h with great verve. We encountered a
gunner chopping wood, and he told him the story of the pipe. "I'll give
twenty-five francs to any one who brings it to me," he concluded. The
gunner saluted and continued to chop wood.

"Rather a big reward!" I remarked as we walked on.

"Do you think twenty-five too much? Shall I make it fifteen?"

"You've committed yourself now," I answered solemnly.

Our arrival at the trench in which we had sheltered the day before
coincided with the whizz-phutt of a 4.2 dud. "I shall be sorry if I get
you killed looking for my pipe," said the major cheerfully. We waited
for the next shell, which exploded well behind us, and then hastened to
the spot where our quest was really to commence. Four gunners belonging
to the --rd Brigade stood idly in the trench. The major stopped and
looked down upon them. He addressed himself directly to a wall-faced,
emotionless kind of man whose head and shoulders showed above the
trench top.

"I was down here yesterday," began the major, "and lost my pipe. It was
a very valuable pipe, a pipe I prize very much. I think it must be
somewhere in this trench...."

The wall-faced man remained stolidly silent.

"I want to get it back again," went on the major; "and if any of you
fellows find it and bring it to me--I'm Major Mallaby-Kelby, commanding
the --nd Brigade--I'll give a reward of twenty-five francs."

"Is this it, sir?" said the wall-faced man in matter-of-fact tones,
whipping out of his pocket a thin-stemmed pipe with a shapely,
beautifully-polished bowl.

"By Jove, that's it!" exclaimed the major, taken aback by the swift
unexpectedness of the recovery. "Yes, by Jove, that's it," he
continued, his face lighting up. He took the pipe and rubbed the bowl
affectionately with the palm of his hand.

"Twenty-five francs reward!" I murmured softly.

"Yes, that's right," he said briskly, and began turning out his
pockets. Three maps, a pocket-handkerchief, some ration biscuits, and a
note-case with nothing in it. "You must lend me twenty-five francs,"
he declared masterfully.

The wall-faced gunner accepted the money without any sign of repressed
emotion, and saluted smartly. The smiles of the other men broadened
into grins as the major and myself set our faces homewards.

There were more serious matters to consider when we got back. D Battery
had had two men killed by shell fire in the wood; the other batteries
had had to send away a dozen men between