Again the sound of singing was heard in the tents at night
and on route marches; and again one began to see smiling faces. With
the improvement in weather conditions, training went briskly on, and
the division began to rapidly round into shape.
Meanwhile the artillery and cavalry had gone into billets in the
surrounding villages, and were behaving splendidly. The people took to
them very kindly, and the men themselves looked so clean and happy
that it was difficult to realize that they were the same unkempt,
dirty individuals who had been seen not so long before wading through
the mud and filth of the plains.
All sorts of rumours were current. A favorite one was that we were to
go to Egypt to finish our training there. Another one whispered among
the staff was that we would shortly leave for France. The men worked
hard at their training, anxious to make good and get to the Front.
They had the old Viking spirit of adventure in their blood, and wanted
to get to the battle ground. We all knew that many of us would be
killed, but we all felt that it would be the other fellow--not
ourselves.
After the laboratory had been started, the force had to a large extent
been reassured thereby that everything possible was being done that
could be done. When, with better weather, the sickness began to abate,
I obtained permission from our Surgeon-General to try to get the rest
of our men inoculated against typhoid fever.
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