Stretcher Bearers at the Double - ElectricCanadian.com

122 TO THE SOMME & BACK
Mile after mile we would march along, the colonel mounted
and away out in front - - before us the red, sweating necks and
the swinging legs of the men immediately ahead, their steel-shod
boots sending up sparks from the flinty uneven cobbles - - every
man of us longing for the next ten-minute halt when we could
sag down on the right-hand side of the road, using out packs for
pillows and elevating our aching feet as high as possible. Cigar
ettes and pipes would then be smoked, water bottles would be
broached and hunks of chocolate or hardtack hungrily devoured.
The ten-minute rest sped like "Fall
lightning. In !" would sound;
men would stagger painfully to their feet; packs would be
hitched back upon aching shoulders; straps would be again thrust
into burning armpits; cigarettes would be tossed away - -or "but
ted" and tucked behind dusty ears - - and away we would go once
more, for another fifty minutes of the same thing all over again.
Once Afore a la 40 Hommes - 8 Chevaux^s>
It was now about one year since we had made our first
40 Hommcs-S Chevaux train trip, and needless to mention, per
haps, the celebrated pullmans were considerably more acceptable
because of our intervening experiences.
The train pulled out of Arques about 3 a.m. We made our
way via Calais, Abbeville, Boulogne and Etaples, to Conteville,
where we detrained late in the evening and marched to Longvillers,
where we stayed for the night.
No doubt the Horse Transport lads will remember the horse
that was killed while our train was going through one of the
-
many long tunnels en route south - and the lengthy explanation
Max Kelso was subsequently obliged to give. Which reminds us
that whenever a horse or vehicle was lost a very exhaustive re
port was required, and there was hell to pay if any negligence
was suspected. But whenever a man passed out, a brief "K. in A."
sufficed.
It was easy to get men, but horses and equipment cost
money.
Our train journey had been very interesting. Just about dawn
we passed Calais, and many of the lads imagined they could dis
cern the chalk-like cliffs of Dover. Then we came to Abbeville,
Ruskin s favorite town, where a thousand years before, the First
Crusaders had gathered to be harangued and exhorted by Peter