y was a little more
hilly here, as far as we could see in the semi-darkness. We were more than
glad to get into a stable or barn; it meant a chance to get dry and to
stretch our overworked limbs.

After a little while we lined up in the farm yard and got some hot
bully-beef stew in our canteens, a two-pound loaf among eight of us, some
jam (needless to say "apple and plum"), and a "daud" of cheese; also a
quarter-pound tin of Golden Flake cigarettes between two, and, as a sort
of dessert, we got the mail from Blighty! Happy? why the word doesn't
express it! We were simply elevated a million feet in the air--tired as we
were.

We discussed and played the different football league games over and over
again as they were described in the newspapers we had just received. We
imagined ourselves once more among the spectators at a cup-tie match
between the Celtic and Dundee at Ibrox Park.

For a time war was entirely forgotten; but only for a time! With a sudden
"jerk" we would be brought back to our senses and our present whereabouts
by the voice of the orderly corporal asking whether Private McNeil, or
Lance-Corporal Watson, or perhaps Corporal McGregor had been seen down the
line wounded; or was he dead? It was war, all right, and not football we
were playing at!

Jock Hunter and I were still "muckin'-in" pals, sharing our rations and
troubles alike. Very soon the party broke, each man making for his
allotted place to rest. I can recall so vividly the feeling that came
over me as I lay down on that straw. It was identical with that which I
had felt after coming back from a charge that had been a touch struggle! I
fell asleep sighing and wondering how soon it would be when my letters
would find no claimant for them!

We passed the next day writing letters, scraping the mud off our clothes,
and at rifle inspection. More men joined us. One of the new arrivals lent
me his razor, and I performed, what was, to me, the awful task of shaving.
It made me feel like a new man, and they said I looked it. We were told
that we would no doubt have a few days' rest, and then move to Dixmude or
some town with a name like that. We were instructed not to leave our
billets, and told that whenever we heard a boche plane overhead we should
make for cover, or stand perfectly still with our backs to the walls of
the farm houses, without stirring, until the machine was out of sight.
That day we noticed a few of Fritz's sausage balloons in the d