my duty to try to
understand the music of the pipes. But in the early hours of the
morning I made what I thought were discoveries. First I found out that
all pipe melodies have the same bass. Secondly I found out that all
pipe melodies have the same treble. On one occasion the pipers left
the security of the Highlanders' quarters and invaded the precincts of
the 14th Battalion, who retaliated by turning the hose on them. A
genuine battle between the contending factions was only averted by the
diplomacy of the O.C.

I had made friends with the wireless operators on board the ship, and
every night I used to go up to their cabin on the upper deck and they
would give me reports of the news which had been flashed out to the
leading cruiser. They told me of the continued German successes and of
the fall of Antwerp. The news was not calculated to act as a soothing
nightcap before going to bed. I was sworn to secrecy and so I did not
let the men know what was happening at the front. I used to look round
at the bright faces of the young officers in the saloon and think of
all that those young fellows might have to endure before the world was
saved. It gave everyone on board a special sacredness in my eyes, and
one felt strangely inadequate and unworthy to be with them.

The men lived below decks and some of them were packed in pretty
tightly. Had the weather been rough there would have been a good deal
of suffering. During the voyage our supply of flour gave out, but as
we had a lot of wheat on board, the men were set to grind it in a
coffee mill. More than fifty per cent of the men, I found, were
members of the Church of England, and so I determined to have a
celebration of Holy Communion, for all who cared to attend, at five
o'clock every morning. I always had a certain number present, and very
delightful were these services at that early hour. Outside on deck we
could hear the tramp and orders of those engaged in physical drill,
and inside the saloon where I had arranged the altar there knelt a
small gathering of young fellows from various parts of Canada, who
were pleased to find that the old Church was going with them on (p. 028)
their strange pilgrimage. The well-known hymn--

"Eternal Father strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave"

had never appealed to me much in the past, but it took on a new
meaning at our Sunday church parade, for we all felt that we were a
rather vulnerable body in any det