few days in the trenches, and then went back to Verquin, near Bethune. The observation balloon used to go up here at the back of the village, and on several occasions the enemy shelled it, but never succeeded in hitting it. On July the twentieth we were again at Noyelles, and on the twenty-third of that month I obtained leave for the purpose of proceeding to England for eight days, after having been on active service for a period of nearly twelve months. I had nearly ten miles to walk, fully equipped, to the railway station to get my train. I need not describe my brief visit home; needless to say I enjoyed myself never better in my life. Arriving back at Bethune on August the first, we learnt from Headquarters that the Regiment were in the trenches at Vermelles, and, on arrival at that place, we were just in time to see the Battalion relieved, and had to march back that same night again to Bethune, where we spent eight days, the Division holding a horse-show and sports. From the eighth of August until a fortnight before the Battle of Loos we took our turn, with other Regiments in the Brigade, to go into the trenches; and a fortnight before Loos we returned to Lozingham to rehearse the coming battle. While at Lozingham we did Battalion training, and generally prepared ourselves. I had become somewhat run down and felt fairly bad with sickness, etc.; when the doctor examined me he found I had a temperature of over 100. He asked me where I felt ill, and on my telling him, he said: "You ought to be admitted to hospital, but I'm afraid I can't do that, as you are a signaller and we are short of signallers." He told me to lie down in my billet and rest. I was like this for nearly a week, and did not feel much better at the end of that time; but, as we were again on the move, I did not trouble him any more. It was on September the twenty-first that we moved to Marles, a village one kilometre from Lozingham. On the twenty-second we marched to the trenches at Vermelles in readiness for the battle, arriving there at 3 a.m. on the twenty-fourth, throughout which day we were busy teeing in wires, etc., in readiness for our run to the German lines on the morrow. CHAPTER X LOOS