d my letters were answered--after a time.

After my visit to London, the interview, and the examination, the
whole spirit of the proceedings changed. I was involved in a worse
than American hustle, and found myself obliged to hustle other
innocent people, tailors and boot-makers, in order to get together
some kind of a kit in time for a start to be made at the shortest
possible notice.

I am told that the whole military machine works in this way in
dealing with individuals. There is a long period of leisurely and
quiet thought--it sometimes appears of complete inertia. Then there
is a violent rush, and all sorts of things happen in a minute. I do
not know for certain whether officers in other branches of the
service suffer in this way. My experience as a chaplain made me feel
like a bullet in a gun. For a long time I lay passive, and, except
for the anxiety of anticipation, at rest. The man who held the weapon
was making up his mind to fire. Then, without any special warning to
me, he pulled the trigger, and before I could take a long breath I
was flying through space to an unknown destination, without even the
comfort of knowing that I had been aimed at any particular object.

But my faith in the Department was unshaken. I remembered the
cautious deliberation of the earlier proceedings, and came to the
conclusion that whereas there had been for many months an ample
supply of chaplains at the front, and a regular flow of
reinforcements from home, a sudden and desperate shortage had
occurred--owing to casualties in battle, or some kind of
pestilence--and that it was necessary to rush new men to the scene of
action at the highest speed. This explanation seemed to me
reasonable. It did not turn out to be true. There was no particularly
urgent demand for chaplains when I reached France.

I am now inclined to think that the Chaplains' Department does its
business in this particular way with deliberate intention. It desires
first to produce an impression of stability, wisdom, and forethought.
It proceeds slowly, and for long periods does not proceed at all. It
also wishes its servants to feel that it is vigorous, filled with
energy, and working at terrifically high pressure. Then it does
things with a rush which would put to shame the managing directors of
the New York Underground Railway.

CHAPTER II

GETTING THERE

I made my start from Victoria Station on a January morning. I had
worn His Majesty's uniform