eased. I waited for the report so I could count the
time to find out how far away they were ranging, but I noticed a very
strange thing. I could hear no report from the explosion of the shell.
Evidently it was falling too far away for me to hear it. A few days
later we learned that they had been shelling Dunkirk, some twenty-odd
miles away.

The second day we were at the bridge, the Germans were searching
diligently for us with their shells when I was called to the telephone
which was located in the next hole in the ground to mine. I found
Corporal Pyke in charge of my wire. Pyke was a brave cheerful lad, a
splendid operator and telephone expert. He was thoroughly posted in
wireless work and used to rig up an attachment to our telephone by
means of which he could read all the wireless messages that came over
the wires from the ships of the Navy in the Channel to the naval
batteries that were working behind our lines which were called the
Admiral Churchill batteries. If there were any German wireless men in
the neighborhood they could also get these messages. Pyke could hear
the Germans working on their lines but could not get their code.

As I hopped over to see who wanted me, and crawled into the telephone
hole in the ground a shell came whizzing past and ripped the earth
from the parapet about a foot above Pyke's head. He never even ducked,
but quite coolly remarked as he shook the dust off, "That sod is
rather thin, Colonel. I guess it was only about six inches."

The urgent message that I was called to take was something to the
effect that clean socks, underclothes and a bath would be ready for my
battalion at a certain date.

I told headquarters to cut out commercial messages for a few days.

Our batteries were earning a great reputation for themselves. They
were posted on the bank of the canal and alongside of them were some
of the batteries of the Indian Division. Our guns were in action one
evening when the major of one of the Indian batteries came along
inspecting his observation wires. He watched the drivers of one of our
batteries (Morrison's) take a limber of ammunition up to its guns
through a perfect hailstorm of shells. He remarked to me that the
Canadian gunners were magnificent, and that they did not have six
drivers in the Indian Army that were as well trained and as good at
their work as the Canadian boys who were driving the limber we were
looking at. That was a high compliment from a regular of