1162
O.T.C. CAMP.
was some satisfaction to the Cadets and their officers to be complimented on the expeditious manner in which they had answered the call. Interesting night operations also brought great enjoyment and were most instructive. Altogether the Camp was a most successful one, the weather splendid, and the health of the Cadets more robust than ever under their active service conditions. THE NIGHT ATTACK. From the dusk of the uplands we marched down into the darkness of the valley. Below in the mists of the land winked four little eyes of light ; the sweet signs of life and the dwellings of the workers from the fields. Then the storm-clouds passed onwards before the wind and revealed the moon in a great yellow halo like the light from a horn lantern. It was a warning and a sign which is evil to the mariner. The end of the road, before us the open fields. Halt ! We were in the last slopes of the valley. Far above us rose the blackness of the wooded hills and the whispering of the trees in the wind. A few cattle moved like shadows through the mist and vanished. An owl cried from the silence of the woods. These were the only sounds in the stillness. Then a sudden movement among the men. Forward ! Slowly we passed up the hill and into the blackness of the trees, every man holding belt to belt ; a great company advancing as a chain link upon link into the darkness. Slowly the long thin line wound upwards making the woods echo with the crash of marching feet over the stones. Then the sudden light of the moon. The open sky, and before us the summit of the hill. We formed up into sections and waited. Silence, and out of the silence the long-drawn cry of a screech owl.
