tain about the ammunition dumps he had
arranged for the coming battle, when the brigade clerk handed me a buff
slip just arrived from the Casualty Clearing Station. It stated simply
that 2nd Lieut. Garstin had died as the result of gun-shot wounds. Poor
boy! a handsome well-mannered youngster, who had come out to France
practically from school.

I finished talking to the staff captain and walked to the colonel's
tent. I told him of Garstin's death.

"Wounded last night taking up ammunition, wasn't he?" said the colonel
gravely.

"Yes, sir. He had finished the job and was coming back towards
Lieramont. Two of the men were wounded as well."

The colonel pulled out the note-book in which he kept his list of the
officers in the Brigade.

"That leaves C Battery very short of officers. You'd better
transfer--let me see--M'Whirter from 'B.' ... And ask the staff captain
if we can have an officer from the D.A.C."

A little later I sent out the following wire to B and C Batteries:--

"2nd Lieut. J. M'Whirter will be attached to C Battery on
receipt of this message. 2nd Lieut. F.E.R. Collinge of No. 1
Section D.A.C. will join B Battery to-day."

The night bristled with excitements. No. 1 Section of the D.A.C., with
two hundred horses, were camped a hundred yards from us, and at 9 P.M.
I was in their mess, talking books of the day, horses, and stage
gossip. A lull in the conversation was broken by the low unmistakable
drone of an enemy aeroplane. It sounded right overhead. "What's
happened to our anti-aircraft people?" said Major Brown, starting up
from the table. "How's he got through as far as this without any one
shooting at him?"

We waited in silence. I wondered what had become of the dog, who had
followed me, but had remained outside the trench-cover mess.

The first bomb crashed near enough to put out the candles and rattle
the glasses on the table. "That fell over there," said the padre,
pointing to behind the wood. "No, it was on this side, not far from my
horses," put in Major Brown quickly.

Three more bombs shook the ground beneath us. Then we heard more
distant explosions.

Outside we saw torch flashings in the D.A.C. horse lines, and heard
hurrying to and fro. "Swiffy" also had run down to give his aid.

So serious had been the loss of horses through bombing during the
summer of 1918 that after each fatal raid an official report had to be
forwarded and a formal inquiry held to decide whet