ng had happened.

The rain was still falling, and the mist getting heavy, so I decided to
make my way back to headquarters. Packing up, and bidding adieu to the
officers, I started on the return journey through the communication
trenches. One officer told me to go back the same way, via "Signpost
Lane." "You will manage to get through before their evening 'strafing,'"
he called out. After wearily trudging through nearly a mile of trenches,
I came out at "Signpost Lane," and I am never likely to forget it.

We had left the shelter of the trench, and were hurrying, nearly
doubled, across a field, when a German observer spotted us. The next
minute "whizz-bangs" started falling around us like rain. No matter
which way I turned, the tarnation things seemed to follow and burst with
a deafening crash. At last, I reached the crossing, and was making my
way down the trench lining the road, when a shell dropped and exploded
not thirty feet ahead. But on I went, for a miss is as good as a mile.
About a hundred yards further on was the battered shell of a farm-house.
When almost up to it a couple of shells dropped fairly in the middle of
it and showered the bricks all round. A fairly warm spot!

I had just reached the corner of the building when I heard the shriek of
a shell coming nearer. I guessed it was pretty close, and without a
moment's hesitation dropped in the mud and water of a small ditch, and
not a moment too soon for with a dull thud the shell struck and burst
hardly seven feet from me. Had I not fallen down these lines would never
have been written. Picking myself up, I hurried on. Still the shells
continued to drop, but fortunately at a greater distance. When I reached
Croix Rouge, I was literally encased in mud. Our progress along the road
had been anxiously watched by the sentries and by my chauffeur.

"Well, sir," said the latter, with a sigh of relief, "I certainly
thought they had you that time."

CHAPTER IV

THE BATTLEFIELD OF NEUVE CHAPELLE

A Visit to the Old German Trenches--Reveals a Scene of
Horror that Defies Description--Dodging the Shells--I Lose
the Handle of My Camera--And then Lose My Man--The Effect of
Shell-fire on a Novice--In the Village of Neuve Chapelle--A
Scene of Devastation--The Figure of the Lonely Christ.

It occurred to me that an interesting film might be made out of scenes
of the battlefield of Neuve Chapelle. The very thought of it conjured up
a