the deceptive sound of the shelling here. One would almost imagine
that it was quite close.... That last one was heavy stuff: it shook
the whole place!... This is a topping mattress: it would be rotten
having to take to the woods again after getting into really cooshie
quarters at last.... There they go again!" as a renewed tempest of
shells rent the silence of night. "That old battery must be getting it
in the neck!... Hallo, I could have sworn something hit the roof that
time! A loose slate, I expect! Anyhow ..."

The Brigade Major, who had had a very long day, turned over and went
to sleep again.


IV

The next morning, a Sunday, broke bright and clear. Contrary to his
usual habit, the Brigade Major took a stroll in the garden before
breakfast. The first object which caught his eye, as he came down
the back-door steps, was the figure of the Staff Captain, brooding
pensively over a large crater, close to the hedge. The Brigade Major
joined him.

"I wonder if that was there yesterday!" he observed, referring to the
crater.

"Couldn't have been," growled the Staff Captain. "We walked to the
house along this very hedge. No craters then!"

"True!" agreed the Brigade Major amiably. He turned and surveyed the
garden. "That lawn looks a bit of a golf course. What lovely bunkers!"