A TRIP TO AUSTRALIA 



This took all the cash we could find, but that did not 

 matter, we would get as far as we could and trust to 

 luck. 



On arrival at Marseilles we put up at a good 

 hotel and immediately cabled home for cash to pay 

 our fare and hotel expenses. The hotel manager 

 was quite decent about it, fed us well, and he was 

 eventually paid his bill. 



Travelling across France for twenty-four hours in a 

 third-class railway compartment was not a very good 

 finish to the round trip, but a day in Paris to wind 

 up was better, and home the following day to find 

 ourselves looked upon as real travellers, as indeed 

 we were. The old ship Brittanic, I believe, arrived 

 at Southampton about the same time as we did in 

 London, but that did not matter, we had seen a 

 bit more of the world. 



Whilst still in the Yeomanry I had the good luck 

 to be one of those chosen to attend the Coronation 

 of King Edward VII on August 9, 1902. I have 

 never seen such a collection of the Crowned Heads 

 of Europe, and never shall again ; neither will 

 London. Too many fell at the end of the Great 

 War, some never to rise again. Kings, Queens and 

 members of Royal Families do make a good show 

 after all, and surely life will lose something if we 

 clear it of all that is spectacular and picturesque. 



On this occasion Kaiser William II was at the 

 top of his form, and I remember, too, seeing Lord 

 Kitchener well mounted and looking his best. Were 

 not these two giants a few years later the great leaders 

 of the opposing forces in the Great War, and I think 



31 



