On June 7 the 2nd Battalion left Tatinghem at 8 A.M. and arrived at St. Sylvestre _via_ Fort Rouge and Staple after a long and hot march. After ten days spent in Camp M near Poperinghe, during which time parties of men were employed in cable laying, it proceeded to Elverdinghe and remained there till the 20th, when it took over the Lancashire Farm line. Captain G. C. FitzH. Harcourt-Vernon, Lieut. H. F. C. Crookshank, Lieutenant the Hon. M. H. E. C. Townley-Bertie, and Lieutenant R. E. H. Oliver joined the Battalion on the 15th, and Lieutenant P. M. Walker on the 19th. The four days spent in the trenches were marked by heavy machine-gun fire and sniping, but the line was fairly good, and there were in consequence few casualties. On the 24th an artillery duel took place, and although our guns did some good work in cutting the enemy's wire, the German guns retaliated on the front line and support trenches. On retiring into billets again at Elverdinghe, the men were given permission to bathe in the lake in the grounds of the château, but this peaceful pursuit was not without danger, for the German artillery, while searching about for some target, dropped six shells over the lake, and later shelled the château itself. [Sidenote: July.] After a week's rest the 2nd Battalion returned to Ypres on July 6, and the next day relieved the 4th Battalion in the Irish Farm line, one of the worst positions it had been in. The 1300 yards of trenches consisted for the most part of unconnected and shallow shell-holes, which were full of water, and there were no communication trenches of any kind. It took four and a half hours to get round the line by night, and in places it was necessary to walk above ground, which made the Commanding Officer's tour very dangerous. Naturally in such a line the daily casualty list was fairly heavy, but the men worked at the trenches with so much energy that they soon transformed them. Once Captain Wiggins, Lieutenant Irvine, and Lieutenant Combe were having luncheon in a hole in the first line, when a shell from a German trench mortar pitched quite close to them. With the exception of Captain Wiggins, who was hit through the knee by a piece of the shell, no one was any the worse. The Germans, finding that the large shells from the trench mortars could be seen coming, hit upon the idea of firing salvos of shrapnel at the same time, which confused our men.