I now command the
eighth platoon. Sergeant Clews is the name of the platoon sergeant.
Sergeant Dawson (who saw Norman Kemp killed and has the same high
opinion of his heroic qualities as everybody else, whether officer,
N.C.O., or man, who knew him; who tells me that he was by far the most
loved officer in the Battalion--'one who will never be forgotten') is
also in my platoon.

"In the afternoon I went with the Company on a bathing parade. It was
about half an hour's march. They bathed in a canal.

"After tea I had a stroll in the country: it is very pretty, especially
this weather....

"Captain Andrews goes home on leave to-night; so Lieutenant Halstead is
in command of B Company for a fortnight."

"June 15th.

"The weather continues hot. We had another Battalion parade this
morning: procedure the same as yesterday. The Colonel is still most
agreeable; he has not said a cross word to me yet.

"We took the afternoon easy, except that there was a parade for
inspection of equipment at 4 p.m.

"I received, this afternoon, a letter from you of June 11, and one from
Mother of June 10, also enclosures. I am sorry to learn that you are
both worrying. What's the use of worrying? What is there to worry about?
I am quite safe. If I had the 'wind up' it might be another matter; but
I do not, strange to say, even dread the time when we shall go back
into the line! I think it rather exciting. One is inclined to feel a
little 'windy' when shells and 'minnies' are bursting dangerously near,
or when a machine-gun spurts out of the gloaming; but there is a certain
element of excitement about it all. I would not have missed those few
days in the Salient for worlds. I had a pleasant 'baptism of fire'
there. Everybody seems to think that it was worse than going over the
top in a push. Those who fought at the Battle of the Somme last year say
that they would rather be there than in the place where we were last
week! Candidly, I cannot understand it.

"We shall remain out of the line for some time yet--so cheer up!"

CHAPTER V

THE MARCH

I now come to one of the most remarkable, and in some respects certainly
the most comical, of all the episodes in which Colonel Best-Dunkley
figured--the memorable march from Millain to Westbecourt. The following
lengthy epistle which I wrote in my billet in the Vale of Acquin at
Westbecourt the following day draws a perfectly accurate picture of what
happened:

"You will be int