RAFA.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 10 November 1917, Page 4

RAFA.

("Sydney Sun.")

"It may be truthfully said that the attackers fought at the finish with only seconds to spare. The Australians and New Zealanders won the trenches at sunset, just as 3000 or 4000 Turkish reinforcements appeared three miles to the eastward. This force was held up in the most gallant manner by the Wellington Regiment. —Account of the capture of Rafa, cabled to the "Sun."

Our horse rode out of El Arish at four of the afternoon; Our horse rode out of El Arish, and not one hour too soon; For the desert lay before them, and the wireless cracked behind, 1 ' Bide coastwise now to Eafa, though the sandy roads be blind; 'Tis a race for one or the other to get to the goal and win— The Turk and the Hun are pouring their strong battalions in; i r ou have ridden against the Moslem in the ancient land of Khem, l T ou will ride where rode King Richard to the hills of Jerusalem; To-night is your night for hurry, for the breathless dash of war, 5o ride you out of El Arish as never you rode before !

The big guns 3olted and rumbled on the broken brushwood road, And the men sat tight on the limbers, or scuttled to push the load! But the horse turned off in the desert, aiul rode by needle and sun, His road is the straightest bee-line who rides that a light be won! And every charger and brumby plunged in the loose hot sand, But they held them up and they coaxed them, who rode to the Promised

Land; The Chosen came out of Egypt, with Canaan laid in their course, Who shouted one to the other, "We are Moses' Own Light Horse 1" El Arish was far behind them, these lean, hard-riding men, And over the glooming desert they rode till the watch showed ten.

As stars have shone in the southland where riders have slackened rein And talked of girls and of musters, of trivial joys and pain, As we have rolled to the skyline over the plains we know, Where drovers tethered their horses, to ride in the morning glow, So, too, the stars of the desert gleamed in the sky above, While the lean men tended thoir horses, and thought of war and of love; At the shoulder-blade of Eafa, under the sky they lay, And each man mused as it pleased him till the first faint dawn was grey; Then, ere the silent sunrise, the scattered Bedouins knew, Whom they rounded up and yarded, there was long day's work to do.

The long low slopes by Eafa arc wonderful fields and green, To men whom the boundless desert has given a sight so keen; And the green plains edging the river in pastures far away Came back with the sight of Eafa to many a man that day. But a faster ride and a sterner than ever they rode beforo Our men must make for their glory's sake in the hurry of breathless war; Till their horses halted and panted under the rising sun, And to foot they leapt whilst Eafa Awoke to the sound of the roaring gun ! They who had spurred their horses from El Arish by afternoon, Came down in the dawn on Eafa, but never an hour too soon.

All morning long the herdsmen saw how the battle swayed, And they fought or fell, who rode so well in last night's calvacadc ! Though an army came upon them, of full four thousand men, Five hundred horse of Wellington pushed off the onslaught then; And the stubborn foe was loth to go, his trenches slow to fall, Till "Win the day or fail by night" became our battlo-call; The blood-red sun drooped westward, and darkness fell apace. To steal the hour of triumph from them who rode the race; Then swifter cracked the rifle, and fiercer roared the gun, Till daylight paled to starlight, and Eafa field was won.

Now races will be ridden whoso prize is a golden heap; But the prize for many who rode last week was the grave where now they sleep; And roars will rise for the winner, galloping past the stand, But better, I think, is the stumbling horse that fell on the desert sand; When the golden prize is melted, when "finishes" are forgot, The tale of the ride to Eafa will mal/3 men's blood run hot; For they rode out of El Arish who are great and clean of heart; And their hour before the sunset will be a deathless rune, How they hewed their road too Eafa, but not an hour too soon.