was to bring forth, or what was already happening thirty miles away on the
firing line. Zélie, the _femme de ménage_, brought us our breakfast to our
room, coffee and bread and eggs, and by half-past nine we were
down-stairs, booted and spurred, to find the motor at the door, a simple
lunch being packed up, and gas-helmets got ready! "We have had a very
successful action this morning," said Captain ----, evidently in the best
of spirits. "We have taken back some trenches on the Ypres-Comines Canal
that we lost a little while ago, and captured about 200 prisoners. If we
go off at once, we shall be in time to see the German counter-attack."

It was again fine, though not bright, and the distances far less clear.
This time we struck northeast, passing first the sacred region of G.H.Q.
itself, where we showed our passes. Then after making our way through
roads lined interminably, as on the previous day, with the splendid
motor-lorries laden with food and ammunition, which have made such a new
thing of the transport of this war, interspersed with rows of ambulances
and limbered wagons, with flying-stations and horse lines, we climbed a
hill to one of the finest positions in this northern land; an old town,
where Gaul and Roman, Frank and Fleming, English and French have clashed,
which looks out northward towards the Yser and Dunkirk, and east towards
Ypres. Now, if the mists will only clear, we shall see Ypres! But, alas,
they lie heavy over the plain, and we descend the hill again without that
vision. Now we are bound for Poperinghe, and must go warily, because there
is a lively artillery action going on beyond Poperinghe, and it is
necessary to find out what roads are being shelled.

On the way we stop at an air-station, to watch the aeroplanes rising and
coming down, and at a point near Poperinghe we go over a casualty-clearing
station--a collection of hospital huts, with storehouses and staff
quarters--with the medical officer in charge. Here were women nurses who