her staples. The room itself was clean but without heat,
and I usually fell asleep after a couple of hours of shivering in the
depths of a damp, cold, feather mattress. Eleven crucifixes and two
glass cases of artificial flowers, together with portraits of the pope
and local cure, constituted the decorations of the room, and was
typical of the region, for this part of France was thoroughly
Catholic.

Our equipment did not arrive for three days, so that we had some
opportunity to look around and get our bearings in the area in which
we were to work. The Director of Medical Services of the army had
called just after we arrived, and had given us instructions. Like all
the British officers we met in the field, he treated us with the
greatest kindness and consideration. Faultless in dress, precise in
manner, with monocle and carefully trimmed hair and moustache, he gave
one the impression of just having stepped from his dressing room after
a bath. And yet his knowledge of the military game as it applied to
the medical service was just as accurate, precise and complete as his
external appearance indicated. He was a tremendous worker and
efficient to the last degree, as his record since has demonstrated.

CHAPTER VI.

THE DAYS BEFORE YPRES.

The following day we drove over to Estaires, five miles away, to see
the first Canadian division coming back into rest after a month in the
trenches. As we passed the infantry on the road it was pleasant to see
broad smiles spreading over the faces of the men who recognized us as
having been with them at Valcartier and Salisbury Plain. Fit and
rugged they looked as they swung along with the confident air which
newly arrived troops often seem to possess. Their officers were
pleased with them, and were satisfied that the division needed only an
opportunity to make good. The division had been on the left at the
battle of Neuve Chappelle, and had had no real fighting as yet; but it
had received an excellent month's training in trench warfare, and was
now well broken into the new game.

The division remained for a week in that neighborhood resting, and we
had several opportunities of visiting our friends. On Sunday three of
us called on my old friend General Mercer of the first brigade, and
had tea with him and Majors Van Straubenzie and Hayter of his staff.
General Mercer expressed himself as being delighted with the men and
as having the highest confidence in them.

We also ha