trying to bore holes in us. We twisted and turned, but
the first ones to waken, tried to keep quiet, and it was not till every
one was on the move that we realized that we had made our first
acquaintance with the worst pest in the Army--body lice, or "cooties"
as they call them--the straw on which we were lying was fairly alive
with the little beasts. We thought it strange then, but nearly every
billet where there is straw is the same; "soldiers come and soldiers
go, but the same straw goes on forever." The next day we were busy
boiling our shirts, but if we had only known we might have saved
ourselves the trouble, for we were never free from the pests after
that. All the belts and powders people send out only seem to fatten
them--by the way, gas doesn't kill them either; I think they must have
gas helmets. The day was spent in inspection, and the paymaster came
and gave us our first pay in France, fifty francs; that night we were
allowed downtown, and we made our first acquaintance with the French
estaminets or wine-shops; they are only allowed to sell light wines,
red and white, to the troops, and French beer. Well, one might just as
well drink water. Rust had been through the mill before and could
speak French pretty well, and was soon jabbering to the old
Frenchwoman, whose face became all smiles when she found he had been
wounded at Ypres; her husband had also been wounded there. We wandered
in and out every place in the village till it was time to go back to
billets. The next day we had to smarten up and get ready for the
Brigadier-General, who was going to inspect us. Brigadier-General
Ketchen was his name, and instead of a formal inspection he rode up,
dismounted, came into the orchard where we were all lined up and said,
"Dismiss the men, Major." The Major did so and the Brigadier then
spoke to us: "Gather round, boys, I want to have a little talk with
you. You've been under my command about nine months now, and I've
always been proud of you, and now you are going up the line, and I want
to say this to you: Don't go up with any idea that you are going to be
killed--we want you all to take care of yourselves and not expose
yourselves recklessly--never mind if Bill bets Harry that he can stick
his head over without being hit, for if he loses he can't pay. And
remember a dead man is no use to us, we want you alive, and when we
want you to put your heads up, we'll tell you! And I've no doubt that
you w