out in full marching order with packs, haversacks,
rifles and swords. I heard the transport wagons clattering on the
pavement, the merry laughter of the drivers, the noise of men falling
into place and above all the voice of the sergeant-major issuing
orders.

Yet this, like other days, was a "wash-out." All day we waited for
orders to move, twice we paraded in full marching kit, eager for the
command to entrain; but it was not forthcoming. Another day had to
be spent in billets under strict instructions not to move from our
quarters. The orders were posted up as usual at all street corners,
a plan which is adopted for the convenience of units billeted a great
distance from headquarters, and the typewritten orders had an air of
momentous finality:

The battalion moves to-morrow.

Parade will be at 4.30 a.m.

Entraining and detraining and embarking must be done in absolute
silence.

I rose from bed at three and set about to prepare breakfast, while my
cot-mate busied himself with our equipment, putting everything into
shape, buckling belts and flaps, burnishing bayonets and oiling the
bolts of the rifles. Twenty-four hours' rations were stored away in
our haversacks all ready, the good landlady had been at work stewing
and frying meat and cooking dainty scones up to twelve o'clock the
night before.

When breakfast, a good hearty meal of tea, buttered toast, fried bacon
and tomatoes, was over, we went out to our places. The morning was
chilly, a cold wind splashed with hail swept along the streets and
whirled round the corners, causing the tails of our great coats to
beat sharply against our legs. It was still very dark, only a few
street-lamps were lighted and these glimmered doubtfully as if ashamed
of being noticed. Men in full marching order stamped out from every
billet, took their way to the main street, where the transport wagons,
wheels against kerbstones, horses in shafts, and drivers at reins,
stood in mathematical order, and from there on to the parade ground
where sergeants, with book in one hand and electric torch in the
other, were preparing to call the roll.

Ammunition was served out, one hundred and twenty rounds to each man,
and this was placed in the cartridge pouches, rifles were inspected
and identity discs examined by torch-light. This finished, we were
allowed to stand easy and use ground-sheets for a shelter from the
biting hail. Our blankets were already gone. The transport wagons had
d