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OSTEND BOMBARDED 281
all the officers would be at dinner. Probably they thought
that they would get past unimpeded after carrying out their
reconnaissance before we were ready."
What can have been the intention of the British ? It may
perhaps have been—apart from the general reconnaissance to
discover what the Germans had in the harbour—to tempt the
German artillery out of its hiding-place. Their persistent fire,
although the German reply was so slight, would hardly have
any other explanation. They gained nothing by the affair,
and did themselves and their Belgian Allies a certain amount
of material damage.
When all was quiet again we settled down to our meal, after
which Bess, Kiibler and I went over to the Majestic Hotel.
On the way we passed the house where a shell had lodged in
the coping. Some men and women were just issuing from its
gates with a lusty-looking child in a perambulator. The elders
looked frightened and perturbed. " Where are you off to ?
"
we asked.
" Surely you can’t expect us to remain in a house which has
been shot at," said one of the men, and added with a touch
of sardonic humour, " these are strong pills for little children
—we are going to move away."
In the 1 910 edition of " Baedeker " the Majestic Hotel appears
under the name of Grand Hotel des Bains. Since then it has
changed its name and probably its proprietor. Its handsome
white frontage had been badly knocked about by the six
shells which we had counted, and which had torn great gaping
holes in the walls. On the pavement outside lay huge piles
of stone, bricks and masonry, and we noticed the fragments
of one of the ornamental plaster angels with wings lifted for
flight, but which nevertheless, by the irony of fate, had
ended its days in millions of fragments on the stone pavement.
We went into the lobby, where cupboards, tables and chairs
lay in picturesque disorder. An hour ago the restaurant had
been one of the most elegant in Europe. Its floor was laid
with rich red Brussels carpets, the walls were decorated in
white and gold and mirrors, with magnificent chandeliers
hanging from the ceiling. Now the whole room was a picture
of the most ghastly devastation. Two shells had entered just
by the lower part of the long row of windows. Their splinters
had torn gaping holes in walls and ceilings. The plaster
ornaments had fallen down and now lay shivered into frag-
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