"I am coming to that," he replied. "We went on up that road at the quick step until we came to the entrance of a _boyau_ leading to the supporting trenches. Shells fell around us all the time. The Boche aeroplane was still trying to regulate the fire of its battery, and there was a maddening wait at the mouth of the _boyau_ until it came time for us to go in. We had been marching in the road four abreast, but we had to go into the _boyau_ single file. My platoon was well toward the rear, and that made us wait. We had nothing to do but stand in the road and watch the shells and wait our turn." IV--"HOW I CONQUERED MY FEAR" "I tried to follow the course of every shell. My head was continually twisting. I jumped at every explosion. I could not control the muscles of my back and shoulders. But I stepped out of the line and walked a little way into the field, toward the shells. I wanted to see if I could do it. I got close enough so that I could hear a piece of shell whiz past my ear. Then I waited for another piece. It was a hard job, but I waited, leaning on my rifle and looking at the ground a little way in front of me, where the last shell had exploded. If I had moved my eyes from that spot I could not have stayed. Not until the third one came did I hear another piece of shell. The others had struck too far to one side. "'Now I can go back,' I said to myself. But I walked very fast going back. "In the _boyau_ it was not so bad. A French _avion_ had come up and chased away the Boche. "I thought of the things I had done and hoped that having done them once I could do them again. But I was not sure. I was afraid. I knew that. I have always been afraid, and there has always been the question in my mind if my fear would conquer or if I would conquer my fear. "There was the time when it became necessary to take a message from our support trenches to our advanced lines in the _Bois des Corbeaux_. There was a _tir de barrage_ to be crossed and volunteers were called for. I was chosen. "By that time I had formed the theory that a man can do anything if his duty demands it of him and he will keep that in his mind. It was a part of the thought that came to me that first day in the _boyau_ and I developed it later in the long nights. The first day I had no really coherent thoughts, only a great fear of my own fear. Afterward I found that I could control it, if there was a reason. And then I found that the reason was France. "Of course, you may say that it was France that made me volunteer, but I do not think so. I think it was shame--shame that I feared to go when others went. With all the good reasons that I had for not going, with the doctor's word, I knew, nevertheless, it was fear that kept me back. It was because I could not tell the truth to my wife and friends and neighbours that I went.