They took it in turns to fetch water in their hats from the river and to bathe each other's wounds. Starving and feverish, neither of them knew for certain when the stranger joined them. He was not in uniform; he spoke English and French so well that they both claimed him for a fellow-countryman. He did not enlighten them, and they did not persist in their questions. He insisted on nursing them and waiting on them. He fetched water for them from the river, and he put clay from the river bank on their septic wounds; he said it would heal them. The Englishman was embarrassed to see that the stranger had tears in his eyes while he did it. To pretend that he had not noticed, the Tommy talked about the flipping bastards who strew flipping mines all over the flipping place. The stranger smiled at that and said he would try to get them some fish from the river. He was away a long time, and when the Englishman crawled down to the river to see what had happened, he saw the stranger on his knees on the river bank. He wanted to shout that one could not catch flipping fish that flipping way, but then he changed his mind and crawled back to the Frenchman. The stranger turned up a little later with his hat full of fine fish. He wanted to light a fire to cook them, but the Frenchman pointed up to where shells from both sides were hissing over them, and they ate the fish raw. It tasted wonderful. The stranger settled down to stay with them and brought fish and water as often as they felt hungry or thirsty. When he was not otherwise engaged, he used one of their bayonets to whittle away at pieces of wood. Their wounds were clearing up fast and did not hurt any more. The Frenchman insisted on giving the stranger his gascape to sleep in because he had nothing else, and the Tommy pulled out his only spare pair of socks because the stranger's were walked to shreds. Sometimes the stranger left them for a few days, but he always made sure that they had enough water and fish before he left. He came back dusty and dirty and tired out, but he did not seem to need much sleep. Once, when the Tommy woke in the middle of the night and wanted a drink, he saw the stranger kneeling under a nearby tree. Flipping shell-shock, probably. Poor bastard. * * * * *