the unit in a particularly small and dirty house by the
wayside.

Some of us lay on the floor and I made my bed on three chairs--a style
of bed which I said I would patent on my return to Canada. The chairs,
with the middle one facing in the opposite direction to prevent one
rolling off, were placed at certain distances where the body needed
special support, and made a very comfortable resting place, free from
those inhabitants which infested the ordinary places of repose. Of
course we did not sleep much, and somebody, amid roars of laughter (p. 080)
called for breakfast about two-thirty a.m. The cook who was sleeping
in the same room got up and prepared bacon and coffee, and we had
quite an enjoyable meal, which did not prevent our having a later one
about nine a.m., after which, I beguiled the time by reading aloud
Leacock's "Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich." Later in the day,
I marched off with our men who were going into the trenches, for the
battle of Festubert. We passed the place called Indian Village and
went to the trenches just beyond.

We met a bearer-party bringing out a young German prisoner who was
badly wounded. I went over to him and offered him a cigarette. This he
declined, but asked for some water, putting out his dry tongue to show
how parched it was. I called to some of our men to know if they could
spare him a drink. Several gladly ran across and offered their
water-bottles. They were always kind to wounded prisoners. "If thine
enemy thirst give him drink." Just before the men went into the
trenches, I shook hands with one or two and then, as they passed up,
half the battalion shook hands with me. I was glad they did, but at
the same time I felt then that it was not wise for a chaplain to do
anything which looked as if he were taking matters too seriously. It
was the duty of everyone to forget private feelings in the one
absorbing desire to kill off the enemy. I saw the different battalions
going up and was returning towards headquarters when whom should I
meet but the dreaded Brigadier coming up the road with his staff. It
was impossible to dodge him; I could see already that he was making
towards me. When he came up to me, he asked me what I was doing there,
and ordered me back to Headquarters on pain of a speedy return to No.
2 General Hospital. "If you come east of my Headquarters," he said,
"you will be sent back absolutely certainly." That night I took my
revenge by sleeping in his