m, and even the Japonica was bursting into
scarlet against the sunny walls.

It was a pleasant time for loafing and under any other circumstances
we would have enjoyed it; but this was war time. Already our Canadian
Division had been at the front for four weeks and here were we doing
nothing, when we might have been making ourselves useful at the front.
The war office was advertising for "one hundred sanitary officers who
would be of vital service to the force in the field" and here were two
of us, with long experience in practical sanitation and eager to make
use of that experience, idling in the valley of the Avon on Salisbury
Plain.

Our chief was in France, and in our impatience we concluded that
something had gone wrong at the war office in regard to our little
unit. The only way to find out was to go to London; so we set
out,--the Medical Officer of Health of Ottawa, Captain Lomer; the
provincial bacteriologist of Alberta, Captain Rankin; and myself. We
left Bulford at eleven o'clock, or to be precise, at five minutes to
eleven. We stopped twenty minutes at Andover to send a cablegram, and
were held up at a level crossing for five minutes. At one thirty we
passed the official centre of London, Hyde Park corner, and were
having our dinner in the Marguereta Restaurant in Oxford Street at a
quarter to two. We therefore had covered the distance of ninety-eight
miles in two hours and fifteen minutes actual travelling time, or at
an average speed of nearly forty-four miles an hour. At one time our
indicator registered sixty-five miles an hour and for quite a number
of miles we travelled steadily at fifty-six miles an hour. Of course
this was in England, where roads are as smooth as asphalt and where
raised or sunken culverts, the curse of motorists, are unknown.

We did enjoy that Bohemian dinner. We had all the things that one does
not have in a military mess on Salisbury Plain. Hors d'oeuvres, salad,
fish, duck, and so forth. We were just finishing, and had lit our
cigarettes while waiting for coffee, when the door porter came in and
whispered to Captain Rankin that a policeman had our chauffeur in
charge and wanted to see one of us. The doughty Captain went out, and
came back in a minute to say that the cop wanted him to go to the
police station and explain why we did not have a number on our motor.
He also added that there was a number of people around the car. "What
did you tell him?" I asked. "I said I would go