After lying awake for some nights under these conditions, I found that the privates, especially the old soldiers, had learnt the art of making themselves comfortable and were hunting for straw for beds.

I saw the wisdom of this and got a Wolesley sleeping bag, which I afterwards lost when my billet was shelled at Ypres.

Under this new arrangement I was able to get a little rest.

A kind friend in Quebec provided fifty oil stoves for the use of the Quebec contingent and so we became quite comfortable.
The dominating spirit of the camp was General Hughes, who rode about with his aides-de-camp in great splendour like Napoleon.

To me it seemed that his personality and his despotic rule hung like a dark shadow over the camp.