were still some Uhlans left in the woods, and I turned a couple
of Norfolk companies off the road to drive them out. Some of our
artillery had also heard of them, and a Horse battery dropped a few
shells into the wood to expedite matters; but I regret to say the only
bag, as far as we could tell, was one of our own men killed and
another wounded by them.

At Mouroux we halted for a time, and then pushed on, rather late, to
Boissy le Chatel--the delay being caused by the motor-bikist carrying
orders to us missing, by some mischance, our Headquarters
altogether--though we were within a few hundred yards of Divisional
Headquarters, and had reported our whereabouts--and going on several
miles to look for us.

We were now again the advanced guard of the Division, and had to find
outposts for it a mile beyond. It is always rather a grind having to
ride round the outposts after a long day, but one can't sleep in peace
till one is satisfied that one's front is properly protected, so it
has to be done; and as the Brigade Staff is limited, the Staff Captain
allotting the billets, and the Brigade Major seeing that all the
troops arrive safely, one generally has to do these little excursions
by oneself. On the road I came across Hubert Gough, commanding the
3rd Cavalry Brigade, in a motor, cheery as ever, with his cavalry
somewhere on our right flank keeping touch with us. We put up in a
little deserted chateau in Boissy le Chatel, but it was overcrowded
with trees and bushes and very stuffy.

_Sept. 8th._

Next morning we had, before starting, the unpleasant duty to perform
of detailing a firing-party to execute a deserter. I forget what
regiment he belonged to (not in our brigade), but he had had rotten
luck from his point of view. He had cleared out and managed to get
hold of some civilian clothes, and, having lost himself, had asked the
way of a gamekeeper he met. The gamekeeper happened to be an
Englishman, and what was more, an old soldier, and he promptly gave
him up to the authorities as a deserter.

We left at 7.25 A.M. as the last brigade in the Division. I might
mention here that, for billeting, the ground for the Division was
divided into "Brigade Areas," each area to hold not only an Infantry
Brigade but one or two Artillery Brigades, a Field Ambulance, and
generally a company of R.E., and occasionally some other odds and
ends, such as Divisional Ammunition Column, Train, Irish Horse,
Cyclists, &c., and for a