he freest empire this earth has seen, and
after all where is the Britisher who does not thrill with pride at
landing on the soil of those little islands which have produced a race
so great, and foot for foot of soil there is no land on the earth that
has produced so much wealth. We could smile with appreciation and not
much surprise at the Tommy who remarked; "Say, Bill, don't the
gas-works smell lovely!"

CHAPTER XXVIII

IN LONDON

By hospital-train, the most comfortable ever devised, did we run into
Waterloo Station--doors were opened, and men in gorgeous uniforms--much
gold braid and silver buttons--came aboard. We thought that they were
admirals and field-marshals at the very least, but it turned out they
were only members of the Volunteer Ambulance Corps, men unfit for
military service, who had provided their own cars and received not a
penny of pay. With the tenderness of women they put us on stretchers
and carried us out to their luxurious ambulances. With each four men
went a lady to attend to all their wants. Like a mother she hovered
over us and you could see her heart was bursting with love for us
far-out sons of empire. Through cheering crowds we drove and our
Australian hearts leaped as we heard many cooees, which made us feel
that we were not far from Home, for twelve thousand miles were bridged
in thought by these homelike sounds and the knowledge that we were in
the land from which our parents came and where we had many kinsfolk. I
was assigned to the Third London General Hospital and out to Wandsworth
Common was I taken, where alongside Queen Victoria's school for
officers' orphans had been built rows of comfortable huts linked up
with seven miles of corridors, while the old orphanage itself contained
the administrative headquarters. I was allotted to G ward, but did not
know for days what a distinction that was, for the sister in charge was
none other than the late Queen of Portugal, and among the V. A. D.'s
were several ladies and honorables. They were camouflaged, however,
under the titles of "sister" and "nurse," and we had become too
intimate to need ceremony before we discovered who they were in social
life. In dressing our wounds, washing us, cleaning and scrubbing the
floors they were as adept as if to the manner born, but you could not
fail to see that they sprung from generations of refinement. On one
side of me was an Australian who had been hit on the side of the head
by