Even in war girls can sometimes be useful in their humble way.
The Colonel fussed about and said, 'Take cover there!' and everybody hid in the ditch, and the horses and the Cocked Hat, with Alice, retreated down the road out of sight.

We were in the ditch too.

It was muddy--but nobody thought of their boots in that perilous moment.

It seemed a long time we were crouching there.

Oswald began to feel the water squelching in his boots, so we held our breath and listened.