"We have built a house that is not for Time's throwing; We have gained a peace unshaken by pain for ever. War knows no power. Safe shall be my going, Secretly armed against all death's endeavour. Safe though all safety's lost; safe where men fall; And if these poor limbs die, safest of all." --RUPERT BROOKE. X. With No.-- Field Ambulance (2). FESTUBERT, MAY 9 AND MAY 16. _May_ 6, 1915, _to May_ 26, 1915. The noise of war--Preparation--Sunday, May 9--The barge--The officers' dressing station--Charge of the Black Watch, May 9--Festubert, May 16--The French Hospital--A bad night--Shelled out--Back at a Clearing Hospital--"For duty at a Base Hospital." _Thursday, May 6th_, 3 A.M.--It was a very noisy day, and I didn't sleep after 2 P.M. There is a good lot of firing going on to-night. A very muddy officer of 6 ft. 4 was brought in early yesterday morning with a broken leg, and it is a hard job to get him comfortable in these short beds. Yesterday at 4 A.M. I couldn't resist invading the garden opposite which is the R.A. Headquarters. It is full of lovely trees and flowers and birds. I found a blackbird's nest with one egg in. From the upper windows of this place it makes a perfect picture, with the peculiarly beautiful tower of the Cathedral as a background. _Friday, May 7th_, 1 A.M.--The noise is worse than anywhere in London, even the King's Road. The din that a column of horse-drawn, bolt-rattling waggons make over cobbles is literally deafening; you can't hear each other speak. And the big motor-lorries taking the "munitions of war" up are almost as bad. These processions alternate with marching troops, clattering horses, and French engines all day, and very often all night, and in the middle of it all there are the guns. Tonight the rifle firing is crackling. Sir John French and Sir Douglas Haig have been up here to-day, and every one is telling every one else when the great Attack is going to begin. There are three field ambulances up here, and only work for two ( --th and --th), so the --th is established in a huge school for 500 boys, where it runs a great laundry and bathing establishment. A thousand men a day come in for bath, disinfection, and clean clothes; 100 French women do the laundry work in huge tubs, and there are big disinfectors and drying and ironing rooms. The men of the F.A. do the sorting and all the work except the washing and ironing. And the beautifully-cared-for English cart-horses that belong to the F.A., and the waggons and the motor ambulances and the equipment, are all kept ready to move at a moment's notice. Colonel ---- showed me all over it this evening. It is done at a cost to the Government of 7d. per man, washed and clothed. My blackbird has laid another egg. _Friday, May 7th_, 10 P.M.--A pitch-dark night, raining a little, and only one topic--the Attack to-morrow morning.