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[Page 14]
June 19. 1913.
At last I have got my materials and strange to say, not much knocked about. Last night after finishing my letter I went round to Fullwood's to see an officer who in some way had learned where they were and who was going this morning to take me by car near that point on his way to some further out place. He, however, had had to change his plans, and so when I arrived was considering how he could fit me into someone else's plans in order to get me over. While he went off to arrange this I had a look at two of Fullwood's latest sketches, both of which I think you would have liked. One was a study of the handsome old chateau seen from the lawn in front, with its splendid trees banked up on either side like deep green cumulus clouds and the other, the stone dove cot in the middle of the big stable yard; a curious building, something like a bandstand, with the roof serving as the loft. In all the buildings the stone is weathered and maturely toned, with pale buffs and greys prevailing and these, spaced with occasional bands of red brick and the green of the trees, make a particularly pleasing colour ensemble, which F.. it seems to me, has very happily caught. His tent-mate Lt . S., a Mancastrian, is a most generous, kind fellow and at their tent I meet various officers; most of them good sorts. s--- came back and told me that he couldn't make arrangements till later in the evening, so I had better wait, but no sooner had he said this, than a summons came for all officers to go to a concert. They told me to wait around and I did. till 11 p.m. without a sign of them. I put in the time watching the ridges beyond Morlancourt, Corbie and Villers-Brettoneux alive with sparks that looked like fireflies and sounding like the bellowings of all the bulls that Bashan ever bred. Star shells aplenty there were too, rising and falling with aggravating deliberation and illuminating everything. The unfortunate village near by was playing receiver general to a steady, vicious deluge of earth shaking shells, to which some nearby batteries of ours were replying with plenty of vigour. From N. to S., from left to right, as far as the eye could see the twinkling, thudding strafe went on without a stop. The hardened campaigners