It was very still. “Has the war stopped?” one felt inclined to ask. No, there is the sound of shells exploding far away on the right somewhere; in the French lines it must be, somewhere about Frise. Then a “phut” from just opposite, and a long whining “we’oo--we’oo--we’oo--we’-oo ... bzung,” and a rifle-grenade burst with a snarl about a hundred yards behind. Then another, and another, and another. “They’re trying for Trafalgar Square,” said I. No. 1 post was a little to the right of the top of 76 Street. I waited. There were no more. It was just about touch and go whether we replied. If they went on up to about a dozen, the chances were that the bombing-corporal in charge of our rifle-grenade battery would rouse himself, and loose off twenty in retaliation. But, no. Perhaps the German had repented him of the evil of desecrating the peace of such an afternoon; or perhaps he was just ranging, and had an observer away on the flank somewhere to watch the effect of his shooting. Anyway he did not fire again, and the afternoon slumber was resumed, till the evening “strafe” came on in due course. “I can see something over on the left, sir. It is a man’s head, sir! Look!” I looked. Yes! “No,” I almost shouted. “It’s a dummy head. Just have a look. And don’t, whatever you do, fire.” Sure enough, a cardboard head appeared over the front parapet opposite, with a grey cap on. Slowly it disappeared. Without the telescope it would have been next to impossible to see it was not a man. Again it appeared, then slowly sank out of view. It was well away on the left, just in front of where the “R.E.’s” had been hit at dawn. For this post was well-sited, having an oblique field of vision, as all good sniping-posts should. That is to say, they should be sited something like this: [Illustration] The ideal is to have all your posts in the supports, and _not_ in the front line, and at about three hundred yards from the enemy front line. Of course if the ground slopes _away_ behind you, you cannot get positions in the supports unless there are buildings to make posts in. By getting an _oblique_ view, you gain two advantages: (_a_) If A gets a shot at C, C’s friends look out for “that d----d sniper opposite,” and look in the direction of B, who is carefully concealed from direct view. (_b_) A’s loophole is invisible from direct observation by D, as it is pointing slantwise at C. All this I now explained to my new sniper. “But why not smash up his old dummy, sir? Might put the wind up the fellow working it.”