heir strength together every now and then to cry, "_Vive la
Belgique!_" There were crowds on the Boulevards, waiting for news from
_la bas_. A few French officers were going about in cabs, and each time
that one appeared the crowd went mad. The officers were smiling and
saluting, and every now and then one stood up in his place and cheered
for Belgium. In twenty minutes or so, I saw that we could get through,
so started for home and bed.

When we got to the Porte de Namur, we heard frenzied cheering down by
the Porte Louise. The chauffeur is a regular old war horse who does not
want to miss a trick. He cast a questioning glance over his shoulder;
and, catching my nod, put on full speed down the Boulevard until we came
to a solid crowd banked along the line of march of more French cavalry.
The people in the crowd had bought out the nearby shops of cigars and
cigarettes and chocolate and small flasks of brandy, and as each man
rode by, he was loaded up with as much as he could carry. The defile had
been going on for over an hour, but the enthusiasm was still boundless.
All the cafes around the Porte Louise sent out waiters and waitresses
with trays of beer to meet the troops as they came into the Avenue
Louise. Each man would snatch a glass of beer, swallow it as he rode
along and hand it back to others who were waiting with empty trays a
hundred yards or so down the line of march. The men were evidently very
tired, and it was an effort for them to show any appreciation of their
reception, but they made the effort and croaked out, "_Vive la
Belgique!_" The French and British troops can have anything they want in
this country. They will be lucky, though, if they escape without acute
indigestion.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was coming out of the chancery of the British
Legation, a little cockney messenger in uniform came snorting into the
court on a motor-cycle. As he got off he began describing his
experiences, and wound up his story of triumphant progress--"And when I
got to the Boulevards I ran down a blighter on a bicycle and the crowd
gave me an ovation!"

More troubles to-day about the German Legation. The Etat-Major gave
orders that nobody but I should be allowed to enter. The laymen who have
the onerous duty of protecting the Legation held a council of war, and
decided that this precluded them from allowing food to go in; so when
the waitress from the Grand Veneur with the lunch of the crowd inside
came along, she