We were crowded into two or three little rooms and lay on piles of straw.

We were short of rations, but each officer contributed something from his private store.

I had a few articles of tinned food with me and they proved to be of use.

From that moment I determined never to be without a tin of bully beef in my haversack, and I formed the bully beef habit in the trenches which lasted till the end and always amused the men.

The general cesspool and manure heap of the farm was, as usual, in the midst of the buildings, and was particularly unsavoury.