about a minute when a shell landed
straight on the culvert, going through eight feet of cement and brick,
blowing everything in all directions and killing 15 out of the 16 men
who had taken refuge there. Less than sixty seconds had elapsed since I
left the spot.

When the battle was at its greatest height a wonderful discovery was
made. Complaint had been made about the horses dropping on the road on
the way up. Some thought it was cramps, others, colic; the veterinary
officers were quite puzzled. One night 18 loads of ammunition, three
horses to a load, were on their way to the guns and ten of the horses
dropped. The vets then took it for granted there must have been poison
in the feed, and an examination disclosed that little steel oats were in
the grain. The oats had come from the United States and they had been
deposited in the grain there.

The discovery was so important that the O.C. offered a prize of five
francs to every man discovering these death-dealing pellets in a bag of
oats. The bellies of the horses were secure forevermore, as far as these
pills of Kaiser Bill were concerned; those five francs did the trick;
every grain of the feed that went down the animals' throats first passed
an individual examination through the hands of every money-hungry Tommy
in the bunch.

After the third battle of Ypres had cooled down, we were permitted to go
to the rear as far as Poperinghe, for the purpose of giving ourselves a
scouring, as we were filthy with dirt and lousy with lice. My particular
chum on this journey was the little telephonist, Fox, who had been
through every big battle up to that time, including the Sanctuary Woods
carnage. We got to the wagon lines, eight miles off, by stealing rides
on any passing vehicle upon which we could fasten a tooth or a finger
nail,--ammunition wagon lorries, ambulances, supply wagons,--as we were
thoroughly tired out.

At the wagon lines we persuaded the Q-M to loan us horses for the
balance of the journey, which he cheerfully consented to do. But the
horses, unfortunately, were mules, practically ready for the bone-yard;
the Quartermaster had put them to one side, as they were useless for any
further work, and they were awaiting the arrival of the veterinary
officer to receive capital punishment. Every time I dug my spurs in my
mount, in a mad endeavor to make it go, the only result was a kick in
the air with its hind feet.

There was another transportation service in v