the relief. The same
night the Brigade was relieved, but I was left in charge at
Huddersfield Dugouts till the evening of November 8 when I returned to
the camp at Ondank. On November 12 the Brigade entrained at
Elverdinghe station and were taken through St. Omer to Watten station.
We marched from there in the dark to the little village of Serques. We
were now to have about a month's rest and training before returning
again to the Salient.

XXVII

DIVISIONAL REST NEAR ST. OMER

Serques was quite a pleasant little village to stay at, but the
arrangements for training were very scanty. I had to search round for
suitable spots for rifle-ranges, and to agree with the owners for
suitable compensation. Also I had to make some of the arrangements for
a ferry boat to convey the troops across the Canal De L'Aa to a good
training-ground between Watten and St. Momelin. On November 14 I paid
my first visit to St. Omer, which is a nice town with plenty of good
shops.

Lieut.-Col. G.R.B. Spain, C.M.G., of the 6th N.F. came to command the
Brigade during the absence of Brigadier-General Riddell on leave. He
was a man of remarkable erudition and a collector of prints and other
things. And I soon found that we had many things in common and many
interesting talks I had with him on a variety of subjects.

We discovered together several early flint implements and arrow-heads
about Serques, and he told me a lot about the early Stone Age, which
interested me greatly and set me looking for these interesting relics
wherever we happened to be quartered.[15] Shortly after this time
Lieut.-Col. Scott Jackson left the 7th N.F. to join the R.A.M.C. and
to take command of a base hospital. He was succeeded by Capt. H.
Liddell, M.C., who now became Lieut.-Col. in command of the battalion.

After staying at Serques for about two weeks the Brigade moved to the
area around Tournehem. This was not such a flat watery country; and we
had better quarters in the house of the cure of the place.

It was decided to hold Brigade Sports here, and I was sent off to
Boulogne to buy the prizes. I went there and back in a Divisional
Staff car. I had lunch at the Officers' Club, where the W.A.A.C.'s
were serving as waitresses; and very nice it was to see their fresh
English faces again. A visit to Boulogne when you are not going on
leave brings back rather melancholy feelings, and I was glad to leave
the place.

An incident happened at Nortleulinghem