rried into the cellar. The place was a regular Black
Hole of Calcutta. It was very small, damp, and smelt of queer things,
and there were six soldiers, the man of the house, his wife, and seven
children, one a sucking babe two months old, cooped up in the place.

I did not like the place--in fact, I seldom like any dug-out, it
reminds me of the grave, the covering earth, and worms, and always
there is a feeling of suffocation. But I have enjoyed my stay in one
or two. There was a delightful little one, made for a single soldier,
in which I stayed. At night when off sentry, and when I did not feel
like sleeping, I read. Over my head I cut a niche in the mud, placed
my candle there, pulled down over the door my curtain, a real good
curtain, taken from some neighbouring chateau, spent a few moments
watching the play of light and shadows on the roof, and listening to
the sound of guns outside, then lit a cigarette and read. Old (p. 119)
Montaigne in a dug-out is a true friend and a fine companion. Across
the ages we held conversation as we have often done. Time and again I
have read his books; there was a time when for a whole year I read a
chapter nightly: in a Glasgow doss-house, in a king's castle, in my
Irish home, and now in Montaigne's own country, in a little earthy
dug-out, I made the acquaintance of the man again. The dawn broke to
the clatter of bayonets on the fire position when I put the book aside
and buckled my equipment for the stand-to hour.

The French trench dug-outs are not leaky, ours generally are, and the
slightest shower sometimes finds its way inside. I have often awakened
during the night to find myself soaked through on a floor covered with
slush. When the weather is hot we sleep outside. In some cases the
dug-out is handsomely furnished with real beds, tables, chairs, mirrors,
and candlesticks of burnished brass. Often there are stoves built into
the clayey wall and used for cooking purposes. In "The Savoy" dug-out,
which was furnished after this fashion, Section 3 once sat down to a
memorable dinner which took a whole day long to prepare; and eatables
and wine were procured at great risk to life. Incidentally, Bill, (p. 120)
who went out of the trenches and walked four kilometres to procure a
bottle of _vin rouge_ was rewarded by seven days' second field
punishment for his pains.

Mervin originated the idea in the early morning as he was dressing a
finger which he had cut when opening a t