Explosions of these tremendous projectiles were deafening in the extreme, and here there were two or three of them exploding at once in our immediate neighborhood.

Again we mounted on our way to Pozieres and, when reaching our journey’s end, Fritzie began pumping in his crying shells; these are the kind that draw copious tears, inflame the eyes and make things generally disagreeable.  We had not brought our goggles and suffered from a temporary spell of blindness; we had not had any trouble from this particular kind of visitor for some time and had not bothered to keep our glasses with us.  Groping along, blinking my eyes to get a little gleam of light, I stumbled across four or five dead horses and was nearly thrown from my horse.

I warned Downey, who was behind me, and he avoided the trouble, but we had to keep a tight rein on our thoroughly frightened animals.  It was impossible to get them past the dead horses until some others went by and then, leading them by the bridle, we got by.

Traffic was now fearfully congested on account of some tanks that were taking cover in the sunken road for their attack in the morning, and a shower of shells dropping here and there along the road did not add to our comfort.  We passed through Courcelette Valley and came to a small bridge crossing a trench; this particular bridge was the subject of hot shellfire, as it was the only point where traffic could cross for about a mile to the right or left, and Fritz was well aware of the fact.  When half-way across, a shell exploded, killing my horse, and the animal rolled over with me on its back, twisting my leg.  For a while I thought my number was up; in a few moments I was able to get up behind Downey.

We had reached the end of our journey, got to the gun, delivered the piston rod and reported to the Captain.  He instructed us to stay there for the night and told Downey to tie up his horse in one of the German gun pits; then Downey was ordered to go on S.O.S. sentry duty.  He had our sincere sympathy, for the rest of us were just breaking into the little old game for the balance of the night (morning).

In the middle of the game Downey came running in.  “Say, fellows, there’s a hell of a smell out here,—­something sweet, never smelt it before, don’t know what it is.”  “It’s gas,” I yelled, “the new kind!  Get on your masks!”

We adjusted our protectors and made for the entrance.  Downey began to be overcome by the fumes and I took over sentry; the warning gas horns were booming up and down the line like a deep-throated buzzing,—­a most unearthly and weird sound.

The gas shells were now dropping plenteously round about and one of my pals, Dory, was instructed to assist me in relighting our lamps, as they were growing dim; these are our feed lamps that are lit every night with candles and placed, one for each gun, about 50 feet in front, and on these lights the sights are trained, so that it is vital to keep them burning all night long.