better! He loathed it, but he put his back into it, and found matter for facetious comment in his own and his chum’s personal appearance. For the leather jerkin which had been issued when the frost came had now been supplemented by a pair of “boots, gum, thigh,” and he looked like a Yarmouth fisherman in a tin hat. In this sector sick and wounded were generally conveyed to the Base Hospitals by the Inland Water Transport’s comfortable hospital barges. This was a mode of transport much preferred to the alternative of conveyance over bumpy roads. One badly-wounded man, on being put aboard one of the barges, expressed the hope that there were no shell-holes in La Bassée Canal, as he would hate to be bumped. The men in the trenches regarded the “bargees” with some envy, and inquiries were made as to the qualifications necessary to obtain this coveted job. An extensive scheme of concrete shelter construction was taken in hand by the engineers, especially in the support line, known as the Village Line. Owing to the presence of water a few feet below the ground level, tunnelled dug-outs were seldom practicable, so a system of 5·9-shell-proof, ferro-concrete structures was begun. The Brigade in rest-billets supplied working-parties, and some idea of the amount of labour required is shown in the records of the 428 Field Company, where the number of man-loads of material used in the making of these shelters for one brigade front alone is given as follows— Cement 5,036 sandbags Shingle 19,384 ” Sand 9,692 ” ------ Total 34,112 sandbags, each averaging 60 lb. in weight, a quite sufficient load for a man to carry over a mile of trench duckboards on a slippery day in winter. A pioneer battalion (three companies) was lent by the 55th Division, one pioneer company and one field company being with each infantry brigade in line, the remaining pioneer company working in back areas under the orders of the C.R.E. By some men duty in the line was preferred to any other form of employment. A batman from rear headquarters was returned to duty for some misdemeanour. Being seen in the line a few days later looking particularly fit and cheerful, he was asked how he liked the change. “It’s a cinch!” he replied. “Keep your buttons clean and call the C.S.M. ‘Sir,’ and it’s a soft job.” [Illustration: PTE. W. MILLS, V.C., 1/10 BN. MANCHESTER REGT. DIED OF WOUNDS] [Illustration: BETHUNE—LA BASSÉE CANAL, SHOWING NO MAN’S LAND, THE CRATERS, ORCHARD KEEP, ETC.] [Sidenote: _Red Dragon Crater, December 10, 1917_]