gone I went back alone.
Tish was asleep with a hot stone under her cheek, from which I judged
she'd had neuralgia, and Aggie was nowhere in sight. But round the
corner an ammunition train of trucks had come in and I suddenly
remembered Aggie and her horse trough. Unfortunately I had not asked her
where it was.

I roused Tish but her neuralgia had ruffled her usual placid temper, and
she said that if Aggie was caught in a horse trough let her sit in it.
If she could take a bath in a pint of water Aggie could, instead of
hunting up luxuries. She then went to sleep again, leaving me in an
anxious frame of mind.

Mr. Burton was not round, and at last I started out alone with a
flashlight, but as we were short of batteries I was too sparing of it
and stepped down accidentally into a six-foot cellar, jarring my spine
badly. When I got out at last it was very late, and though there were
soldiers all round I did not like to ask them to assist me in my
search, as I had every reason to believe that our dear Aggie had sought
cleanliness in her nightgown.

It was, I believe, fully 2 A. M. when I finally discovered her behind a
wall, where a number of our boys were playing a game with a lantern and
dice--a game which consisted apparently of coaxing the inanimate objects
with all sorts of endearing terms. They got up when they saw me, but I
observed that I was merely taking a walk, and wandered as nonchalantly
as I was able into the inclosure.

At first all was dark and silent. Then I heard the trickle of running
water, and a moment later a sneeze. The lost was found!

"Aggie!" I said sternly.

"Hush, for Heaven's sake! They'll hear you."

"Where are you?"

"B-b-behind the trough," she said, her teeth chattering. "Run and get my
bathrobe, Lizzie. Those d-d-dratted boys have been there for an hour."

Well, I had brought it with me, and she had her slippers; and we started
back. I must say that Aggie was a strange figure, however, and one of
the boys said after we had passed: "Well, fellows, war's hell, all
right."

"If you saw it too I feel better," said another. "I thought maybe this
frog liquor was doing things to me."

Aggie, however, was sneezing and did not hear.

I come now to that part of my narrative which relates to Charlie Sands'
raid and the results which followed it. I felt a certain anxiety about
telling Tish of the dangerous work in which he was engaged, and waited
until her morning tea had fortified her.