f runners, and right well did they do their job. All companies
were so weak that two men was the most they could spare for this most
important service, yet these men, without a grouse and with no rest for
four days, were continually carrying messages between the different
headquarters, and that too in record time. From "C" Company Headquarters
to Battalion Headquarters was a good seventeen minutes hard walking, yet
runners from these Headquarters frequently delivered messages within ten
minutes of the time they were written, and were back with a reply in
twenty minutes. The good work of at least three runners was recognised
with the award of the Military Medal.

During this tour we lost four valuable officers. Captain W.F. Donald,
M.C., who had been with us rather less than a fortnight, was killed
while leading his company to retake Hunter's post. In the late days of
the war we had felt fortunate in having an experienced officer of his
calibre posted and had welcomed him as a company commander, an officer
very difficult to replace. Lieut. A. Bryson, another newcomer, was
dangerously wounded on the night of 19th September while acting as
Liaison Officer between 7th H.L.I. and ourselves, and died three days
later. On the 17th our M.O., Captain K. Ross, was killed by a shell
while visiting the companies, and Lieut. T.B. Clerk, the Adjutant, was
wounded at the same time.

Lieut. R. Turnbull was blown down one of the shafts of "C" Company's
Headquarters by the concussion of a shell on the night of 17th but
fortunately no damage was done. Lieut. Hillson met a gas shell in the
entrance passage of Battalion Headquarters, and had an extraordinarily
jaundiced appearance for days, but otherwise was neither physically nor
mentally upset. Lieut. W.H. Milne was struck on the back by a grenade on
the last night, but he too was unhurt.

On the 24th we relieved the 6th H.L.I. in a sector to the right of
Moeuvres and little happened there, a contrast to our last tour in the
line. A few deserters came over, a convenient road being by a
communication trench which led from one line to the other. One deserter
had been an Orderly Room Clerk at Cologne; he forged a railway pass for
himself to Cambrai, walked from there to the German front line until he
came to the Bosche block in this communication trench opposite ours. He
then told the corporal he was going to desert, and far from being
discouraged was told by the corporal that had it not b