* * * * *

The journey through France was quite uneventful.  Sleeping or reading the whole day through, the Subaltern only remembered Rouen, passed at about midday, and Amiens later in the evening.  The train had paused at numerous villages on its way, and in every case there had been violent demonstrations of enthusiasm.  In one case a young lady of prepossessing appearance had thrust her face through the window, and talked very excitedly and quite incomprehensibly, until one of the fellows in the carriage grasped the situation, leant forward, and did honour to the occasion.  The damsel retired blushing.

At Amiens various rumours were afloat.  Somebody had heard the Colonel say the magic word “Liege.”  Pictures of battles to be fought that very night thrilled some of them not a little.

* * * * *

Dawn found the Battalion hungry, shivering and miserable, paraded by the side of the track, at a little wayside station called Wassigne.  The train shunted away, leaving the Battalion with a positive feeling of desolation.  A Staff Officer, rubbing sleep from his eyes, emerged from a little “estaminet” and gave the Colonel the necessary orders.  During the march that ensued the Battalion passed through villages where the three other regiments in the Brigade were billeted.  At length a village called Iron was reached, and their various billets were allotted to each Company.

The Subaltern’s Company settled down in a huge water-mill; its Officers being quartered in the miller’s private house.

A wash, a shave and a meal worked wonders.

And so the journey was finished, and the Battalion found itself at length in the theatre of operations.

* * * * *

I have tried in this chapter to give some idea of the ease and smoothness with which this delicate operation of transportation was carried out.  The Battalions which composed the First Expeditionary Force had been spread in small groups over the whole length and breadth of Britain.  They had been mobilised, embarked, piloted across the Channel in the face of an undefeated enemy fleet, rested, and trained to their various areas of concentration, to take their place by the side of their French Allies.

All this was accomplished without a single hitch, and with a speed that was astonishing.  When the time comes for the inner history of the war to be written, no doubt proper praise for these preliminary arrangements will be given to those who so eminently deserve it.

CHAPTER II

CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Peace reigned for the next five days, the last taste of careless days that so many of those poor fellows were to have.

A route march generally occupied the mornings, and a musketry parade the evenings.  Meanwhile, the men were rapidly accustoming themselves to the new conditions.  The Officers occupied themselves with polishing up their French, and getting a hold upon the reservists who had joined the Battalion on mobilisation.