ith the
blood of his victims. One night I had missed him for some time, and
was whistling for him, when a sentry told me that a white dog had been
"captured" by one of the men with the thought that it was a German
police dog, and he had carried it off to company headquarters under
sentence of death. I hurried up the trench and was just in time (p. 105)
to save poor little Philo from a court martial. There had been a
warning in orders that day against the admission of dogs from the
German lines.

The men were always glad of a visit, and I used to distribute little
bronze crucifixes as I went along. I had them sent to me from London,
and have given away hundreds of them. I told the men that if anyone
asked them why they were at the war, that little cross with the patient
figure of self-sacrifice upon it, would be the answer. The widow of an
officer who was killed at Albert told me the cross which I gave her
husband was taken from his dead body, and she now had it, and would
wear it to her dying day. I was much surprised and touched to see the
value which the men set upon these tokens of their faith. I told them
to try to never think, say or do anything which would make them want
to take off the cross from their necks.

The dugouts in which the officers made their homes were quite
comfortable, and very merry parties we have had in the little earth
houses which were then on the surface of the ground. One night when
some new officers had arrived to take over the line, one of the
companies gave them a dinner, consisting of five or six courses, very
nicely cooked. We were never far however, from the presence of the
dark Angel, and our host on that occasion was killed the next night.
Our casualties at this time were not heavy, although every day there
were some men wounded or killed. The shells occasionally made direct
hits upon the trenches. I came upon a place once which was terribly
messed about, and two men were sitting by roaring with laughter. They
said their dinner was all prepared in their dugout, and they had gone
off to get some wood for the fire, when a shell landed and knocked
their home into ruins. They were preparing to dig for their kit and so
much of their dinner as would still be eatable. As they took the whole
matter as a joke, I joined with them in the laugh. One day as I was
going up the line, a young sapper was carried out on a sitting
stretcher. He was hit through the chest, and all the way along the