that many of the young
men from the States, desirous of fighting under the Union Jack, came
to enlist with the Canadian troops and to receive their first lessons
in the science of warfare. Canada was stirred as she had never been
stirred before in all her history. Her troops already at the front had
received their first great baptism of fire at Langemarck. They had
fought desperately, they had won splendidly, but their losses had been
appalling. So the young men of Canada, eager to avenge the slaughter
of their countrymen, were hastening to fill the depleted ranks, and
the young men from the States were proud to bear them company.

But life in the training camps was no holiday. It was hard, steady,
strenuous business, carried on under the most rigid form of
discipline. Yet the men were well clothed, well fed, had comfortable
quarters, enjoyed regular periods of recreation, and were content with
their lot, save that their eagerness to complete their training and
get to the firing line inevitably manifested itself in expressions of
impatience.

To get up at 5:30 in the morning and drill for an hour before
breakfast was no great task, nor two successive hours of fighting with
tipped bayonets, nor throwing of real bombs and hand-grenades, nor was
the back-breaking digging of trenches, nor the exhaustion from long
marches, if only by such experiences they could fit themselves
eventually to fight their enemy not only with courage but also with
that skill and efficiency which counts for so much in modern warfare.

It was ten days after Pen's enlistment that, being off duty, he
crossed the parade ground one evening and went into the large reading
and recreation room of the Young Men's Christian Association,
established and maintained there for the benefit of the troops in
training. He had no errand except that he wished to write a letter to
his mother, and the conveniences offered made it a favorite place for
letter writing.

There were few people in the room, for it was still early, and the
writing tables were comparatively unoccupied. But at one of them, with
his back to the entrance, sat a young man in uniform busy with his
correspondence. Pen glanced at him casually as he sat down to write;
his quarter face only was visible. But the glance had left an
impression on his mind that the face and figure were those of some one
he had at some time known. He selected his writing paper and took up a
pen, but the feeling within