anything since breakfast the previous morning, when my meal had been
disturbed by the German shells and the tragic death of the sentry at
our headquarters. Some one handed me a tin of "bully beef," and I
ripped the top off with the trusty hunting knife which had been my
faithful companion on every expedition I had made into the unknown
wilds of Canada for the past twenty years, and I finished that tin of
beef with apologies to "Fray Bentos."

In the afternoon I started down for the front line of trenches to see
how they were getting along there. Capt. Dansereau accompanied me. At
first he insisted that I should not go down into the "devil's corner,"
as they called it, and said he would go down and look it over and come
back and report to me. However, when he saw I was determined to go he
got his revolver and insisted on coming along. I bade good-bye to
Capt. Alexander and the brave lads that were holding the St. Julien
village trenches. Many of them would "return to Lochaber no more."

We made our way down to commandant headquarters. On our way we passed
in the rear of the 7th Battalion and noted that the British Columbians
knew how to use their shovels and grubbers. They were busy in spite of
sniping and shell fire fortifying the line of the Poelcapelle Road for
some distance east of the St. Julien and in rear of Kersselaere
village. Colonel Hart McHarg was there directing the men. When we got
to headquarters we found Major Marshall quite cheerful. Lieutenant
Shoenberger wore his customary grim smile as he told me how our men
had driven back the attacking Germans a few hours before. The Germans
had "gassed" them twice, but the wind was too high and it blew the
deadly fumes over the parapets. The men waited till the Germans
emerged from their trenches three or four deep to charge. Then our
whistles blew, and hundreds of them were cut down and piled on top of
each other before they broke and ran back to their trenches. One
machine gun got about 200 of them.

They told me that Major Kirkcaldy of the 8th Winnipeg Rifles had come
over from their headquarters on the Gravenstafel Ridge to reconnoitre.
Orders had come through that after dark the 13th Battalion, whose left
flank was much exposed to enfilade fire from some machine guns, were
to retire, pivoting on our left flank at the Poelcapelle Road and
linking up with the 7th and Buffs. They were to dig in, trenching the
line in rear of Kersselaere. Part of the 7th Battali