y could not get the thought of Ben Shrillett, labour leader and
agitator, out of his mind, and mixed with his thoughts as he went to
sleep were that officer's remarks about pressed men. That perhaps
accounts for his waking thoughts running on the same groove when his
sergeant roused him at black midnight and informed him the section was
being turned out--to dig trenches.

'Trenches,' spluttered Sapper Duffy, '. . . us? How is it our turn
again?'

'Becos, my son,' said the Sergeant, 'there's nobody else about 'ere to
take a turn. Come on! Roll out! Show a leg!'

It was then that Sapper Duffy was finally converted, and renounced for
ever and ever his anti-conscription principles.

'Nobody else,' he said slowly, 'an' England fair stiff wi' men. . . .
The sooner we get Conscription, the better I'll like it. Conscription
solid for every bloomin' able-bodied man an' boy. An' I 'ope Ben
Shrillett an' 'is likes is the first to be took. Conscription,' he
said with the emphasis of finality as he fumbled in wet straw for a
wetter boot, 'out-an'-out, lock, stock, 'n barrel Conscription.'

* * * * *

That same night Ben Shrillett was presiding at a meeting of the Strike
Committee. He had read on the way to the meeting the communique that
told briefly of Sapper Duffy and his fellow Engineers' work of the
night before, and the descriptive phrase struck him as sounding neat
and effective. He worked it now into his speech to the Committee,
explaining how and where they and he benefited by this strike,
unpopular as it had proved.

'We've vindicated the rights of the workers,' he said. 'We've shown
that, war or no war, Labour means to be more than mere wage-slaves.
War can't last for ever, and we here, this Committee, proved ourselves
by this strike the true leaders and the Champions of Labour, the
Guardians of the Rights of Trade Unionism. We, gentlemen, have always
been that, and by the strike'--and he concluded with the phrase from
the despatch--'we have maintained and consolidated our position.'

The Committee said, 'Hear, hear.' It is a pity they could not have
heard what Sapper Duffy was saying as he sat up in his dirty wet straw,
listening to the rustle and patter of rain on the barn's leaky roof and
tugging on an icy-cold board-stiff boot.

'BUSINESS AS USUAL'

The remains of the Regiment were slowly working their way back out of
action. They had been in it for three days--