ly a
gun was fired on either side the whole time. Things were extraordinarily
quiet. On any ordinary occasion we would have been observed by the enemy
aircraft and strafed like ----; but fortunately it was very dull at the
time, the clouds precluding observation. The weather was in our favour.
The whole Battalion got safely away without a single casualty! An
astonishing feat. Major Brighten has reason to feel very pleased with
himself. We marched along the road for a distance of about four miles,
and then halted and concentrated; then we marched on together and at 10
a.m. reached the transport camp where I first appeared last Tuesday
evening. Here the Battalion was halted and left to have lunch. The
officers were allowed to go into the town (Poperinghe) and have lunch
there if they wished. Donald Allen, the commander of the fifth platoon,
and I, got lifts on two motors down to the town. Then we had baths at
the Divisional Baths there. We then set off to the Officers' Club for
lunch; but just before we got there two other officers called out to us
from the opposite side of the road. They inquired whether we were going
to the Club; and when we replied that we were, they exclaimed: 'Don't;
the C.O.'s there!'

"'Who? _The_ C.O.--Colonel Best-Dunkley?' we asked.

"'Yes,' was the reply. So we jolly well did not go; we went to a
restaurant instead! Apparently Colonel Best-Dunkley had now returned.
Everybody was very fed up at his return.

"At 2 we turned up at the station. The news of the Commanding Officer's
return had already spread throughout the Battalion. We got our platoons
entrained, and then proceeded to the officers' carriages. It was
rumoured that Colonel Best-Dunkley was going to travel by a particular
carriage. You should have seen how that carriage was boycotted! Nobody
would go into it. They preferred to crowd out the other carriages and
leave the tainted carriage empty. It was most noticeable. I do not think
there is a single person in the Battalion who would not rather travel
with the devil incarnate than with Colonel Best-Dunkley.

"He appeared on the scene shortly. There was a flutter of low mutterings
as he appeared. I was very interested to see this extraordinary man of
whom I had heard so much. He stopped two or three doors away from our
own and stood talking to someone inside the carriage. He is small,
clean-shaven, with a crooked nose and a noticeable blink. He looks
harmless enough; but I noticed so