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Page 9
"Quick march! Left turn! Halt!" ordered the sergeant as I crossed the
threshold, and presently I found myself face to face with our company
commander, who was sitting by a desk with a pile of papers before him.
"What is it?" he asked, fixing a pair of stern eyes on me, and I
explained my business with all possible despatch.
"Of course you understand that everything is now subservient to your
military duties; they take premier place in your new life," said the
officer. "But I'll see what I can do. By myself I am of little help.
However, you can write out a pass telling the length of time you
require off duty, and I'll lay it before the proper authorities."
I wrote out the "special pass," which ran as follows:
"Rifleman ---- has permission to be absent from his quarters from
6 p.m. (date) to 10 p.m. (date), for the purpose of proceeding to
London."
I came in from a long march on Thursday evening to find the pass
signed, stamped, and ready. On the following night I could go to
London, and I spent the evening 'phoning, wiring, and writing to town,
arranging matters for the day ahead. Also, I asked some friends to
have dinner with me at seven o'clock on Friday night.
Next day we had divisional exercise, which is usually a lengthy
affair. In the morning I approached the officer and asked if I might
be allowed off parade, seeing I had to set out for London at six
o'clock in the evening.
"Oh! we shall be back early," I was told, "back about three or
thereabouts."
The day was very interesting; the whole division, thousands of men,
numberless horses, a regiment of artillery, and all baggage and
munition for military use took up position in battle formation. In
front lay an imaginary army, and we had to cross a river to come
into contact with it. Engineers, under cover of the artillery,
built pontoon bridges for our crossing; on the whole an intensely
interesting and novel experience. So interesting indeed that I lost
all count of time, and only came to consciousness of the clock and
remembrance of friends making ready for dinner when some one remarked
that the hour of four had passed, and that we were still five miles
from home.
I got to my billet at six; there I flung off my pack, threw down my
rifle, and in frenzied haste consulted a railway timetable. A slow
train was due to leave our town at five minutes to seven. I arranged
my papers, made a brief review of matters which would come before me
later, and with muddy boots and heavy heart I arrived at the station
at seven minutes to seven and took the slow train for London.
When I told the story of my adventures at dinner a soldier friend
remarked: "You've been more than a little lucky in getting away at
all. I was very unlucky when I applied--"
But his story was a long one, and I have forgotten it.
CHAPTER IV
OFFICERS AND RIFLES
As I have said, I have learned among other things to obey my officers
and depend upon my rifle. At first the junior officers appeared to me
only as immaculate young men in tailor-made tunics and well-creased
trousers, wearing swords and wrist-watches, and full of a healthy
belief in their own importance. My mates are apt to consider them
as being somewhat vain, and no Tommy dares fail to salute the young
commissioned officers when he meets them out with their young ladies
on the public streets. For myself, I have a great respect for them and
their work; day and night they are at their toil; when parade comes to
an end, and the battalion is dismissed for the day, the officers, who
have done ten or twelve hours' of field exercise, turn to their desks
and company accounts, and time and again the Last Post sees them busy
over ledgers, pamphlets, and plans.
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