i8o Sportsmen Parsons in Peace and War 



fourteen miles to the aerodrome, where we had a service in a 

 very large barn. We stood throughout the service among the 

 straw. There was just one bright light in the centre and the 

 rest of the place all dim. They were such a nice lot of fellows. 



" I have been invited to go and look at the German trenches 

 from an aeroplane. 



" Eight o'clock.— We had about forty-eight patients in 

 to-day. An aerial torpedo exploded in a dug-out ; there were 

 thirty men in it — eight were killed and all the rest were burnt, 

 mostly in the face and hands. They were an awful sight coming 

 in. The shell evidently contained Hquid fire. One or two will 

 probably lose an eye. I went into the operating-room while one 

 was having his face dressed. They were very helpless, only 

 their eyes and mouth could be seen. I and a nurse fed ten of 

 them ; beef-tea and milk had to be poured down their throats." 



Mr. Inglis now got leave and went home for a few days, 

 arriving in London about November 16, and returning on the 

 24th, and in a letter home says : 



" I found everything much easier after the splendid week at 

 home. This afternoon I was making arrangements about the 

 recreation-room. We hope to open it next Thursday. All the 

 games from Harrods' have arrived. We have got a piano, 

 quite a good one. I am going to interview a General about 

 supplying us with chairs and tables, and another at headquarters 

 about coal and lights. Then I shall go into Amiens and buy 

 cups and kettles. It is rather a business, and two of the 

 chaplains who have helped me are gone away." 



November 29. — " Gordon Geddes called for me at 10 

 o'clock this morning and I had a most interesting time with 

 him. We visited several batteries, inspected dug-outs, and 

 went to an artillery observation-point from which we could see 

 the German trenches. In fact, we looked right into them and 

 could see the French shells bursting round and about the 

 trenches." 



December 3.—" I went into Corbie to-day to get the club 

 into order. Things were quite upsetting. In the first room 

 the stove smoked so badly we had to let it out, then the windows, 

 which ought to have been mended last week, were not mended, 



