._

It was hotter than ever over those parched fields, and the march was
complicated, for when we had reached Trilbardon down a narrow leafy
path, past a bridge over the Marne which an R.E. officer was most
anxious to blow up at once, we were told to act as rear-guard again.
For this we had to wait till all the troops had passed through the
little streets, and then we followed. We overtook a good many
stragglers, and these we hustled along, insisting on their getting
over the other side of the Marne before the main bridges were blown
up. We were responsible for leaving no one behind, but I'm afraid that
several were left, as they had fallen out and gone to sleep under
hedges and were not seen; and one K.O.S.B. man was suffering so
violently from pains in his tummy that he at first refused to stir,
and said he didn't care if he _was_ taken prisoner. There were a
considerable number of these tummy cases on the way--hot sun and
unripe apples had, I fancy, a good deal to do with them.

At Esbly we halted, gratefully, in the shade for an hour; it was a
nice little town, but strangely empty, for nearly all the inhabitants
had fled.

We put up for the night round Mont Pichet, a beastly little hamlet,
with the Cheshires and one company Bedfords finding the outposts. The
Brigade Headquarters billeted round a horrible little house,
surrounded by hundreds of ducks and chickens, which ran in and out all
over the place till it stank most horribly. There was only one room
which wasn't absolutely foul, and that I took. The others slept in the
open. I wish I had.

I went to visit the outposts by myself; and my wretched pony, Gay,
refused to cross a little stream about two feet broad and two inches
deep. Nothing would induce her to cross it, so I had to send her back
and do it all on foot, beyond a village called Chevalrue and back. By
the time I got back, late, hot, and hungry, I must have done four
miles on foot.

_Sept. 4th._

Having been told we should be here for at least a day to rest, we
received orders, I need hardly say, at 7 next morning, to be ready to
move immediately. However, it was rather a false alarm, as, except for
a Divisional "pow-wow" on general subjects, at 10 A.M. at Bouleurs, we
had little to do all day, and did not move till 11.50 P.M. There had
been an alarm in the afternoon, by the way, of German cavalry
advancing, and I reinforced the Bedfords with another company, and got
two howitzers ready to su