artistic temperament and going on as if
nothing was happening. I did the latter, and went on unmoved by the
exploding shells. I thought the Major would see that the climax of the
poem had not yet been reached and was worth waiting for. I was
mistaken. He became more and more restless, till at last he said, (p. 196)
"Excuse me, Canon, but I think I must be hurrying on." He left me
standing in the road with the last part of the poem and its magnificent
climax still in my throat. I looked after him for a moment or two,
then turned sorrowfully, lamenting the depravity of human nature, and
pursued my journey. I had not gone far in the street before I came to
a large pool of blood, where a man had just been killed. There was
some excuse, therefore, for my friend's conduct, for he must have
passed that pool of blood before he met me, and his nerves were
probably not in their normal condition. He went back to his battery
and told his friends there that I had actually buttonholed him in
Maroc and insisted upon his listening to a miserable poem of mine
while shells were falling in the place.

In order to avoid the danger of passing through the town, we generally
used a path across the fields. I was returning from the trenches with
some men one night along this path, when we saw from Maroc flashes of
a light which was apparently being used as a signal. At once we were
seized with an attack of spy-fever, and I said to the men, "There is
someone signalling to the Germans." The night was so dark that
signalling could have been seen at a considerable distance.
Immediately we started off towards the light, which went out when we
approached, but we discovered an officer in a mackintosh, and I at
once asked him who he was. Tired as our men were, for they were coming
out after being several days in the trenches, they followed me and
were so keen on the adventure that one of them had drawn his revolver.
The officer became very rude and he used some blasphemous words
towards me in the dark, which naturally provoked a stern rebuke. I
told him I was a Lieut.-Colonel, and that I should report him to his
commanding officer. Then we asked him to give proof of his identity. I
could see by his manner that he was becoming exceedingly uncomfortable,
so I insisted upon his leading us to his headquarters. He did, and we
stumbled on over telephone wires and piles of bricks till he brought
us into the yard of a broken down house, in the cellars of whi