the Grenadier Guards, and he seems of the same type as the others
when you see him marching with his regiment or off for a walk
smoking a brier-wood pipe. There are some officers who would rather
not accompany him on his walks, for he can go fast and far. He
makes regular reports of his observations, and he has opportunities
for learning which other subalterns lack, for he may have both the
staff and the army as personal instructors. Otherwise, his life is that of
any other subaltern; for there is an instrument called the British
Constitution which regulates many things. A little shy, very desirous to
learn, is Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, heir to the throne of Great
Britain and Ireland and the Empire of India. He might be called the
willing prince.

This was one of the shells that hit--one of the hundred that hit. The
time was summer; the place, the La Bassee region. Probably the
fighting was all the harder here because it is so largely blind. When
you cannot see what an enemy is doing you keep on pumping shells
into the area which he occupies; you take no risks with him.

The visitor may see about as much of what is going on in the La
Bassee region as an ant can see of the surrounding landscape when
promenading in the grass. The only variation in the flatness of the
land is the overworked ditches which try to drain it. Look upward, and
rows of poplar trees along the level, and a hedge, a grove, a cottage,
or trees and shrubs around it, limit your vision. Thus, if a breeze starts
timidly in a field it is stopped before it goes far. That "hot corner" is
all the hotter for a burning July sun. The army water-carts which run
back to wells of cool water are busy filling empty canteens, while
shrapnel trims the hedges.

A stretcher was being borne into the doorway of an estaminet which
had escaped destruction by shells, and above the door was chalked
some lettering which indicated that it was a first clearing station for the
wounded. Lying on other stretchers on the floor were some wounded
men. Of the two nearest, one had a bandage around his head and
one a bandage around his arm. They had been stunned, which was
only natural when you have been as close as they had to a shell-
burst--a shell that made a hit. The concussion was bound to have this
effect.

A third man was the best illustration of shell-destructiveness. Bullets
make only holes. Shells make gouges, fractures, pulp. He, too, had a
bandaged head and had be