Early in 1916 ten of us were going up with rations--chiefly bread and
water. In one part of the trench there were no duckboards and the vile
mud was thigh-deep.
Here we abandoned the trench and stumbled along, tripping over barbed
wire and falling headlong into shell-holes half-full of icy water.
A German sniper was at work. Suddenly a bullet pinged midway between
the last two of the party.
"Hear that?" said No. 9. "Right behind my neck!"
"Yes," replied No. 10, "right in front of my bloomin' nose!"--_C. A.
Davies (late 23rd R. Fusiliers), 85 Saxton Street, Gillingham, Kent._