assurance that no unit stayed longer
than six weeks in the Camp, and after that,--Southampton and France,
for the testing and proof of all that had been learnt so eagerly. As
it turned out, three months were spent at Codford--months of rigorous
training, of long interesting divisional manoeuvres, and general
hardening. The men learned to dig trenches quickly and well, for they
had to spend nights in them; to march many miles without complaint,
and fight at the end of the hardest day's march; to use Lewis guns,
not as amateurs with a strange toy, but as men whose lives depended on
their speed and ability. The mysteries of transport, and the value of
a timetable were revealed.

Needless to say these days of field exercises were not lacking in some
amusing incidents which seem to dog the footsteps of peace conditions
manoeuvres and which act as very welcome episodes amid the hard work
that such training involves. Towards the close of one of the
periodical manoeuvres carried out by the Seventeenth under the
critical eye of an Inspecting General a bugle had sounded and the
manoeuvres ceased. Officers grouped together and men lay on their
backs and talked. The General turned to one of the Battalion officers
who were now beginning to assemble round him, and said, "What was that
call?" He often did such things as this to test knowledge of detail.
"The Stand Fast," said the officer to whom the question was addressed.
"Oh! come! come!" said the General, "Now, what was it?" he further
questioned a Company Commander. No reply came. Then he turned to the
Second in Command, "Now, Major, what was it? Tell him." "The Stand
Fast, sir," said the Major. "Really," said the General, "you gentlemen
must learn the elementary things in soldiering. Bugler, tell these
gentlemen what that call was." "The Stand Fast, sir," replied the
bugler. The General hurried on with the conference!

At Codford the Battalion had its first taste of army biscuit and
bully-beef. From Monday to Thursday manoeuvres were held; on Friday,
"clean up," and on Saturday, after the Colonel's inspection, the
luckier ones went to Bath and Bristol for the day, or to London or
Bournemouth for the week-end. Friday was pay day--"Seven Shillings me
lucky lad," and after pay-out, the reading of the Army Act or a
Lecture on bayonet-fighting or tactics. Games flourished. The
Battalion football team played and defeated Bath City, and met the
other Battalions of the Division at Rug