My first step was
to request leave of absence, that I might forage for provisions to be
sent to the front by the first opportunity.
Dr. McAllister very kindly accorded me his permission, placing at my
disposal an ambulance and a driver, advising me, however, not to
follow the main road or the beaten track which had already been
drained by foragers, but to go deep into the piny woods. Said he,
"Only one of our foragers has ever been through that region, and his
reports were not very encouraging. The people want to keep all they
have got for home-consumption, and greatly distrust 'hospital people,'
but if success is possible, _you_ will succeed." In anticipation, this
ride into deep, odorous pine woods seemed delightful. When the
ambulance with its "captured" mule drove up before my door, I gayly
climbed into it, and, waving merry adieux to half-disapproving friends
(among them Dr. Hughes, with his distressed face, and _Diogenes_, who
looked daggers at me), set off in high glee. The ride along the
pleasant road was lovely; early birds sung sweetly; the dew, yet
undisturbed, glistened everywhere, the morning breeze blew freshly in
my face.
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