the daytime, as the road in
front of the farm leading towards Missy was under perpetual rifle-fire
directly any one showed up, and several holes had been made in the
farmyard gate, windows, and walls, not to mention bits of the roof
taken off by shrapnel. Why they did not shell the farm more I cannot
conceive. Perhaps the enemy thought it was deserted, but whilst we
were there no shells fell within a couple of hundred yards of it,
though some were pitched well over it, and exploded 500 yards to the
rear.

I had gone to see the Dorsets and 13th Brigade in Missy on the evening
before, and found them fairly well ensconced. The Dorsets were in
Missy itself, with their headquarters in a really nice house with
carpets and big shaded lamps, and a cellar full of excellent wine,
and a nice garden all complete, and charming bedrooms--infinitely
superior to our pig-sty of a farm. I seriously thought of turning them
out and taking the house for the Brigade Staff, especially as our farm
was not at all central but quite on the left of our line; but all our
cable-lines converged on to the farm, and, in addition, the Dorset
house would have been impossible to get out of for further control if
Missy were shelled; so I settled to remain at the farm. The 13th
Brigade--_i.e._, K.O.Y.L.I., and West Kents, were further on, the
K.O.Y.L.I., on the eastern outskirts, and the West Kents in trenches
beyond them. The K.O.S.B.'s were still further south-eastwards, and
reached back to the river, but there were only one or two weak
companies of them.

Before dawn, and just after Rolt had left, I went to inspect the
Bedfords' position, which was close to Rolt's farm, in the wood in
front of it, and a beastly position it was. The wood was very damp,
and when one tried to dig trenches one struck water only a foot below
ground, so most of the line had to be made of breastworks. There were
German trenches within 20 yards of our advanced trench there, and ours
was remarkably badly situated and liable to be rushed at a moment's
notice; yet it was impossible from the lie of the ground to dig
suitable ones unless we retired altogether for 200 yards, which of
course was out of the question. So we chanced it and stuck it out, and
luckily were never attacked there. The men suffered there from damp
and cold, I'm afraid, for every morning a wet and freezing fog arose
in the wood, although the weather was clear elsewhere; but it could
not be helped.

We stayed