olic and Church of
England men, and after that the General decided to inspect my
regiment. As he approached, so did the shells, and in a few seconds
everyone was flying for shelter to ditches and holes in the ground
like rabbits to their burrows. Having knocked us about with 300-lb.
shells, they then thought that we should be out of the house, and they
let loose with shrapnel, which is a great man-killer. I watched the
first burst coming, and had everyone under cover whilst they rained
this around. I think they must have been in a bad humour. At all
events, they wasted L500 worth of ammunition to no purpose. I expect
they are told by spies which houses we occupy, as they appeared to
follow us about steadily. It has become much milder, but still cold
enough when we turn out at five o'clock in the morning. One certainly
does not eat the bread of idleness in the British Army at present!
Here comes our solitary lamp, borrowed from the absent farmer, but
before it arrives we must close the blinds, as the light would
certainly insure a shelling for us. I am glad you had a good run
across to Ireland, and that Sydney was a good boy. I wonder how much
longer we are going to stay here. Rumour has it that the enemy is
moving back, but I cannot say.

IN BILLETS.
_November 30th, 1914._

We are still in billets and still under a heavy fire; a nasty cold
rain is falling, and altogether it is very disagreeable, excepting
that it would be worse in the trenches, as being _more_ cold and wet.
Well, last night we discovered a pigeon loft in the ruined part of the
town, and as we have orders to destroy all these birds we put a guard
on it, and Major B---- and I walked down to the Brigade office and
asked if we could kill the lot. We found, however, that it was
supposed to belong to the French Army, so we returned sorrowfully
home. On our way we had a near shave, for out of the darkness whizzed
a shrapnel shell. I heard it coming, having very quick ears, and
shouted "Down!" It was rather amusing to see what happened. The three
men stood stock still, and gazed like owls solemnly into the dark.
Major B ... walked rapidly forward in the direction he was then going,
whilst I gave a flying jump and was face downward in orthodox style in
a second and into a ditch. The shrapnel landed its contents within 20
yards of us, but all escaped unhurt, I'm thankf