back to cheer them on if he thought they were not fast enough. I
could see as I watched him that he had caught the habit of command.
He was going to be a good officer. It was a proud thought for me, and
again I was rejoiced that it was such a son that I was able to offer
to my country.

They were kept busy at that training camp. Men were needed sore in
France. Recruits were going over every day. What the retreat from
Mons and the Battle of the Marne had left of that first heroic
expeditionary force the first battle of Ypres had come close to
wiping out. In the Ypres salient our men out there were hanging on
like grim death. There was no time to spare at Bedford, where men
were being made ready as quickly as might be to take their turn in
the trenches.

But there was a little time when John and I could talk.

"What do you need most, son?" I asked him.

"Men!" he cried. "Men, Dad, men! They're coming in quickly. Oh,
Britain has answered nobly to the call. But they're not coming in
fast enough. We must have more men--more men!"

I had thought, when I asked my question, of something John might be
needing for himself, or for his men, mayhap. But when he answered me
so I said nothing. I only began to think. I wanted to go myself. But
I knew they would not have me--yet awhile, at any rate. And still I
felt that I must do something. I could not rest idle while all around
me men were giving themselves and all they had and were.