party of 25 men under Lieut. A.M. Barrowcliffe, working with the R.E.
(Tunnellers). Most of them gradually became sappers, and we saw very few
of them ever again. During these two last months there had been only one
important change in the personnel. R.Q.M.S. Stimson, who had been at
the Stores since the beginning of the war, and whose knowledge of French
had been as invaluable to Captain Worley as his energy and skill with
"mobilisation store stables," returned to England. C.S.M. Gorse became
R.Q.M.S., and in his place J. Hill became C.S.M. of "A" Company.




CHAPTER VII.

GOMMECOURT.

10th May, 1916. 3rd July, 1916.


The next ten days, spent in Lucheux, were as pleasant as any in the war.
After the mud, cold and damp of Vimy, we could well appreciate the
spring weather, the good billets and the excellent country in which we
now found ourselves. Lucheux, a very old French village with its castle
and gateway, stands on the edge of a still older forest a few miles
North of Doullens, and the majority of the inhabitants, under the
guidance of a very energetic Mayor, did all they could to make us
comfortable. Work was not too hard, and our chief labour was making
wattle revetments in the forest--a good task for a hot day--and
practising musketry on a home-made rifle range outside the village. The
mounted officers were particularly fortunate, for the forest was full of