decided to walk, and the commander-in-chief went with him.
Knowing the distance and the somewhat unattractive approaches leading
to the Keyham naval establishments, and as it, moreover, looked and
felt uncommonly like rain, I preferred to wait and to proceed in due
course by car, as did all the rest of our party. The flag-lieutenant
and the naval officer who had come down with Lord Jellicoe from the
Admiralty likewise thought that a motor was good enough for them. By
the time that the automobile party reached the dockyard it was pitch
dark and pouring rain, and the cruisers were already reported as
practically alongside; but to our consternation there was no sign of
the two flag-officers. Now, a dog who has lost his master is an
unperturbed, torpid, contented creature compared with a
flag-lieutenant who has lost his admiral, and there was a terrible
to-do. All the telephones were buzzing and ringing, the dockyard
police were eagerly interrogated, and there was already talk of
despatching search-parties, when the two distinguished truants
suddenly turned up, exceedingly hot, decidedly wet, and, if the truth
must be told, looking a little muddy and bedraggled. However, there
was no time to be lost, and we all rushed off into the night heading
for where the vessels were to berth. How we did not break our necks
tumbling into a dry-dock or find a watery grave tumbling into a wet
one, I do not know. We certainly most of us barked our shins against
anchors, chains, bollards, and every sort of pernicious litter such as
the sister service loves to fondle, and the language would have been
atrocious had we not been out of breath--the Foreign Office indeed
contrived to be explosive even as it was. However, we managed to reach
the jetty after all just as the two big warships had been warped
alongside, winning by a nose. So all was well.

Colonel House and his party had not been fortunate in their weather
during the crossing, and they had come to the conclusion that a
fighting ship represented an overrated form of ocean liner. More than
one of the soldiers and civilians confided to me that if there was no
other way of getting across the herring-pond on the way back than by
cruiser, they would stop this side. They were all quite pleased to
find themselves on dry land, and during the journey up to town by
special there was plenty of time to make acquaintance and to discuss
general questions. One point was made plain. Mr. Balfour's rec