possible. I found the men
and officers in excellent spirits. Captain McGregor was to take the
right section of our line, Captain Alexander the left and Captain
McLaren the centre. They started off a little too early in the
evening, and I had to send couriers to halt them and wait for the
darkness. It was a beautiful spring evening, bright and warm. The
larks were still soaring and singing in the sky, and the sun in the
west was going down in a sea of gold and amethyst. South of us at
about Hill 60 the guns were growling, the only sound at the moment to
remind us of the war. But there was something else of ominous portent
noticable. Simultaneously, northwest, east and southeast of our line
three huge German captive balloons reared their heads for all the
world like golden hooded cobras. Away, twenty miles to the south, in
the sky could be seen the snaky outline of a zeppelin. The Germans
were taking observations. When I reached the headquarters' line of
trenches in front of our brigade headquarters, a few hundred yards
west of St. Julien, I sent the horses back with Smith, my groom, and
stood by the roadside to watch the companies go by. First came Major
Osborne, who was to take the left, with his tam-o-shanter bonnet
cocked on the side of his head, as jaunty a Highland officer as ever
trod the heath in Flanders. His company swung after him, marching like
one man. The trenches had certainly not taken anything out of them,
for if anything they looked steadier and sturdier than they did the
day they left their billets in Hazebrouck to take their first march in
France.

Some distance behind came Captain McGregor, his two hundred and forty
men tall as pine trees, with Lieutenant Langmuir and Lieutenant Taylor
at the head of their platoons, both well over six feet. Next came
Captain McLaren, always staid and correct, his company well pulled
together, going so fast that a word of caution had to be given to
them. Last of all came Captain Alexander, whose turn it was to be in
reserve. His company was to occupy and act as part of the garrison at
St. Julien, there to cover themselves with glory.

When I reached the village I found that Major Leckie was occupying the
reserve headquarters of the 16th, and across the road was Colonel
Meighen of the 14th or Montreal Regiment. The south section of the
village was ours and the north was for the reserve corps of the
battalion holding the left section of the line. The house in which we