Near the front line at Béthune in I917 was a farm which had been
evacuated by the tenants, but there were still some cattle and other
things on it. We were, of course, forbidden to touch them.
One day we missed one of our fellows, a Cockney, for about two hours,
and guessed he was on the "scrounge" somewhere or other.
[Illustration: "... only taking the kid and the dawg for a bit of a
blow."]
Eventually he was seen coming down the road pushing an old-fashioned
pram loaded with cabbages, and round his waist there was a length of
rope, to the other end of which was tied an old cow.
You can imagine what a comical sight it was, but the climax came when
he was challenged by the corporal, "Where the devil have you been?"
"Me?" he replied innocently. "I only bin takin' the kid and the dawg
for a bit of a blow."--_A. Rush (late 4th Batt. R. Fus.), 27 Milton
Road, Wimbledon._