cer came past our lines and stopped to chat. He wore the
gold medal of honor given by the Czar which he had won a few weeks
previously for conspicuous bravery. He was very proud of it. We all
envied him his good luck. He went on up to the front line. About an
hour later he passed us again, lying in an ambulance hand cart very
severely wounded. Poor fellow, he was in a bad way but still cheerful.

When the Germans got tired shelling the French they would start in and
give it to us. Three and four shells would follow in close succession.
They would search up and down the fields and hedges with their guns
showering shells on everything within their range.

The gallant 16th Canadian Scottish were dug in about fifty yards in
front of us. Colonel Leckie was in a dugout at the extreme left, and
alongside of him was another dugout in which were some of his staff. A
large German shell fell in the staff dugout during the night,
completely obliterating all traces of four men who were sleeping in it
at the time. A part of Lt.-Colonel Leckie's dugout was torn off at the
same time and he had a very narrow escape.

The same night while I was dozing in my "digin" I was awakened by
heavy breathing on my right as if a man was dying. It was pitch dark,
so I called the sentry and told him some one was hurt.

Sergeant Miller, who was close at hand, jumped up and with an electric
torch we started to search the line to find out who was wounded. In
the second digin on my right we found Corporal Kells very nearly gone.
A large five-inch shell had fallen in his "digin," slicing a large
piece of flesh off the calf of his leg and stunning him. Fortunately
the shell had not exploded. He had almost bled to death when the
peculiar heavy breathing of a man suffering from bleeding attracted my
attention. We bound him up and had him taken back to the dressing
station. He subsequently died from the shock.

One morning about daylight I was wakened in my narrow cell by a lot
of earth tumbling down on my face. I fancied a shell had fallen on my
parapet, and after clearing the dirt out of my eyes and ears I lay
awake listening to the seventeen-inch Austrian batteries which were
shelling some place very heavily. The guns were apparently in a
position not far from Pilken. I could hear the "Kerr-Rump" of four
guns of a battery firing in rapid succession, then a pause, and I
could hear the huge projectiles go roaring on their deadly mission
till the sound c