CHRISTMAS-TIME IN FOUR CONTINENTS 195 



at last found an undisturbed resting-place and squared matters 

 with the colonel by doing himself thoroughly well on his oats 

 during the following twenty-four hours. 



How I thoroughly frightened and dispersed the Town Council 

 of Blois is perhaps also worth telling : 



With orders to engage stabling for the horses, about 100 



in number, of our ambulance, &c., I left Orleans for Blois soon 



after noon on a very cold and snowy day. Snow lay thickly 



everywhere and a long ride along that most depressing of all 



roads, a French chausee in winter, was not a pleasant prospect 



for my horse or me. We had started too late, the days then 



were very short, and all chance of reaching Blois before night 



was soon gone ; it was slow travelling on the hard, frozen, 



deedly rutted ground. Thanks to heavy snow clouds, night, 



and a very dark one, came on rapidly ; hoping, however, to find 



some place to put up in we stumbled along, but no lights 



became visible anywhere. Presently, close to the road, a huge 



barn loomed darkly and, any shelter being better than none, 



I rode up to it and through the open door into the black 



interior. The light of a match disclosed a vast empty space 



and a floor deeply covered with straw. It certainly did not look 



a very comfortable quarter for a winter night, but there being 



no choice I closed the door and let the horse go to choose a 



resting-place for himself ; I did the same and was soon asleep 



with straw and coat as bedding. Cold and hungry after an 



apparently endless night, I barely awaited the first streaks of 



dawn to continue my journey, and before noon entered Blois, 



then one of the advanced posts of the German army. My 



quest for stabling for so many horses in a city crammed full 



of troops was not likely to be successful, yet the only way to 



give it a chance was to explain matters to the Maire, and him 



I found in session at the Mairie surrounded by his councillors. 



My request was received with derisive laughter apparently all 



their houses were full of the detested Prussian horses but after 



further conversation I was told of a barn on the other side of the 



Loire at Vienne, then empty but likely to be occupied at any 



moment by a German supply column. With former experience 



of these " trains " this information did not give much hope, still 



it was the only chance. 



