I am writing this in the train between ---- and ----! This doesn't
convey much information about our whereabouts, does it? ... On
Saturday afternoon we got our horses and vehicles on to our ship
straight from the train. The horses were led up an inclined gangway
and were arranged in rows close beside one another on two decks, and
the vehicles were hoisted into the holds by cranes.... We cast off
from the quay about 7 p.m. and set forth upon our voyage. John and I
were the only officers of our Battalion in our ship, and between us
we had 50 men and 48 horses. There were other portions of regiments
on board too and about 600 horses. The main part of our Battalion
went over in a fast ship, and the remainder of our transport vehicles
and horses crossed in a third ship, so we were pretty well split up.
When we slipped out of Southampton Harbour and reached the open sea,
the moon just gave enough light to show us that two of our grand
Navy's silent watchers had slipped quietly alongside of us, one on
the port beam and the other on the starboard. We watched them late
into the night, and sometimes they seemed little more than black
shadows on the surface of the water, and sometimes came so near that
we could make out their shapes, and saw that they were torpedo boat
destroyers. Not a light showed either on our ship or on our escorts.
Fortunately the sea was calm and the crossing quiet. We left
Southampton at about 7 p.m., and next morning we wakened up to find
ourselves in a large bay or estuary whose name I cannot give. There
were many other ships round about us, and a big Hospital one lay
quite near us. This was Sabbath morning. About 10 o'clock we got
the anchor up and steamed inside the harbour, and then tugs got hold
of us and got us alongside the quay. We soon got the horses ashore
into a big shed, and tied them up there. Then the dock cranes
hoisted out our vehicles, and by 4.30 the last vehicle was ashore.
Next we got the horses harnessed into them, and started off on a five
miles' march through the streets of the town and up a winding hill to
a camp where we were to stay the night. Everything was under canvas,
and the horses were picketed out in the open, and it was bitterly
cold. I slept--or tried to sleep--with two others in a tent with a
wooden floor, and except for the cold it was all right. There was to
be an inspection of transports next morning at 8 a.m., so we were up
before six getting the horses watered and fed and harnessed, and the
men given their breakfast. The inspecting officer turned up at 9.30!
About 2.30 p.m. everything was packed up, and we moved off again down
the hill to one of the goods stations of the town. We got there at
4.30, watered the horses again, and by 7 o'clock had all the horses
and vehicles into the train. These days have been very strenuous,
but we have got through it all wonderfully well. Some of the mules
have been very obstinate in refusing to be led into the railway
trucks; where persuasion has failed I got a strong rope, passed it
round their hind quarters and put three men on either end of the
rope. This was always successful! At 8 p.m. we were under way
again. Before starting we got some hot cocoa and tea issued to us,
and, after our hard work and fast of about seven hours, there seemed
nothing quite so good! This time, instead of splitting up the
Battalion into three trains as in our country, and running them at a
fast speed, they put everything, that is men, horses and vehicles, on
one long train of about fifty coaches, and trundled us along at about
25 miles an hour. It is now about noon-day on Tuesday, and we are
still going along in a north-easterly direction to a destination
unknown. Two Hospital trains have already passed us going the other
way. The men have wrought very well. The French railways use
exactly the same sort of trucks for horses as for troops, and each
truck is marked on the outside:--Men 40, Horses 8. They do sprinkle
a little straw on the trucks where the men are, but that is the only
difference. There are, of course, no seats of any kind. The horses
are put parallel to the rails in two rows of four facing each other,
and all the saddlery and harness goes in the space in the centre;
also two men to look after them. Their head-ropes are tied to rings
in the roof of the truck (which is covered), and the strong
breast-rope is fastened in front of each row and made fast to the
sides of the truck. Each horse has his nose-bag hung round his neck.
The country is very flat; a good deal of it has been ploughed and is
being harrowed. Some of the lines we have passed over are anything
but main lines, and a great many of the wayside signals are being
wrought by women.