nt thankfully to bed instead. Now, 3.30 P.M., nearly back
at B., but expect to be sent on to Rouen: most sick this time, and bad
feet, not exactly frost-bite, but swollen and discoloured from the wet.
One of my enterics is a Field Ambulance boy, with a temp. of 105, and he
only "went sick" yesterday. How awful he must have felt on duty. He says
his body feels "four sizes too big for him."

It is a mild day, sunny in parts, and not wet.

_Still Friday, January 15th._--We unloaded at 6 P.M. at B., and are to
start off again at 4.15 A.M.; business is brisk just now; this last lot
only had mostly minor ailments, besides the enterics and the woundeds.

The French Major has had a letter from his wife at last, they are with
the Germans, but quite well. We drank their health to-night in special
port and champagne! and had Christmas pudding with sauce d'Enfer, as the
lighted brandy was called! But we are all going to bed, not _ivres_ I'm
glad to tell you. This going up by night and down by day is much the
least tiring way, as we can undress and have a real night in bed.

_Later._--Hazebrouck. We have been out, but couldn't get as far as No.--
Cl. H. (where I find T. is), as the R.T.O. said we might be going on at
11.30.

We came across an anti-aircraft gun pointing to the sky, on a little
hill. The gunner officer in charge of it seemed very pleased to see us,
as he is alone all day. (He walks up and down the road a certain
distance, dropping stones out of his pocket at each turning, and clears
out the surrounding drain-pipes to drain his bit of swamp, as his
amusements.)

He showed us his two kinds of 12 lb. shells, high explosives and
shrapnel. The high explosive frightens the enemy aeroplane away by its
terrific bang, he says: our own airmen say they don't mind the shrapnel.
He says you can't distinguish between one kind of French aeroplane and
the Germans until they are close enough over you to see the colours
underneath, and then it may be too late to fire. "I'm terrified of
bringing down a French aeroplane," he said. He was a most cheerful,
ruddy, fit-looking boy.

9 P.M.--Another train full, and nearing Boulogne; a supply train full of
minor cases came down just before us from the same place, where we've
been three days running. The two Clearing Hospitals up there are working
at awful high pressure--filling in from Field Ambulances, and emptying
into the trains. All cases now have to go through the Clearing Hospit