n on my face. As I went up
the gangway so attired and looking exceedingly pleased with myself, my
appearance excited the suspicion of the officer in command of the ship,
who was watching the troops come on board. Mistaking the cause of my
good spirits, he called a captain to him and said, "There is an officer
coming on board who is drunk; go and ask him who he is." The captain
accordingly came over and greeting me pleasantly said, "How do you do,
Sir?" "Very well, thank you," I replied, smiling all the more. I was
afraid he had come up to send me back. Having been a teetotaler for
twenty-two years, I knew nothing of the horrible suspicion under (p. 036)
which I lay at the moment. The captain then said, "Who are you, Sir?"
and I, thinking of my happy escape from army red tape, answered quite
innocently, with a still broader grin, "I'm No. 2, General Hospital."
This, of course confirmed the captain's worst suspicions. He went back
to the O.C. of the ship. "Who does he say he is?" said the Colonel.
"He says he is No. 2 General Hospital," the Captain replied. "Let him
come on board" said the Colonel. He thought I was safer on board the
ship than left behind in that condition on the wharf. With great
delight I found all dangers had been passed and I was actually about
to sail for France.

The boat which took us and the 3rd Artillery Brigade, was a small vessel
called "The City of Chester." We were horribly crowded, so my bed had
to be made on the table in the saloon. A doctor lay on the sofa at the
side and several young officers slept on the floor. We had not been out
many hours before a terrific gale blew up from the West, and we had to
point our bow towards Canada. I told the men there was some satisfaction
in that. We were exceedingly uncomfortable. My bed one night slid off
the table on to the sleeping doctor and nearly crushed him. I squeezed
out some wonderfully religious expressions from him in his state of
partial unconsciousness. I replaced myself on the table, and then slid
off on to the chairs on the other side. I finally found a happy and
safe haven on the floor. On some of the other transports they fared
even worse. My son, with a lot of other privates, was lying on the
floor of the lowest deck in his boat, when a voice shouted down the
gangway, "Lookout boys, there's a horse coming down." They cleared
away just in time for a horse to land safely in the hold, having
performed one of those miraculous feats whi