One afternoon towards the end of September we visited Termonde.  We heard that the Germans, having burnt the town, had retired, leaving it in the hands of the Belgian troops.  It was a rare opportunity to see the handiwork of the enemy at close quarters, and we did not wish to miss it.  Termonde is about twenty-two miles from Antwerp, and a powerful car made short work of the distance.  Starting directly southwards through Boom, we reached Willebroeck and the road which runs east and west from Malines through Termonde to Ghent, and along it we turned to the right.  We were now running parallel to the German lines, which at some points were only a couple of miles away on the other side of the Termonde-Malines railway.  We passed numerous Belgian outposts along the road, and for a few miles between Lippeloo and Baesrode they begged us to travel as fast as possible, as at this point we came within a mile of the railway.  We did travel, and it would have taken a smart marksman to hit us at fifty miles an hour; but we felt much happier when we passed under the railway bridge of a loop line at Briel and placed it between ourselves and the enemy.  The entrance to Termonde was blocked by a rough barricade of bricks and branches guarded by a squad of soldiers.  They told us that no one was allowed to pass, and we were about to return disappointed, when one of us happened to mention the password.  As without it we could not possibly have got so far, it had never occurred to us that they might think we had not got it; and as we had no possible business in the town, we had no arguments to oppose to their refusal to let us in.  However, all was now open to us, and the cheery fellows ran forward to remove the barrier they had put up.

Termonde is, or rather was, a well-to-do town of 10,000 inhabitants lying on the Scheldt at the point where the Dendre, coming up from the south, runs into it.  A river in Belgium means a route for traffic, and the town must have derived some advantage from its position as a trade junction.  But it possesses an even greater one in the bridge which here crosses the Scheldt, the first road bridge above the mouth of the river, for there is none at Antwerp.  At least six main roads converge upon this bridge, and they must have brought a great deal of traffic through the town.  When we mention that a corresponding number of railways meet at the same spot, it will be seen Termonde was an important centre, and that it must have been a wealthy town.  The Dendre runs right through the centre of the town to the point where it joins the Scheldt, and on each side runs a long stone quay planted with trees, with old-fashioned houses facing the river.  With the little wooden bridges and the barges on the river it must have been a very pretty picture.  Now it was little better than a heap of ruins.