attempted to bring a Jerry down. Sergeant
Russel nightly pointed the muzzle of his Lewis-gun in the air and pulled
the trigger, in the hope perhaps that Fritz might inadvertently sail
into the track of his bullets. Unfortunately firing at so perpendicular
an angle caused the lead to fall into the adjacent infantry lines and
they--they returned the compliment, although neither Battalion inflicted
any "Blighty's" on the other.

Two Companies had to go up the line on a hazardous task. The twist of
the coin gave the honour to A. and D. And yet how forcible a factor was
that coin in deciding the unfathomable wherefore of existence. It was
thrown in the air; fell, wavered on edge, flattened out. And
implicitly, blindly obeying the indict conveyed from its face this or
that man passed from active, living phenomenon in the evolution of the
cosmic process to mere insensible matter.

Life, then, is chance, luck; to which no guiding factors, laws, or
binding principles can be adduced.

Before marching off from the bemudded "parade" ground we were fed up.
Constant rain had rendered an always muddy surface into a slimy
quagmire, in which every step forward was a conscious effort. There was
little singing in either Companies (A. and D.), during the short march
to the train conveying the party to near a shell-infested area where the
said party would partake of its outdoor picnic. "Party"--the ironical
humour of it!

Each lad was tired, wet, and hungry. Tempers easily ruffled. "Wot the
'ell do yer think year bumpin' into?" shouted Biffer at an unfortunate
who had side-slipped into him.

"Bumpin' into?" the other grunted, "nothing much by the look of it."
They glared at one another like fighting cats ... the contretemps
fizzled out; both were too tired to argue.

Disembarkation during the night in a blinding storm of rain that had
materially increased to a torrential downpour materially helped to damp
spirits already none too high. Bumping wildly into this figure or that,
slipping full-length into inches of water and thereby saturating what
little dry clothing that had remained so, they peered vainly into the
all absorbing blanket of night for the tents, bivouacs or shelters that
were not there. We have all had our minds permeated with a strong fear
of Hell.... After that night many will thank their stars that this abode
of ill-omen is HOT and therefore apparently DRY.

Each man was told to do the best for himself with a ground