THREE:The second plan of boring by means of a bar mounted on points or centres is one by which the greatest accuracy is attainable; it is like chuck-boring a lathe operation, and [138] one for which no better machine than a lathe has been devised, at least for the smaller kinds of work. It is a problem whether in ordinary machine fitting there is not a gain by performing all boring in this manner whenever the rigidity of boring bars is sufficient without auxiliary supports, and when the bars can pass through the work. Machines arranged for this kind of boring can be employed in turning or boring as occasion may require.At Thourout all convents and large buildings had been turned into hospitals, and the streets on both sides were full of big wagons. Hundreds of soldiers went off, and large convoys of carts were standing243 in the meadows and on the roads, where officers and men were also practising riding. We were here in the rear, where there was a continuous going and coming from the front. Most soldiers were in a more or less excited mood; some did not hide their discontent, or sat musing dejectedly, asking themselves how these terrible days would end for them? Others again seemed to have got into a sort of frenzy in consequence of the continuous fighting and were not able to think logically at all. They told excited stories about the British whom they had killed, and chased away from the 42 c.m. guns, who, according to them, were also at work in the swampy soil near Nieuwpoort, and also told about the shooting civilians, and those cursed Belgians, who cut open the bellies of their poor wounded, or sliced off their noses, hands, and ears. Of course pure fairy tales, but recited with much power of conviction.
