tion some 2500 yards behind the front line trenches. It was a great relief to the cannoneers not to have to stretch their camouflage nets,—always an irritating job, and particularly after a hard night when everyone's patience is finished.

                The position seemed very strong. Little work was required to adapt the gun-pits to our needs. We found that C Company of the 101st Infantry was occupying the dugouts until it should have orders to move down to its jumping-off trenches, but the extraordinary "entente cordiale" which existed between our Regiment and the 101st Infantry since a certain barrage on the Chemin des Dames not only averted any unpleasantness but actually turned the accident into a social occasion which was enjoyed by all of us. We crowded into the dugouts, played cards, "chewed the rag" and in fact became the best of friends. Since the dugouts fell short of housing us all, however closely we crowded, the greater part of the Battery found sheltered places,—old ammunition pits, or trenches roofed with corrugated iron—where they could spread their blankets out of the rain, and curl up for a little well-earned rest. Many of the cannoneers stretched out in the gun-pits and slept soundly.

                As it was growing lighter and lighter, and the element of surprise was to figure largely in this attack, the horses and empty caissons were hurried back to the place where the heavy wagons had been left the night before. Here an echelon was established on the wooded slopes of a narrow valley. The men lived in small, wooden shacks, the horse-lines were in the woods close by, and the limbers and caissons were

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