- Tristram and his company spend another three days in the hold of the ship, and then the ship anchors off a nearby coast.
- Sergeant Lightbody notices a faint sound of gunfire coming from somewhere or other.
- As the men disembark the ship, one of the officers, Corporal Haskell, feels sure that he recognizes the place. He tells Tristram that they're in Ireland, in "Kerry or Clare or Galway" (5.6.9).
- The men settle into a base camp, and Sergeant Lightbody draws Tristram's attention to something strange. The combat sounds they've been hearing—gunfire, explosions, etc.—are recordings. It's hard to pick out, but there are definite giveaways in the recording.
- Tristram and Sergeant Lightbody are now certain that they're being drawn into a fake battle, but they don't know why.