“Yes, to my dismay I was made O. C., but I met a chap, Captain Courtney, a very decent fellow, my adjutant, and made him carry on.”
“My word, that was a stroke!”
“We had a wreck, a ghastly affair it was, though it might have been a lot worse. The R. A. M. C. people did magnificently, and the men behaved awfully well, so that we managed to get through.”
“And what about the O. C.?” inquired Captain Neil.
“Oh, nothing special. He just saw that the others carried on. Now tell me about you people. What have you been doing and what are you going to do?”
“Well, 'we're here, because we're here,'” chanted Captain Neil.
“And why didn't you send me word as to your movements?” said Barry. “What hours of agony you would have spared me!”
“But I did,” replied Phyllis. “I sent you our town address and told you everything.”
“Now isn't that rotten!” exclaimed Barry. “Never mind, I've found you, and now what's the programme?”
“Well,” cried Captain Neil with great enthusiasm, “we are all off to Edinburgh to-morrow, where we meet the Howlands, and then for a motor trip through the Highlands and to my ancestral home.”