perfect English. They left and had just turned the corner to cross a
pontoon bridge over Yser Canal, going toward the front-line trenches,
when three French guards came running like mad. They asked me some
questions excitedly, but it was some time before I could make out what
they wanted.

Finally I got it through my head and told them and they raced off. The
men who had accosted me were the two prisoners who had been taken in the
clock tower at Ypres, as I heard subsequently, but they did not get away
with their nervy trick; they were taken and paid the price.

That same night a bunch of the 48th Highlanders, of Toronto, were on our
right, and dug in in the bank, but there was considerable water in the
bottom of their holes, while ours, compared to theirs, were beautifully
dry. The Kilties came along, searching for blankets and whatever they
could get, and we spared them whatever we could. Then one of them
spotted a farmhouse, the occupants of which had been shelled out because
they would not comply with the orders of a German agent, and had lost
their home in consequence. They went in and helped themselves to straw
and came out loaded down with armfuls of it. I decided to follow suit
and went over, just reaching the barn, when Kr-kr-kr-p!--the first shell
that came going right amongst them, setting the barn on fire and
wounding several of the 48th. Their presence had been made known by a
secret service agent, as it is one chance in a hundred thousand for a
shell to hit so desirable a target at the first shot. The aim was
excellent and the work accomplished by the shell was splendid--from a
German point of view.