The Rue du Bois we used as little as possible, for every other house was
an O.P., and the gunners preferred us at a distance. The "Ritz,"
"Carlton," "Trocadero," and "Princes" all gave one an excellent view of
the enemy's front line, and, knowing this, the Boche concentrated most
of the little artillery he used on this neighbourhood. There was seldom
any heavy shelling, mostly field artillery only, and this of a poor
order, for not only were there many "duds" in every shoot, but also the
gunners seemed to lack imagination. So regular were they in their choice
of targets, times of shooting, and number of rounds fired, that, after
being in the line one or two days, Col. Jones had discovered their
system, and knew to a minute where the next shell would fall. His
calculations were very accurate, and he was able to take what seemed to
uninitiated Staff Officers big risks, knowing that the shelling would
stop before he reached the place being shelled.

Amongst the new subaltern officers was one unlike any we had seen
before--2nd Lieut. J.R. Brooke. He loved patrolling for its own sake,
and during his first few days in the line explored everything he could
find including the German wire and trenches. From this time onwards he
spent more of his days crawling about on his stomach than sitting like a
respectable soldier in a trench, and even when years later he became a
Company Commander it was found impossible to break him of the habit.
Captains were forbidden to go on patrol, but this did not matter to him,
he would take a subaltern with him and make the latter write the report,
calling it 2nd Lieut. ---- and one other Rank. One would expect such a
man to be large, strong, and of a fierce countenance; 2nd Lieut. Brooke
was small, of delicate health, and looked as though his proper vacation
in life was to hand cups of tea to fair ladies at a village tea fight.

It seemed probable that we should have to remain in this sector for the