a South African War veteran, as we looked at them, quoted Kipling's "The liner she's a lady With the paint upon 'er face, Towards noon a smart launch came alongside. Even at a distance the boys were quick to recognize our popular minister of militia, Sam Hughes, and a thundering cheer rang out. With him were several soldiers who threw bundles of papers aboard. These were printed copies of his farewell to the troops. His launch sailed by the ship, and then on to the next and so on, through the fleet. Our orders forbade the display of lights or even striking of matches after 6 P. M.; consequently all lights were masked to-night on the vessels, except those on the Royal Edward. The minute her lights were put out the Bay resumed its normal condition, not even the outlines of the vessels being visible. A press photographer on a launch has been taking pictures all the afternoon. Sailed at five o'clock this afternoon just as the twilight commenced. We sailed out in three lines. The convoy is now under way and we extend as far as can be seen in both directions. We have two military police patrols whose chief duty is to see that no matches are struck on deck. Bill, who smokes more matches than tobacco, has had to go below so often to light his pipe, that he has decided to do without smoking on deck. It is surprising how far a match struck in the dark will show. We noticed how matches struck on the other ships showed up last night. All our portholes are screwed down with the heavy weather irons and those of the second-class cabins are covered with blankets. The authorities are taking no chances. We are having physical drills and lectures all day, and we are working just as hard on board as we would ashore. Our speed will not be more than nine knots; the speed of the slowest vessel regulating the speed of the whole fleet. We Matches are getting very scarce. complained about the tea to the orderly officer to-day; milk is running out, so the tea is made with milk and sugar in. We asked to have the three separate, but we were told that if we complained we would have all three taken away. As a floor stain it's great, but as tea it's a failure. We are quartered in the steerage part of the ship and our food is in keeping. It is really remarkable how they can consistently get that same coal-oil flavor in all the food. War news is signaled from ship to ship by semaphore flags by day. It is posted up in the guard room daily. The news that the Indian troops landed in France on the 29th of September was the chief item on the bulletin yesterday. We're short on things to read. Scraps of newspapers are devoured, even to the advertisements. In our cabin we have a "Saturday Evening Post" of September 26th which is thumb-marked and torn, but it is still treasured. We were not allowed to bring anything besides our kit on board on account of the limited space. Reveille blows at six o'clock and we have to answer the roll-call at 6.15. The idea is, that if the men get up and walk about, they are not so likely to get seasick, but in spite of that quite a number are sick. We have on board one hundred of our brigade; two hundred and sixteen heavy artillery and one hundred and forty horses, together with artillery officers and equipment. The horses take up the same space which in ordinary times. is occupied by humans. Otherwise, we should have a great many more troops. Our destination is still a mystery. We're a fleet without a port. Have just been ordered on fatigue to take a prisoner on deck for exercise. He is to be tried by court-martial to-morrow for striking. a sergeant. All day he is kept locked up and only allowed out at night for exercise, under escort. The escort consists of two men and a non-com. While on this job we watched the signalers flashing the war news from the stern of our boat to the bridge of the next astern, the Virginian. The news is flashed at night by the lamps - short and long flashes. The news is picked up by wireless on the flagship, the Charybdis, at the head of our line and signaled back from ship to ship. This is the list of the fleet. It is written here in the order in which they are sailing. Three warships are heading the fleet; the flagship is the H.M.S. Charybdis, commanded by Admiral Wemyss, who distinguished himself a few weeks ago in the Battle of Heligoland. The H.M.S. Glory, the vessel on our starboard beam, altered her course to-day and |