Owing to the lack of supplies, the issues of cigarettes were so few and far between that the dry tea that was sent up as part rations was used to make "fags." Tommies would roll the tea in paper in the form of cigarettes and smoke it. As much as five francs would be offered for one "Woodbine" when our supplies were exhausted. A "fag" was a most precious thing, and guarded jealously. A fellow would get into a corner, take a couple of puffs, "nip" it, then hide it away in a safe place on his person for fear of thieves in the night! In one instance, I watched a scene that would have brought forth laughter as well as pity from a civilian. One Tommy was observed in a corner finishing a half-inch butt, holding it by a pin which was stuck through it. Three others immediately pounced upon him and his treasure. After a short argument they formed a truce in the following manner: each man in rotation was to take one puff. A cockney with a Walrus moustache was last on the line, and with great sadness on his face and a sob in his voice said: "Bli' me! w'ere the 'ell do _I_ come in?" Out in front of our trenches the mud was full of the bodies of the dead--mostly Germans, but a few of our men. At night, we went out to bury them, but the enemy fired on us, so we had to leave them there. The wind was blowing our way, and they knew the odours of the battlefield were as hard for us to bear as was their artillery or rifle fire. This scheme they had learned from the Russians, who practised it during their war with Japan. CHAPTER SEVEN Our trenches were pretty effective against rifle fire, but we had not yet learned to make them deep and narrow enough in proportion to protect us against shrapnel, which is not of much use against troops in the present-day trench. Our defence lay in leaning up close against the front wall of the trench, which caused most of the force of the shrapnel burst to go over our heads. One morning I was hugging the wall of the trench as close as I could stick, when a "coal box" burst near by. It tore down a long section of trench wall, killing a number of men. I saw the explosion and the next thing I knew I heard some one saying: "Ah'll bet ye' Joe's snuffed it noo', puir lad." I stuck my head up out of what seemed to me to be a ton or two of rock and dirt and yelled: "No; not this time!" You should have seen their faces. Some looked frightened and others relieved. In a second they began to laugh. Two or three of them helped me to my feet, and then the laughing became more boisterous. "It isn't so d---- funny as you think," I said, getting a little peeved.