f the meal I said to him: "I can't compel
you to tell me anything, but I am not compelled to feed you. But you
know how to earn something to eat." He began to tell me something I
knew was all rubbish and I swung at him with "You swine! If you tell
me those lies I'll strip your badges off you and send you in as a
private." I was surprised at the effect this threat had on him, though
I knew that was the one thing that never failed in bringing a German
officer to book. He trembled and paled and gave me a lot of
information that I afterward proved to be correct.

Here's a good story of Pat, my old batman, who had been a shearer's
cook in Australia, and looked after me like a father. He was really
too old for the trenches, but this job just suited him. I was very
surprised one day to see him with a German prisoner. He was never in a
charge, and had no business having this man. Probably he had borrowed
him from some other chap. I said to him; "Pat, what on earth are you
doing with Fritz?" "To tell yer the truth, sorr-r, Oi haven't yet made
up my moind!" "Let us have no humbug, take him back to the cage!"
"Very well, sorr-r!" About ten minutes later I saw Pat without his
prisoner. "Here, Pat, what on earth did you do with Fritz?" "Well,
sorr-r, he kept beggin' and beggin' to be let go, so Oi just put a
Mills in his pocket with the pin out, and tould him to run for his
loife!" He would not get fifty yards before it went off!

The trained scout moves very cautiously in No Man's Land, with all his
senses at high tension. After moving from one shell-hole to the next
he lies and listens for a full minute. If there are any human beings
near they will likely betray themselves by loud breathing, a muffled
sneeze, or some rattle of equipment. If satisfied that the way is
clear, he moves forward into another hole. Should he suddenly come
into sight of the enemy, he is taught to freeze instantly, and the
chances are he will not be noticed.

There was one night when I was making a way through the German wire,
and had my hand up cutting a strand, when a sentry poked his head over
the top and looked straight at me not three yards away. I froze
instantly in that attitude but he fired a shot at me which, of course,
went wide, being aimed in the dark. He then sent up a flare, but the
firing of this dazzles a man for several seconds, and then so many
shadows are thrown that I was no more distinct than previously. He
we