y bits of shrapnel. So in the midst of
luxury, there was the constant reminder that the war was still going
on--a death's head at the feast.

CHAPTER XX. (p. 192)

WE TAKE HILL 70.

_July and August, 1917._

Bracquemont was a very charming home. There were many men about us,
the artillery horse lines were there as well as two battalions in
rest, and various other units. Behind the British C.C.S. there was a
large hall with a stage at one end. Here our concert party gave a
performance every night. Between us and the front line, were the
villages of Maroc, Le Brebis, Mazingarbe, and Bully-Grenay, which were
our billeting area while we occupied the trenches in advance of Loos.
I was thus in easy reach of all the units in the Division and could do
a great deal of parish visiting.

In the country behind us, there were many Chinese Labour Companies and
one of Zulus. When not at work, they were encamped in large compounds
surrounded by barbed wire. Our band used to play occasionally for the
entertainment of the Chinese, who very much enjoyed both the music and
the compliment that was paid to them by its being provided. On one
occasion, I went with General Thacker to visit one of the Chinese
Labour Companies. The officer in charge wished us to see some of their
sports, and so we sat on chairs at the top of the field and the
Chinamen came up and gave us an exhibition of their skill in something
that looked like fencing. They used sticks for foils. We could not
quite see who won in the encounter, or what constituted the finishing
stroke, but, as soon as each pair of performers retired they turned
and bowed solemnly to the General and made way for two other
combatants. They were great powerful men, very different from the type
of Chinese one sees in this country. One of the performers we were
told by the O.C., could carry a weight of five hundred pounds on his
shoulders. After the gymnastic performance, we had a concert, and a
man sang, or rather made a hideous nasal sound, to the accompaniment
of something that looked like a three stringed fiddle. The song, which
greatly delighted the Chinese listeners, consisted of an interminable
number of verses; in fact we never heard the end of it, for the O.C.
stopped it and told the musicians that the officers had to leave. He
told us that the men were well behaved, and that only once had he had
occasion to hold a court-m