For sixteen continuous days the Battalion held this front. It was the longest unbroken trench tour that it had ever done, and most men were heartily sick of it by the time it came to an end. The tour was not particularly exciting. The enemy remained quiet, and, until the last few days, little but defensive patrolling was done. Almost nightly raids by the 148th Infantry Brigade had put the enemy so much on the alert that there was little hope of success for minor enterprises. During the last few days patrols became more active. Early one morning Sec.-Lieut. J. W. Entwhistle penetrated deeply into No Man’s Land and located some enemy posts, which he believed were held at night. The following evening he took out a fighting patrol, hoping to occupy these posts before the enemy arrived. But he was not early enough. The Germans were there first, were thoroughly alert, and received him with a hail of machine gun bullets. Fortunately he succeeded in withdrawing without casualties. It was afterwards thought that the enemy might have discovered the visit paid to his posts in the early morning, owing to the removal of “souvenirs” by members of the British patrol. On another occasion Sec.-Lieut. J. A. Steele occupied West Farm, a ruined building about 500 yards out in No Man’s Land, for a whole day, with no result, except that his party suffered torments from the bites of the horse flies which swarmed in the long grass. On the night of July 9/10th there was a terrific thunderstorm, with drenching rain. One platoon, which was carrying R.E. material up to the front line along F Track--the left boundary of the Battalion sub-sector--was struck by lightning. Two men were killed instantly, but the rest, though thrown violently to the ground, escaped with a severe shaking. Messenger dogs were in use on this sector and some were even stationed at Company H.Q. This gave an opportunity to the sporting spirits among the officers, who backed their dogs to arrive with messages first. For some time the same dog always won, and by so big a margin that no one could understand the reason. At length the mystery was solved. A sentry had made friends with the losing dog, which was in the habit of stopping daily to see him when it passed his post.