in our outfit came in for lots of chaff. "Baldy," the
American, would say to Bob Goddard, "Do you call this miniature thing a
railroad? Why, at home we have trains as big as this running up and
down the floors of our restaurants carrying flapjacks." Of course
every one roared at this, and Bob said, "Never mind, you can laugh now,
but wait till we start and see the speed we have." They argued on this
for a while, and then Bob said, "Why, the locomotives over here pick up
water on the fly." "Aw, that's nothing," said Baldy; "they pick up
hoboes on the fly in the States." Bob had nothing to say to this, and
conversation lagged for a while. Some time later Bob called our
attention to the really lovely scenery we were passing through. Said
he, "Look at those lovely old trees with the creepers on them; where in
the States would you find anything to compare with them?" But Baldy
was ready, "Aw, I can see you were never in a lumber camp." "What
difference does that make?" says Bob. "All the difference in the
world," answered Baldy; "if you were ever in a lumber camp, you'd know
without my telling you that we have men there with creepers on them."
This was too much for Bob, and he quit;--we played cards the rest of
the way to London, but when we reached it we became interested again in
the outside world. London was a place we had all heard of, but few of
us had seen. Bob was nearly crazy, for we passed in sight of his home.
Of course he had been away for several years, but his people still
lived there; it sure was hard for him to be so near and not be able to
stop and see them. He showed us all the points of interest that were
in sight; but our first impression of London was rather disappointing,
for we were either going through suburbs or smoky tunnels. We went
through some crowded districts, and the people all ran out and cheered
us as we passed. England was going wild over Canadians then, for it
was just after the Second Battle of Ypres, where our boys had made such
a name for themselves. On one street there were about five hundred
kids, and Baldy remarked, "No race suicide here."

Pretty soon we left London and we all went back into the train. There
was great speculation as to what camp we were bound for, but no one
knew, and when at last the train came to a halt we were glad to get off
and stretch our legs,--we stretched them a whole lot more than we
intended before the night was out,--for we had to hike a