ire in his dug-out, while he went
to the other end of the trench. While he was doing the fire a shell
burst over the dug-out and a bit went through his left leg and touched
his right. If the Major had been sitting in his chair where he was a
minute before, his head would have been blown off. He said, "When the
Major came back and found me, he drove everybody else away and stayed
with me all day, and made me cocoa, and at night carried my stretcher
himself and took me right to Headquarters." His eyes shine when he talks
of "the Major," and he seems so proud he got it instead.

I asked a boy in the sitting-ups what was the matter with him. "Too
small," he said. Another said "Too young"; he was aged fifteen, in the
Black Watch.

A young monkey, badly wounded in hand and throat (lighting a
cigarette--the shatter to his hand saved worse destruction to his
throat, though bad enough as it is), after we'd settled him in, fixed
his eye on me and said, "Are you going to be in here along of us all the
way?" "Yes," I said. "That's a good job," and he is taking good care to
get his money's worth, I can tell you.

Some of them are roaring at the man in 'Punch' who made a gallant
attempt to do justice to all his Xmas presents at once. There is a
sergeant-major of the Royal Scots very indignant at having been made to
go sick with bad feet. Any attempt to fuss over him is met with "I need
no attention whatever, thank you, Sister. I feel more like apologising
for being in here. Only five weeks of active service," he growled.

The latest Franco-British idea is to Arras the Boches till they Argonne!

_Sunday, January 31st._--We did go on to Rouen. B. is full to the brim.
We have only unloaded at B. three times since Christmas.

I'm beginning to think we waste a lot of sympathy on the poor wounded
rocking in a train all night after being on it all day. One of mine with
a bullet still in his chest, and some pneumonia, who seemed very ill
when he was put on at Merville, said this morning he felt a lot better
and had had the best night for five days! And my fidgety boy with the
wound in his throat made a terrible fuss at being put off at Boulogne
when he found he was the only one in his compartment to go and that I
wasn't going with him.

I had the easy watch last night because of my cold, and went to bed at
1 A.M.; got a hot bath this morning, and lay low all day till a stroll
between the Seine and the floods after tea (Sotteville).