A couple of hours' sleep, a shave and a bath, a final look round the battery office, a last hurried breakfast in the Mess, and a last handshake with the colonel.
"You off? Well, good-bye, and good luck to you. We shall meet over the other side, I expect."
The battery parades. "Battery all present, sir," reports the sergeant-major. The report runs through until it reaches the C.O. A few minutes to ride round the teams and then:
"Column o' route from the right. Walk—march!" and the battery is off through the early morning quiet of the Aldershot streets, bound for the port of embarkation.
Thus the mounted units, or most of them. Others by train. A few lines will serve as description for all these.
A Railway Transport Officer meets the C.O. on the platform as the men march in.
"Get your men in as quickly as you can, please; we always get off five minutes ahead of time."
"What's our port?" asks the C.O.
"No idea. Push on, please."
The C.O. "pushes on."