done by one shell. Even so they were
not an unmixed blessing, for they were always in the way when you wanted
to get anywhere in a hurry.

"An' you _are_ in a 'urry w'en you sees a Minnie [_Minnenwerfer_] comin'
your w'y. But you gets trench legs arter a w'ile. It'll be a funny sight
to see blokes walkin' along the street in Lunnon w'en the war's over.
They'll be so used to dodgin' in an' out o' traverses they won't be able
to go in a straight line."

As we walked through the firing-line trenches, I could quite understand
the possibility of one's acquiring trench legs. Five paces forward, two
to the right, two to the left, two to the left again, then five to the
right, and so on to Switzerland. Shorty was of the opinion that one could
enter the trenches on the Channel coast and walk through to the Alps
without once coming out on top of the ground. I am not in a position
either to affirm or to question this statement. My own experience was
confined to that part of the British front which lies between Messines in
Belgium and Loos in France. There, certainly, one could walk for miles,
through an intricate maze of continuous underground passages.

But the firing-line trench was neither a traffic route nor a promenade.
The great bulk of inter-trench business passed through the traveling
trench, about fifteen yards in rear of the fire trench and running
parallel to it. The two were connected by many passageways, the chief
difference between them being that the fire trench was the business
district, while the traveling trench was primarily residential. Along the
latter were built most of the dugouts, lavatories, and trench kitchens.
The sleeping quarters for the men were not very elaborate. Recesses were
made in the wall of the trench about two feet above the floor. They were
not more than three feet high, so that one had to crawl in head first
when going to bed. They were partitioned in the middle, and were supposed
to offer accommodation for four men, two on each side. But, as Shorty
said, everything depended on the ration allowance. Two men who had eaten
to repletion could not hope to occupy the same apartment. One had a
choice of going to bed hungry or of eating heartily and sleeping outside
on the firing-bench.

"'Ere's a funny thing," he said. "W'y do you suppose they makes the
dugouts open at one end?"

I had no explanation to offer.

"Crawl inside an' I'll show you."

I stood my rifle against the side of the tr