I brought up the rear.

In the dim light, my friend looked like some allegorical figure from "Pilgrim's Progress".

Occasionally we heard the hammering of a machine-gun, and we would lie down till the danger was past.

We skirted the grim borders of Sanctuary Wood, and made our way to Hooge.

There my friend got out his map to find, if possible, the place where he had buried his brother.