This spell in the line was one of exceptional activity. To begin with, there was the impending raid, which, being our first, occupied nine-tenths of our thoughts. There were innumerable special patrols to examine the wire and the approaches to the points of entry; the artillery wire-cutting operations had to be settled; the incessant visits to observation posts and the selection of forming-up places, raid headquarters, regimental aid posts, etc., to be arranged for. In addition to all this, the Battle of Messines took place during the tour. Immediately after that came orders for following up the enemy, if he voluntarily evacuated his trenches; and before we were half through that came schemes for the defence of Armentières in the event of an attack by the Germans. But we must take things in order. The morning after relief (June 1st, 1917) the enemy dropped a "pineapple" into a Lewis-gun post of "C" Company, killing three men and wounding two. His activity in this direction was now so great that steps had to be taken to cope with it. Two light trench mortars were permanently established in the front line, and for every "pineapple" we returned a number of Stokes shells. The teams did not have a pleasant time of it, as the Germans made every endeavour to knock them out; but they stuck to it gallantly, and by the end of the time their efforts had become singularly effective, although the enemy later retaliated by producing a medium "minnie." A slight scare was caused by the alleged appearance of a German near "C" Company's cook-house, at the left extremity of the subsidiary line, and patrols spent several nights down by the river trying to catch the supposed intruder. Whether there was anything in the rumour or not was never satisfactorily settled, but it would have been perfectly simple for him to get there. Between our left and the river there was a gap of a couple of hundred yards, which after weeks of fine weather had become dry and hard, and, as subsequent investigations after the Armistice proved, there was ample cover for a whole battalion to come up unseen. Moreover, the German raids on the left sector must have revealed to them the absence of any serious opposition in that part of the line. In fact, the liability of the battalion to be outflanked on the left was the subject of a strong memorandum from Colonel Fletcher, but nothing was done except that some wire was erected later, and a Lewis gun post located in the cellar of a ruined house close to the river and in line with our support line. The presence of fresh earth on a footbridge crossing a branch of the Lys, which was discovered by the patrol, certainly gave some colour to the story of "C" Company's cook.