“I went on, and, in about ten minutes, saw ahead Colonel Best-Dunkley standing at the corner of a road branching off to the left from the road I was proceeding along with the Transport (just outside the village of Boisdinghem).  Just as I reached this corner Brigadier-General Stockwell rode up from the opposite direction (on horseback) and, with a face wincing with wrath, accosted Colonel Best-Dunkley as follows: 

“‘Dunkley, where’s your Battalion?’

“‘This is my Battalion here, sir,’ replied the Colonel, standing submissively to attention and indicating fifteen officers, non-commissioned officers, and men—­all told—­lying in a state of exhaustion at the side of this shaded country road.

“’What!  You call that a Battalion?  Fifteen men!  I call it a rabble.  What the b——­ h——­ do you mean by it?  Your Battalion is straggling all along the road right away back to (Watten)!  You should have halted and collected them; not marched on like this.  These men have not had a long enough halt or anything to eat all day.  If this is the way you command a Battalion, you’re not fit to command a Battalion.  You’re not even fit to command a platoon!’

“The General then said that the Colonel, the Adjutant, and four company commanders could consider themselves ‘under arrest’!  The General was simply fuming with wrath; I do not think I have ever seen a man in such a temper.  And I certainly never heard a colonel strafed in front of his own men before.  It was an extraordinary scene.  Those who have writhed under the venom of Colonel Best-Dunkley in the past would, doubtless, feel happy at this turning of the tables as it were, a refreshing revenge; but I must admit that my sympathy was with Colonel Best-Dunkley—­and so was that of all present—­in this instance, for we all felt that the General’s censure was undeserved.  It was not Colonel Best-Dunkley’s fault; if it was anybody’s fault it was the General’s own fault for ordering the march by day instead of by night, and for not halting the Brigade for a long enough period earlier on in the course of the march.  One felt that Colonel Best-Dunkley was being treated unjustly, especially as the North Lancs. had only arrived with ten!  And the Irish had not yet arrived at all! (These facts must soon have become apparent to General Stockwell, and, perhaps, caused him, inwardly at any rate, to modify his judgment).  And the way Colonel Best-Dunkley took it, the calm and submissive manner in which he bore General Stockwell’s curses and the kind and polite way in which he afterwards gave orders to, and conversed with, his inferiors, both officers and men, endeared him to all.  I consider that out of this incident Colonel Best-Dunkley has won a moral victory.  He played his cards very well, and feeling changed towards him as a result.

“The General went on:  ’You yourself, the Adjutant, and four mounted officers go right back to (Watten) immediately and collect your men together and bring them along here before you proceed any further.’