e left for posting them
when the order came to fall in, but he anticipated an opportunity
at one of the stations on the journey south.

Out in the sunshine stood the hundreds of lads whose training had
been so brief that some carried ammunition for the first time.
There were few grave faces, though possibly some of the many grins
were more reflected than original. Yet there was a fine general
air of eagerness, and at the word 'attention' the varied
expressions gave place to one of determination.

Boom! boom! boom! . . . Boom! boom! boom! Dirl and skirl; skirl
and dirl! So to the heart-lifting, hell-raising music of pipes and
drums they marched down to the railway.

At the station it seemed as though they had been expected to break
all records in military entraining. There was terrific haste and
occasional confusion, the latter at the loading of the vans. The
enthusiasm was equalled only by the perspiration. But at last
everything and nearly everybody was aboard, and the rumour went
along that they had actually broken such and such a battalion's
record.

Private William Thomson, however, had already started his
inevitable grumbling. There were eight in the compartment, and he
had stupidly omitted to secure a corner seat.

'I'll bet ye I'm a corp afore we get to Dover,' he bleated.

'That's as near as ever ye'll be to bein' a corporal,' remarked the
cheerful Jake. 'But hoo d'ye ken it'll be Dover?'

'I'll bet ye ---- Na! I'll no tak' on ony mair wagers. I've a
tremenjous bet on wi' this yin'--indicating Macgregor--'every
dashed penny I possess--that we're boun' for Flanders. He says the
Dardanelles.'

All excepting Macgregor fell to debating the question. He had just
remembered something he had forgotten to say to Christina; also, he
was going away without the ring she was to have given him. He was
not sorry he was going, but he felt sad. . . .

The debate waxed furious.

'I tell ye,' bawled Willie, 'we're for Flanders! The Ninth's been
there since the----'

A sudden silence! What the ---- was that? Surely not--ay, it
was!--an order to detrain!

And soon the whisper went round that they were not bound for
anywhere--unless the ---- old camp. The morning's alarm and all
that followed had been merely by way of practice.

At such a time different men have different feelings, or, at least,
different ways of expressing them. Jake laughed philosophically
and appeared to dismiss the whole af