claret, which, as he was thirsty and exhausted, he consumed too rapidly,
and found himself hopelessly inebriate. Luckily there was nothing to do,
so he slept for many hours.

Waking up in the cool of the evening he heard the voices of another
Second-Lieutenant and a reservist Subaltern talking about some people he
knew near his home. It was good to forget about wars and soldiers, and
everything that filled so amply the present and future, and to lose
himself in pleasant talk of pleasant things at home.... The dinner
provided by the French caterer was very French, and altogether the last
sort of meal that a young gentleman suffering from anti-enteric
inoculation ought to have indulged in. Everything conspired to make him
worse, and what with the heat and the malady, he spent a very miserable
time.

After about two days' stay, the Battalion moved away from the rest
camp, and, setting out before dawn, marched back through those fatal
streets of Havre, this time deserted in the moonlight, to a sort of
shed, called by the French authorities a troop station. Here as usual
the train was waiting, and the men had but to be put in. The carriages
could not be called luxurious; to be frank, they were cattle-trucks. But
it takes more than that to damp the spirits of Mr. Thomas Atkins. Cries
imitating the lowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep broke out from
the trucks!

The train moved out of the depôt, and wended its way in the most casual
manner through the streets of Havre. This so amused Tommy that he roared
with laughter. The people who rushed to give the train a send-off, with
many cries of "Vive les Anglais," "A bas les Bosches," were greeted with
more bleatings and brayings.