There, right in the foremost trench and therefore in the more danger from
the enemy's fire, a tall, lank Englishman lay, stretched at full length
upon the ground. His arms were above his head, and he appeared to be
resting in perfect comfort, at peace with the world.

But it was something that protruded from the legs of his army trousers
that had caused the merriment of the troops gathered about. The lanky
Englishman had removed his puttees and exposed to the view of the
astonished Frenchmen two silk-clad feet, and red silk at that.

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Hal. "Silk socks! and in this weather!"

"Silk socks," said Chester, "are clearly against the army regulations."

They approached closer.

Now the lanky Englishman sat up, and apparently unconscious of the gaze
of the troops about him, produced a nice leather box, opened it,
extracted an instrument, and proceeded to manicure his nails. He did it
coolly and paid no attention whatever to those about him.

"Well!" said Hal. "What do you think of that?"

"That's the best I have seen yet," said Chester, laughing.

The lads pushed through the crowd of curious French soldiers and soon
were in the midst of the British. They approached a sergeant.

"What sort of a freak is this?" asked Hal, indicating the long
Englishman.

"By Jove!" exclaimed the sergeant. "You're English, aren't you?"

"Yes," replied Hal. "But who is this gentleman with the manicure set?"

The sergeant smiled.

"That," he said, "is His Lordship."

"'His Lordship'? But what's his name?"

"Well, I have forgotten his name. We all call him 'His Lordship.'"

"But why do you permit all this funny business?"

The sergeant shrugged his shoulders.

"What can I do?" he exclaimed. "If I forbid one thing he bobs up with
something else. Look at him! He's the laziest man I ever saw. We named
him 'His Lordship' the moment of his arrival in our midst, and bets were
made that he would succumb after the first day's march. Not a bit of it!
He looked tired at the start, but he looked no more so at the finish. We
were finally placed in the trenches. His Lordship did everything
ungrudgingly, but he could not sleep without a pillow. What do you
suppose he did?"

"I haven't the slightest idea," said Hal. "What did he do?"

"Why, he made a bargain with a big fat fellow, who, for four packs of
cigarettes a day, agreed to let his lordship use his stomach as a pillow.
He's lazy, yes, but just the same he's a f