d to have had a "bit
roll." My topcoat I'm glad to say covered all traces of the "bit roll" I
had indulged in on my own. It was a great ride entirely.

One night for some reason I was unable to sleep--a rare occurrence--and
bethought me of an exciting spy book, called the _German Submarine
Base_, I had begun weeks before but had had no time to finish. All was
dead quiet with the exception of the distant steady boom of the guns,
which one of course hardly noticed. I had just got to the most thrilling
part and was holding my breath from sheer excitement when whiz! sob!
bang! and a shell went spinning over the huts. For a moment I thought I
must be dreaming or that the book was bewitched. Next minute I was out
of bed like a rabbit, and turning off the light, dashed outside just as
the second went over. I naturally looked skyward, but there was not a
sign of anything and, stranger still, not even the throb of an engine. A
third went over with a loud screech, and my hair was blown into the air
by the rushing wind it caused. I saw a flash from the sea and Thompson
said she was wakened by my voice calling, "I say, come out and see this
new stunt." Soon everyone was up and the shells came on steadily,
blowing our hair about, and making the very pebbles rush rattling along
the ground, hitting against our feet with such force we thought at first
it must be spent shrapnel. Some of those shells screeched and some
miauled like huge cats hurtling through the air to spring on their prey.
These latter made a cold shiver run down my spine; the noise they made
was so blood-curdling. One could cope with the ordinary ones, but
frankly, these were beastly. Luckily they only went over about every
tenth. It was something quite new getting shells of this calibre from
such a short range, and "side-ways," too, as someone expressed it; quite
a different sensation from on top. The noise was deafening; and then one
struck the bank our camp was built on. We had no dug-out and seemingly
were just waiting to be potted at. We got the cars ready in case we were
called up, and the shells whizzed over all the time. There was another
explosion--one had landed in our incinerator! Good business! Another hit
the bank again! Once more the fact of being so near the danger proved
our safety, for with these three exceptions, they all passed over into
the town beyond. The smell of powder in the air was so strong it made us
sneeze. It was estimated roughly that 300