Soldier of the Horse by Robert W. Mackay

invited him into the house.
    â€œI will be taking Ellen to stay at my sister’s, at Bird’s Hill, in the morning,” he told Tom as Ellen sat, wrapped in a comforter, on a couch. “Anne will be happy to look after her for a few days.”
    Tom and Ellen had a few minutes alone in the parlour. She was pale and tired-looking, her arm, with its heavy cast, in a sling. They were both conscious of her father, who hovered in the next room.
    â€œHow is Belle?” she asked.
    â€œShe’s doing very well, none the worse for wear. But what about you?”
    â€œI think I need sleep. When will I see you?”
    â€œJust as soon as possible.”
    Ellen reached toward Tom and he took her hand, which warmed with his touch. “I’ll be away for a few days,” she said. “And then . . .”
    â€œAnd then, we’ll be together again. You look after yourself, and get better. Don’t worry—I’ll be here when you get back.”
    â€œYou’d better be,” she said, giving a toss of her head and doing her best to smile.
    â™¦Â Â â™¦Â Â â™¦
    The long-awaited figurative trumpet call sounded at Fort Osborne Barracks the next day at 0800 hours, when the commanding officer addressed the men of the 1st Reinforcement. “You have until 1600 hours to pack, at which time you will be granted leave until midnight tonight. Final kit inspection and parade take place at 0700 hours tomorrow, after which you will march to the CPR station for entrainment to Halifax and a ship to England to join your regiment. Good luck.”
    The rest of the day went by in a blur of packing and double-checking uniforms and equipment. Tom squeezed in a last ride on Rusty, who would be left behind to train the next recruit assigned to him, then rode the streetcar to his family home in East Kildonan.
    He tried to reach Ellen on the telephone, but the operator could not connect with anyone named Evans in Bird’s Hill, and there was no answer at the Evans residence. Thoughts of Ellen were uppermost in his mind, making it extra hard to say goodbye to his brothers, sister, and especially his mother, who was not doing well. He worried that he’d never see her again.
    His father drove him back to the barracks gate where they stood a moment. Bill put out his hand for Tom to shake, then clasped him in a strong embrace. “Good luck, son. I know you’ll make us proud.”
    A sudden upwelling of emotions hit Tom at the thought of not seeing his family or Ellen again, perhaps for years. If ever. But that was too hard a notion and he banished it from his mind. Bill, who had never been a man to show his feelings, held Tom a moment longer, and when they stepped apart he brushed his sleeve quickly across his eyes.
    A lump in his throat meant Tom could only mumble, “I will, Dad.” He reached out and touched his father on the shoulder for a moment, then turned and walked into the barracks, a sense of leaving part of himself behind crowding out fear of the unknown.

LIFE AT SEA
    â™¦Â Â Â â™¦Â Â Â â™¦
    It seemed to Tom as if one minute he was in Winnipeg and suddenly, the next, he was marching from the Halifax terminal to a dock where the men of the 1st Reinforcement boarded ship. Now that their vessel had butted its way into the teeth of an Atlantic gale, he couldn’t believe there were men who actually enjoyed life at sea. He was on his hands and knees, scrubbing the deck in the officers’ head. As the Royal Mail Ship Cape Wrath rolled, he clung to a water pipe so he wouldn’t carom across the space and crash into a bulkhead. Water in the drains gurgled and growled with the ship’s movements. He felt queasy and didn’t know how long he could handle it—one instant he would be pressed into the deck and seconds later almost weightless, grabbing at whatever was handy to avoid flying through the air. Without warning his stomach