Aboard Ship, April 30, 1917 Dear Friend:- I promised you I would write before leaving England, so now while aboard a transport which may sail any hour, it is high time to write. I have just come from London where I spent over five weeks awaiting orders. A great deal of my time was spent buying the necessary clothing and equipment. About half of my luggage consists of books of all kinds, for with nine hundred-weight as the limit to be taken, I am able to have quite a little library with me. I do not happen to have anything near the limit, but quite a stack of it all the same. For the next six weeks you may imagine me spending most of my time reviewing the work I have taken in England. I began my language work this forenoon. That was the first time I had looked at it for weeks. I had no time either at Aldershot or at Grantham, and did not take time in London; I decided it would be best to have a real holiday. After all it did me no harm, for I have found it possible to be serious again and concentrate just the same as ever. Our holiday had a very happy ending, for when we embarked, we were entitled to wear another star as full lieutenants. Nearly everybody thinks we are going to Mesopotamia, but our new unit, the South Persian Rifles, has no connection whatever with the armies operating in the above district. We are not connected with the Indian Army either, although under the pay of the Indian Government. When I arrive in India, where the new rate of pay commences, I will be able to get real value for my work at Toronto and Cambridge, for I understand we are to get �40 a month and travelling expenses, the same rate as a major in the Indian Army receives. I think it pays to take one's work seriously. It has certainly been profitable for those of us who kept up our interest throughout the various courses, although the work was most trying at times. This is a very comfortable ship, far more so than the "Olympic" from which most of the furniture had been taken. The officers too, are a jolly crowd, with only one major and a few captains among them. If you write to my Bombay address in the near future, your letter will reach there not long after I arrive, and at least before I sail again. Yours sincerely, Lt. D.A.Lane.