So much the more reason for stout hearts, said we, and our bearing put new heart into our officers.
When dawn came the sight was not inspiriting.

Dawn amid a waste of Flanders mud, seen through a rain-storm, is not a joyous spectacle in any case.

Consider, sahib, what a sunny land we came from, and pass no hasty judgment on us if our spirits sank.

It was the weather, not the danger that depressed us.

I, who was near the center of the trench, could see to right and left over the ends, and I made a hasty count of heads, discovering that we, who had been a regiment, were now about three hundred men, forty of whom were wounded.
I saw that we were many a hundred yards away from the nearest British trench.