Monday morning broke bright and clear and found the Canadians behind the firing line.  This day, too, was to bring its anxieties.  The attack was still pressed, and it became necessary to ask Brig.  Gen. Curry whether he could once more call upon his shrunken brigade.  “The men are tired,” this indomitable soldier replied, “but they are ready and glad to go again to the trenches.”  And so once more, a hero leading heroes, the General marched back the men of the Second Brigade, reduced to a quarter of its original strength, to the very apex of the line as it existed at that moment.

This position he held all day Monday; on Tuesday he was still occupying the reserve trenches, and on Wednesday was relieved and retired to billets in the rear.

Such, in the most general outline, is the story of a great and glorious feat of arms.  A story told so soon after the event, while rendering bare justice to units whose doings fell under the eyes of particular observers, must do less than justice to others who played their part—­and all did—­as gloriously as those whose special activities it is possible, even at this stage, to describe.  But the friends of men who fought in other battalions may be content in the knowledge that they, too, shall learn, when time allows the complete correlation of diaries, the exact part which each unit played in these unforgettable days.  It is rather accident than special distinction which had made it possible to select individual battalions for mention.

It would not be right to close even this account without a word of tribute to the auxiliary services.  The signalers were always cool and resourceful.  The telegraph and telephone wires being constantly cut, many belonging to this service rendered up their lives in the discharge of their duty, carrying out repairs with the most complete calmness in exposed positions.  The dispatch carriers, as usual, behaved with the greatest bravery.  Theirs is a lonely life, and very often a lonely death.  One cycle messenger lay upon the ground, badly wounded.  He stopped a passing officer and delivered his message, together with some verbal instructions.  These were coherently given, but he swooned almost before the words were out of his mouth.

The artillery never flagged in the sleepless struggle in which so much depended upon its exertions.  Not a Canadian gun was lost in the long battle of retreat.  And the nature of the position renders such a record very remarkable.  One battery of four guns found itself in such a situation that it was compelled to turn two of its guns directly about and fire upon the enemy in positions almost diametrically opposite.

It is not possible in this account to attempt a description of the services rendered by the Canadian Engineers or the Medical Corps.  Their members rivaled in coolness, endurance, and valor the Canadian infantry, whose comrades they were, and it is hoped in separate communications to do justice to both these brilliant services.