said Barry, "I am quite sure that my wife would
approve."

"Very well, then," said the general, "let me handle this for you, and
let me say, sir, that I am proud to have you in my division."

So saying, he gripped Barry's hand hard, and turned abruptly away to the
others.

They rode to their camp in almost complete silence, except for a grunt
or two from the O. C. who seemed in a grumpy mood.

When they arrived at Headquarters, the O. C. drew up his horse and
turning to the major, said,

"I don't know just what to do with this Pilot of ours. He is a fool in
some ways."

"A darned fool, sir," said the major emphatically.

"And," continued the major, "I am selfish enough to say that I am damned
glad--I won't apologise, Pilot--that he decided to stay with us. It
would have been just a little harder to carry on if he had left us."

"Yes," growled the major, "but, oh, well, we have got to stick it I
guess. The Pilot is a soldier all right."

There was nothing further said about the matter, but next day as Barry
walked about the camp, among the men, their eyes followed him as he
passed, and every officer in the mess seemed to discover an errand that
took him to Barry's tent.

Two days later the Canadians moved up into the line and took over from
the Australians. They followed the Bapaume Road toward Pozieres, passing
through a country which had seen the heaviest fighting in the war.

"This," said the O. C., drawing aside from the road, and riding to a
slightly rising ground, "is La Boiselle, or at least where it was, and
that I fancy is the famous mine crater. Sixty thousand pounds of gun
cotton blew up that hole."

There was absolutely no sign of the village, the very foundations of the
houses, and the cellars having the appearance of a ploughed field.

"That was a desperate fight," continued the O. C. "It was here that
the Middlesex men made their great charge. Fifty men reported from the
battalion when it was over. In that village they had a whole division
fighting before they were through, Middlesex men, Royal Scots and Irish,
for three days and three nights."

As they rode along, the guns on either side began their evening
chorus and from the far rear came the roaring rush of the H. E.'s like
invisible express trains hurtling through the air. It was music to their
ears, and they rode forward with a new feeling in their hearts, for
there appeared to be almost no reply from the enemy guns.

The battalio