[Footnote 2: Trench mats are usually 8 feet long by 2-1/2 feet broad and are simply flooring boards about 2 inches broad which are nailed about two inches apart to a strong scantling 3 × 3 inches thick.]
"Uncle, what are you going to do with that gun?"
I turned around to discover my little niece, who had noiselessly entered my den just as I had removed from the wall a Mauser rifle, a souvenir of former campaigns in South Africa. My reply to her was in these few words: "I am going to 'Hunt the Hun,' for England has declared war against Germany."
As I replaced the rifle on the wall, memories of my previous campaigns arose before me and the chance of going on active service appealed to me strongly.
When war broke out between England and Germany, I was living in Toronto, Canada, and was at that time an officer in an irregular corps known by the name of the Legion of Frontiersmen. The men composing the corps were chiefly veterans of other wars and ex-soldiers. All were of the true fighting stock and each was imbued with the sole idea of doing his bit for king and country.
When I reached our district headquarters that same evening, I met a determined lot of Britishers all eager to answer the call that we knew would come from the Motherland. We held a meeting to discuss ways and means and how we could best assist the mother country. We decided that we should cable over at once to our commanding officer, Col. Driscoll, in London, England. Col. Driscoll was the organiser and commanding officer of the Driscoll Scouts in the Boer War. He had organised some 80,000 frontiersmen all over the British Empire. In response to our cable, we had a reply from him in which he informed us that we would have to go as infantry. The frontiersmen were trained as cavalry, so we were a rather disappointed lot that we could not go as mounted troops.
We therefore had to break away from the old organisation. I offered myself and my men to Major General Sir Sam Hughes, who advised us to join the Canadian Militia. This we did, and later on I received my commission and at once began to drill and train the men as infantry. This was not a difficult task, as nearly all of them had previous experience.
Eventually we were warned for overseas, but to my great disappointment, I was held back to do further recruiting two days before sailing. I at once began to recruit all over again, and my new battalion furnished me with a few amusing little incidents.