ke shelter, and it was clearly impossible to get
through with the horse. I retraced my steps half way to the ruined
building I had just left ten minutes before; I was looking longingly at
it, wishing for its friendly shelter, when a shell struck it, blowing it
to dust. I then led the horse, hugging the walls as closely as I could,
until I got to the edge of the square, then made a run for it across,
and had just cleared it when another cluster burst, wounding the horse
in the leg. Notwithstanding his wound, he managed to bear me up until I
got to the railroad crossing, lying southwesterly from the square about
500 yards distant. Here the airplane spotted me again and directed a
barrage to stop me crossing, but I took the chance and got through it.
Every step of the way to the bridge crossing the Yser Canal, shells were
being planted at my heels. I can only liken my state of mind to that of
the tenderfoot in the saloon of the Wild and Woolly, when Halfbreed
Harvey, just for the fun of it, took a revolver in each hand and
commenced sending the nuggets of lead into the floor at the unoffending
feet of the "Lady from the East," just to see him dance. When I came to
within 50 yards of it I saw it was clearly impossible to cross on
account of the heavy shell clusters that were raining down.

I waited for a lull in the storm, then slipped on the animal's back, dug
my heels in its ribs and rushed for it. I was spattered with mud from
head to foot from the exploding shells, but not a single splinter
reached me.

As I left the bridge of the canal a hole was blown into it, and a
working party, that was kept there all the time for the especial purpose
of keeping it in repair, crawled out of their hiding places to engage in
their perilous task. It was vitally necessary to keep this bridge intact
to facilitate the supplies crossing and recrossing every minute of the
night.

The friendly cover of a hedge sheltered me for another hundred yards,
and here followed a row of buildings that I hugged until I came to a
narrow-gauge trench railroad. Clinging to the walls around were
hundreds of wounded men waiting for a conveyance. There was an open
stretch from this point and the fliers found me again; their machine-gun
fire was directed at once fairly into the middle of the road before me
and behind me; their range message was again flashed to their heavies
and cobblestones were uprooted and flying everywhere; but the good Lord
was with m