Luton at 2 p.m. the next day, the rate of motion was about 6 miles an
hour, not too fast for a train. But the truth is we did not start at 11
p.m., but spent hours standing in the cattle yard at Derby, while trucks
and guns were being arranged to fit one another. As that was our first
experience of such delay, the incident was impressed upon our minds, and
it counts one to the number of bars we said our medal should have.

As in Loughborough, so in Luton, our billets were schools. There was one
advantage about the Beech Hill Schools of Luton, namely, that the whole
battalion could assemble in the big room, sit on the floor, and listen
in comfort to words of instruction and advice. But day schools were not
intended for lodging purposes, and here again was displayed Major
Martin's skill in the erection of cookhouses and more wash-tubs and
other domestic essentials. The moment we got settled, however happened
to coincide with the moment at which the education branch of the Town
Council determined that the future of a nation depended upon the
education of her children, and thus it came to pass that on the 28th of
August we moved out of the schools, and entered billets in West Luton.

The long rows of houses were admirably suited to company billets.
Occupiers dismantled the ground floor front and took in three, and
generally four men at various rates. On the 2nd of October a universal
rate of 9d. a day each man was fixed. That made twenty-one shillings a
week towards paying off a rent which would average at the most twelve
shillings. The billets delighted us, and we hope the owners were as
pleased. We thank them and all we met in those billeting times for their
kind forbearance.

The headquarters and billets of senior officers were at Ceylon Hall. The
building was owned by the Baptists, and we found their committee most