CANADA IN WAR-PAINT _All rights reserved_ [Illustration: MULES (see page 26) _From a drawing by Bert Thomas._] CANADA IN WAR-PAINT BY CAPT. RALPH W. BELL [Illustration] LONDON AND TORONTO J. M. DENT & SONS LTD. PARIS: J. M. DENT ET FILS NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. _First Published in 1917_ PREFACE There is no attempt made in the little sketches which this book contains to deal historically with events of the war. It is but a small _Souvenir de la guerre_--a series of vignettes of things as they struck me at the time, and later. I have written of types, not of individuals, and less of action than of rest. The horror of war at its worst is fit subject for a master hand alone. I have to thank the proprietors of _The Globe_ for their courtesy in allowing the reproduction of “Canvas and Mud” and “Tent Music,” and of the _Canadian Magazine_ for the reproduction of “Martha of Dranvoorde.” Finally, I feel that I can have no greater honour than humbly to dedicate this book to the officers, N.C.O.’s and men of the First Canadian Infantry Battalion, Ontario Regiment, with whom I have spent some of the happiest, as well as some of the hardest, days of my life. RALPH W. BELL. _December 11th, 1916._ CONTENTS PAGE CANVAS AND MUD! 9 TENT MUSIC 15 RATTLE-SNAKE PETE 21 MULES 26 “OFFICE” 31 OUR FARM 37 AEROPLANES AND “ARCHIE” 41 STIRRING TIMES 47 SICK PARADE 53 BATMEN 60 RATIONS 67 OUR SCOUT OFFICER 73 MARTHA OF DRANVOORDE 78 COURCELETTE 89 CARNAGE 101 “A” COMPANY RUSTLES 106 “MINNIE AND ‘FAMILY’” 113 AN OFFICER AND GENTLEMAN 118 “S.R.D.” 123 BEDS 128 MARCHING 134 THE NATIVES 140 “OTHER INHABITANTS” 147 BOMBS 153 SOFT JOBS 158 “GROUSE” 163 PANSIES 169 GOING BACK 174 THREE RED ROSES 181 ADJUTANTS 187 HOME 193 ACTION 198 CANADA IN WAR-PAINT CANVAS AND MUD!