Three days before this we had a practice alarm, followed by a concentration of the whole Division in the Long Valley, where our Divisional Commander, Major-General Forster, carried out his final inspection before giving up command. On September 23rd the Division had the honour of being inspected by His Majesty the King. It was a brilliant day, and the scene was one that will long live in the memory of those who took part in it. The Division was drawn up in review order on the Review Ground facing the Pavilion, and after a Royal Salute the King rode round the ranks. It was a pretty severe test of discipline and steadiness, but, as a regular officer was heard to remark in the Aldershot Club that evening, "the men were magnificent, and the march past first rate. You would have thought it was a regular division." The battalion gained great credit for their share in the march past, though the pace set by the band was almost too quick even for riflemen. After this Commanding Officers were introduced to His Majesty, and we set off for home, feeling more than satisfied with our turn out, our discipline, and our drill. We had all this while been confident of our early departure for overseas. We had had our last leave and been inspected by the King, we had lent our rifles to a draft of men from the Home Counties Division to enable them to complete their musketry before joining us, and we had all been recently inoculated and vaccinated. How near we were then to going abroad only those in the secret know, but gradually the suspicion spread that our time had not yet come, and it proved only too true. Our draft, or what we called "our draft," proceeded overseas direct, and we learned to our dismay that we were shortly to proceed to Woking for winter quarters. It was a terrible disappointment. Everyone had felt that at last the promised day was come, and here were our hopes dashed to the ground once more. The battalion behaved splendidly, however, and only those who knew the men intimately realized how severe was the blow. For two long years had we been training, and now, when our hopes were all but realized, we found ourselves condemned once more to the old grind and the old routine for an indefinite period. Men were almost ashamed to go on leave and face the heartless gibes of those who did not know the facts; but they settled down again to the old tasks with grim determination, feeling that one day they would really be allowed to go, and that the more efficient they made themselves, and the quicker they trained the promised drafts of raw men, the sooner would their ambition be realized.