vilian
refugees took cover in a doorway just before the second shell tore a
great rent in the village green on the other side of the bridge. Five
shells fell in all, and an officer afterwards tried to persuade the
old women to take a lift in a G.S. waggon that was about to start. But
they refused to leave their men, who would not abandon the
wheel-barrows. When I walked away the five were again beginning their
slow hazardous pilgrimage to the next village.

11 P.M.: That night I lay rolled up in a blanket at the foot of a tree.
The H.Q. waggon line was duly settled for the night when I
arrived--horses "hayed-up" and most of the men asleep on the ground.
The cook insisted on producing the boiled rabbit, and I ate it, sitting
on the shaft of the mess cart. I arranged with the N.C.O. of the piquet
to change every two hours the orderly posted at the spot we had left so
hurriedly--it was only ten minutes' ride on a cycle--and kept another
sentry on the watch for messengers who might come searching for us. It
was again a beautiful clear night, with a resplendent moon; a few
long-range shells whizzed over, but none near enough to worry us; a
pioneer party worked right through the night, putting up a stout line
of barbed wire that went within thirty yards of where I lay; retreating
baggage-waggons, French and British, passed along the road; restless
flashes along the eastern skyline showed our guns in active defence.

I cannot say that I slept. The ground was hard, and it got very cold
about 2 A.M. I could hear the sergeant-major snoring comfortably on the
straw palliasse he had managed to "commandeer" for himself. At about 3
A.M. my ear caught the "chug-chug" of a motor-cycle. It came nearer and
then stopped, and I heard the rider and our sentry talking. I got up
and found it was the Divisional Artillery signalling-officer.

"Rather important," he said, without preamble. "The General says it is
essential to get all transport vehicles over the canal to-night.
There's bound to be a hell of a crush in the morning. Headquarters R.A.
will be at Varesnes by to-morrow morning, so I should move as far that
way as you can. I've just come over the canal, and there are two ways
of crossing from here. I think you'll find the Appilly route the least
crowded. The great thing is to hurry. I'm going to look for the colonel
now. I'll tell him you are moving."

We bade each other "Good-night." While the horses were being hooked in,
I scribb