& Bailey's circus never loaded a train
as fast as we did that one.

When we were loaded I was handed my train orders and a big yellow
ticket on which was marked the halts and times to eat. We had at least
a twenty-four hour run ahead of us. I was told that when I got to
Rouen we would get further orders. We carried three days' rations, so
I climbed into my compartment, and was soon asleep. I woke shortly
after the train started to find we were travelling through a big city
along the banks of the River Loire. We halted about seven in the
morning to feed and water the horses and make tea for the men in their
dixies or oval camp kettles. It is rather a serious business looking
after a thousand men and over sixty horses and mules, but our
organization stood the test well. My Quartermaster, Captain Duguid,
knew his work. I had Lieutenant Dansereau as our scouting and
interpreting officer. He was a graduate of the R.M.C. and a good
officer.

It is a beautiful country but not really to be compared with Western
Ontario. Many large chateaus with square doleful looking windows were
passed and hillsides covered with vineyards. We were on red clay, soil
like that of Devonshire or Niagara. The landscape is punctuated with
windmills, most of them old and without sails. At noon we came to Le
Mans, a large railway centre, only about forty miles from Paris. We
then turned west for Rouen. We stopped at La Hutte for dinner. It was
a small wayside station with several large switches. There was an
English officer at the platform. The place was right in the country.
He informed me that he enjoyed his stay there very much, but that
rural France was not like Paris. He said a transport officer up the
line kept calling for the 48th. A beautiful country girl of about
twelve years of age came along with a big box of cigarettes which she
handed to the men. This was the first demonstration we had had of any
kind since we left England. Evidently the people were accustomed to
seeing English officers and paid very little attention to us. We were
only "Anglaise." During the afternoon when we stopped at towns the
streets and approaches to the station were crowded with people. About
ten o'clock at night we came to Rouen. This was as far as my ticket
read. An officer, however, came on board and took my ticket, but
returned in a little while with it and another one, sending us on
further. We were in for another night on the train. We were now in old
Bri