ut the poor people were, of course, in a great state of
perturbation, and there was not much except the house itself that we
could make use of.

As we were finishing dinner further orders arrived from the Division.
Weatherby and I cantered down to the Divisional Staff to learn
details, and we got them shortly, to the effect that the Cheshires and
Norfolks were to be left under direct command of the Divisional
Commander, whilst Brigade Headquarters was to be at Paturages by
sunrise on the morrow, and to hold that with our other two battalions
on the right.

We "fell in" the Brigade Headquarters about midnight and, after some
trouble in securing guides, moved off through a labyrinth of streets
in the warm dark. Our guides were local men, and we did not take long
to get to Warquignies, in the main street of which we met the
Headquarters of the 13th Brigade, minus their Brigadier. Here also
were the K.O.S.B.'s in bivouac, acting as Brigade Reserve to their
(13th) Brigade. The night was peaceful, and we pushed on after a short
rest, getting at dawn to a steep hill which led down into Paturages.

_Aug. 20th._

The latter was a fine big town with paved streets and
prosperous-looking houses, very different from the grubby streets of
Boussu; but I was troubled about the hill street, as it was very steep
and bad and narrow. How we should get the transport up it again in a
hurry if it had to retire I did not know, and two eminently
respectable inhabitants assured me that there was no other way back
unless I went right up to Wasmes--from which direction firing was
already beginning--and returned _via_ the north. That didn't look
healthy for the transport, so I left most of the Brigade transport at
the top of the hill and only brought down the Signal section.

At the entrance into Paturages we found Currie, Cuthbert's (13th
Brigade) Brigade Major, but Cuthbert was not there, so it was a little
difficult to combine any action. However, we learnt that the other
three battalions of the 13th Brigade were distributed in front of us
on the north, and I received a message that the Dorsets and Bedfords
had been obliged to fall back during the night and were holding the
railway station at Wasmes and a bit east of that. The 13th Brigade had
been along the line of the Canal the previous day and had been driven
back by superior numbers, but had blown up some of the bridges. I
heard afterwards that young Pottinger, a subaltern of the 17t