"Sailor Bill ejaculated:
"'Poor old Smith, gone West.' Then he paused and sobbed out: 'My God, think of his wife and three little nippers waiting in Blighty for him to come home for the Christmas holidays.'
"I believe that right at that moment a solid vow of vengeance registered itself in every heart around that festive circle.
"The next day we buried poor Smith in a little cemetery behind the lines. While standing around his grave our artillery suddenly opened up with an intense bombardment on the German lines, and as every shell passed, screaming overhead, we sent a prayer of vengeance with it.
"As the grave was filled in, I imagined a huge rainbow embracing the graves in that cemetery on which, in letters of fire, was written, sarcastically in German, 'Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.' But such is war.
"So, boys, that was my last Christmas. Where I'll be next Christmas, God only knows.
"Next day my mail came in from America, and didn't cheer me much because I was thinking of Smith's wife and nippers.
"So long, boys, I've got to go."