The
King and Lord Kitchener both seemed to be greatly impressed with the
division.
Finally the time did arrive for the division to leave and one night it
disappeared--for Southampton everybody thought--though an officer who
had been left behind sick was unable to find any trace of it later on
in the day when he arrived at that port. Certainly the British do not
tell all they know.
The impedimenta left behind in camp was something to marvel at, and
included pianos, a Ford car, gramophones, bayonets, rifles and many
other things. Why a man should leave behind his rifle, and how he
managed to do so without getting caught, will probably always remain a
mystery. The first Canadian Division had passed on to the great
adventure in Flanders.
CHAPTER III
EARLY WAR DAYS IN LONDON.
In the early part of our sojourn in England I was sent to London on
duty. On the surface the city looked about as usual, except that the
taxi-cabs, buildings and squares, were plastered with recruiting
posters, the chief ones reading "Your King and Country need you" and
"Enlist to-day." After you had read them a couple of thousand times
they met your eyes with no more significance than do the bricks in a
wall or the people in a crowd.
London at night, however, was much different, because the city was in
darkness. The system of darkening adopted was rather amusing, as all
the squares and circuses, which in other times were most brilliantly
illuminated, now were darker than the streets, the contrast making
them, to an aviator, as distinguishable as before.
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