"Where to, sir?" said he.
"Where to? Where to? Oh! Brussels; anywhere."
The driver grinned in sympathetic understanding and got on to third speed in as many seconds.
And that is how I very nearly missed the most gorgeous adventure of my life.
CHAPTER II
THE SAILING OF THE FORCE
Follow, follow!
Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy;
And leave your England as dead midnight still.
*****
For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd
With one appearing hair, that will not follow
These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?
"I consider that I have command of the sea when I am able to tell my Government that they can move an expedition to any point without fear of interference from an enemy's fleet."—SIR GEOFFREY HORNBY.
Train No. B46 had slipped unostentatiously into its appointed siding precisely on its scheduled time. For a couple of hours the men had been working like galley-slaves to get the ammunition on board in time. The C.O. and two other officers with their coats off were working as hard as the rest. And it is no joke heaving up and packing neatly cases of 18-pr. and howitzer shell, especially when you are not used to it.
Finished at last, and with half an hour to the good. Another four hours and they will be on the road themselves, the first step into the unknown.