eat sense of humour
and extremely keen. I really cannot speak too highly of him, for he
was a most useful addition to the Staff. In billeting and
requisitioning, and in all matters requiring tact in connection with
the inhabitants or the French Army, he was invaluable. I used him
later as A.D.C. in action, and as _Officier de liaison_ with the
French troops. I don't know what his knowledge of divinity may have
been, but if it was anything like equal to his military knowledge it
must have been considerable. He had studied theology at Edinburgh, and
his English was very fluent, luckily untouched by a Scottish accent.
He was always bubbling over with vitality and go, and plunged into
English with the recklessness of his race; when he couldn't express
himself clearly he invented words which were the joy of the
Mess,--"pilliate," "whizzle," "contemporative," and dozens of others
that I can't remember; and what used to charm us particularly was that
he so often went out of his way to put the accent on the wrong
syllable, such as in bilyetting, brigade, attack, ambassador, &c. He
was, indeed, a great acquisition to the Brigade.[6]

[Footnote 6: He was subsequently awarded the D.S.O. and Croix
de Guerre (aux Palmes) for excellent and gallant work
achieved under fire.]

_Aug. 19th._

Next morning I rode across to have a look at the other battalions. The
transport horses of the Cheshires were perhaps not all they might have
been, but it was the particular stamp of Derry horse that was at
fault, and not the battalion arrangements. Otherwise we were ready for
the fray.

_Aug. 20th._

We had arrived on the Tuesday (18th), and on the Thursday Sir C.
Fergusson (commanding 5th Division) paraded the Brigade by battalions
and made them a short speech, telling us we were to move on the
morrow, and giving us a few technical tips about the Germans and how
to meet their various wiles, largely about machine-guns and their
methods of attack in large numbers. The Bedfords were the most
interested audience, and interrupted him every now and then with
"'Ear, 'ear," and a little handclapping at important points. I think
the General was a little nonplussed at this attention: I know I was.
Whether it was due or not to the audience being accustomed to
attending political meetings at home, or to the air of Bedfordshire
being extremely vitalising I don't know, but once or twice afterwards
when the battalion was ad