g up and down, then four hours sleep: and then ... the
mind of the overworn first sentry sickens. Again and again over the
muddy uneven strip, watching fascinated the weird, mad shadows cast in
gaunt trees from a perpetual red glow eastwards. From amid the bivouacs
a lad cries fitfully in his uneasy sleep; a hardy few can be seen by the
glow of cigarettes sitting beneath a solitary tarpaulin.

From the distance something high in the heavens hummed softly the while
here and there far-off searchlights twinkled, one after another picking
up the trail until the whole sky was ablaze with wavering shafts of
light. The murmuring grew to a roar, accompanied by a deafening din of
an Archie (anti-aircraft) barrage and the unceasing rattle of machine
guns.

The enemy 'plane became visible, its sinister cross plainly discernible,
and dived. The sentry heard something sizzle down and--a mighty flash
lit up the woods: the whole earth trembled violently beneath a fierce
concussion. The roar echoed and re-echoed, was followed by a continuous
shower of litter tearing or trickling down through the trees. Unnerving
cries rose from a score or more stampeding horses in the adjacent camp;
but the subtler human ear caught on the damp night breezes a sound that
froze the blood ... pitiful low sobs of men dying from the hot flying
shrapnel.

The Guernseys slept on as if nothing had happened. Therein lies the
strange psychological mystery of the human mind.... The bomb failed to
disturb; but a solitary shot from the sentry would have roused half the
Battalion and sent them seeking half-consciously for their rifles.

In the morning the news spread rapidly. In it they found occasion to
accentuate a grousing born of the damp, uncheering vista around them.

"Bombed in the train, bombed first night up 'ere," said Ginger, "grub
late, no water to wash in; no baccy, no matches--only a blasted ole
rifle wot's gone too rusty to clean."

Washing WAS a complex problem, involving choice between half-a-mile's
walk to a doubtful pool or a canteen full (about a pint and a half) of
water obtained from a muddy puddle in the roadway. The latter method
requiring a minimum of physical exertion was by far the more popular and
each tin of valued water underwent utilisation to its very extreme
limits, i.e., until reduced to something approaching a soup.

There are always days when the Ten Hundred arouse within themselves by
their own exertions a shy, deep pride