A conglomerate mass of officers, all clinging convulsively to each
other, suddenly burst into the open trench--almost at the feet of the
General, who came round the traverse into view of them at that moment.

When I returned to C Company's dug-out, an hour or so later, to try to
recover my plate and anything else that had not been smashed, I found
three officers reading a message that had just come by telephone from
Battalion Headquarters. It was prefixed by the usual number of
mysterious letters and figures and ran:

"The Brigadier has noticed with regret the tendency of several officers
to crowd into one dug-out. This practice must cease. An officer should
have his dug-out as near those of his own men as possible, and should
not pass his time in the dug-outs belonging to officers of other
companies."

"Here comes the General!" whispered somebody.

I got first up the steps and hurried, a battered plate in my hand, along
the trenches to my dug-out.

XVIII

THE RASCAL IN WAR

Even the most apathetic of us has been changed by war--he who in times
of peace was content with his ledgers and daily office round is now in
the ranks of men who clamber over the parapet and rush, cheering, to the
German lines; she who lived for golf, dances, and theatres is now caring
for the wounded through the long nights in hospital. Everyone in every
class of life has altered--the "slacker" has turned soldier, and the
burglar has become a sound, honest man.

Strange it is that war, which might be expected to arouse all the animal
passions in us, has done us so much good! There are among the men in the
trenches many hundreds who were, before the war, vastly more at home in
the police courts and prisons than is the average Londoner at a public
dinner. That they should be brave is not astonishing, for adventure is
in their bones, but they are also as faithful, as trustworthy, as
amenable to discipline as any soldiers we possess.

There was "Nobby" Clarke, for instance. "Nobby" was a weedy little
Cockney who became my "batman," or servant. He had complete control of
my privy purse, did all my shopping, and haggled over my every halfpenny
as carefully as though it were his own. Then, when he had served me for
over six months, I overheard him one day recounting his prison
experiences, and I discovered that he had been a pilferer and pickpocket
well known in all the London police courts. In his odd moments out of
jail, he would