And the little church which sleeps so quietly,     

       I said “Good-bye” to on my knees;     

       I said “Good-bye” to my sister     

       And my dear old mammy, too;     

       But my heart was almost breaking     

       When I said “Good-bye” to you.     

       They’re conscious of something different and devastating approaching, and are singing their farewell to security.     

       Foch’s Pets! The hammer-head of the counterattack! If that’s the game, there won’t be many of us left to celebrate peace. It’s August now; how many of us will be above ground by Christmas?     

  

  

       VII     

 WE found our horses waiting for us with the grooms and horse-holders in a trench about fifty yards off the road. They had had to take cover there on account of enemy shelling attracted by an anti-aircraft battery. The anti-aircraft battery being mounted on motor-lorries, had made a swift get-away the moment the retaliation, which they had called down, had started. Our boys couldn’t get away; they had received explicit orders to wait for me and my party with their horses at one specific point on the Concrete Road. Three horses had been slightly wounded and one of the men had been killed. A splinter of shell had cut his throat as completely as if a knife had been drawn across it.     

W

       Kneeling beside the body, I drew back the saddle-blanket which had been thrown over if and scanned the face with my flash-lamp. My groom touched me on the shoulder, “You won’t recognise him, sir; he’s a remount—only came to the Front for the first time yesterday evening.”     

       It was a young face, with scarcely any beard on it. Nineteen, at most. The eyes were blue, and filmed, and wide. 

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