appropriate it, for the honesty of the army was,
as I knew from experience, a grace on which one could not place much
reliance. The only person to whom I could apply was my good and kind
friend, the builder of my churches and huts, Colonel Macphail, our
C.R.E. He was always my refuge in distress. He looked upon the
building of churches at the front as an act of such piety that it
would guarantee to him at any time the certain admission into heaven.
He attributed his piety to the claim which his clan made to be the
descendants of St. Paul. Apparently in Gaelic, Macphail means "the son
of Paul." The Colonel was always fond of insisting upon his high
lineage. He came to see me once when I was ill at Bruay, and after
stating the historical claims of his ancestors, asked me if I had not
observed some traits in his character which were like those of St.
Paul. I told him that the only resemblance to the Apostle which I had
discovered in him was that his bodily presence was weak and his (p. 301)
speech contemptible. In spite of those unkind thrusts, however, the
colonel manifested the Apostle's quality of forgiveness, and was
always ready to try and make me comfortable. I wrote to him now and
asked if he could send me a driver for my car. He did not fail me. A
few days afterwards, a young sapper appeared, saluted most properly,
and told me that he had been ordered by the C.R.E. to report to me for
duty as chauffeur. I was so delighted that I at once despatched the
following letter to my friend:--

"Dear Colonel Macphail,
If I had but a tail
I would wag it this morning with joy,
At your having provided
My car that's one-sided
With a good and intelligent boy.

May your blessings from heaven
Abound in this war,
And be seven times seven
More than ever before."

The possession of a new driver for my car enabled me to pay a last
visit to Le Cauroy, where I had left some of my possessions on our
trip to Amiens. I found the Cure in high good humor over the way the
war was going. The outlook was very different now from what it had
been when I was there before. I also visited Arras and the forward
area, where I dined one night in a tent with Major Price, who was then
in command of my original battalion, the 14th. The men were billeted
in trenches and as usual were making the best of things. It was
strange to look back to the early days of the war and talk about old
times. As I returned in the twilig