TREE HERITAGE 



blubbering child, burst into tears and had to retire. In 

 a few minutes, however, he had collected himself suf- 

 ficiently to be able to address us. He read the letter, 

 which explained the seriousness of the situation, and the 

 urgent need for Officers. When he had finished this he 

 said: *'You have to decide what you wish to do. For my 

 part, as you know, it has long been my ambition to lead 

 you in a charge and die with you. But it seems that 

 Cavalry as yet is not wanted. We are to be kept in re- 

 serve. It may be that the call has come to you to die a 

 different way. The decision rests with you. Parade will 

 now dismiss and reassemble in half an hour's time, when 

 you will all have to tell me what you intend to do." 



Upon this we silently broke up, and joined our col- 

 lege friends in little groups. It was obvious that we had 

 to make a momentous decision, and this very quickly. 

 Few of us wanted the responsibility of being officers, 

 and all of us had made up our minds that we would die 

 together. That was the supreme idea. We knew that we 

 must die sooner or later, and we preferred to stick to- 

 gether. On the other hand, a fresh and unexpected call 

 had come. We realized it was no time to be sentimental 

 about the Regiment or even our dear Major and Colo- 

 nel. If Kitchener wanted us as officers, we should have 

 to go. 



Within half an hour we were paraded again and one 

 hundred and thirty of us handed in our names for com- 

 missions. Within a few hours we had joined through our 

 respective O.T.C.'s at Oxford and Cambridge, and I 



257 



