us.
I wanted a good prepared position, with sound trenches and decent
wiring. Above all I wanted reserves--reserves. The word was on my lips
all day and it haunted my dreams. I was told that the French were to
relieve us, but when--when? My reports to Corps Headquarters were one
long wail for more troops. I knew there was a position prepared behind
us, but I needed men to hold it.

Wake brought in a message from Blenkiron. 'We're waiting for you,
Dick,' he wrote, 'and we've gotten quite a nice little home ready for
you. This old man hasn't hustled so hard since he struck copper in
Montana in '92. We've dug three lines of trenches and made a heap of
pretty redoubts, and I guess they're well laid out, for the Army staff
has supervised them and they're no slouches at this brand of
engineering. You would have laughed to see the labour we employed. We
had all breeds of Dago and Chinaman, and some of your own South African
blacks, and they got so busy on the job they forgot about bedtime. I
used to be reckoned a bit of a slave driver, but my special talents
weren't needed with this push. I'm going to put a lot of money into
foreign missions henceforward.'

I wrote back: 'Your trenches are no good without men. For God's sake
get something that can hold a rifle. My lot are done to the world.'

Then I left Lefroy with the division and went down on the back of an
ambulance to see for myself. I found Blenkiron, some of the Army
engineers, and a staff officer from Corps Headquarters, and I found
Archie Roylance.

They had dug a mighty good line and wired it nobly. It ran from the
river to the wood of La Bruyere on the little hill above the Ablain
stream. It was desperately long, but I saw at once it couldn't well be
shorter, for the division on the south of us had its hands full with
the fringe of the big thrust against the French.

'It's no good blinking the facts,' I told them. 'I haven't a thousand
men, and what I have are at the end of their tether. If you put 'em in
these trenches they'll go to sleep on their feet. When can the French
take over?'

I was told that it had been arranged for next morning, but that it had
now been put off twenty-four hours. It was only a temporary measure,
pending the arrival of British divisions from the north.

Archie looked grave. 'The Boche is pushin' up new troops in this
sector. We got the news before I left squadron headquarters. It looks
as if it would be a near thing, sir.'

'It