Just before the relief the enemy expended more than his usual quantity of ammunition on Armentières, and we were not sorry when he desisted shortly before the march to the trenches was scheduled to commence. The relief itself was carried out without any interference on the part of the foe. The companies had been moved round, and the order from right to left was "A," "B," "C," "D." To our disgust, we found that great quantities of gas were in process of being installed in our sector, projectors being located near the cemetery and on the extreme left. Every night large carrying parties of the Irish came struggling up the trenches; and for the benefit of those who have never had personal experience, it may be stated that gas cylinders are no light weight and are awkward things to handle, apart from the extremely unpleasant nature of their contents should a flying piece of shell happen to cause a leak. One very wet night, when the duck-boards, slippery with the rain, made the task more than usually distressing, Captain Eccles was passing down Wessex Avenue on his nightly tour of inspection. Suddenly the sounds of highly-coloured language from the direction of the Fry Pan attracted his attention. Now, it was quite easy to turn into the Fry Pan unwittingly, and even in daylight very far from easy to find your way out again. An unfortunate carrying party, loaded with cylinders, were found by Captain Eccles just completing their third tour round this circular redoubt--an occupation which, when the frequent low overhead traverses were concealed by the blackness of the night, would warrant the employment of any form of bad language. Great apprehension existed in the minds of the authorities, and not without reason, lest the enemy should detect what was going on. Cylinders and gas were never allowed to be alluded to as such either in the front line or on the telephone. They were called "eggs," and incidentally by the men many other names not fit for publication. In addition to this, companies had to send out covering parties into No Man's Land to prevent the approach of any inquisitive German. Lying flat on your stomach in wet mud and grass on a drenching night, and for two hours at a stretch, is most dispiriting work, especially if you have to live in your soaking garments for the next eight days, with the added joy of expecting that you may be in the front line when the gas is being released. Fortunately, during these operations the enemy remained exceedingly quiet. Artillery destructive shoots drew no response; and a rifle grenade and light trench mortar battery shoot on Cell Trench, and wire-cutting in front of Centaur Trench by medium trench mortar batteries, produced no effect on him whatever.