[Cover Illustration] [Illustration: “‘Hold tight to the rail,’ Jim’s voice said in Nora’s ear.” (Page 67.)] _Jim and Wally_] [_Frontispiece_ JIM AND WALLY By MARY GRANT BRUCE Author of “Mates at Billabong,” “Norah of Billabong,” etc. W A R D , L O C K & C O . , L I M I T E D LONDON, MELBOURNE AND TORONTO 1917 _To_ _G. E. B.,_ _Cork, 1915-16_ CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I WAR..................................... 9 II YELLOW ENVELOPES........................ 30 III WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME................. 43 IV TO IRELAND.............................. 53 V INTO DONEGAL............................ 74 VI OF LITTLE BROWN TROUT................... 98 VII LOUGH ANOOR............................. 113 VIII JOHN O’NEILL............................ 131 IX PINS AND PORK........................... 147 X THE ROCK OF DOON........................ 161 XI NORTHWARD............................... 183 XII ASS-CART _VERSUS_ MOTOR................. 197 XIII THE CAVE AMONG THE ROCKS................ 213 XIV A FAMILY MATTER......................... 229 XV PLANS OF CAMPAIGN....................... 242 XVI THE FIGHT IN THE DAWN................... 248 CHAPTER I WAR “For one the laurel, one the rose, and glory for them all, All the gallant gentlemen who fight and laugh and fall.” MARGERY RUTH BETTS. THE trench wound a sinuous way through the sodden Flanders mud. Underfoot were boards; and then sandbags; and then more boards, added as the mud rose up and swallowed all that was put down upon it. Some of the last-added boards had almost disappeared, ground out of sight by the trampling feet of hundreds of men: a new battalion had relieved, three nights before, the men who had held that part of the line for a week, and when a relief arrives, a trench becomes uncomfortably filled, and the ground underfoot is churned into deep glue. It was more than time to put down another floor; to which the only objection was that no more flooring material was available, and had there been, no one had time to fetch it.