A VISIT
‘He used to Brough down to “Smoke” (London) most Saturdays to look after his book being printed, sleeping at the Union Jack Club. One night it was full, but they shoved him in somewhere. He came back and gave us his views. He said what with sleeping in a dormitory with a drunken sailor one side and a “blind” marine on the other there was nothing to do but swear.’
Here ends Sergeant Pugh’s account.
So far as I know Lawrence has only once filled in a confession album; for a comrade in the Royal Air Force. His statements are slight but amusing, and may be taken entirely seriously:
| Favourite | colour: | Scarlet. |
| „ | musician: | Mozart. |
| „ | author: | Wm. Morris |
| „ | character in history: | Nil. |
| „ | place: | London. |
| Greatest | pleasure: | Sleep |
| „ | pain: | Noise. |
| „ | fear: | Animal spirits. |
| „ | wish: | To be forgotten of my friends. |
His future plans are simply to stay out his full time in the Royal Air Force, and afterwards to settle down quietly in some room in London, ‘the only possible place to live in permanently,’ with a country cottage somewhere for his occasional retreat, and a pair of mechanically driven wheels to tie the two bedrooms together. But whether he will succeed in settling down quietly is another question. Mr. Winston Churchill’s short summary of Lawrence is a very penetrating one: ‘A rare beast; will not breed in captivity.’ It has suggested the text from the Vulgate, which I have made the motto to the book.
APPENDIX A
OPERATIONS BY BRITISH MOBILE COLUMN AGAINST HEJAZ RAILWAY
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS
(1) Two companies, Imperial Camel Corps (Commander, Major R. V. Buxton; strength 16 officers, 300 other ranks, 400 camels, with 6 Lewis guns) have been placed temporarily at the disposal of Hejaz Operations, for the purpose of carrying out the following operations on the Hejaz Railway: