who enjoy exact description I will add that 1 was
going in the direction of the Germans who were oppo-
site B Company, i.e. away from St. Floris. The trench
was only waist-deep; almost at once I saw what I
presumed to be a machine-gun team. There were four
of them, and they were standing about thirty yards
away, gazing in the other direction. They were wear-
ing flat blue-grey caps and their demeanour sug-
gested boredom and idleness. Anyhow I \^as at last
more or less in contact with the enemies of England.
I had come from Edinburgh via Limerick and Jeru-
salem, drawing full pay for seven months, and 1 could
now say that I had seen some of the people I was
fighting against. And what I saw was four harmless
young Germans who were staring up at a distant
aeroplane.
Standing upright, I watched them with breathless
interest until one of them turned and looked me
straight in the face. He was a blond youth of Saxon
type, and he registered complete astonishment. For
several seconds we gaped at one another; then he
turned to draw the attention of his companions to
their unknown visitor, who immediately betook him-
self to the cover of the cornfield, to the best of his
ability imitating a streak of light. I returned much
quicker than I came, and while the Germans were
talking it over at their leisure I resumed my tunic and
tin hat and took the bayonet back to its owner who
eyed the stick-bomb enquiringly* With a marked
change of manner from my recent retreat on all fours,
I laconically mentioned that I'd just slipped across
and fetched it. I then returned in triumph to Vcl-
more, who implored me not to do that sort of thing
again without warning him.
We thereupon decided that, as the general had
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