a few weeks ago.... But"--with a
pleasant smile--"I think you've earned your right to him.... I've never
seen a dog so excited by shells.... Well, good-bye!"

He walked away, and "Ernest" started after him. I stood still in the
centre of the road. The dog turned his head as if to see whether I
meant to follow. Then he came back, and quietly lay down at my feet.

We had a joyous walk home. There were shells to scamper after, wire to
scramble through, old trenches to explore. The return of "Ernest"
brought a deep content to our mess.

* * * * *

Sept. 21: The attack which started at 5.40 A.M. was carried out by two
of our Divisional Infantry brigades; a brigade of another Division
attacked simultaneously. The object was to close with the main enemy
positions in the Hindenburg Line. Tanks were put in to break down the
opposition--sure to be met by the brigades on the left and right; and
every officer in the Division knew that if the final objectives could
be held the Boche would be compelled to withdraw large forces to the
far side of the canal. The attack was planned with extraordinary
attention to detail. Battalions were ordered not to attempt to push on
beyond the final objective; trench mortars were to be moved up to cover
the consolidation of the final positions; the reconnaissance work had
been specially thorough. Our batteries had horses and limbers in
readiness for a quick rushing up of the guns.

The earlier part of the operation went well enough, but by 8 A.M. we
knew that our two Infantry brigades were having to go all out. The
Boche machine-gunners were firing with exemplary coolness and
precision. At 8.30 the brigade-major telephoned that every gun we
possessed must fire bursts on certain hostile battery positions. The
colonel and I didn't leave the mess that morning; the telephone was
rarely out of use. At half-past ten Major Bartlett, who had gone
forward to an infantry post to see what was happening, got a message
back to say that, harassed by heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, our
infantry were coming back. Aeroplane calls for artillery fire on
hostile batteries were twice responded to by our batteries. Drysdale,
doing liaison with the --rd Infantry Brigade, reported that two
battalions had had severe losses. A buff slip from the Casualty
Clearing Station informed us that the lead driver of our brigade
telephone cart had died in hospital overnight: he had been hit just
a