return at once and they had rolled up _en masse_,
many accompanied by their wives, while there was a fair sprinkling of
Russian ladies also bent upon hurrying home. An hour before the train
was due the platform was packed with a dense chattering, gesticulating,
singing, and dancing crowd. Many pictures have been painted of the
British exodus from Berlin upon the eve of war but few, if any, have
ever been drawn of the wild stampede from Britain to Berlin which it was
my lot to experience.

As the train backed into the station there was a wild rush for seats.
The excited Teutons grabbed at handles--in fact at anything protruding
from the carriages--in a desperate endeavour to be first on the
footboard. Many were carried struggling and kicking along the platform.
Women were bowled over pell-mell and their shrieks and cries mingled
with the hoarse, exuberant howls of the war-fever stricken maniacs
already tasting the smell of powder and blood.

More by luck than judgment I obtained admission to a saloon carriage to
find myself the only Englishman among a hysterical crowd of forty
Germans. They danced, whistled, sang and joked as if bound on a
wayzegoose. Badinage was exchanged freely with friends standing on the
platform. Anticipating that things would probably grow lively during the
journey, I preserved a discreet silence, and my presence was ignored.

The whistle blew, the locomotive screeched, and the next moment we were
gliding out of the station to the accompaniment of wild cheering, good
wishes for a safe journey and speedy return, and the strains of music
which presently swelled into a roar about "Wacht am Rhein." The melody
was yelled out with such gusto and so repeatedly that I hoped I might
ever be spared from hearing its strains again. But at last Nature
asserted herself. The throats of the singers grew hoarse and tired, the
song came to a welcome end, and music gave way to vigorous and keen
discussion upon the trend of events, which was maintained, not only
during the train journey, but throughout the cross-Channel passage to
Flushing, which we reached at six o'clock the following morning.

At the Dutch port the wild excitement and hubbub broke out with
increased virulence. The report was circulated that the train now
awaiting us would be the last through express to Berlin. There was a
frantic rush for seats. Men, women, and children participated in the
wild melee. The brutal shouts of the men contrasted vivi