d most of them these days seem to be killed, not
wounded.

So Bulgaria seems determined to come in against us. If this means
that Roumania and Greece join us, I don't see why the Germans
should be so keen on enlisting the Bulgars on their side. Funny,
isn't it, how all Europe is falling into the whirlpool of war?
Every one of the little States finds that the war is a chance for
it to get something out of someone else--hence its decision to
join in. I hope our Government won't go sending big forces out to
Albania or Salonika, or such places, unless and until they are
sure it would be to England's benefit. For the life of me, I
can't see why we should carry these footling little nations on
our shoulders. All they do is to turn on you as soon as your back
is turned, as _vide_ the Bulgars themselves. The end of it all is
that everyone is scrapping against someone else for some selfish
aim, and the main object and high ideals for which we entered
the war are wholly forgotten.

I cannot describe to you the muddy conditions out here. Mud lies
inches thick on the roads, and is kept damp and slimy by the
continual passage of limbers, horses, guns, wagons and
lorries--the final result being a veritable swamp. The other day
a man of the 19th Hussars was watering two horses when he got
himself and the two animals hopelessly bogged beside the pond in
a swamp which he mistook for dry ground. Eventually we tugged him
and the two horses out with ropes. They were all soaked with
slime and mud from head to foot. As for the infantrymen, when
they come out of the trenches, they are caked in mud all over. In
these parts mud is the great feature of the war.

_October 11th, 1915._

I continue to be very busy. You must understand that it is my job
to supplement the ordinary supplies that come up on the Supply
Column from the railway with supplies obtained locally. These
latter are frequently as essential as the former. Especially is
this the case with cavalry, who are naturally apt, when moving,
to get separated from their supplies, owing to the rapidity of
their progress. Then comes the Requisitioning Officer's real
task. That is not to say that this is the only case in which he
has to work. On the contrary, the work