Despite the danger and hardships, Kitchener revelled in this wild life.
One of the party says of him: "He was as good company as a man could
wish to have, full of life and good spirits. We none of us thought
much about our toilets, and he least of all. Why, after a few months'
travelling about in Palestine, he looked more like a tramp than an
officer in Her Majesty's Army. His clothes wouldn't have fetched a
three penny-bit at any 'old do' shop in Whitechapel."
It was in this first field service that he won a reputation which clung
to him through his whole career. They said that his chief amusement
was work, and his relaxation, more work. He was of seemingly tireless
energy, and never could understand the let-downs of others. The
boyhood trait of silence was also marked in the man. Although he
picked up languages easily, he used them sparingly. It was said of him
later that he could keep silent in ten languages.
In a letter home, from Palestine, he throws a sidelight on this working
phase of his nature. "The non-commissioned officers," he says, "though
ready to go through any amount of work or danger, are much discouraged
at the prospect of an indefinite delay without employment, which, in my
opinion, is more trying in this climate than work."
Not long after, the round of work and routine duty was varied by a
first-class fight.
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