before a row of low-lying wooden buildings,
whence presently issued a tall man in rain-sodden trench cap and
burberry, who looked at me with a pair of very dark, bright eyes and
gripped my hand in hearty clasp.

He was apologetic because of the rain, since, as he informed us, he
had just ordered all men to their quarters, and thus I should see
nothing doing in the training line; nevertheless he cheerfully
offered to show us over the camp, despite mud and wind and rain, and
to explain things as fully as he could; whereupon we as cheerfully
accepted.

The wind whistled about us, the rain pelted us, but the Major heeded
it nothing--neither did I--while K. loudly congratulated himself on
having come in waders and waterproof hat, as, through mud and mire,
through puddles and clogging sand, we followed the Major's long
boots, crossing bare plateaux, climbing precipitous slopes, leaping
trenches, slipping and stumbling, while ever the Major talked,
wherefore I heeded not wind or rain, for the Major talked well.

He descanted on the new and horribly vicious methods of bayonet
fighting--the quick thrust and lightning recovery; struggling with me
upon a sandy, rain-swept height, he showed me how, in wrestling for
your opponent's rifle, the bayonet is the thing. He halted us before
devilish contrivances of barbed wire, each different from the other,
but each just as ugly. He made us peep through loopholes, each and
every different from the other, yet each and every skilfully hidden
from an enemy's observation. We stood beside trenches of every shape
and kind while he pointed out their good and bad points; he brought
us to a place where dummy figures had been set up, their rags
a-flutter, forlorn objects in the rain.

"Here," said he, "is where we teach 'em to throw live bombs--you can
see where they've been exploding; dummies look a bit off-colour,
don't they?" And he pointed to the ragged scarecrows with his whip.
"You know, I suppose," he continued, "that a Mills' bomb is quite
safe until you take out the pin, and then it is quite safe as long as
you hold it, but the moment it is loosed the lever flies off, which
releases the firing lever and in a few seconds it explodes. It is
surprising how men vary; some are born bombers, some soon learn, but
some couldn't be bombers if they tried--not that they're cowards,
it's just a case of mentality. I've seen men take hold of a bomb,
pull out the pin, and then stand with the thing