me out of this misery.  I looked at my watch—­O God, only five minutes had gone, one-twelfth of my time!  I had a kind of panic then and I dashed my head wildly against the trench wall and I bit my lips—­I almost enjoyed the pain.  I looked through the hole.  The tree was steady at first, but it soon began to wobble again.  Then I said to myself:  ’I don’t care, I’ll risk it, I won’t look out, I’ll just keep awake.  I don’t suppose any Fritzes will come along—­I’ll just peep through the holes from time to time so as to make sure.’  I stamped on the duckboard and kicked the sides of the trench and jerked my rifle up and down just to keep myself awake.  It was all right at first and I was beginning to think I would get over it somehow, but my feet soon felt as heavy as lead and my head began to swim until I fell forward once again.  Jesus Christ—­I didn’t know what to do.  I thought of looking at my watch, but I hadn’t the courage at first.  Besides, I felt the seconds would slip by while I was hesitating and so I’d gain at least a little time.  I counted the seconds—­one, two, three ... four ... five ... six ... my head dropped forward and I nearly fell over.  I looked at my watch—­fourteen minutes had gone, nearly a quarter of an hour!  That wasn’t so bad.  I felt a little relieved, but drowsiness came on again.  I fought against it with all my strength, but with an agony no words can describe I realized that it was too strong for me.  I pulled myself together with another despairing effort.  I noticed that my clothing felt cold and clammy—­I had been sweating all over....”

The theatre orderly burst into the waiting-room and shouted:  “Are you all deaf?  I’ve been yelling out ‘Next man’ the last five minutes, but you won’t take no bloody notice.  Send us two or three.  The Colonel’s in the theatre—­he’ll kick up a hell of a row if you don’t get a move on.”

We were scared and sent three men across.  When they had gone, we asked to hear the end of the story.

“Well, I was absolutely desperate.  I kept on looking at my watch, but the minutes crawled along.  I believe I must have started crying once, but I don’t know for certain, I was so sleepy that I don’t remember half of what I did and what I dreamt—­I know I did dream, it’s funny how you can start dreaming even when you’re standing up or moving about.  I couldn’t keep my eyes open and I kept on dropping off and pulling myself together.  Suddenly, there was a terrific crash and a shell burst, it must have been forty or fifty yards off.  I thought, bitterly, that there’d be no Blighty for me—­no such luck.  Then, high up in the air, I saw a big shell-fragment sailing along in a wide curve, spinning and turning.  I looked at it—­it was coming my way—­Jesus Christ, perhaps I’d have some luck after all—­and in any case a few more seconds would have passed by.  It descended like a flash, I started back in spite of myself and held one hand out in front of my face.  I felt a kind of numb pain in my right foot—­nothing