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236 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
help to keep order in the thoroughfare. " Where are all these
troops and vehicles off to ?
" I asked. " They are going to
be ferried across the Scheldt to TUe de Flandre ; that is,
where the road to Ghent begins. They are off to the coast to
throw a glance across to England."
It is difficult to get along. Everything seems in such a
jumble. I am just on the point of snapping some kitchen
wagons when a Uhlan perched on a baggage wagon shouts
to me :
" Neighbour, it is forbidden to photograph the field
kitchen !
" " Good," I answer. " I have no need to, I have
pictures of them already." The salutation " neighbour " was,
I thought, an excellent touch.
At the quay and bridges, built to allow for the considerable
differences in level between high and low water, the ferries are
in full swing. The bridging train we saw yesterday has not
yet had time to throw a bridge across. Instead it has devoted
its energies to building a species of ferry, consisting of a plat-
form mounted on three pontoons. A tug took two of these
contrivances in tow and three river steamers were busy con-
veying a double ferry of this kind across with troops, ammuni-
tion, ambulance and food wagons, field kitchens, field tele-
graph equipment and horses. Among the troops I noticed
an Austrian artillery train belonging to the 30.5-cm. mortar
batteries now stationed in Belgium.
" Drive up," orders an officer. Immediately a column of
vehicles moves forward and halts on the brink of the quay.
The horses are taken out and the vehicles are pushed on to the
ferry by the marines. Then the horses are led across the gang-
way. They stamp, snort and rear, for evidently they dislike
the look of this queer-looking craft. But all to no purpose,
on board they have to go. When two ferries are full, the
steamer casts off and tows them in a twinkling across the
Scheldt to Tétc de Flandre. Here another gangway is thrown
out, the vehicles are pulled on to the quay by hand, the
horses are put to and the column proceeds on its way to
Ghent.
As soon as the first load had left the east bank, another river
steamer with its two ferries came alongside and took another
contingent on board. So it went on all day and so it was to
continue throughout the night by the light of electric lamps.
The same programme would be repeated the next day, and so
on as long as there were any troops, horses or vehicles left to
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