Sirius with undiminished courage merrily twinkled above the smoke-fringed
horizon and told us of the eternal quietness of space.

With dawn the enemy's artillery became less active and we sent off the
wounded. Those who could walk were compelled to follow the bearer
parties. One man, who was not badly hit, had lost his nerve and
refused to leave. The doctor had to tell him sharply that he need not
expect to be carried, as there were too many serious cases to be
attended to. I went over to him and offered him my arm. At first he
refused to come, and then I explained to him that he was in great
danger and the thing to do was to get back as quickly as possible, if
he did not wish to be wounded again. At last I got him going at a slow
pace, and I was afraid I should have to drag him along. Suddenly a
shell landed near us, and his movements were filled with alacrity. It
was a great relief to me. After a little while he found he could walk
quite well and whenever a whiz-bang came near us his limbs seemed to
get additional strength. I took him down to a place were a battalion
was camped, and there I had to stop and bury some men in a shell hole.
While I was taking the service however, my companion persuaded some
men to carry him, and I suppose finally reached a place of safety.

There was a large dressing station in the cellars of the Red Chateau
in Courcelette, whither I made my way on a Sunday morning in
September. The fighting at the time was very heavy and I met many
ambulances bringing out the wounded. I passed Pozieres and turned down
the sunken road towards Courcelette.

Beside the road was a dugout and shelter, where the wounded, who were
carried in on stretchers from Courcelette, were kept until they could
be shipped off in the ambulances. A doctor and some men were in charge
of the post. The bearers, many of whom were German prisoners, were
bringing out the wounded over the fields and laying them by the
roadside. I went with some of the bearers past "Dead Man's Trench,"
where were many German bodies. Every now and then we came upon a
trench where men were in reserve, and we saw also many machine gun
emplacements, for the rise in the ground gave the gun a fine sweep for
its activity. The whole neighbourhood, however, was decidedly (p. 145)
unhealthy, and it was risky work for the men to go over the open. When
we got to the ruins of Courcelette, we turned down a path which skirted
the old cemetery and what remai