wly, in a voice that was scarcely louder than a whisper, he said, 'I
wonder why I am allowed to suffer like this,' 'I know why,' replied the
Y.M.C.A. man; 'you are suffering like this so that two women I love--my
mother and my sister--may live in peace and safety in the north of
London. If it were not for the sacrifices you and thousands of other
boys are making out here, that would be impossible.' The soldier lad was
quiet for some time, and then whispered to his new-found friend--'I'm
glad to go on suffering!'

* * * * *

The same secretary tells an interesting story of one of the bitter
fights round Passchendaele. The wounded were being brought in on
stretchers, and he was on the spot with hot drinks for the boys. The
guns were quiet for a moment and a voice was heard singing clearly and
distinctly:

'Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on.
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene; one step enough for me.'

[Illustration: Y.M.C.A. MOTOR KITCHEN BEHIND THE LINES]

The singer was a private, badly wounded and being carried in on a
stretcher. The subsequent verses were drowned in the roar of battle, but
those standing round could see from the movement of the wounded man's
lips that he was still singing. Thus it is possible for a man to find
his Saviour near him even amid the horror and noise of war.

* * * * *

One day in 1917 we stood outside a little Y.M.C.A. at Erquinghem, lost
during the German advance in the following spring, and standing there we
heard 'Grandmother' speak. 'Grandmother,' it should be explained, was
a mighty howitzer. It was concealed under an improvised shed carefully
camouflaged, and was brought out on rails, in a horizontal position. As
we watched, it was brought to the vertical and out shot a tongue of
flame. The projectile was so huge we could watch its flight for miles
until it disappeared from view in the distance. Listening intently we
heard the explosion in the enemy's lines. Many a Y.M.C.A. on the Western
Front is situated right amid the guns, and when they are fired one knows
it--'Grandmother' speaking, seems to shake the very foundations of the
earth.

[Illustration: INDIAN TROOPS AT THE SIGN OF THE RED TRIANGLE]

CHAPTER XIII

THE RE