opposite Brielen. Further along the road we found some
transports and a French Battery stuck. A huge German shell had fallen
in the road at this point and blown a crater in which a good sized
house could easily have hidden. The hedge had to be cut to allow of a
passage, and it took some engineering to get this tangle straightened
out. After a little manoeuvring we found our trenches, and as the
Germans began shelling the highway immediately in our rear, following
the transport waggons along the road, it did not take us long to dig
in. Some one remarked that the Germans have underground telephones
along the roadways.

That morning our base company, under Captain Musgrove and Lieutenant
Muir, reached us. A few days later at Festubert Musgrove was to lose
an arm and Lieutenant Muir was to be killed. They were full of ginger
and cheered us up considerably.

During the night we consolidated our trenches. The shelling continued
all the next day. Thousands of French troops continued to arrive and
it looked very much as if a general offensive was going to be
organized against the Germans on our front.

On the evening of the 29th we moved into trenches at Number Four
Pontoon Bridge and remained there until the 4th of May. Day and night
the shelling continued. Many stirring and some even humorous incidents
occurred during these twelve glorious days of fighting.

CHAPTER XXVIII

WINNING ANOTHER CHAMPIONSHIP

"Jump down into the trench quick, Colonel! That shell may explode,"
called Captain Musgrove.

"What shell?" I enquired, as I had not heard any "whispering Willy"
arriving, but something seemed to have covered my clothes suddenly
with mud and splinters of wood and bark.

"Look up over your head. It is a wonder it did not stun you. And
please do move out of there for a while at least, for fear it may be
still alive."

I glanced up at the pollard willow over head, against which I had been
leaning to steady my field glasses as I watched our artillery "strafe"
the Germans who were attacking the Ghurkas. Captain Musgrove stood by
my side when the shell arrived. It struck the hard red clay about
twelve feet directly in front of me, plowed up the earth about three
feet and turning upwards entered the tree directly over my head. The
shell, which was a large one from a four-inch howitzer, entered the
willow bole, burying itself in the soft wood all but about half an
inch of the base.

These shells are fused with w