The First Canadians in France / The Chronicle of a Military Hospital in the War Zone

nd the strain. Once I peeped outside, and in the flashes saw vistas of tents rolling like great white-crested waves on an operatic sea. From time

and with a woollen toque pulled well down over his ears, he was oblivious to the s

e guard never come to tighten the guys? They seemed to have forgotten us. Warmly ensconced in my blankets and h

awoke me; the tent was flapping still. Reggy, as the junior, was in duty bound to right it; but if the storm couldn't wake him, what

e d--l are y

the wreck. For answer to his question, a gust of wind lifted the canvas from

nt's blown down!" Reggy's perspica

nd!" I shouted between blasts of wind and

p to get up in a storm like

bag and emptied it, as one would a sack of potatoes, o

hat," he grumbled, as h

and after a long tussle with the ropes, the tent

n heaps upon the ground, but not a breath of wind stirred the fresh cool air. Fainter and more faint from the distance came the we

ising the fallen tents. The adjutant emerged from h

rm has given me an appetite. Where's brea

As yet we had no "mess"; o

aser, pointing to a brick house on the crest of the hill. Trust Fraser to kno

olated hastily. "Some one with p

p before the war. It was furnished with two long tables, benches, and a large number of kitchen chairs. The carpenter's tools hung unused upon the wall. At the farther end of the room several youn

apparently more from courtesy than with any specia

en. They were as cool-and refreshing-as

g to eat, please?" he

with a surprised smile. "But yo

ers, and very hun

erve officers here," she asserted. "You se

hings. Here were women who realised that Tommy is quite as important as his officer, that he is a man and as such has rights. We honoured the young women who could thus devote themselves to the men who

ve just one bun

shook her head. "It's agai

uch success that another young woman, who seemed to

, gentlemen, I shall see what th

We kept sufficient restraint upon ourselves, however, to merely murmur our gratitude in

urse, we can't let you starve, bu

young woman as she appeared to us at that moment-well,

yet to learn that the artistic sense is a keynote of French character. The owner of the cottage was away at the war; he was one of the poilus who were then, an

remember that petit dejeuner in French: Petits maqueraux, petits pains et café-au-lait. What music there i

e taken the wrong boat and landed in the wrong part of France? What had become of our colonel and the rest of our unit? These thoughts p

or you, sir

his pocket without a word. Could it be from the colonel? If so, where was he?

from the colonel?" h

the majo

op-the strain was so intense. Would he nev

d again: "What

t up and left the t

but we cannot always forget. And yet he had his good points, too; he wasn't quite all bad. Perhaps Fraser's question was injudicious; perhaps he hadn't been deferential enough

in a few days to join him. I have been told not to tel

ulness! The tension was broken. W

busy packing. By nine everything was ready. The motor lorries were loaded, and we started our ma

on was piled high with the kit-bags of the men, and from this elevation one of the orderlies held the halter of the sick horse, whic

Who would dare follow him? To ride down that incline at any rate faster than a walk was sheer recklessness. Surely no horse or man who attempted to do so would return alive.

er; "he'll never come

we've lost two horses and a man. He doesn't know the city or where we a

y horse in a strange city on a night like

though Huxford were already dead. "Seems such a pity t

which men are brave until the crisis comes. Those who

t long hill. When we reached the bottom he wasn't there, and we went on despondently for a mile or more, knowing the hopelessness of trying

the senior major. "We neve

th' colonel giv' th' horses into m

our duty as fait

men) was waiting at the station when we arrived. The transport officer had told the senior

ping-bags, placed them upon the seats in the compartment coach and fell asleep. At four a.m. we were awakened by an angry discussion taking place on the tr

move this train one inc

y was in

vidently he was about to si

ou to stop!" shout

partir tout de suite, monsieur," he replied with respectful firmness, and then, pl

. He had not received the papers, and had had an unintelligible wo

med, "there would be only

ut a faint idea of where we wer