Ypres League Battlefields
Pilgrimage
244
heavens. They stretched in an irregular line from North to South, becoming smaller
and smaller near the horizon, and finally disappearing in a haze. Some were high up,
some were low down.
Presently, just as we were beginning to bring our eyes back to earth, something
happened. The wire rope broke and the balloon, freed from its ground-anchor, pointed
its nose upward and rose rapidly. A westerly wind was blowing and the great gas-bag
drifted over towards the German lines. Silence fell on the little group round the lorry
and every eye was strained upwards. A few seconds passed, then a little white mushroom
opened out under the salmon, which had now shrunk to the size of a mackerelone of
the observers was safely launched in his parachute. Breathlessly we waited for the other
mushroom to grow, but it never came. The balloon was only a tiny minnow now. Soon
it had disappeared in the distant haze. The soldiers standing round the winding-lorry
began to set about their duties in silence. In all our minds was the question, Why
had the other mushroom not appeared
I strolled back across the field to the officers' mess. The telephone on the box in
the corner of the wooden building buzzed, and I took up the receiver. The officer
commanding an adjacent captive-balloon section was speaking. I have just had a
message from the infantry in the line," he said, saying that Basil Hallam's body has
been picked up, attached to an unopen parachute. His companion landed safely just
behind our support trenches." So London music-hall audiences could never again
applaud The Colonel of the Knuts
W. J. V.
ON Saturday, August 3rd, a party of some 50 pilgrims assembled at Victoria
Station at 7.30 a.m., and were greeted by Captain de Trafford, M.C., who con
ducted the pilgrimage. Those unknown to each other very soon made acquaintance
of their fellow passengers and it was not long before one heard the well-known phrase,
Do you remember etc."
At Dover we embarked on the steamer, Princess Josephine Charlotte," in which
a comfortable crossing was made in glorious weather, and after the usual Customs
procedure at Ostend, we walked the short distance to the Town Station to entrain for
Ypres. At each station en route, heads craned forward to see if any old landmarks still
remained, especially in the vicinity of Poelcapelle, Langemarck and Boesinghe. The
whole countryside is changed, and only two or three pill-boxes could be observed.
At 4.30 p.m. we arrived at the tragic city where the party split up to go to their respective
hotels. After an excellent dinner, we attended the sounding of the Last Post at the
Menin Gate, where we found a party of Old Contemptibles lined up beneath the Arch
on both sides of the roadway. On the stroke of 9 o'clock all traffic stopped and the
silvery notes from the bugles sounded and re-echoed from the lofty roof of the wonderful
Hall of Memory. The ceremony concluded, the crowd gradually melted away and all
was silent again. Some returned to the Grande Place to watch the erection of stalls, etc.,
for the Tuindag Fair which was to open on the Sunday morning, others proceeded to
the old Ramparts to look across the country in safety, whilst others sat at the tables
outside numberous estaminets for a smoke and chat over a friendly glass.
