on their way like silent phantoms.

Here and there I watched a shell burst. I could see and hear that it had
dropped into a section of those men, adding to the number of that great
army of heroes who had already "gone West." But into those gaps,
through which the blasting shells had torn their way, stepped other men.
A sharp word of command was rapped out, then on again to take up their
battle position, leaving the dead behind to be reverently buried on the
morrow. The wounded were brought away by the stretcher-bearers, and as
one lot passed me I heard a voice from the darkness murmur, "Bill, it's
a blighty."

I wandered on in the direction of our line. Near a junction of by-roads
I heard some funny remarks passed by ration parties trying to find the
way to their sections. To pick one's way in the dark over strange ground
littered with debris is not an easy task. The exact language I heard
would hardly bear repeating.

One party had evidently bumped into another. "D---- and ---- who are
you? Cawn't yer see, mate, I'm taking up company rations? Blimy, but 'ow
the 'ell I am going to find the way--blowed if I know. Do you know where
---- Company is? I'm taking up sandbags. Lost me ---- way. 'Ave yer
passed a dead 'orse? I knowed I passed it coming up. Good night, mate."

Both men went off into the darkness, swearing like troopers. Another man
came up. He was whistling a homely song, but it came to an abrupt
conclusion, for he evidently stumbled over some obstacle. Compliments
began to fly, and he told the Bosche in plain language what he thought
of him for leaving it there. His remarks were too pointed for expression
in cold print.

The next to come along was an engineering officer. He could faintly
discern me in the darkness.

"Hullo," he said. "Are you the ----?"

"No," I replied. "I'm sorry I can't help you. I haven't the least idea
where they are. What's wrong?"

"I have to run out some wires to-night, but bothered if I know where
they are. Missed my way near the wood. Some silly ass sent me wrong."

"Well," I said, "most of the troops I have seen have gone in that
direction," pointing the way. He disappeared.

Apparently he was held up a minute or two later by some one else, for in
the distance I heard a voice, "Do you know where ---- Company is, sir?"

"No, I don't," in a rather irritated tone. "I can't find my own blooming
way."

This sort of thing went on for over an hour; first one then another.
Whe