It is interesting, by the way, to watch the men leaving the trenches for their rest billets, for, in addition to their packs, they carry many an additional article of private belongings to add to their comfort during these tedious days of duty, and they emerge with all kinds of curious packages and extra articles of clothing strapped or tied to their equipment. They were covered with mud and clay before they left the front-line trenches, but the long journey along endless communication trenches on their way out, gathered up an additional covering of clay and mud through their bulky attire, until they resembled a curious assembly of moving débris. But the incident I have referred to occurred just as we were approaching a village. An observation balloon was being drawn down, but when within a hundred feet of the ground suddenly broke away and began to rise rapidly and drift towards the German lines. I halted the men, and we watched in breathless suspense the tragedy which was about to take place before our eyes. There was some one in the basket of the balloon. It rose higher and higher. Nothing could save it! Presently the occupant was seen to lean over the side and throw out a quantity of books and papers. Still upward it went, and seemed to reach a great height before the next sensation caused us to thrill with amazement. Something dropped like a stone from the basket and then, with a sudden check, a parachute opened, and a man was seen dangling from it. When he dropped, the balloon must have been many thousand feet in the air, and both balloon and parachute continued to drift towards the German lines. Then a flight of four or five British aeroplanes went up and soared around the balloon, evidently bent on its destruction. As we watched we saw a flash and a puff of smoke! A bomb had struck the balloon, but seemed to have no effect. The aeroplanes withdrew, and a minute later we heard the boom of the anti-aircraft guns. The second shot was a dead hit, for we saw a flash of fire clean through the centre, a volume of blue smoke, and then it buckled in the middle. The flame spread, and the blue smoke increased in volume until the balloon resembled a curious shapeless mass, twisting and turning and shrinking as it quivered and fell to earth; meantime, anxious eyes were also turned to the parachute, which by this time had approached to within a few hundred feet or so of the earth. Both armies must have watched the spectacle in silent wonder, for no shot was fired at the falling figure from the German lines. It was difficult to tell from where we were just where it might fall. It seemed to me from where I stood that the odds were in favour of it reaching the ground in No Man's Land.