diers carried
rifles over their shoulders and kept step. But he had "Fanny"
Farquhar, of the British army, for his teacher; and he studied the book
of war in the midst of shells and bullets, which means that the lessons
stick in the same way as the lesson the small boy receives when he
touches the red-hot end of a poker to ascertain how it feels.

Writing in the midst of ruined trenches rocked by the concussion of
shells, every message he sent that day, every report he made by
orderly after the wires were down was written out very explicitly; which
Farquhar had taught him was the army way. The record is there of his
coolness when the lid was blown off of hell. For all you can tell by the
firm chirography, he might have been sending a note to a ranch
foreman.

When his communications were cut, he was not certain how much
support he had on his flanks. It looked for a time as if he had none.
After the first charge was repulsed, he made contact with the King's
Royal Rifle Corps on his right. He knew from the nature of the first
German charge that the second would be worse than the first. The
Germans had advanced some machine-guns; they would be able to
place their increased artillery fire more accurately.

Again green figures started down that hill and again they were put
back. Then Niven was able to establish contact with the Shropshire
Light Infantry, another regiment on his left. So he knew that right and
left he was supported, and by seasoned British regulars. This was
very, very comforting, especially when German machine-gun fire was
not only coming from the front but in enfilade, which is most trying to a
soldier's steadiness. In other words, the P.P.s were shooting at
Germans in front, while bullets were whipping crosswise of their
trenches and of the regulars on their flanks, too. Some of the German
infantrymen who had not been hit or had not fallen back had dug
themselves cover and were firing at a closer range.

The Germans had located the points in the P.P.s' trench occupied by
machine-guns. At least, they could put these hornets' nests out of
business if not all the individual riflemen. So they concentrated high
explosive shells on the guns. This did the trick; it buried them. But a
buried machine-gun may be dug out and fired again. It may be dug
out two or three times and keep on firing as long as it will work and
there is anyone to man it.

While the machine-guns were being exhumed every man in one
sect