6o THE HORSE AND THE WAR 



Have you ever thought, one wonders, of these four years of silent, 

 dead-o '-night traffic from shore to shore of the English Channel during 

 which hundreds of thousands of war-horses have been carried across in safety ? 

 of the Remount Service which has brought them together from a far distant 

 land, and is now distributing them again into the battle arenas ? Has the 

 average Englishman given more than a passing thought to the wonderful 

 organization of the Navy which has protected our transports on their ever 

 risky errands ? or of those gallant Captains Courageous and their splendid 

 crews who have braved for all this time the lurking perils and navigated their 

 ships from safety, through danger with the ever-present chance of disaster, 

 to safety again ? 



Certainly the Remount Service is conscious of uninterrupted triumph 

 over hidden foes, a triumph which the protecting escort of destroyers and 

 careful navigation in face of extinguished lights have done everything to 

 secure. When you have stood through the night by the side of a Captain 

 Courageous you will have understood something of the nervous and mental 

 strain borne night after night by those who have supported a great burden of 

 responsibility. It is not a time for talk — just quiet deeds and orders given 

 and executed in hushed tones ; frequent glances by the Captain in the privacy 

 of his chart-room at the course as laid down in secret Admiralty instructions, 

 observations to port and starboard, and always the hiss of the bow waves as 

 the ship hurries on at full pressure to beat the coming light of day. You can 

 imagine in some small way the tension of the long looks ahead and abeam, 

 and the always present anxiety to solve the mystery of the darkness. The 

 escorts you know are there, frequently changing their guardian positions, 

 and, when necessary, winking out messages of instruction and extra caution. 

 The thought stiffens your courage and especially when the blessed wireless 

 reads in those disquieting messages of " Government war warnings," of the 

 presence on and under the waters of the vicious enemy. You know that 

 every precaution to save ship and many lives is being taken. Again the 

 thought is comforting. The night may seem long, though, sometimes, not 

 long enough ; for the first grey streaks of dawn are fast paling into another 

 day before the ship is safe, where wind and ^ ave are silent and where danger 

 dares not follow. A little while more and tlie night's work and strain are 

 over. The gallant destroyers have messaged a " good morning ! " and are 

 speeding on their return. The French pilot has been picked up and the ship 

 comes to a brief rest again. That is how an instalment cf our vast army of 

 war-horses comes to France. They, like the men that stream in day after 

 day, are only just coming to grips with the grim realities of active service. 



