than any man on the
staff." "Chits," it should be explained, are the billets-doux of the
Army wherein officers send tender messages to one another and make
assignations.

"Did you hear about that chit the Camp Commandant at the Headquarters of
the ----th Corps sent to the A.Q.M.G.?" asked the A.P.M. "No? Well, the
A.Q.M.G. of the other Army wrote to Ferrers asking if they had made use
of any Ammonal and, if so, whether the results were satisfactory.
Ferrers sent it on to the Camp Commandant for report and the Camp
Commandant wrote back a chit saying plaintively, 'This is not
understood. For what purpose is Ammonal used--is it a drug or an
explosive?' Ferrers told him to ask the Medical Officer attached to
Corps headquarters, which he did. Thereupon he wrote back another chit
to Ferrers, saying that the M.O. had informed him that 'Ammonal' was a
compound drug extensively used in America in cases of abnormal neurotic
excitement, and that, so far as he knew, it was not a medical issue to
Corps H.Q. He therefore regretted that he was unable to report results,
but promised that if occasion should arise to administer it to any of
the Corps H.Q. _personnel_ he would faithfully observe the effects and
report the same. When the A.Q.M.G. read the reply he betrayed a quite
abnormal degree of neurotic excitement; in fact, he was quite nasty
about it."

"What the devil did he mean?" asked the A.D.M.S.

"Well, that points the moral of your remarks about handwriting," said
the A.P.M. encouragingly. "The Camp Commandant had written what looked
like an 'o' in place of an 'a.' Ammonol is a drug; ammonal is an
explosive."

"Well, I wish some one would teach the Huns how to write decently." The
speaker was Summersby of the Intelligence Corps. The Intelligence are a
corps of detectives and have to estimate the strength, the location, and
the composition of the enemy's forces. Everything is grist that comes to
their mill and they will perform surprising feats of induction. They can
reconstruct a German Army Corps out of a Landwehr man's bootlace, his
diary, his underclothing, or his shoulder-strap--but the greatest of
these is his diary. "I've been studying the diaries of prisoners until I
feel a Hun myself. They remind me of the diary I used to keep at school,
they are all about eating and drinking. The Hun is a glutton and a
wine-bibber. But I found something to-day--'Keine Gefangene' in an
officer's field note-book."

"Translate, m