It
turned out to be a munition dump which had exploded near by, and the
noise was deafening for about eight hours.

This was the time of the great fight round the chemical works at
Roeux, and I was drawing the men as they came out for rest. They
were mostly in a bad state, but some were quite calm. One, I remember,
was quite happy. He had ten days' leave and was going back to some
village near Manchester to be married. He showed me her photograph, (p. 029)
a pretty girl. Perhaps he was killed afterwards.

[Illustration: IX. _Air-Marshal Sir H. M. Trenchard, Bart., K.C.B.,
etc._]

The view from Mont St. Eloy was fine, with the guns belching out flame
on the plain in the midday sun.

One day I was painting the C.-in-C., and at lunch-time the news came
in that General Trenchard was there. The C.-in-C. said: "Orpen must
see 'Boom,' he's great," so I was taken off and we met him in the
garden. A huge man with a little head and a great personality, proud
of one thing only, that is, that he is a descendant of Jack Sheppard.
With him, to my delight, was Maurice Baring (his A.D.C.). The General
was told that I wanted to see the aerodromes, and Maurice shyly said:
"May I take Orpen round, sir? I know him." Gee! How happy I was when
the General said: "All right, you see to it, Baring."

I painted "Boom" a few days later in a beautiful chateau with the most
wonderful old stables. They have all been burnt down since. "Boom"
worked hard all the time I painted. A few days later Baring told me
that he had spoken to "Boom" and told him how much I admired his head.
"Boom" replied: "Damned if he showed it in his painting." And yet he
was worshipped by all the flying boys.

About this time I had sent from England Maurice Baring's "In Memoriam"
to Lord Lucas. It made a tremendous impression on me then, and still
does. I think it is one of the greatest poems ever written, and by far
the greatest work of art the war has produced.

Baring took me out for a great day round the aerodromes. We visited
several and lunched with a Wing-Commander, Colonel Freeman, who was
most kind, a great lover of books, a lot of which Maurice used to
supply him with. After this, we visited a squadron where there was to (p. 030)
be a test fight between a German Albatross, which had been captured
intact, and one of our machines. The fight was a failure, however, as
just after they got up something went wrong with the radiator of the
Albatross; but later C