Our orders were to reach Caestre not later than the Signal Company.  Caestre is on the Cassel-Bailleul road, three miles north-east of Hazebrouck.  These unattached rides across country are the most joyous things in the world for a despatch rider.  There is never any need to hurry.  You can take any road you will.  You may choose your tavern for lunch with expert care.  And when new ground is covered and new troops are seen, we capture sometimes those sharp delightful moments of thirsting interest that made the Retreat into an epic and the Advance a triumphant ballad.

N’Soon and myself left together.  We skidded along the tow-path, passed the ever-cheerful cyclists, and, turning due north, ran into St Venant.  The grease made us despatch riders look as if we were beginning to learn.  I rode gently but surely down the side of the road into the gutter time after time.  Pulling ourselves together, we managed to slide past some Indian transport without being kicked by the mules, who, whenever they smelt petrol, developed a strong offensive.  Then we came upon a big gun, discreetly covered by tarpaulins.  It was drawn by a monster traction-engine, and sad-faced men walked beside it.  The steering of the traction-engine was a trifle loose, so N’Soon and I drew off into a field to let this solemn procession pass.  One of the commands in the unpublished “Book of the Despatch Rider” is this:—­

When you halt by the roadside to let guns pass or when you leave your motor-cycle unattended, first place it in a position of certain safety where it cannot possibly be knocked over, and then move it another fifty yards from the road.  It is impossible for a gunner to see something by the roadside and not drive over it.  Moreover, lorries when they skid, skid furiously.

Four miles short of Hazebrouck we caught up the rest.  Proceeding in single file along the road, we endeavoured not to laugh, for—­as one despatch rider said—­it makes all the difference on grease which side of your mouth you put your pipe in.  We reached Hazebrouck at midday.  Spreading out—­the manoeuvre had become a fine art—­we searched the town.  The “Chapeau Rouge” was well reported on, and there we lunched.

All those tourists who will deluge Flanders after the war should go to the “Chapeau Rouge” in Hazebrouck.  There we had lentil soup and stewed kidneys, and roast veal with potatoes and leeks, fruit, cheese, and good red wine.  So little was the charge that one of us offered to pay it all.  There are other more fashionable hotels in Hazebrouck, but, trust the word of a despatch rider, the “Chapeau Rouge” beats them all.

Very content we rode on to Caestre, arriving there ten minutes before the advance-party of the Signal Company.  Divisional Headquarters were established at the House of the Spy.  The owner of the house had been well treated by the Germans when they had passed through a month before.  Upon his door had been written this damning legend—­