A nice quiet little stint in the Ypres Salient for our armed plebeians is a prelude to a return to the Somme. Anyway, Perce has a fight with rats, dangling wires and a Tommy sentry before he realises that he and three mates were left behind.

The boys give their opinion on the Conscription Referendum in no uncertain terms to a couple politicians.

Not so quiet on the Somme, you bet! Perce and Viv take a horse trip to Memetz Wood. "Once, being held up by a block, we left the road to get around the chaos of horses, carts, limbers, motors, bikes and motor transports, and got into some old barbed wire entanglements, in which Viv's horse got caught".

Hey, I should have called this episode "The Plebeian." I almost called it "The Beetle." Now, why did I decide on "Piano Man?"