. In the deep dugout, I found the O.C.s of the two
brigades and their staffs hard at work. It was an anxious time, because
ammunition was short, and every available man was employed in carrying
it up to the guns. The Senior Colonel asked me if I would go round to
some of the gun pits and talk to the men. They were tired out, he
said, with the constant firing, and there was still no prospect of a
rest. I told him that if he would give me a runner to act as guide, I
would visit all the gun-pits of the two Brigades. Accordingly a (p. 200)
runner was sent for, and he and I started off at midnight. It was very
dark, and when we emerged from the trench and turned to the right on
the Lens-Bethune road we met parties of wounded men coming back, and
the batteries in the fields beside us were firing over our heads. We
visited first the cellar of a building by the way, where there was an
aid post. Here were many men being attended to by the doctors. They
were all worn out, and did not look forward with much pleasure to
their journey back to Maroc along the dark and dangerous road.

From the dressing station, my guide and I went into a trench and along
this to the gun positions. As we came to each, we visited the officers
and men. We got a glad welcome from the faithful, true-hearted fellows
who were working with might and main to save the lives of their comrades
in the front line. Some of the guns were fearfully heated and were
hard to handle. Yet the S.O.S. signals from the front trenches would
go up every now and then, telling our gunners that the Germans were
making another counter-attack, and asking for artillery support to
save the situation. We made our way through the trench towards the
batteries at the foot of the Loos Crassier. In doing so, we had to
pass under the road. I was going on ahead, and when I stooped down to
pass under the bridge, to my surprise I could dimly descry in the
darkness a row of silent men sitting on each side of the passage
facing one another. I said, "Good-night, boys," but there was no
answer. The figures in the darkness remained motionless and still. I
could not quite make out what the matter was, for our men always
responded to my greeting. Suddenly, an enemy flare-light went up in
the distance, and I saw, to my horror, that the two rows of men
sitting so silently were Germans. I was wondering if I had run my neck
into a noose, when a voice from the other end of the passage called
out, "They