THE LONG TRAIL 



unwashed and unshaven, suffocating be- 

 neath a mosquito-net, or tortured by mos- 

 quitoes and sand-flies when one raises the 

 net to let in a breath of air — it is then 

 that one dreams of clean pa j amas and cool 

 sheets and iced water. I have often heard 

 father say when he was having a bout of 

 fever at home, that it was almost a 

 pleasure to be ill, particularly when you 

 thought of all the past discomforts of 

 fever in the wilds. 



Father's disappointment at not being 

 able to take a physical part in the war — 

 as he has said, "to pay with his body for 

 his soul's desire" — was bitter. Strongly 

 as he felt about going, I doubt if his dis- 

 appointment was much more keen than 

 that of the British and French statesmen 

 and generals, who so readily realized what 

 his presence would mean to the Allied 

 cause, and more than once requested in 

 77 



