The spectator., 1919-03-28
There were six of us.

iHtft were SlN Ol uS.
 Curly Wallace was called "Curly" because he had the cuteSt little Della Fox, or spit curl, as the gum-chewers call it, you ever saw. Wallace was proud of that curl, and gave it the best of attention and care. He was Scotch.
 Happy Houghton earned his nick name by his constant smile and happy disposition. He was English, Lon doner.
 Hungry" Foxcroft really earned his title. He took special pains that our rations would not become mildewed by lying around too long in the dampnesS of our dugout. He was English also from London.
 "Ikey" Honncy, dubbed "Ikcy" be- cause in one of our theatrical at tempts he took the part of "Ikey Co henstein," and made quite a hit. Eng fish. via London.
 Dick Turpin, called "Dick" in memory Of the notorious highwayman. He used to help the quartermaster ser geant. so the name was very appropri- ate. He was Irish, from Dublin.
 I was the sixth. The boys put the prefix 'Yank" to my name. because I was American and hailed from the Big Town" behind the statue of lib- erty.
 The six of us composed the crew of gun No. ? of the ---th brigade ma chine company. We were machine gunners and our gun was the Vickers, light, 303, water-cooled.
 It was q rainy afternoon in June. and we were sitting in our dugout in the front-line trench, about 300 yards from the German lines.
 If you should ask Tommy Atkins "What is dugout?" he would look at you in astonishment, and, pitying you for your apparent lack of education, would answer. What's dugout ? Why a dugout is a-well. dugout's a dugout." Only being a Tommy pro tem-pro tenn in my case meaning flor duration of war"-I will try to de- scribe to the best of my ability this particular dugout.
 A dugout is hole in the ground. Gets it's name because it is dug out by the Royal Engineers, or R. Els as we call them. It is used to shelter tho men in the trenches from shell fire, They also sleep in 1T, or try to. From our point of view, it's main use is to drain the trenches of muddy water and give us rheumatism. It also makes q good hotel for rats. These guests look upon us as intruders and complain that we overcrowd the place. Occasionally we give in to them. and take a turn in the trench to rest our selves.
 Our dugout was about twenty feet deep, or, at least, there were twenty wooden steps leading down to it. The ceiling and walls were braced by heavy, SQuare-cut timbcrs. Over the timbers in the ceiling sheets of cor rugated iron were spread to keep the wet earth from falling in on Us. The entrance was heavily sandbagged and very narrow: there was only room for one person to leave or enter at tine. T floor space was ten feet by six feet. Through the ceiling q six-inch square airshaft was cut. We used to take turns sleeping under this in wet weather.
 The timbers bracing the walls were driven full o1 nails to hang our equip ment on. After our ammunition, belt 1 filling machine, equipment, rifles, etc. had been stored away, there was not much space for six men to live, not forgetting the rats.
 It was vcry dark in the dugout, and as we were only issued candle and a half every twenty-four hours we had to economize on light. Woe betide the last man who left the candle burning
 In this hotel of ours we would sit around tne lonely candle and through a thick haze of tobacco smoke would recount our different experiences at l various points of the line where we had been, or spin yarns about home. ! Sometimes we would write n letter, when we were fortunate enough to be near the candle. At other times we'd sit for an hour without saying word, listening to a German over in the en- emy's front trench playing cornet. My, how that Boche could play! Just to make US hate the war he'd play "Su- vance River" "Home, Sweet Home,' or "Over the Waves The latter was my favorlte. During his recital our trenches were strangely quiet. Never I shot from either side.
 Sometimes, when he had finished key Honney would go into the trench md play on his harmonicG. As soon IS we'd see that harmonica come out | was 9 case of "duck down low" fo:
 he Germans would be sure, when the irst strains reached them, to send over
 five rounds x We hated that 1 armonica., n once wt ! hucked o5 hut he'd slt ,wn. wril about tc, '.