XXVI. LIFE IN HANOVER HOSPITAL 166 HOSPITAL DIET. INTERVIEWED BY A GERMAN DOCTOR. DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL. XXVII. OBSERVATIONS AND IMPRESSIONS 176 EMPLOYMENT OF PRISONERS. PARCELS. MEN OF MONS. XXVIII. STORIES OF THE HEROES OF MONS 187 XXIX. OSNABRUCK 199 ARRIVAL IN CAMP. THE CANTEEN. DAILY ROUTINE. RATIONS. PARCELS. NEWS. XXX. COMEDY AND DRAMA 215 I SALUTE THE WALL. THE STORY OF AN EGG. A NOVEL BANQUET. JOY RIDE ON A LORRY. THE SWISS COMMISSION. XXXI. FREE 227 I BLUFF THE GERMAN SERGEANT. AACHEN. TWO BOTTLES OF WINE. ACROSS THE FRONTIER. GREAT SCOTT! I AM CHARGED FOR MY OWN DEATH EXPENSES. ILLUSTRATIONS Captain Gilbert Nobbs Frontispiece Captain Nobbs after his release from the German prison Facing page 164 ON THE RIGHT OF THE BRITISH LINE CHAPTER I FOVANT ORDERLY ROOM. OFF TO THE FRONT "The C.O. wants to see you." "What for?" I asked. "I don't know, but he is in the orderly room." It was the adjutant who was speaking, and his manner led me to think there was something in the wind which he did not like to tell me. I left the mess, and a few moments later I was standing before the C.O. "I have just received a telegram from the War Office; you are included in the next reinforcements for France." "I am glad, sir." "You've only forty-eight hours' notice. You are to report at Southampton at 4. P.M. the day after to-morrow." "Very good, sir." "Well, as your time is so short, you had better go home and get things ready. The adjutant will have your papers ready for you within half an hour." "Very good, sir." The C.O. stood up, and in his cordial military manner, which seemed to take you straight from the orderly room into the mess, held out his hand to bid me good-bye. There is quite a difference between a C.O. in the orderly room and a C.O. in the mess. I mean those C.O.'s who are made of the right stuff, and our C.O. was certainly one of them. In the orderly room his presence keeps you at arm's length and makes you feel that you want to keep clicking your heels and coming to the salute. You are conscious of the terrible crime you would commit if you permitted your body to relax from the position of attention; your conversational powers are restricted; you fancy you have a voice at the back of your head, saying: "Don't argue, listen; digest, and get out." It's a feeling which does not make the orderly room a very pleasant place to go to; yet you have an instinctive feeling of confidence.