and great holes where shells had fallen, and then we got to the bridge
and out of the line of fire.

We set out to walk towards Holland, but a Belgian officer got us some
Red Cross ambulances, and into these we got, and were taken to a
convent at St. Gilles, where we slept on the floor till 3 a.m. At 3 a
message was brought, "Get up at once--things are worse." Everyone seemed
to be leaving, and we got into the Red Cross ambulances and went to the
station.

_9 October._--We have been all day in the train in very hard third-class
carriages with the R.M.L.I. The journey of fifty miles took from 5
o'clock in the morning, when we got away, till 12 o'clock at night, when
we reached Ostend. The train hardly crawled. It was the longest I have
ever seen. All Ostend was in darkness when we arrived--a German airship
having been seen overhead. We always seem to be tumbling about in the
dark. We went from one hotel to another trying to get accommodation, and
at last (at the St. James's) they allowed us to lie on the floor of the
restaurant. The only food they had for us was ten eggs for twenty-five
hungry people and some brown bread, but they had champagne at the house,
and I ordered it for everybody, and we made little speeches and tried to
end on a good note.

_10 October._--Mrs. Stobart took the unit back to England to-day. The
wounded were found in a little house which the Red Cross had made over
to them, and Dr. Ramsey, Sister Bailey, and the two nurses had much to
say about their perilous journey. One man had died on the road, but the
others all looked well. Their joy at seeing us was pathetic, and there
was a great deal of handshaking over our meeting.