ammunition, and he asked me if I would let the Colonel know. I passed
through the trenches on my return and told the men how glorious it was
to think that we had pushed the Germans back and were now so many
miles from where we had started. I went back to Battalion Headquarters
and found that they were in a cottage on the eastern extremity of the
village. Across the road was a cavalry observation-post, where some
officers were watching Rosieres and the arrival of German troops. (p. 281)
Luckily for us the Germans had no guns to turn upon us, although the
village of Caix was shelled constantly all night. Later on, some
batteries of the Royal Horse Artillery and our field guns, which had
come up, sealed the fate of the Germans and prevented a counter-attack.
A glorious sunset over the newly conquered territory made a fitting
close to a day of great deeds and high significance. When darkness
fell and the stars looked out of the quiet sky, I said good-night to
my cavalry friends, whose billets were down in a hollow to the right,
and started off to find some place to sleep.

The cellars of the cottage occupied by the Colonel were crowded, so I
went to the village and seeing some men entering a gateway followed
them. It was the courtyard of a large building, presumably a brewery.
The runners of the battalion had found a deep cellar where they had
taken up their abode. I asked if I might sleep with them for the
night. The cellar was not particularly inviting, but it was well below
the ground and vaulted in brick. The floor was simply earth and very
damp. Two candles were burning in a box where a corporal was making
out the ration-list for the men. I got two empty sandbags to put on
the floor to keep me from getting rheumatism, and lying on them and
using my steel helmet as a pillow I prepared to sleep. The runners,
except those on duty, did the same. Our feet met in the centre of the
room and our bodies branched off like the spokes of a wheel. When
anyone turned and put his feet on one side we all had to turn and put
our feet in the same direction. We heard a good many shells bursting
in the Square that night, but we were safe and comparatively comfortable.
Before I got to sleep, I watched with great admiration the two young
non-coms who were sitting at the table arranging and discussing in a
low tone the duties of the various men for the following day. The two
lads could not have been more than twenty years of age, but their