_Tommy_. "THEN COME OUT HERE AND FRATERNISE."]

* * * * *

MILITARY AIDES.

Last year, owing to the pressure of other engagements, we did not
mark out the tennis-lawn at "Sunnyside." This year the matter has
been taken out of our hands by the military powers.

Nevin was the first to think of it.

"What about a game of tennis?" he suggested one bright morning in May.
"Keep us from going to seed."

It was his second day of leave after three months in the Ypres
salient, so the change may have been too sudden for him.

"That's a toppin' notion," echoed Bob; "let's raid 'old Beetle's'
museum and dig out the posts."

So Captain Richard Nevin, R.E., and Second-Lieutenant Robert Simpson,
R.G.A., took the affair into their own hands.

Having seen the same forces cooperating on previous occasions, I
determined to keep clear of them. Besides, I am only "old Beetle."

They found the posts in the tool-shed, and, borne upon the initial
enthusiasm of their venture, began to sink a sort of winze on each