was shot so full of holes that it's a wonder it didn't
drop him, but the wind carried him inside our
lines and he wasn't touched. War's full of miracles. Blessed good thing, too. Blank's a corking good fellow."
We had never seen Blank, but it cheered us somehow a lot to hear him spoken of at last in the present tense.
The prospect of the trip to Arras the next day drove Blank almost immediately into the background. It seemed to be a matter of some doubt. There was a good deal of talk about the city's proximity to the German trenches, about the necessity of walking close to the house walls because the Germans could see down the streets and had the range of each corner. One wondered just what Williams meant when he said:
"It promises to be a pretty interesting programme.
And another encouraged us by adding:
"Oh, you're almost certain to get some shells."
