never entered our heads. We were
suffering very heavily. That we knew. Nothing like the shell fire had
ever been heard before. Nobody realised how serious the situation must
have been until the accounts were published.

Huggie has a perfect mania for getting frightened; so one day, instead
of leaving the routine matter that he carried at a place whence it might
be forwarded at leisure, he rode along the Menin road to the Chateau at
Hooge, the headquarters of the 15th Brigade. He came back quietly happy,
telling us that he had had a good time, though the noise had been a
little overwhelming. We learned afterwards that the enemy had been
registering very accurately upon the Hooge road.

So the time passed without any excitement until November 23, when first
we caught hold of a definite rumour that we should be granted leave. We
existed in restless excitement until the 27th. On that great day we were
told that we should be allowed a week's leave. We solemnly drew lots,
and I drew the second batch.

We left the Convent at Locre in a dream, and took up quarters at St Jans
Cappel, two miles west of Bailleul. We hardly noticed that our billet
was confined and uncomfortable. Certainly we never realised that we
should stop there until the spring. The first batch went off
hilariously, and with slow pace our day drew nearer and nearer.

You may think it a little needless of me to write about my leave, if you
do not remember that we despatch riders of the Fifth Division enlisted
on or about August 6. Few then realised that England had gone to war.
Nobody realised what sort of a war the war was going to be. When we
returned in the beginning of December we were Martians. For three months
we had been vividly soldiers. We had been fighting not in a savage
country, but in a civilised country burnt by war; and it was because of
this that the sights of war had struck us so fiercely that when we came
back our voyage in the good ship _Archimedes_ seemed so many years
distant. Besides, if I were not to tell you of my leave it would make
such a gap in my memories that I should scarcely know how to continue my
tale....

The week dragged more slowly than I can describe. Short-handed, we had
plenty of work to do, but it was all routine work, which gave us too
much time to think. There was also a crazy doubt of the others' return.
They were due back a few hours before we started. If they fell ill or
missed the boat...! And the fools were mo