and anxious men. Subalterns in charge
of drafts asked other subalterns what they ought to do and received
counter inquiries by way of reply. Sergeants stormed blasphemously at
men who had disappeared in search of tea. Staff officers, red tabbed
and glorious, tried to preserve an appearance of dignity while their
own servants staggering under the weight of kit bags, bumped into them.
Hilarious men, going home on leave, shouted sudden snatches of song.
A decrepit Frenchman, patient in the performance of duty, blew
feeble blasts on a small horn. Thompson, alert and competent, found a
compartment. He put me in and then he bundled in my valise. After
that he found his own luggage, an enormous kit bag, two sacks, a camp
bedstead, a hammock chair and a number of small parcels.

"Get them in somehow," he said. "We'll settle down afterwards."

Thompson did the settling afterwards. He so arranged our belongings that
we each had a seat The door by which anyone else might have to get in
at another station was hopelessly blocked. The small parcels were put on
the rack above our heads. Thompson gave me a list of their contents
as he put them in their places. They contained bread, butter, meat,
biscuits, cheese, a bottle of wine and a flask of brandy.

"We're here till two o'clock to-morrow morning--till two o'clock at best
We must have something to eat."

A selfish traveller--I am profoundly selfish--would have been content
to keep that compartment secure from intrusion. We had completely
barricaded the door and no one could have got in if we had chosen to
defend our position. But Thompson was not selfish. The train stopped at
a station every quarter of an hour or so, and Thompson climbing up the
barricade, opened the window and took a look out every time we stopped.
At one station--it was then about 7 p.m. and quite dark--he discovered
a forlorn boy--a second-lieutenant--who was trying to find room for
himself and his belongings. Thompson hailed him. The next five minutes
were passed in fierce toil by all of us. But before the train started
Thompson got the boy and his belongings into our compartment. In my
opinion no second-lieutenants ought to be allowed to possess a suit-case
as well as a valise. This boy also had three top-coats and a Jaeger rug.
We spent nearly half an hour settling down again after that. Then we
dined, sharing the food--Thompson's food--with the second-lieutenant. He
was a nice boy and very grateful. I thou