each other.
Shells were dropping close by. One fell in the midst of a group of
prisoners and, bursting, killed fourteen and wounded eleven. The others
were marched on.

Whether I had been spotted or not, I do not know, but German shells were
crumping unpleasantly near. I was just thinking of moving when another
burst so close that it made me quickly decide. I looked round for my
men. One was there; the other was missing.

"Get into a dug-out," I yelled. "Where is L----?"

"Don't know, sir," he said.

He dived into a dug-out at the first shell which burst near. At that
moment another "crump" crashed down and exploded with a crunching roar,
throwing a large quantity of earth all around me. One after another came
over in quick succession.

"Where the devil is that fellow?" I said to ----. "He's got my
aeroscope. When brother Fritz has smoothed down this little 'strafe' I
will try and find him."

"He was in that section, sir, where Bosche crossed."

For over half an hour the crumping continued, then it practically
ceased. The Bosche evidently thought he had distributed us to the four
winds of heaven. I emerged from my shelter and hurriedly ran along the
trench to find my man. He was nowhere to be found. Several dug-outs had
been smashed in, and in one place the water in the trench was deep red
with blood, and wading through this was anything but pleasant. At that
moment a telephone man came up.

"Can you tell me, sir, if there is a machine-gun position hereabouts? I
have been sent to run a wire." I was just replying when a crump came
hurtling over.

"Duck," I yelled, and duck we did. I tried to cover the whole of my body
under my steel helmet, and crouching low on the ground, the crump burst
just on the parapet above, showering huge lumps of dirt which clattered
upon us.

"You had better get out of this," I said, and suiting the action to the
word I attempted to run, when another crump burst, this time in the
traverse close behind. Well, which of us ran the fastest for cover I
don't know, but I was a good second!

The non-appearance of my other man worried me. He was nowhere to be
found. It occurred to me that as he did not find me on emerging from
his dug-out, and as it was coming on to rain, he had returned to the car
thinking he might find me there. Packing up my camera, therefore, I
started off, passing more prisoners on the way. I promptly collared two
of them to carry my tripod and camera, and as we pro