untry, aren't they?" (N.B.
I fancy he meant to say emblem.)

Our concert party still flourished, though the conditions for practising
were more difficult than ever. Our Mess tent had been moved again on to
a plot of grass behind the cook-house to leave more space for the cars
to be parked, and though we had a piano there it was somehow not
particularly inspiring, nor had we the time to practise. The Guards'
Brigade were down resting at Beau Marais, and we were asked to give them
a show. We now called ourselves the "FANTASTIKS," and wore a black
pierrette kit with yellow bobbles. The rehearsals were mostly conducted
in the back of the ambulance on the way there, and the rest of the time
was spent feverishly muttering one's lines to oneself and imploring
other people not to muddle one. The show was held in a draughty tent,
and when it was over the Padre made a short prayer and they all sang a
hymn. (Life is one continual paradox out in France.) I shall never
forget the way those Guardsmen sang either. It was perfectly splendid.
There they stood, rows of men, the best physique England could produce,
and how they sang!

Betty drove us back to camp in the "Crystal Palace," so-called from its
many windows--a six cylinder Delauney-Belville car used to take the army
sisters to and from their billets. We narrowly missed nose-diving into a
chalk pit on the way, the so-called road being nothing but a rutty
track.

The Fontinettes ambulance train was a special one that was usually
reported to arrive at 8 p.m., but never put in an appearance till 10,
or, on some occasions, one o'clock. The battle of the Somme was now in
progress; and, besides barges and day trains, three of these arrived
each week. The whole Convoy turned out for this; and one by one the
twenty-five odd cars would set off, keeping an equal distance apart,
forming an imposing looking column down from the camp, across the bridge
and through the town to the railway siding. The odd makes had been
weeded out and the whole lot were now Napiers. The French inhabitants
would turn out _en masse_ to see us pass, and were rather proud of us on
the whole, I think. Arrived at the big railway siding, we all formed up
into a straight line to await the train. After many false alarms, and
answering groans from the waiting F.A.N.Y.s, it would come slowly
creaking along and draw up. The ambulances were then reversed right up
to the doors, and the stretcher bearers soon filled them