the struggling men, but I was too
late to be of any use. After a particularly frantic struggle Troolan
managed to get on top of his adversary, with his right arm free. His
mighty fist came smashing down full in the other's face. The German
staggered to his feet, but Troolan leaped clear of him, seized his rifle,
and, this time, brought the butt down with a thud on the other's skull.
Then Troolan burst into some of the most profane Scotch it has been my
doubtful privilege to hear.

"What are you cursing about?" I asked him.

"I want to mak shair that Deevil's deed!" he said.

* * * * *

Later that day we were relieved by other scouts.

Toward nightfall troops began to arrive on either side of us in great
numbers, and dispatch riders with various insignia continually dashed up
on their speedy motorcycles to our brigade headquarters. Everyone realized
that we must be approaching something big, for previous to this we had
been fighting, for the most part, isolated engagements. As a matter of
fact, it developed that we were preparing for the Battle of the Marne.

We remained at this spot all night. At dawn, orders were given that we
were to take the high ground the Germans were occupying a few miles ahead
of us. Our brigade marched in skirmishing order, followed by the cavalry
and artillery. We passed scores of dead--some French but the majority
German. Dead horses were intermingled with the bodies of men.

We were under heavy shell fire until we descended into the shelter of a
gully. Here we met a few of the French Chasseurs. Four or five farms were
clustered together, and the sights we encountered in the yards and on the
roads were the worst we had yet seen. Pools of congealed blood; bodies of
dead soldiers partly covered with sacks and straw; the barns so filled
that the feet of dead men were protruding. The Chasseurs appeared very
pale and silent.

The ridge was densely covered with hazel-wood. We got the command to fix
bayonets and extend into skirmishing formation. The Black Watch with the
Camerons were to take the ridge, while the Coldstreams and Scots Guards
were to be in reserve.

An incident occurred during the ascent of the ridge which illustrated the
reckless, devil-may-care spirit of the men in our battalion in a way
which impressed even me. The front-line men came upon a lot of blackberry
bushes. They began plucking and eating the berries, shouting gleefully to
one anot