d asleep on the ground. They had
not had any sleep since the previous Thursday night, and now they were
to be roused to go at it again, digging in with General Snow.

[Illustration: THE MUSTER OF THE 48TH HIGHLANDERS AFTER BATTLE
OF ST. JULIEN--212 OUT OF 1,034]

Rations and ammunitions were issued and off we started. We crossed the
Yperlee Canal by a foot bridge and climbed the steep slope once more
into the deadly salient. As we passed down to the bridges in Indian
file several of our men were struck by shrapnel bullets. When we
crossed over the canal we were led to the west of La Brique and halted
in a ditch, where we promptly dug in. The Indian guns were in front of
us. About an hour after, just as we were well dug in, we were again
moved further east and put in behind some hedges and some more Indian
batteries. Again we dug in, making a good job of it. The troops in
front of us were apparently attacking and the din of the shell and
rifle fire became terrific. We all thought we would be at it again in
a few minutes, and the men began tightening up their puttees and
looking to their rifles and ammunition. Some began eating their
rations, for as one poor fellow said they might as well enjoy them
because they might not need any more after a few minutes.

The attack in our front died away and pretty soon another order came
and we started down behind hedges and ditches back to Wiltje. The
Germans were shelling the village for all they were worth and the
church was burning, so we gave it a wide berth and slipped in behind
the village and proceeded to dig in again. Every few minutes the Huns
would start shelling Wiltje and we would come into their "Zone of
influence." The shells that missed the roofs of the houses from the
north would pitch over into our lines and we had to duck and count ten
when we heard them coming.

While we were being jolly well shelled in these trenches an incident
occurred which was of extraordinary interest. I remember reading when
I was a boy how at the siege of Toulon, while Napoleon was dictating a
message to a young soldier named Lannes a British shell struck the
parapet and threw sand all over them and also on the written message.
The writer coolly shook the sand off the paper, remarking that they
would not need any sand to blot the ink. This soldier showed such
bravery that he subsequently became a Marshal of the Empire. That
afternoon after we were dug in I was dictating a messag