it."

"I think, sir, that's as good as anywhere, but it's strafed rather
badly."

"How far is that from the Bosche front line?"

We measured it on the map. It was eight hundred yards.

"Too far off; I must get much closer," I said. "Isn't there a place in
our front trench?"

"There's a machine-gun position in a sap head," said an officer. "I am
sure that would suit you, but you'll get strafed. Bosche cannot fail to
see you."

"What time is zero hour?" I asked the General.

"At 6.20," he said.

Great Scott, I thought, 6.20 summer time--real time 5.20, and in
September only one chance in a million that the sky would be clear
enough to get an exposure. Certainly if the mornings were anything like
they had been during the last week it would be an absolute
impossibility.

[Illustration: THE BATTLEFIELD OF "GINCHY." I WAS HURLED INTO THE TRENCH
IN THE FOREGROUND BY THE BURSTING OF A GERMAN SHELL, AND AWOKE MANY
HOURS LATER WITH SHELL SHOCK AND REALISED I HAD BEEN LYING BESIDE A DEAD
GERMAN ALL NIGHT. HE HAD BEEN THERE I SHOULD SAY ABOUT THREE WEEKS]

[Illustration: RESERVES WATCHING THE ATTACK AT MARTINPUICH. SEPT. 15TH,
1916]

Anyway there was just a chance, and I decided to take it.

Therefore I suggested that I should go up very early in the morning to
our front line, getting there about four o'clock. There would just be
sufficient light for me to have a look round, that is if Brother Fritz
wasn't too inquisitive. I could then fix up the camera and wait.

"What time does the barrage start?" I asked.

"Ten minutes to zero. It's going to be very intense, I can tell you
that."

"Well, sir, there is one special point I would like you to clear up for
me if possible. What the deuce is the 'Hush! Hush!'?"

At that question everyone in the place laughed. "Hush! hush! not so
loud," one said, with mock gravity. "You mean the Tanks."

"I am just as wise as ever. Anyway, whether they are called the 'Hush
Hushers' or 'Tanks,' what the dickens are they? Everyone has been asking
me if I have seen the 'Hush! hush!' until I have felt compelled to
advise them to take more water with it in future. At first I thought
they were suffering from a unique form of shell-shock."

"I haven't seen them," he said. "All I know is that we have two of them
going over with our boys. This is their line; they will make straight
for the left-hand corner of the village, and cross the trenches on your
left about two hundred yards from t