'Then we'll roll the old chariot along,
And we won't drag on behind.'
"I tell you it was thrilling; it made me dance for joy. Two or three Salvationists were having a Free and Easy; after the chorus had been sung once or twice I heard it taken up by other Salvationists in other tents, and presently from many parts of the camp could be heard the old Salvation Army song. It was splendid!
"My, didn't the old verse go with a swing—
'If the Devil's in the way
We'll roll it over him!'
By this time the whole camp had joined in. Some of the non-Salvationists would sing it with a slight change.
"Another favourite with us Salvationists was the last verse of 'I'm a child of a King'—
'A tent or a cottage what need I fear,
He's building a palace for me over there.'
"I was unable to get to chat with any of the Salvationists, because if you want to go from one battery to another you have to get permission. But one night I did go and listen outside one of the tents to their singing. It cheered me only to know I was near some of my comrades. I learned that the Salvationists in camp came from various parts of England, some were bandsmen, some local officers, and others soldiers. I didn't hear that any had been wounded beyond myself, although the comrade I heard singing in the ambulance tent was in all probability injured!"
But now for the retreat itself! The passage I quote is from the pen of the Rev. Owen Spencer Watkins, as printed in the Methodist Recorder.
Mr. Watkins had already seen much war service. He was in Crete. He accompanied the British Army to Khartoum and was present at the battle of Omdurman. He went through the South African war and was shut up in Ladysmith during the siege. He knows what campaigning is, and he knows how to describe what he sees. When this war broke out he was attached to the 14th Field Ambulance, in command of which was Lieut.-Colonel G.S. Crawford. The personnel of the ambulance consisted of nine medical officers, one quartermaster, two chaplains—Rev. D.P. Winnifrith (Church of England) and himself (Wesleyan)—and 240 non-commissioned officers and men. His full description of the retreat is as fine a piece of writing as I remember to have seen in connexion with this war.