After the battle of Shaikh Sa'Ad in Mesopotamia in January 1916 more
than 300 wounded were being transported down the Tigris to Basra in a
steamer and on open barges lashed on either side of it. Many suffered
from dysentery as well as wounds--and it was raining.
There appeared to be only one Indian bhisti (water-carrier), an old
man over 60 years of age, to attend to all. He was nearly demented
in trying to serve everyone at once. When my severely wounded
neighbour--from Camberwell, he said--saw the bhisti, his welcome made
us smile through our miseries.
"Coo! If it ain't old Gunga Din! Wherever 'ave yer bin, me old brown
son? Does yer muvver know yer aht?"--_A. S. Edwardes (late C.S.M., 1st
Seaforth Highlanders), West Gate, Royal Hospital, Chelsea, S.W.3._