er for twenty-five minutes, refusing to come out--poor Catley in
desperation all the time. But he was eventually hauled out, with my
saddle and bags, of course, sopping wet. His stable shed was also
shelled heavily during the day, but strange to say none of the horses
or grooms were touched.

It poured in buckets that night; and as the Bedfords were streaming
past the farm in the dark about 11 P.M. a terrific fire broke out
from the direction of Missy, accompanied by German flare-lights and
searchlights. The word went round that it was a German counter-attack,
and we ran out and halted the Bedfords and put them into some trenches
covering the farm. But it turned out to be a false alarm; for the
Germans, hearing troops moving in the dark, thought that they were
going to be attacked, and opened a heavy fire on Missy, whilst the
14th Brigade and the remainder of our men still there replied to it.
It eventually died down, and we resumed our march in pitch darkness
and mud up to the men's knees in the water meadows by the river.

_Sept. 16th._

The Cheshires came last, and we of the Brigade Staff followed them at
4 A.M. through dripping fields and criss-cross hedges, coming across
the Scottish Rifles lying asleep near the pontoon bridge. They
belonged to the 19th Brigade, but where the rest of the Brigade was I
do not know.

On the other side of the river we found the Divisional Commander with
a few of his staff. It was beastly cold and just getting light, about
5 A.M., and why Sir Charles should be standing there I could not at
first make out. However, it turned out that he had come down from
Serches, being somewhat anxious as to what might be happening on the
other side of the river--with considerable justification, for if we
had been driven back on to the one bridge which crossed the river we
might have been in a parlous state.

Half an hour later we arrived in Jury, a tidy little village in and
round which most of the Brigade was already billeting, and here, in a
nice little house, belonging to a worthy old couple, we took our rest,
thankful for a little peace and some sleep at last.

And here we stayed for a week.

Not that it was all beer and skittles even then. The 14th Brigade was
still holding Missy over the river, and there were some serious alarms
on one or two nights, necessitating troops being sent down to the
river at Rupreux, in case they were wanted.

Shells fell near Jury for a day or two, but th