seem to be any pursuit at all, as far as we
could gather. Our men moved quite steadily and without the vestige of
a sign of panic: in fact, they were much annoyed at having to fall
back. But I expect the German infantry was even more tired than ours,
for they had marched all through the previous night and certainly had
frightfully heavy casualties during the day. Anyway they did not
worry us, and we pursued our way in peace. But men and horses were
desperately sleepy, and at these perpetual halts used to go to sleep
and block up the road again when we moved on.

Luckily the road was as straight as a die, and one could not possibly
lose it; but it was difficult to know where we were, and occasional
twinkling lights in houses and cottages on the road only made our
whereabouts still more deceptive.

At last we entered something that looked in the pitch darkness more
like a town. It was Estrees right enough, but there were no signs of a
halt, though it was 1 A.M. or so. We could not find any staff officers
here, even at the solitary local inn, to give us any information, and
the only rumour was that we were to march on as far as we could go. We
had had no direct orders, and we did not know where the Divisional
staff were, but as by this time we had pushed on and were, as far as
we knew, ahead of most of the Brigade, Weatherby and I moved aside
into a field full of corn stooks, unsaddled our horses, gave them a
feed, and went fast asleep in the wet corn. We had meant to sleep only
for half an hour, but were so dead tired that it must have been more
like an hour and a half. And even then we were only awakened by a
battalion (I think it was the Northumberland Fusiliers) irrupting into
our field and pulling the stooks down for their own benefit. So we
guiltily saddled up again, thinking that the whole Brigade must have
passed us in the dark. But, as a matter of fact, it had not.

_Aug. 27th._

Daylight came at last through the damp grey mists, and we found
ourselves still in open country, with the road thickly covered as
before with troops of all arms and, in places by the roadside, the
remains of bivouac fires and empty boxes and bully-beef tins, and
hunks of raw meat; for the A.S.C. finding that it was impossible to
supply the troops regularly, had wisely dumped down their stores at
intervals alongside the road and let the men help themselves.

This was all very well for the men in front, but by the time we in
rear h