morning we at last got to the camp, and stacked all our kit in the guardroom. Daddy then went off with someone who knew the camp to the airmens' mess and told the cooks there to get busy and make breakfast for the men. Well that was that, and your Daddy then was able to go along to the Sergeants' Mess and have a nice breakfast himself. First he had some cornflakes and milk just like you have for your breakfast, and then a fried egg with fried bread and beans. After that a little marmalade, and of course a cup of char — and he was feeling very much better.

He then went along to find the Station Warrant Officer who is a very important man indeed and knows all about everything connected with duties and billets in the R A.F. This Warrant Officer turned out to be a very nice man indeed — much too nice compared with the usual S.W.O., who nearly always has been in the services for at least twenty years because he does'nt know any better, and takes a delight in making everyone understand this, besides making himself very objectionable indeed! This S.W.O. soon told Daddy where to find a billet, and in it was the usual charpoy two other men and tables and chairs. Altogether quite a comfortable place. There were also some bowls to wash in and a bucket of water, so Daddy had a shave and then went off to the showers — where he had a good clean, and then came back and changed all his clothes.

These billets are huts made of bamboo with a thatched roof, and are called "Bashas." After attending to one or two things in his basha Daddy was just leaving when the S.W.O. told him there was no need to report that morning as it was a Saturday, and that he need'nt go down to work until Monday morning — the twentieth of August. This was because everyone had a holiday on Saturday afternoon and Sunday. That being the case, Daddy decided he could do with a sleep but before getting into a 'charp' he wrote a letter to Mummy telling her his new address, and lots of other things. Of course, as in all his letters he asked Mummy to give you and Gillian a big kiss from him. Daddy woke up just in time for tiffin, and after that talked with the other two sergeants in his basha and learnt a number of useful things about the camp. Dividing his time between eating and sleeping, Monday morning came round quite soon, and Daddy then walked down to the airstrip and called at a lot of Bashas to tell the officers he had arrived. After seeing to this and finding out there was no work to do, Daddy went back to his basha, and did nothing much till after tiffin when he had a walk round the camp, to places he had'nt seen yet.

There is a very important thing I've forgotten all about a few pages back, and that is that while I was in Calcutta some very wonderful news came on the wireless, and later in the papers. This said that the Yellow Dragon was so tired with fighting and so weak, he could'nt go on any more. Now this was the Yellow Dragon Daddy mentioned before, and which he had come with many others, lots of fireworks, aeroplanes, ships, guns and all sorts of things, to help Saint George in his fight, and how it was all over and there was much rejoicing in every land except Japan — which is the home of the Yellow Dragon. In these great matters, the Eagle of America with a great many ships, fireworks and men had also striven mightily at the side of Saint George, and very lately the Russian Bear had helped too. Long before any of this though, the Chinese people — who are also yellow — had been carrying all the burden of this fight with the Yellow Dragon, and they were weary indeed. Although they were many, they had very few fireworks to bring against all the evil things of the Yellow Dragon. Now there are no more dragons to fight, so all the King's soldiers, sailors and airmen can go and rest with their families at home. Perhaps — we hope so — never to go away again because there will be Peace and Goodwill everywhere. We must all strive mightily, always for the right, against all evil things, and remember the teaching of Christ that we should love one another. If we do this, then the dragons will die out, and all will be fair in every land.

By now Daddy was learning quite a lot of things about the country around him, and this country lies on the borders of Assam, in which place — to the North — is grown most of the tea which finds its way all over the world, and makes all Mummies very happy indeed — especially about four o'clock in the afternoon in England. Of course lots more people like tea too.

Now around Daddy's camp are places called jungles, and these are full of trees, plants and all sorts of vegetation such as bamboos, which are used for making fishing rods. There are so many plants and trees in fact that it is impossible to walk there at all unless you take a very sharp axe to cut your way through. Fortunately some narrow paths have been cut through these places by the Indians, so Daddy was able to walk along these paths, and he saw many very interesting things. First of all are the ants, and I expect you are surprised that Daddy starts with these. Well this is because they are very clever indeed, and always busy working, which is a good thing for everyone, especially little boys at school. How, of course, there are plenty of ants in the garden at Kedale Road and sometimes when the weather is hot they come into the house, and then Mummy gets very annoyed, indeed. The ants here are much the same except that some of them are very small indeed — so small you can hardly see them, whilst there are others very much bigger — almost half an inch long. They live under the ground in nests which they have dug for themselves, and these nests are all connected together with tunnels. Quite close to the nests are big store houses where they keep their food, and others where the Queen ant lives with all her eggs, which will one day hatch out lots of baby ants. The Queen ant is a very big ant indeed, and does nothing but lay eggs all the time. She is fed by the other ants who bring her food either from above ground, or if there is'nt any to be found — then from the storehouse, which is just the same sort of thing as Mummy's pantry, except that the ants don't keep food in bottles, tins or paper, but just pile it up neatly on the floor.

One day when Daddy was walking along one of these paths in the jungle, he thought he would put a little bread on the ground just to see what the ants would do with it. There were'nt any to be seen just then, but quite soon one ant came along and found the bread, which was about the size of a small nut. Now this ant, instead of trying to eat the bread itself, went hurrying away as fast as he could until he found another ant from the same nest, and this second ant then went a little way away where there was a small hole in the ground. Meanwhile the first ant was back where the bread was, and he was pushing and pulling with all his might to move it along towards the nest. However, it was too much for him, so he broke off a little piece about the size of himself, and carried this in his little legs — of which he has six — to the nest. Before he got there though, hundreds of ants came marching out of the nest towards the piece of bread and when they got beside it, some broke off little pieces to carry away, while a number began pushing and pulling the bread quite quickly towards the nest. At last, after much effort they brought it right up to the hole in the ground, and pushed as hard as they could to make it go in. They would still have been pushing now, because the piece of bread was bigger than the hole, and it would never have gone in. This went on for about ten minutes and then suddenly they all stopped, and began to break little tiny pieces off the bread, and carry them away. Now by this time there were a very great number of ants indeed, and each of them took a tiny piece away — until, in quite a short time — the bread was small enough to be pushed in the hole. Meanwhile of course, all the ants were taking their tiny pieces of bread down through another bole to the Queen. When the Queen had had enough then they would eat a little too — taking any that was left to the storehouse. That was the last Daddy saw of his piece of bread, and you can see how clever the ants were, and how, although they are very small — they work together without thinking too much about themselves, and are also quick to learn that there are some things they can't do without thinking first. And this is how you must be at school, always learning and busy, and if you find someone who can't understand the lesson — then perhaps you will be able to help him; and one day little boys who are cleverer than you will help you too. Of course some boys are lazy and won't do anything very much — but you must'nt be like these. If you remember about the ants you won't go far wrong. Now of course, these ants don't worry anyone very much in the jungle, but they are a nuisance when they get into Mummy's pantry or our bashas. They crawl up over everything but there is one thing they don't like at all, and that's paraffin; so all the legs of our charpoys are put in tins in which is paraffin mixed with a little water, and also the legs of the tables are treated in the same way. This stops the ants climbing up the legs and getting in our way. They are always scurrying about our floor though, looking for food, and we are quite used to them now.

You will remember Daddy told you about the white ants and the telegraph poles. Well one day he was down at the Carpenter’s shop making a little present for Mummy, and one of the carpenters wanted a big piece of plywood, which is made of thin sheets of wood stuck together with glue, and is very strong. Now this ply-wood was leaning up against the wall of the carpenter's basha along with many other sheets, and when the carpenter lifted the piece he wanted, there, underneath it were hundreds of white ants, all eating away the wood. Now wood like this with holes in it is no use at all to any-one, so the carpenter was very annoyed indeed, and said some very rude things about the white ants. Daddy helped the carpenter lift out all the sheets and many had to be thrown away, and then we poured lots of paraffin and petrol where their nests were; and they did'nt come back there any more. You can see from this that there are also some bad ants who don't do anything useful, and just destroy without thinking, and you must remember not to be one of these. When you get a little bigger, Daddy will teach you how to make things, and you will find that very interesting indeed, because you will be working away making something useful, and not breaking things which other people have had to make. You will also learn to value things and be careful with them.

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