The reader will observe that many of these sketches appear in the form of what, to borrow a French term, is called the _conte_. The writer has adopted that form of literary expression as the most efficacious way of suppressing his own personality; the obtrusion of which, in the form of "Reminiscences," would, he feels, be altogether disproportionate and impertinent in view of the magnitude and poignancy of the great events amid which it was his privilege to live and move. Moreover, his own duties were neither spirited nor glorious. But the characters pourtrayed and the events narrated in these pages are true in substance and in fact. The writer has not had the will, even if he had had the power, to "improve" the occasions; the reality was too poignant for that. "Stokes's Act" and "The Coming of the Hun" are therefore "true" stories--using truth in the sense of veracity not value--and the facts came within the writer's own investigation. The investiture of fiction has been here adopted for the obvious reason that neither of the principal characters in these two stories would desire his name to be known. So, too, in the other sketches, although the characters are "real"--I can only hope that they will be half as real to the reader as they were and are to me--the names are assumed. It is my privilege to inscribe this little book to Lieut.-General Sir C.F.N. Macready, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., to whose staff I was attached and to whose friendship, encouragement, and hospitality I owe a debt which no words can discharge. J. H. M. _January 1916._ CONTENTS I THE BASE PAGE I. BOBS BAHADUR 3 II. AT THE BASE DEPOT 11 III. THE WILTSHIRES 17 IV. THE BASE 26 V. A COUNCIL OF INDIA 36 VI. THE TROOP TRAIN 45 II THE FRONT VII. THE TWO RICHEBOURGS 59 VIII. IDOLS OF THE CAVE 65 IX. STOKES'S ACT 73 X. THE FRONT 92 XI. AT G.H.Q. 103 XII. MORT POUR LA PATRIE 119 XIII. MEAUX AND SOME BRIGANDS 128 XIV. THE CONCIERGE AT SENLIS 134 III UNOFFICIAL INTERLUDES