cely
believe my ears as the true import of the communication commenced to
dawn upon me;--the G.O.C. had granted me a furlough and I was instructed
to return to Canada immediately on a three-months' leave of absence. I
was walking on air for a few minutes, and it was quite some little time
before I could make myself really believe I wasn't dreaming.

I lost no time in bidding my pals good-bye, and when I had convinced
them that it was an actual fact, the gun Sergeant said, "Fellows,
Grant's going; we'll give him the best we've got; ten rounds of gun
fire. Ready! Fire!" and ten ear-drum splitters clove the air. I had no
cotton in my ears and the effects of that farewell stayed with me
several minutes after I left. I then went to say good-bye to the man
whose friendship I had always nursed, my good friend the cook. He urged
me to wait while he fixed me up the feed of my life, as he expressed it,
and you can understand the state of my feelings when I tell you that I
refused his bounty. I never did such a thing in my life!

I turned to go and found myself face to face with the Major. "What the
hell are you hanging around here for? Didn't I tell you to beat it to
the wagon lines before you got hit? Do you think your horseshoe luck is
going to stay with you forever? While you have got your furlough in your
hand, beat it!"

I hastened my steps. On the way I passed the burial party who were
laying to their last rest the men who had fallen the night before, and
as I glanced at the faces of the boys who would never again see their
beloved Canadian homes, tears, for the first time in many long months,
welled up into my eyes.

I doubled from there to a battery in the rear to say farewell to my
cousin Hughie, and while going from pit to pit in his battery, looking
for him, the guns were speaking as fast as they could, and retaliation
from Germany was blasting its way through the air. Right at this moment
the Major's warning was most beautifully exemplified; a splinter struck
me in the cheek, flooring me and knocking out two teeth in the upper
left jaw. When I recovered my balance, the diligence I exercised in
getting away from the scene of activity would have satisfied even the
Major; besides, I was doubly anxious that he should not know of my
mishap, as he would be bound to twit me unmercifully.

Holding my jaw, I made my way carefully to one of the horses I had
brought up, mounted, and kicked the poor brute in the ribs every s