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TWO MORE DAYS ON THE CHANNEL COAST 293
with the rain pouring off his greatcoat. As we passed St.
Peter’s and St. Paul’s the clocks struck twelve slowly and de-
liberately. It was a terrible night for the soldiers in the open
trenches, which must by now have been half full of water.
I could not take my thoughts off them as I entered the light
and cosy warmth of La Couronnc. But ask them if they would
like to change with you, and the gruffness of the answer will
surprise you :
" No, thanks, warm beds there will be enough
of at home when the fighting is over. Just now we are out on
the country’s business, and in the trenches we stop even if
we are up to the neck in water and if it rains brimstone from
the heavens !
" Such things as sentimentality and fuss are
utterly unknown to the German soldiers. They know what
they are doing and they want to do nothing but their duty.
October 26th was my last day in Ostend. As nothing
startling seemed about to happen in the immediate future, I
thought I might as well return to Brussels, but now Bess came
with the suggestion that we should take a little trip to the
stores and depots in the inner harbour, to which I readily
assented—Brussels, after all, was only a couple of hours away
and could wait. The stores contained all sorts of spare parts
for ships and their engines, plates, propellers, screws, cables,
compasses, a surfeit of useful things which might be wanted
at any moment. We likewise inspected a training ship now
used for accommodating troops.
Just as we were busy over our inspection, we heard four
sharp reports from the sea. It was not the usual firing in the
west, the sound came from the north and the source of it could
not be far distant. Is it the English torpedo boats ? we won-
dered as we hurried into our car and drove down towards the
beach past the lighthouse. On the way we met a naval officer
who told us that the reports came from mines, which had
detonated on their own account. Some ten such explosions
had been heard during the night, and the waterspouts thrown
up by the four we heard had been visible from the coast. If
we cared and had patience enough to sit and wait among the
dunes, the lieutenant had no doubt that we should see some
more.
So we went down to the belt of dunes north-west of the
lighthouse, where some men of the naval brigade were busy
digging in a battery of guns mounted on a temporary plank
emplacement. They were also digging trenches in the dunes
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