Several shells fell near us, and one of the men got a bit nervous, so I repeated to him the verse of the psalm: "A thousand shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee." We had hardly arrived at the heaps of rubbish which surrounded the entrance to the dressing station, beside which lay the blackened body of a dead man, when a shell burst, and one of the bits broke the leg of the young fellow I was talking to.

"What's the matter with your text now, Canon ?" he said.

"The text is all right, old man, you have only got a good Blighty and are lucky to get it," I replied.

The cellars below had been used as a dressing station by the enemy before Courcelette was taken and consisted of several large rooms, which were now being used by our two divisions in the line.

Beyond the room used for operations, there was one dark cellar fitted up with two long shelves, whereon lay scores of stretcher bearers and cyclists, and at the end of that, down some steps, there was another, in which more bearers awaited their call.