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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of S.O.S. Stand to!, by Reginald Grant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: S.O.S. Stand to!
+
+Author: Reginald Grant
+
+Release Date: May 1, 2006 [EBook #18292]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK S.O.S. STAND TO! ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Geetu Melwani, Graeme Mackreth, David Clarke
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian
+Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+S.O.S.
+
+STAND TO!
+
+[Illustration: Patching up the "Pipped"]
+
+S.O.S. STAND TO!
+
+BY
+
+SERGEANT REGINALD GRANT 1ST FIELD ARTILLERY BRIGADE, 1ST CANADIAN
+DIVISION
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK LONDON 1918
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION
+
+IN HUMBLE, REVERENT SPIRIT I DEDICATE THESE PAGES TO THE MEMORY OF THE
+LADS WHO SERVED WITH ME IN THE "SACRIFICE BATTERY," AND WHO GAVE THEIR
+LIVES THAT THOSE BEHIND MIGHT LIVE, AND, ALSO, IN BROTHERLY AFFECTION
+AND ESTEEM TO MY BROTHERS, GORDON AND BILLY, WHO ARE STILL FIGHTING THE
+GOOD FIGHT AND KEEPING THE FAITH.
+
+
+
+
+REMARK PREFATORY
+
+The general purpose and scope of the rehearsal of my three years'
+personal experience while in the artillery arm of the First Division of
+Canada's overseas forces is to lay before the reader an outline of the
+movement of our Division as it may be gathered from the performance of
+my own specific duties, with especial reference to the battles of Ypres
+(the 2nd), Givenchy, Sanctuary Woods (Ypres 3rd), the Somme and Vimy
+Ridge.
+
+Very little attention or space has been devoted to the detail of
+initiatory camp life, drill, rations and the like; even had I the space
+to do so, those features have been liberally covered by a number of
+earlier writers; besides, I am of the opinion that the average reader is
+more concerned with the desire to be imaginably transported as nearly as
+possible to the heart of the struggle,--to live in his own mind the
+strain and turmoil of the individual soldier in the desperate conflict
+which now rages, the decision of which will determine whether democracy
+or military autocracy shall be the predominating factor in the
+governments of the peoples of the earth.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+The devastating rush of the gray-clad hordes of Huns into the
+peace-loving lands of Belgium and France has demonstrated conclusively
+that to win this or any other war the one thing necessary is superiority
+in artillery. Without this, an enemy sufficiently strong in numbers and
+other equipment, can drive ahead, overcoming and crushing all obstacles.
+
+The average lay reader is too apt to lose sight of the supreme
+importance of this arm of the service, to which all other movements are
+subsidiary; the dash of the charge by the infantry over the top,
+magnificent in its appeal, submerges to a degree the real factor upon
+which success or failure of the charge depends, i.e., the blazing of the
+trail by the guns. Little thought is devoted to the man who, with hell
+bursting on and around him, has to get his shell home in a certain
+number of seconds so that the charge can be made.
+
+Neither is it generally known that the percentage of loss in units is
+greater in the unit known as the sacrifice battery than in any other
+branch of the fighting machine.
+
+Therefore, I may be pardoned if I feel a certain human pride in the fact
+that it was my honorable lot to serve in this unit nearly a score of
+times during my work over there, and I can account for my failure to be
+seriously injured (a dislocation or a little gassing is comparatively
+trivial) to nothing other than, as my Major emphatically expressed it,
+"Damned horseshoe luck!"
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                   PAGE
+
+I. CAN'T KILL ME                           1
+
+II. THE FIRST NIGHT                       17
+
+III. YPRES                                30
+
+IV. MY HORSE SHOE WORKING                 48
+
+V. HUN HELPERS                            58
+
+VI. BITS OF BATTLE                        87
+
+VII. SANCTUARY WOODS                     101
+
+VIII. A BATH UNDER DIFFICULTIES          129
+
+IX. HAM BONE DAVIS                       143
+
+X. BEES, HONEY AND HELL                  157
+
+XI. SCOTTY COMES BACK AT THE SOMME       170
+
+XII. BEHEMOTH                            185
+
+XIII. THE FAMILY LUCK                    203
+
+XIV. THE DEAD SHELL                      210
+
+XV. SATAN'S SHELLS AND SCENTED GAS       235
+
+XVI. BEFORE VIMY                         262
+
+XVII. VIMY                               275
+
+XVIII. BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY             284
+
+
+
+S.O.S. STAND TO!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CAN'T KILL ME
+
+
+"Hello, Central, give me Queen 4000. Is that you, Burt? You are going,
+aren't you?"
+
+Burt Young was one of my pals and I had just learned from the morning
+paper that enlistments for Canada's first overseas contingent were being
+taken that day and I had called up to inquire if he were going.
+
+"Sure, I am going. Where will I meet you?"
+
+We arranged to meet at the exhibition ground and, taking French leave of
+the office, I hastened to the camp where the recruiting was going on,
+picking up Burt on the way.
+
+It was as if a baseball championship series were on; the crowd
+good-naturedly swayed and jammed as each man struggled to get to the
+door and signed up before the quota was full. With only the loss of a
+hat and some slight disarrangement of my collar and tie, I was one of
+the lucky ones.
+
+And we were lucky! Although visions of lands to be seen and adventures
+to be had flitted rapidly through my mind, and although I believe none
+of us on that day dreamed of what we were getting into, yet, looking
+back over it all, I would not have missed my place in Canada's First
+Division for anything I ever hope to have on earth.
+
+In two hours I was in khaki and in another hour I had bade the folks
+farewell and was standing on the station platform waiting for the train
+that would take us to Valcartier, the greatest gathering place of
+soldiers that Canada has ever known.
+
+Some idea of my knowledge of things military may be gleaned from the
+following:--chatting with Burt, he suddenly espied a large car, with two
+girls, shooting up the street to the station, and called my attention to
+it. One of the girls was my sister. I immediately scented trouble. I
+skipped across to the other side of the depot, intending to board the
+train from the other side when it came in; I was not going to have my
+soldiering interfered with if I could help it. Standing in the shelter
+of a pillar, I did not notice two husky recruits in khaki behind me.
+"Is your name Grant?" they asked. "Yes." "The Colonel wants to see you
+at once," they informed me, and they marched me back.
+
+As I approached, my sister was talking earnestly and energetically to
+the Colonel and I could plainly see I was the object of the
+conversation. I waited.
+
+"How is this, Grant, this lady says you are not of age. Is that so?"
+asked the Colonel.
+
+"I am of age and--"
+
+"Stand to attention!" snapped the Colonel. I straightened up and folded
+my arms respectfully across my chest.
+
+"Stand to attention, damn you! Don't you know how to stand to
+attention?" I shifted my feet a little uneasily, wondering how he wanted
+me to stand.
+
+"Put those heels together," he snorted. I did so. "Keep your toes
+apart," he half hissed and half shouted. I spread my toes apart. I still
+had my arms folded. Almost purple in the face with his violence, he
+roared, "Put those damned hands of yours down!" and he grabbed my wrists
+and flopped them down. "Young lady, you'll have to take this matter up
+at Valcartier; there is no time to do anything now. You can go," this
+to me. I turned on my heel.
+
+"Here," he roared. "Don't you know enough to salute your superior
+officer? Salute!" I gingerly raised my hand to my forehead and held it
+there, much after the fashion, I think, of a man shading his eyes from
+the sun, or a nautical chap gazing intently seaward.
+
+"You idiot!" he bellowed, as he grabbed my hand and fiercely flung it
+down. "Don't you know how to salute? Here, do this"--and he saluted. I
+followed as well as I was able, but the utter disgust that was plastered
+all over his visage as he turned on his heel would not have left much
+hope for soldierly qualifications in one any less hopeful and
+enthusiastic than I was.
+
+My sister, in spite of her tears, could not keep back the smile as I
+again kissed her good-by.
+
+It was about noon next day when I reached Valcartier and after a month
+of solid work, the like of which I had never before experienced, I was
+as hard as a nail, and as tough, as indeed was every man in that honor
+division of Canada's expeditionary forces.
+
+We received orders to leave for England on the 14th day of September,
+1914. I was detailed on a gun limber of my subsection of the First
+Battery, the artillery being the arm of the service to which I was
+assigned. Starting about 4:30 in the afternoon, in torrents of rain, we
+headed for the city of Quebec. Along the way the people had thoughtfully
+built large bonfires on either side of the road, serving the double
+purpose of lighting our way during the night and enabling us to jump off
+and warm ourselves, as we were thoroughly chilled.
+
+The road was in a horribly bad condition and the rain did not improve it
+any, and while the limber was lurching from side to side, like a ship
+staggering in a storm, it was the better part of wisdom for me to keep
+my eyes open to save myself from being thrown off and having my precious
+neck broken.
+
+To prevent in some measure the rain trickling down my neck, I took a
+rubber sheet, used to cover the horses, tied the two corners together,
+making a sort of cape of it, and put it round my neck.
+
+Then I settled myself down to hold on to the limber and think at the
+same time of the great game of which I had become an infinitesimal
+part. I was sitting on the right hand side of the limber close to the
+wheel and, before long, the effort to think and hold on at the same time
+was too much for me, and I fell into a fairly sound sleep, Sergeant
+Johnson, my companion, doing likewise.
+
+While dozing, the string from the end of the cape engaged itself with
+the axle, wound itself round and round and started pulling me down. When
+I awoke it had a grip on me and every moment I was being drawn closer to
+the wheel. I yelled to the driver to stop the horse, but the rattling
+and rumble of the limber and the gun carriage drowned my call; neither
+he nor the Sergeant heard me. Numb with cold, absolutely helpless, my
+head almost down to the wheel, I gave one more yell for dear life. The
+Sergeant suddenly and providentially woke up; he thought he had a
+nightmare. I was almost choked and could hardly breathe, but managed to
+make him understand, and he whipped out his knife, cut the string and
+released me from what in a couple of seconds more would have been
+instant death, as I would have been pulled from my seat and crushed to a
+jelly between the wheels. This was my first close shave from death. I
+had no horseshoe or four-leaf clover with me, and I can account for my
+escape in no other way than that it was my lucky star that has
+accompanied me throughout the long months of times that try men's souls
+and that has never deserted me.
+
+No further mishaps befell until I was safely aboard ship. I was in
+charge of a fatigue party, bringing hay from the bulkheads of the ship
+up on to the different decks for the horses; there was a pulley leading
+to the bottom of the boat by means of which the hay was hoisted up, and
+in going down each man gripped it and was slowly lowered. On the trip
+down the men would cling to the rope, two or three at a time, with about
+ten to twenty feet of space between them. In making a downward trip I
+was second; the man ahead of me going down was over twenty feet from me;
+and the rope suddenly slipping off the pulley and out of the hands of
+the men running it, I dropped fifty feet. The man below on the rope
+broke his leg and on top of him I fell. Although my drop was twenty or
+thirty feet longer than his, on account of the space between us being
+that much greater, I was none the worse except for a bad shaking-up.
+Like all the men in Canada's First Division, my pal was in excellent
+physical shape, and it was not long before his leg mended and he was
+himself again. Nothing of further moment happened until we heard the
+welcome call of land!
+
+The different batteries were ordered to remove their guns, limbers and
+horses from the boat, and I had charge of one party unloading guns and
+limbers. A derrick and cable was used to lift our pets from the vessel's
+hold, swing them up across the side of the boat and over on to the dock.
+In my duty I was stationed on the dock, catching hold of the guns and
+wagons as they were swung out and over by the derrick, and pulling them
+across on to the dock. While pulling over a gun, the cable skidded and
+the gun, coming on top of me, caught me partly under it, knocking me
+unconscious. Luckily the weight of the gun did not fall on me in its
+entirety; if it had, I would not be telling this story; it caught me on
+the hip, dislocating the hip bone. I was removed to the ship's hospital
+and was under the doctor's care till morning, and from there I went to a
+hospital in Plymouth City for six weeks. From there I was removed to the
+field general hospital in Salisbury Plain, where I tarried an
+additional ten days. While here I had a two-fold adventure.
+
+The hospital was in a tent where I reclined with forty other patients,
+and directly opposite our tent was another in which were confined under
+guard a number of patients who were subject to fits, some of a very
+serious nature. Lying in bed, my leg encased in its plaster-of-paris
+cast, about ten o'clock one night, when just dozing off, I was
+frightened into wakefulness by a scream. A man, who turned out to be an
+escaped epileptic, was standing in the doorway screaming, his eyes
+bulging out of his head. He had escaped by striking the sentry over the
+head with the fire brazier, used to keep the sentry warm. Staring wildly
+about the room for a couple of seconds, he made a leap for the nearest
+man and bit him in the arm; he then jumped at the next patient, biting
+him; I was the following recipient of his devotions, getting a bite on
+the wrist. Utterly unable to help or defend myself, as I was bound down
+in my plaster-of-paris cast, I had to content myself with landing a
+couple of punches on his mad mug, but he didn't seem to mind them in the
+least,--rather enjoyed them, I fancy.
+
+By way of diversion he then took hold of the beds and started upsetting
+them, rolling the patients out on to the floor, causing a tremendous
+amount of excitement, as well as pain and suffering to the men upset
+who, some of them, like myself, had casts on their limbs. In the midst
+of his mad capers the guard and orderlies rushed in, but before he was
+subdued he managed to fasten his molars in the arm of a guard.
+
+A bite from a man in his condition is no laughing matter and the doctors
+took no chances; every man who was bitten had the wound immediately and
+thoroughly cauterized and was inoculated.
+
+My other adventure was the honor and pleasure of receiving a handshake
+from their Majesties, the King and Queen of England, who were on a visit
+of inspection to the camp. The visit of their Majesties was concluded by
+a splendid little speech from Queen Alexandra in which she complimented
+us and thanked us for our loyalty.
+
+After my release from the hospital due to the effects of the accident at
+Plymouth, I set to work looking after our horses and performing general
+battery work. After my narrow escape from the gun wheel, the fall into
+the hold of the vessel and the close shave I had had on the dock, I was
+commencing to wonder whether I was destined ever to get to France.
+
+Thus musing, I was riding one of the horses bare-back to a small creek
+to give it a watering, and the rein, which was a long one, I held in my
+right hand. I had to pass the targets where shooting practice was going
+on, and the brute, taking fright, gave a sudden leap and threw me off
+his back. I fell backwards and on the left side, and as I fell the long
+rein wound itself round my right arm, keeping me tied as it were to the
+horse; and my head came dangerously close to the animal's front hoofs
+which he was kicking up every other second; with each jump he took,
+those hoofs, in their upward motion of making a spring, almost struck my
+face. I was dragged helpless for about twenty feet when, providentially,
+the rein broke and I dropped to the ground, the horse dashing on in his
+fright until he was finally captured.
+
+I was picked up for dead and a stretcher was sent for; but, while on the
+way, consciousness returned and in a few minutes I was able to navigate
+without assistance. I then and there decided that I surely was
+preserved for France and was not doomed to die an ignominious or
+untimely death behind the front line trenches.
+
+After supper that night I listened to the remarkable story of a man
+whose lot was destined to be woven with mine to a degree:--"Aye, laddie,
+they came on thick at Mons! There was one time there when there was only
+Sandy MacFarlane and mysel' left out o' the whole company, and for two
+or three hours we lay behind a wee bank, no higher'n your knee, fighting
+them off. Lord how we plugged them! They died like flies! And then puir
+Sandy got his, an' there was naething left for me tae do but tae beat an
+honorable retreat, an' I grabbed Sandy's rifle an' retired on to the
+main body, wi' the bullets buzzin' like bees around me. On my way back I
+loaded both rifles as quick as I could and dropped every noo an' again
+to let them hae it, and I was carefu' not to waste a damn shot; every
+bullet told."
+
+The speaker was Scotty Henderson, late of the Seaforth Highlanders, as
+he informed us, and he was relating his experiences during the world
+memorable retreat at Mons, when Britain's little regular army,
+denominated by His Majesty, Wilhelm II, "The contemptible little English
+army," was practically wiped out.
+
+In the cookhouse we listened, open-mouthed, to the wonderful exploits of
+this Scotch fighting man. "Were you wounded?" asked Lawrence. "Aye,
+laddie, you're damned right I was," and he rolled up his trouser leg and
+exhibited a large, broad scar on the inside of his right leg. "There's
+where I got it."
+
+"That's a funny looking wound,--looks like a burn," said Lawrence.
+
+"You're damned right it's a burn," said Scotty, "it was the shell that
+burned me as it grazed my leg."
+
+The probable reason, I thought, why the shell could graze the inside of
+one of his legs without injury to the other was because the fighter was
+blessed with a pair of bow-legs that couldn't have stopped the
+proverbial pig in the proverbial alley. In addition to this decided
+detraction from his manly beauty, he was short, squatty, thick-necked, a
+nose of the variety commonly known as a stub, and a couple of little
+eyes that had a constant twinkle, half-shrewd and half-humorous, the
+whole surmounted with a shock of shaggy red hair. But these detractions
+from his beauty did not in the least lessen our admiration for his
+personal bravery; he was in our eyes a first-class fighting man; he had
+proven it by his work at Mons and had the scar to show for it.
+
+"But how did you come to get into a Canadian unit?" asked another.
+
+"Well, you see, after I was wounded in the leg and got my honorable
+discharge, as soon as I was well, I wanted to do my bit again, and
+knowing that you laddies get bigger pay than in the British army, I
+thought I would kill two birds wi' the one stone,--get more money and
+get into the game again. So I ups and goes to the Colonel and says I,
+'Colonel, I'd like to get into the game again.' 'Well,' says he, 'I hae
+na room for any more men in my command, but I do want a gude cook,' an'
+it just happened that I was a cook by trade, and a gude one too, and
+told him so, and says he, 'Well, you're just the man I want,' and he
+signed me up there and then, and here I am."
+
+He was a good cook and he was proud of it too; we had no reason to
+complain of the way our meals were prepared. There was only one thing
+about Scotty that caused a shade of dissatisfaction,--he was so
+scrupulously careful to see that no man got more than his just share of
+the grub that many a fellow grumbled about not getting enough to eat
+and, in many cases, that they did not get what was coming to them. But
+Scotty would shut them with the authority of an old soldier and,
+besides, in his cookhouse he was monarch of all he surveyed. In a
+half-humorous, half-scolding voice he would say, "Mon, what do you want
+to be a hog for? Do you want to let someone else gang hungry? Tak'
+what's given ye and thank God you're alive to eat it, because it won't
+be long maybe before you'll be where ye won't need any grub--although
+undoubtedly you'll need water."
+
+This was an allusion to our probable future abode. So we had to be
+content with what he chose to serve us. But there were speculations by
+some as to whether or not Scotty really served us all the grub given him
+by the quartermaster's department, and someone was so unjust, I thought,
+as to venture the suggestion that he believed "the damned Scotch runt is
+selling the grub to men in other units." "How does it happen," said he,
+in support of his suspicion, "that he always has a little change when
+the rest of us are broke?"
+
+"Oh, nonsense," said I, "a good soldier wouldn't do such a thing, and we
+all know he is a good soldier; there is no getting away from that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE FIRST NIGHT
+
+
+I arrived in France early in February, 1915, and for three weeks we were
+put into the hands of an Imperial battery, the Warwicks. They had taken
+part in the battle of Mons, and the tales of the veterans of this
+world's memorable retreat, told in their own modest way, gave me my
+first clear impression as to what the boys of the Imperial Army really
+had endured for civilization in that campaign.
+
+At first I thought they were trying to bluff us Colonials, but the first
+night I was in the lines I realized in the largest degree of human
+intensity the fearful truth of their experiences.
+
+The tuition given us by these warriors could not be excelled. They took
+us to Fleurbaix, where their batteries were located on the outskirts of
+the town, in cellars in the back part of a building destroyed by German
+fire. There they had skillfully transformed the cellar into a gun pit,
+with a loophole four feet in diameter overlooking an orchard at the
+rear. Each time the gun spoke it would first be shoved into the hole and
+the brush and sandbags removed, and as quickly as the message was sent,
+the camouflage was replaced.
+
+The color of the sandbags was a rusty gray and this, in conjunction with
+the brushwood, prevented the spot taking on a dark appearance, which,
+next to white, is the most easily distinguishable to an airplane; the
+air birds are always on the lookout for these dark spots, watching them
+intently to discover if any signs of activity are there, and immediately
+anything smacking of life appears, the exact location is wired to their
+trenches and the place is whirlwinded with showers of death and
+destruction.
+
+When the Warwicks had completed our educational course, there was no
+detail of handling the guns with which we were not acquainted, and
+thoroughly so, and I had the honor of being in charge of my gun, due to
+the accuracy in my work. I think my chest expansion increased a trifle,
+but my cap did not get any smaller.
+
+At the end of ten days we left Meteren, arriving there February 28. It
+was on the way from Meteren that I received my battle christening; the
+ceremony was performed by a bevy of six airplanes, two of them flying
+low and doing the sprinkling honors with a fusillade of bombs, dropped
+on the road round about us. They left twenty or twenty-five of these
+calling cards, but two of the batteries of anti-aircraft guns handled by
+the Warwicks greeted them so warmly that they quickly decided they had
+overstaid their welcome and made a hurried departure.
+
+When the battery arrived at its designated point, we proceeded to
+camouflage the guns with the artistry we had derived from our
+instruction, covering them securely with grass and brushwood.
+
+It was at this time that I lost not only my increased chest expansion,
+but also a trifle more, because I was ordered to take my gun to a
+position known as the sacrifice gun position, three hundred yards back
+of the front line trench. It derives its name, "sacrifice gun," from the
+fact that rarely, if ever, in case of a heavy enemy raid, does the gun
+or any of its crew escape. This "honor" I was destined to receive many
+times throughout my career in the Great Adventure.
+
+I was in charge of the gun and I installed it in a hedge. The only time
+we were to fire was when the enemy broke through and when our men in
+retreating were on a line even with us; and we could not fire until we
+got orders from the officer commanding or from headquarters.
+
+The idea of a sacrifice gun is this: if the enemy broke through on
+either or both flanks, pushing our men back, we had to wait for orders
+from the commanding officer or from headquarters before firing; All the
+ammunition carried was fifty shells; it was all we could get in those
+days. In daytime the gun was covered with brush and other means of
+concealment to keep it from the ever watchful eye of the Hun. At night
+the crew consisted of two men, one on each side of the gun, and three
+more in a ruined building a hundred yards in the rear of the gun. Our
+shifts were two hours on and four off. The purpose pursued by the
+sacrifice gun is to surprise the enemy when in full view and exposed,
+killing as many of them as possible, blasting gaps through their line
+and enabling our men to dig in in the position to which they have
+retired, we knowing all the while that there is not one chance in a
+thousand that the men connected with the sacrifice gun will escape
+either death or capture. Our orders were under no circumstances to leave
+the gun as long as a shell remained and a man lived. Deuced pleasant!
+The ground in front of us was well drilled with concealed holes all the
+way from four to six feet deep, in each of which strands of barbed wire
+had been placed and the opening carefully concealed with clumps of
+grass, brush and the like.
+
+Blaisdell and I volunteered to take first shift on the gun on the first
+night, about 10 o'clock. We had to take a narrow path on the way, with
+Fritz sniping us every step; he had registered the path and it was a
+constant target for his machine guns and snipers. Our pet was well
+hidden in the hedge, with its nose poking through a hole in the leafage
+and so cunningly camouflaged that it was absolutely impossible to be
+noticed.
+
+While lying stretched on each side of the gun between the muzzle and
+wheel, any talking we did was to whisper cautiously to each other, as
+the very grass beneath our feet contained spies in those days; the
+country-side round about was as thickly infested with them as cells in
+a honeycomb; and thus we waited.
+
+Presently we heard the crackle of a piece of brushwood immediately out
+in our front. The intruder had gotten into our entanglement. "Halt! Who
+goes there?" No answer. I repeated the challenge; still no answer. We
+made our way cautiously through the hedge, unclicked our safety catches
+and were just about to fire in the direction of the sound when someone
+yelled, "Where's the Durham Light Infantry lying?" We ordered them to
+advance until within ten feet.
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"Durham Light Infantry."
+
+In the darkness we could not tell who they were but they spoke English
+like natives.
+
+"What are you doing out here wandering around in this fashion?"
+
+"Well," one of them answered, "we were taking a stroll and got lost and
+we want to find our way back."
+
+We directed them and when they were lost sight of in the darkness, we
+resumed our places on each side of the gun and thought no more of the
+incident for the time. We again installed ourselves comfortably and
+were comparatively safe from the sniping in front, which was going on
+more or less all the time we were there, and about thirty minutes had
+elapsed when, in the silence of the night, I thought I again heard the
+crackling of a twig. Blaisdell heard it too. "Hist! Did you hear that,
+Grant?"
+
+"Yes," I whispered.
+
+We listened intently and heard it again, this time a little closer. We
+jumped up.
+
+"Halt! Who goes there?"
+
+No answer. Bang! Blaisdell fired, and these same fellows called, "Don't
+shoot! We're looking for the Durhams." We emerged through the hedge.
+
+"What in hell are you fellows doing around here again?" I asked.
+
+"Well, we can't find the Durham Light Infantry."
+
+"Well, you find some place away from here if you want to live to eat
+your breakfast. If I find you around here again I'll shoot without
+warning."
+
+Again they asked us the way and again we directed them, and saw them
+started on their way to the rear.
+
+Once more we took our places on the gun between the wheels and were
+hardly settled down when a sniper opened up on us from the rear, taking
+a chip out of the wheel to my right. Ping! Ping! Ping! and the tree
+standing ten feet in our rear was nipped. Ping! Ping! and the shield of
+the gun got it this time. We were concealed behind the gun shield, which
+protected us pretty thoroughly from the front fire and were
+congratulating ourselves on our haven of safety when Ping! Ping! again
+from our rear came the messages from a sniper hidden there. In glancing
+back over my shoulder I noticed in the pitchy blackness the flash of a
+rifle simultaneously with the report, and it seemed to come from a
+haystack about 200 yards to our right.
+
+"Blais, look back for a minute and tell me what you see."
+
+Black darkness again for a few minutes, then another flare; we both
+watched intently.
+
+"By God!" exclaimed Blaisdell simultaneously with another report. "Right
+out of the stack!" There was nothing for us to do but to lie there and
+watch, and we absolutely confirmed our convictions that we were being
+sniped at from this particular haystack.
+
+When our watch was up I made my way to the ruin occupied by our relief,
+woke them and told them to keep their eyes open for the haystack and
+make themselves as small as midgets. Shortly after they started,
+Blaisdell came in. He told me that the relief party had been sniped at
+every step of the way to the gun. As Blaisdell entered, the open door
+threw out a fitful glare of light from our flickering candle, and a
+report from this particular haystack was followed by a bullet that
+knocked off a chip of brick just above the doorway. Our friend was
+certainly industrious, but I hoped to go him one better in the morning.
+I grabbed the phone and called up headquarters, informing them of what I
+had seen from the stock. The O.C. said the matter would be looked into
+immediately.
+
+There was no sleeping that night; we were too excited and chattered away
+like school girls over our experiences, and to pass the time the
+inevitable card game started. During the game the sniping was active and
+continuous, the bullets chipping the building in all quarters. Our light
+was from a candle jammed into a jam tin and set between a couple of sand
+bags that we used for a table. Our mate, who had not yet taken his turn
+on the gun-watch, was inclined to be rather skeptical about our story
+of the sniper, declaring it couldn't be possible that Fritzie could be
+carrying on such work in the very midst of our lines, and that our
+imaginations had been running riot with us. We had been playing about
+three-quarters of an hour when a gust of wind blew the door open,
+throwing the faint gleam of the candle out in front. I jumped to close
+the door, the light blowing out as I did so, and at the same instant I
+heard a report from the same direction as before. I closed the door,
+telling Blaisdell to light the candle. He fumbled for his matches and
+lit it, and we were both stricken dumb for the moment; our chum was
+lying stone dead with a hole squarely in his forehead. The gentleman in
+the haystack was surely doing good work for his Kaiser.
+
+Just before daylight we had a call from the O.C., accompanied by three
+or four men; he had phoned us he was coming. He wanted all particulars
+regarding my previous message. Under cover of the hedge we got to within
+fifty yards of the stack and everybody was convinced of the certainty of
+the information I had given, for, as we watched, two more flashes came
+from the stack. Not a particle of doubt was left and the officer ordered
+a bomb thrown into the haystack. Inside of a minute the red flames
+began shooting out from all sides, in another minute it was ablaze, and
+in five minutes we had the joy and satisfaction of hearing the muffled
+shriek of the soldier who had so well served his Kaiser.
+
+This ended for me a busy first night in the front line.
+
+When the ashes of the fire were searched we found the charred body of a
+man, the remains of a rifle and a complete set of telephone apparatus,
+which was traced to our trenches, and from there to the German lines.
+
+Wilhelm for a certainty lost an ace in the haystack. Besides our chum
+and heavens knows what others, he had sniped the road along which relief
+parties were passing up and down; and that same night one of the
+soldiers of an infantry battalion of the Warwicks, winding its way to
+the front trenches, got his death from a bullet squarely in the neck;
+and the Germans having through him gotten an absolutely accurate range,
+our gun was wiped out by a single shell, together with two members of
+the crew.
+
+Next afternoon, while resting in billets to where I had been ordered, a
+shell struck the building, a splinter knocking out the eye of Ed.
+Jackson, who was sitting beside me. He was not killed, but his wound was
+a blighty, taking him out of the game for good. The unwelcome visitors
+continuing to come, we were rushed to our battery of three guns in an
+orchard near by; a curtain of sandbags was placed in front to prevent
+the flash being seen. As soon as we started firing, rifle shots from our
+left scattered the mud on all sides, coming at intervals of five or ten
+minutes. Speculation was aroused and we set a man to watch, and
+suspicion fastened on a farmer who was working his plow. Nothing was
+found on him. Next day the same thing happened and again the watch was
+set. This time our efforts were rewarded; the scout saw the farmer shoot
+and throw the rifle down. He reported to the officer and we went over.
+The horny-handed son of toil was very busy at the plow as he saw us
+coming. He couldn't speak English. The officer sent to the nearest
+French battery and presently a French soldier came who interpreted the
+officer's questions and the man's replies. He knew nothing, whatever, he
+said, about the rifle shots coming from his direction.
+
+A search was then made for the rifle where the scout had seen him throw
+it and not only one rifle, but several, including English, French and
+German makes, were found in various parts of the field, partly buried in
+the soil. When the guns were discovered the farmer threw up his hands,
+wildly gesticulating and vehemently protesting that he knew nothing
+whatever as to how they came there. His was a short shrift. He was tried
+on the spot, tied to the pump of his own farm and shot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+YPRES
+
+
+I remained in this spot with the guns until March, when the costly
+victory of Neuve Chapelle was fought. My battery was playing on their
+northern flank. The objective of the British Tommies was the city, which
+they took, but at a terrible toll; 6,000 Indian troops, mostly Ghurkas,
+were slain. The fearful mortality exacted from these troops was due to
+their impetuosity; they do not know fear; it was impossible to hold
+them; they rushed out before their time and some of them suffered from
+the fire of our own guns. It was in this fight that our own famous and
+gallant regiment, the "Princess Pats," was decimated, sustaining a loss
+of over 700 men. This magnificent body of fellows went into the war
+1,150 strong and at the last roll call but 22 of the original men
+answered. The price paid was too much for what was accomplished.
+
+We were then ordered to billets and stayed there until April 20th, when
+we were ordered to Ypres, arriving there April 21. My battery was
+stationed at St. Julien, one and a half miles northwest of the city.
+Here I was detailed as observer, my duty being to get into the
+front-line trench and from the most advantageous nook that I could find,
+try to discover whatever I could about the movement of the enemy,
+communicate my knowledge to the telephonist who would in turn send it to
+headquarters.
+
+Late in the afternoon I reported to the telephonist that a big fire was
+in progress somewhere on our left, as an immense smoke cloud was rising
+there and coming toward us. As shells had burst his wire, rendering it
+useless, he started out to deliver the message by word of mouth, running
+on top of the parapet as he started. That was the last I ever saw of
+him; he did not come back; Fritz was coming and ahead of him rolled the
+sinister-looking cloud on our left. Then happened the strangest thing!
+The line trembled from one end to the other, as the Algerian troops
+immediately on our left, jumped out of their trenches, falling as they
+ran. The whole thing seemed absolutely incomprehensible--until I got a
+whiff of the gas. They ran like men possessed, gasping, choking, blinded
+and dropping with suffocation. They could hardly be blamed. It was a
+new device in warfare and thoroughly illustrative of the Prussian idea
+of playing the game.
+
+When the great yellow clouds came rolling toward us, orders were roared
+to wet our handkerchiefs and stuff them in our mouths, and half choked
+and blinded we held for a day and a half. The buttons on our uniforms
+were tinged yellow and green from the gas, so virulent was the poison.
+
+Cooks and everybody else had been ordered into the line, as the giving
+way of the Algerians necessitated our lengthening out so as to take over
+their ground. Scotty of Mons fame was in the trench bay a few yards away
+from me, and when the cloud had passed by I saw him rolling on the
+ground, apparently blinded, tears streaming from his eyes. I helped him
+to his feet and when he got his voice back his courage returned and,
+yelling, "Let the barbarians come," he seized his rifle, rushed to the
+parapet and fired point blank every cartridge in his rifle in the
+direction of Fritz.
+
+At the end of the second day another wave of hell's atmosphere came
+across, more deadly than any of the others, followed by a smothering
+fire from the German batteries, and the Germans broke in upon us on
+our right and left. Yard by yard we retreated, fighting as we went, and
+they occupied some of our front trenches--for a time.
+
+[Illustration: A Chlorine Gas Attack from the Trenches]
+
+That night Scotty and I received orders to report to a French dressing
+station for treatment. I half-dragged and half-walked him to the doctor;
+I had a feeling that he ought to have been able to make the trip without
+my help as I was certain he wasn't suffering any more than I was. After
+we left the doctor and got outside the dressing station, Scotty swayed
+from side to side, groaning like a man who had lost his last hope on
+earth, and the doctor told him to get away as quickly as he could as he
+was playing the devil with the nerves of the men who were lying around
+there half-dead from the poison fumes. He staggered over and sat down
+beside me on the side of the road, still wringing his hands. I
+remonstrated with him and told him that bad as it was it could not be
+anything like Mons, and to my amazement he stopped his moaning all at
+once and said with a twinkle in his eye, "Let's beat it to the dugout;
+the doc won't see us." We took the chance and started. On the way Fritz
+shot up the road and with a spring like an india-rubber man, Scotty
+jumped behind a tree. We finally reached our destination and Scotty
+proceeded to get something to eat. He lit a fire while I brought the
+water. The cookhouse here was in the house of a farmer who had vacated,
+and as the smoke coming from the chimney got thicker every moment, I was
+apprehensive lest Fritz would see it and send over a shell message, but
+Scotty pooh-poohed the idea.
+
+Dinner was almost ready when--Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Bang! and a shell
+shot clean through the joint. The concussion threw me to the floor,
+covering me with lime and plaster-of-paris from the walls and ceiling. I
+got up and looked around for the cook. The hero of Mons had been knocked
+down, with the stove on top of him, and he was lying in the corner
+praying like a good fellow. "Oh, Lord! look down in pity and save me!
+Thou knowest, Lord, I am unworthy o' thy mercy, but please control the
+shells o' those barbarians and send them in anither direction, and Thine
+shall be a' the glory." Then he saw me standing there and he yelled, "Do
+you think there'll be any more?" "No, that was merely a stray shell.
+Let's get this grub, I'm starving." "Stray shell be damned," said he,
+"they've seen the smoke and they'll be putting more over."
+
+No sooner said than Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! and three or
+four more shells banged about the place, one of them blowing the pump
+from outside through the shack past Scotty, out through the other wall,
+and Scotty, ducking and dodging like a man trying to buck the line in a
+football game, shot through the door and vanished in the night.
+
+The pan of bacon he had been cooking was still intact except that it had
+a coating of plaster-of-paris from the walls and ceiling of the room,
+and I proceeded to put it under my belt as fast as my jaws would work,
+and then made for my dugout. I was just settling down to a quiet smoke
+when I heard the Major calling for Scotty at the top of his voice.
+Getting no response, he called for me and I hastened to his quarters.
+
+"Grant, go down and see if that Scotch cook has fallen in the soup; find
+out if cookhouse is ready." "Yes, sir." I said nothing about what had
+happened and returned to the cookhouse to find six Algerians devouring
+the officers' rations in such fashion as to make one think of the man in
+the side show who was advertised in letters twenty feet deep as the
+original snake-eater of South America; there wasn't enough left for a
+one-man meal. I reported to the O.C. that there were no signs of Scotty
+but that the cookhouse had been hit by a shell.
+
+"Go and see if he is at the dressing station." I went back to the
+station. For nearly a mile the wounded and gassed men were lying on each
+side of the road waiting for conveyances to remove them. I spoke to a
+Tommy who had met with a peculiar accident; he had two plates in his
+mouth and the concussion of a shell explosion in his immediate vicinity
+had broken the plates into four pieces, leaving him practically
+toothless.
+
+Strongly suspecting by that time that if Scotty were anywhere on earth
+he was at the rear in the wagon line, I waited around the station just
+long enough to lend plausibility to my search before reporting to the
+O.C. The Major was in a towering rage over our losses, and, damning the
+cook, he dismissed me. The officers that night had to look to another
+cookhouse for their evening meal.
+
+Next morning I was sent for by the Major and dispatched to the wagon
+lines on an errand;--at that time I was fulfilling the duties of a
+runner for our unit;--he also told me to have a lookout for the cook
+while there and make some inquiries about him. I saluted and left. The
+first place I went to in the wagon lines was the cookhouse and as I got
+there I thought I noticed the swish of someone quickly disappearing
+round the corner and the cockney-cook there informed me that Scotty had
+spent the previous evening with them and had only left a minute ago.
+
+"'E's no slouch, that cook of yours," he said, "'e's a fighter, 'e is."
+
+"That so?"
+
+"You're right, 'e is. Wy, where 'e was stationed, when the Germans
+rushed 'em in the trench, 'e 'eld 'em back, killin' two of 'em
+single-handed until the others had retreated. 'E ought to get the
+D.C.M., 'e ought; that's what hi say. By Gawd! when it comes to the real
+thing, give me the Scotch! An' honly last night 'e was in his cookhouse
+with some blighter by the name of Grant when the shells came along, and
+this fellow must have 'ad a streak of yellow for he promised to 'elp
+Scotty with the meal, but bolted like a bullet at the first shell."
+
+"How did he come to be down here?" I asked.
+
+"Wy, he got relieved."
+
+"Where is he now?"
+
+"Hover in the dugout."
+
+I learned that the hero of Mons had regaled them with accounts of his
+feats of valor in the trenches, very similar to the tales he had
+recounted to us at Salisbury Plain of his achievements in the Great
+Retreat, and the cook had given him a meal befitting a hero of his
+caliber, which Scotty had devoured with the relish and avidity of four
+heroes, while the others had shown him the due and necessary deference
+becoming a man of action.
+
+For the benefit of the cook I informed him that Scotty was a damned
+liar; that it was I who had been with him; that he ran like a
+white-livered cur under fire from his cookhouse and didn't stop until he
+had reached the wagon lines; that he was there without being relieved
+and that he would shortly have another tale to tell.
+
+I hastened to the dugout he had indicated as Scotty's retreat and found
+him in the innermost corner, pretending to be asleep; he didn't answer
+until I called him three or four times.
+
+"Scotty, the O.C. wants to know why you left the cookhouse without guard
+permitting some Algerians to eat up his bacon and stuff, and, further,
+why you ran away under fire. You are in for hell as sure as there is
+heather in your hair." His countenance took on a greenish hue and he
+mumbled something about being shell-shocked and refused to come. I
+persuaded him, however, to come over to the Quartermaster of the wagon
+line, and that officer asked him what he was doing there.
+
+"Weel,--I was wounded and couldna' fight anither stroke; I was jeest
+tired oot wi' killin' Boches and hadna' the strength to stand anither
+minute; I jeest had to get away."
+
+"Well, you've had a damned good rest now and you can get back to the
+O.C. and tell him what you have told me and he will see that you get a
+fitting decoration." This latter was spoken very grimly, and I could see
+the great fighter's face fall. "You will see to it, Grant," said the
+Q.M. "that Henderson doesn't hide his heroism from the O.C.; that he
+gives it to him in detail, just as he has to me." "Yes, sir," and I left
+with my prisoner.
+
+We hurried along as night was falling and the German flares were
+commencing to fly. On the way back we met two Algerian troopers and in
+the gleam of a star shell and the fading twilight they looked more like
+two escaped denizens of the chamber of horrors than anything I could
+well imagine. Indeed, their appearance was so ghastly under the weird
+light of the flares and the fading day, that I involuntarily shivered,
+hardened though I was by that time to grim sights. Each of them carried
+on his shoulder the hind-quarter of a cow that had been killed by a
+shell at a nearby farm, and the dripping blood from the beast had
+slopped all over their uniforms; under each arm was tucked a ham they
+had "swiped" from the farmhouse and each had a young suckling pig
+running ahead, squealing and grunting, tied by a string on the hind leg
+and held by the left hand, while in the right hand each man carried a
+sharply pointed stick to prod the pig when it veered from a straight
+line, which was about every other step or so.
+
+Just as we got immediately opposite the looters a burst of shell fire
+from the German guns, followed by a hail of shrapnel, blazed all about
+us, and the hero-cook jumped like a bullfrog, bumping plumb into one of
+the Algerians, and he and the cook and the pig tumbled over and over,
+the pig squealing like mad, the Algerian rolling out deep-throated oaths
+in his native tongue, and Scotty cursing as only a redheaded gabby
+Scotchman can, all amid an ear-splitting din of shrieking shells and
+flare-gleams completing a _mise en scène_ as striking as anything ever
+created by a master artist of stagecraft.
+
+When Scotty extricated himself from the tangle his face and clothes were
+smeared from the blood of the dripping beast, so that he could indeed
+have passed for the blood-stained hero he had proclaimed himself in the
+cookhouse, and in spite of his plight Scotty grinned as I suggested the
+thought to him and the twinkle returned to his eye, and his spirits took
+a decidedly upward turn until we reached the Major's quarters.
+
+The Major was still cursing mad over the loss of the trenches in the gas
+attack and I felt the moment he spoke that Scotty's fate looked black.
+
+"Where have you been, Henderson?"
+
+"I was in the cookhouse, sir, when a shell struck it, smashing
+everything in sight, and I lost complete control o' my nerves and
+started for the wagon lines wi'out knowing what I was doing or where I
+was going, and didna' come to mysel' until Grant ran across me in the
+dugout."
+
+"That won't go, Henderson. Orderly room at ten-thirty in the morning.
+It's the first case of cowardice in this unit and I'll take damned good
+care that it will be the last. Grant, escort the prisoner back to the
+wagon lines."
+
+I could not help feeling sorry for the poor devil because, coward though
+he was, his was one of those personalities that carried with it a sort
+of likeableness, somewhat after the fashion of our time-honored
+Falstaff, and his funk under fire made him liable to the extreme
+penalty,--a firing squad. His teeth chattered like the keys of a
+typewriter as he asked me, "What do you think will come o' it, Grant? Do
+you think he really means it?"
+
+I hadn't the heart to tell him what I really thought and strove to jolly
+him by saying that the Major would feel in a better humor in the
+morning, "and besides," said I, "when we take back those trenches
+tomorrow, he will get over his flurry."
+
+I turned my prisoner over to the guard of the wagon lines, first
+informing the Quartermaster, and when he asked me what the trouble was,
+I had to tell him of the variance of the prisoner's story told him and
+that he told the Major, and that the Major directed that he be up for
+orderly room in the morning. Without any further ceremony Scotty was
+jammed in the clink.
+
+It was now almost daybreak of the morning of the third day following our
+first gas attack and, almost ready to drop with fatigue, I went over to
+the wagon lines, gathered some straw and bags together under an
+ammunition wagon, and was in a dead sleep in less time than it takes to
+tell it.
+
+At ten-thirty I reported to the orderly room to attend Scotty's trial.
+The Major was in his appointed place and in due course the guard marched
+in with the prisoner. His ammunition pouches and cap had been removed
+and he stood to attention as well as the contour of his legs and the
+thickness of his yellow streak permitted. Still I could not help
+remembering what he had done at Mons; there was no doubt about that
+because I had seen his scar and I knew that the ranks of the Seaforth
+Highlanders had never held a coward; and I mentally concluded that he
+must really have been suffering from shell shock or he would never have
+left his post as he did, and I sincerely hoped that he would in some way
+get through. The evidence was short and conclusive and the verdict was
+curt and decisive:--"held in close confinement for general field court
+martial at Steenwercke, May 12." And Scotty was led out looking as if he
+hadn't a friend in the world; there was very little sympathy for him
+from anyone.
+
+The same evidence was repeated at the field court martial trial, but the
+twinkle in Scotty's eye must have reached the heart of the commanding
+officer for he was ordered deported to England, pending dishonorable
+discharge. There he was sent to the military camp at Shorncliffe, put
+under open arrest and utilized around the camp in a number of ways for
+over a year.
+
+That afternoon Colonel Morrison sent for me. "Grant, run to Colonel
+Curry and find out how strong the Forty-eighth Highlanders and the Third
+Brigade are, and how soon he can get the men together for attack."
+"Yes, sir," and I started. I was running along the top of the canal bank
+in broad daylight and in the open, expecting every second that one of
+the missiles from the shower that was pattering the ground everywhere
+would get me. In that race through that bullet-swept zone I felt a
+common bond of kinship with the Irish soldier who was running as fast as
+his legs could carry him from the Battle of the Wilderness in the
+American Civil War and General Sherman, noticing him, turned his horse
+in the direction of the fleeing soldier and halted him up.
+
+"Here, you soldier, what are you running away for?"
+
+"Because, Gineral--because I can't fly."
+
+How I longed for wings! The Colonel later recommended me for a
+commission and many times since have I wondered how he would feel about
+that recommendation if he ever learned the real state of my feelings at
+that moment. He did me the honor of requesting Colonel Morrison to
+permit me to enter his unit and Colonel Morrison did me the additional
+honor of refusing to let me go. I had gotten a somewhat painful scalp
+wound on the way over, and I made my way to the French dressing station
+in a half-unconscious condition. The French doctor nearly completed
+matters by spilling the iodine in my eye and nearly blinding me. Some
+dope was then administered that brought me to my full senses shortly
+after.
+
+When I was getting fixed up at the dressing station--I had a hard time
+as the wounded men were swarming everywhere--I saw two women in the
+station carrying baskets and speaking to the soldiers. They seemed to be
+peasant women, but spoke very good English. They left after some little
+time and wended their way up the road; but something in their appearance
+directed attention to them and they were watched! After they had gone a
+little bit up the road one of them was seen to open her basket and let a
+pigeon go. They were at once arrested, handed over to the French police
+and taken to Ypres.
+
+The work of the gendarmerie was unexcelled; they were everywhere they
+were needed; had it not been for their lightning-like acumen and prompt
+service, the Lord only knows what would have become of us poor
+Britishers in that country, as we were practically at the mercy of the
+spies, not knowing who was who.
+
+The two women were taken to Ypres and were treated to their deserved
+fate--shot. But the pigeon did its work. Within an hour after their
+arrest the hospital was shelled; it was packed with patients and in one
+of the wards one of those flying ministers of death exploded, leaving
+not a single living man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+MY HORSESHOE WORKING
+
+
+It was the fourth day of the second battle of Ypres. I was in charge of
+my subsection at the guns and the men wanted water. I volunteered and
+went to a farmhouse 150 yards off, got the water and had started back
+for the guns. I had just stepped outside the door of the farmhouse when
+Kr-kr-kr-p! a huge shell came over and blew the gun and gun crew into
+kingdom come. A French captain was standing twenty feet from the door
+and, following the report, I started for our gun. I had just taken a
+step or two when another monster of death came hurtling through the air,
+straight for me, as I thought, but, instead, it was a message for the
+French soldier; it got him squarely, leaving not a fragment of his body
+to be seen.
+
+Immediately after the death of our gun crew and the French captain our
+gun position was moved, and that same evening after supper, consisting
+of the usual bread, jam and tea, Walter Hope and I were on our way to
+the dugout. When half-way there a sudden emptiness entered into my life
+and the next thing I knew I was being lifted on to a stretcher. I
+rebelled and got to my feet. What had happened was this, as told me by
+one of the boys who was standing a short distance off,--a shell had come
+and exploded almost at my feet, throwing me in the air for a distance,
+as he said, of fully twenty feet. It is impossible for me to personally
+make an estimate of the distance, as I was unconscious when I went up
+and when I came down.
+
+When I recovered my senses, Hope was hopping around holding his right
+hand with his left and exclaiming like a madman. His hand had been
+almost severed by a fragment from the shell and was hanging to the wrist
+by a shred. He ran to the cookhouse and the cook advised him to go at
+once to the dressing station, as he couldn't do anything for him;
+instead, in his frenzy, he ran to the gun pits, going from one to the
+other, looking for help. Every man there wanted to help him, but he
+wouldn't and couldn't stand still; the concussion of the shell had
+affected his brain and this accounted for his ungovernableness. Then a
+few of us grabbed him and I bandaged it as best I could, walked over to
+the road with him and started him on his way to the dressing station; I
+could go no further, as we had commenced firing, and he made his way
+alone. When nearing the station his senses completely left him for the
+time and he plucked off his hanging hand and threw it from him. The poor
+lad was then taken into the station, properly attended to and sent to
+England.
+
+Thankful am I to tell that he came through all right and is now working
+in Toronto earning his living by writing with his left hand, which he
+has learned to manipulate with practically the same agility the lost
+member possessed. We were deeply regretful at the loss of Hope from the
+crowd--fearless Hope, as he was known, and, sometimes, hopeless
+Hope--because never in all my experience have I seen a man who was so
+utterly regardless of danger; he would expose himself to what seemed
+certain death, and, as luck would have it, he got his blighty at a place
+that ordinarily would be considered about as safe from harm as could be
+found.
+
+On the fifth day of the second battle of Ypres, April 25, 1915, McKay,
+an orderly, came up the line with ammunition for the guns as our supply
+was exhausted. As soon as the shells were delivered it was his duty to
+report at once to the Captain for further orders. The poor fellow was
+starving for something to eat and he thought he would steal the time to
+slip up to the cookhouse and get a bite of grub. He rode his horse
+across and was in the act of leaning over to get a couple of hardtacks
+the cook was handing him, when a splinter of a shell that had exploded
+at his horse's feet, struck him in the neck, killing him instantly,
+slightly wounding his horse and destroying the rations and vessels in
+the cookhouse. The Captain yelled, "Ammunition orderly wanted," and I
+volunteered. I jumped on the horse, galloped him as well as his limping
+leg would permit, and weathered the storm of shells through the fire
+zone, making my way to the wagon lines, where I gave the Quartermaster
+the order.
+
+Then I had the pleasure of witnessing for the first time the admirable
+celerity and effectiveness with which an order of this kind is carried
+out.
+
+"Ten loads of ammunition wanted at once, sir; ammunition pretty nearly
+exhausted at the guns," was the message I delivered. The Quartermaster
+blew his whistle--"Stand to! ammunition up!" he yelled. The Sergeant
+then carried on; the men were standing easy by their horses waiting for
+the word. In these days, when a battle is on, the men are always ready
+for the word at a moment's notice, with their horses fully harnessed,
+nothing being removed from the animals except the bit to enable them to
+take their feed from the bag, and in no case is an ammunition wagon left
+without its guard; at night when the guard would lie down to snatch an
+hour's sleep, another one was there ready to carry on. "Prepare to
+mount! Mount! Walk--march! Trot!" yelled the Sergeant in quick
+succession, each command being executed with clock-like exactness, and
+they trotted from under cover of the trees where they were concealed
+from the airplanes and proceeded rapidly up the road under shell fire,
+bumping and stumbling along.
+
+I was guide for the party. We passed through Breeland, but could not
+make the best kind of speed as the traffic was terribly congested. On
+the left hand side of the road long lines of ambulances bearing wounded
+men were going down, stretcher bearers were carrying their suffering
+burdens and wounded men who were able to walk were making their way
+around and through the wagons as best they could, among them being men
+from every branch of the Imperial service, together with French and
+Algerians; on the other side of the road supply wagons of all
+descriptions were going forward. In the course of our journey the
+harness of one of the horses rubbed the animal until he was lame,
+stopping up the wagon. Immediately the Sergeant who was riding alongside
+ordered the wagon to one side, removed the horse, installed his own,
+jumped on the wagon and caught up with the others. The speed with which
+he did the trick almost made me gasp with astonishment; in all my life I
+never saw work of the kind handled so smoothly and swiftly. A dash of
+the picturesque was added to the scene by the Algerian ration-bearers
+winding their way in and out of the wagons, carrying trays of hot food
+on their heads and shoulders. It was nothing short of marvelous, the
+skillful manner in which they carried their precious burden of food, for
+never did they have a spill unless killed or wounded.
+
+One of the funniest sights a man can see was the way my chums of the
+ammunition wagons defied the explicit and peremptory order, "No smoking
+on the road at or around Ypres." There is something in the rise and
+fall of the lighted cigarette when being smoked that attracts the
+attention at long distances and many a man has had to pay the penalty,
+which was most severe,--28 days field punishment, which means 28 days
+without pay and breaking your back at fatigue duty around the camp, the
+cookhouse and the wagon lines, in addition to four hours extra drill
+each day. The temptation to smoke is so compelling that the punishment
+does not deter most men and they take the chance. By taking the collar
+of their coat and tucking it around their faces, lighting the match
+under their coat next to their ribs, burying their faces in their coat,
+they get a light without much danger of detection. In puffing it a man
+will hold the fag in his closed fist to his mouth, take the inhale, and,
+if there should happen to be a provo or other suspicious guardian of the
+rules in sight, down into his stomach would go the smoke. I don't know
+why it is but it has always seemed to me that the more stringent the
+rules are against the forbidden luxury, the more chances men will take
+to get their smoke.
+
+We made the run to Ypres Square in an hour and a half. As soon as we
+entered I noticed a woman clinging tightly to a little girl and hugging
+the wall of the Nunshouse, a building standing immediately opposite the
+town hall in the square. The square itself was a large open place in the
+city about 350 feet long by 150 wide. I jumped off my horse, gave it to
+the driver and went over. In broken English I learned they wanted to
+cross, but on account of the fire continually bursting the woman would
+not, so I picked up the child and carried her across to a cellar about
+five doors out of the square. A chunk had been blown out of the building
+and there was no difficulty in getting into the cellar, and as soon as I
+got to this place the child murmured, "_Bon! bon!_" and indicated she
+would go in there. I set her down and she turned her pretty little face
+to me for a kiss. She then caught my arm as I was about to go and
+slipping off a tiny locket from her little neck, handed it to me,
+indicating that she wanted me to keep it. I have it to this day and I
+prize it tenderly. It has a small picture of the patron saint of France,
+Joan of Arc.
+
+I ran back to her mother, pointed out where the child was, but she still
+seemed afraid to venture across. Although my little adventure did not
+occupy over three minutes, I could wait no longer, and jumped on my
+horse and the train of wagons trotted sharply out of the square. As the
+last wagon was leaving, I heard a sound like a train leaving a
+depot--choo! choo! choo! choo! growing louder each instant, and as the
+tail-end of the last wagon was trotting out of the square a shell, the
+largest ever employed by the German command and called the Ypres
+Express, landed full in the square, killing every living thing there and
+destroying ambulances and wagons of every kind, catching our rear wagon
+and blowing it up, wounding the driver and destroying the magnificent
+Cloth Hall, the last vestige of this most beautiful piece of
+architecture being destroyed by the resulting fire. That shell was from
+one of two guns that were expressly manufactured for the purpose of
+destroying the city of Ypres, a couple of months being taken to build
+cement platforms in which to set the ordnance, and the death-dealing
+monsters started on their mission of destruction from Dixmude, about 22
+miles distant.
+
+[Illustration: British Battery in Action]
+
+Not long after, an airplane located these monsters and succeeded in
+destroying one by a downpour of explosives he dropped on it, and the
+other one, a couple of days following, when being fired by its crew,
+the shell exploded in the gun itself, tearing it from its cement
+foundation and destroying itself and crew. These were the only guns of
+that caliber that have ever been used, so far as is known. The passage
+through the air of those missiles of death, heralded by their choo!
+choo! sent a shiver of dread up and down the lines as far as the sound
+would reach, and deep and lasting was the satisfaction of all ranks when
+the last of these mammoths of destruction wended its final flight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+HUN HELPERS
+
+
+On the sixth day after the first gas attack on the Canadians at Ypres,
+we took up a new position in a hedge about three-quarters of a mile
+north and a quarter of a mile east of Ypres, and about a thousand yards
+from the German trenches. We galloped like mad over the shell-swept
+road, taking just exactly an hour and a half to get the guns placed and
+blazing. We had four guns when we pulled into this position, but were
+latterly reinforced by two more from another battery, their sisters
+having been smashed and the crews bayoneted, including their commanding
+officers, and like friendless children they came to us looking for a
+home and were gladly taken in, thus increasing our battery to six guns.
+
+The hedge of the thickly growing thorn bushes ranged to the height of
+four feet, making it incumbent upon us to continually assume a stooping
+position when walking, involving a crick in the back for a good part of
+the time while there, but the bush was as thick as could be and formed
+an admirable shelter.
+
+The beauty of these hedges in blossoming time is charming and the buds
+were now coming out, their fragrance filling the air with sweet nectar.
+To our right was a large farmhouse, of two stories and a gable roof, and
+the nearest gun to the house was not over 30 feet off. The house was
+occupied by a farmer, his wife and two young children, a boy and a girl.
+
+The farmer's demeanor toward us was that of a systematic grouch and his
+appearance did not belie his disposition--as surly and sulky looking as
+a whipped criminal. He would stand in the doorway, watching us
+continually, as if he feared we were going to steal his house from over
+his head, and about the only thing he would say was to warn us not to
+destroy the hedge. But our love for the shelter, to say nothing of our
+love for the fragrant blossoms, made this injunction needless.
+
+Over on the other side of the house, 40 feet to the right of it, was
+another hedge behind which was a French battery of .75's. This battery
+had been through the Marne and they were veterans of the finest order,
+the very cream of the French artillery service, and their Captain was an
+educated gentleman, speaking English as fluently as his native tongue.
+They had come up from the Champagne district to reinforce the position
+at Ypres and their battery also consisted of six guns, each gun capable
+of 24 shells a minute.
+
+In appearance these guns are the last in the world to give one the
+impression of supreme efficiency; when we saw them coming down the road
+we wondered what they could be and were amazed when informed that they
+were the famous .75's that had made the work of the French guns ring
+throughout the world; we couldn't at first bring ourselves to believe
+that these were the famous guns until we saw them at work, because there
+is nothing in the general aspect of the piece to make one think that
+they are any better, if as good, as our old field pieces.
+
+The secret of these magnificent guns lies in the buffer and in the
+ability of the muzzle of the gun to cool off; after discharging 24
+rounds they are just as ready to discharge another 24 as when they
+started, while in the case of our pieces we have to let them cool, and
+15 or 18 per minute is the limit of our effort, because any more would
+cause them to jam from the heat. There is no gun on earth that can
+compare with the .75's.
+
+Our ammunition was supplied to us at this spot over a road running
+between our wagon lines, half way between Flamingad and Breevland, about
+a thousand yards away, but they had to go in a roundabout way, traveling
+fully 800 yards out of the direct route on account of the ditches. It
+was a physical impossibility for the horses to bring up sufficient
+ammunition for the guns during the night, and they had to make the
+perilous trip many times during the day, and with the German shells
+pounding the road every foot of the way, their fire being guided by the
+wireless directions from their planes, the number of horses that had
+their lives smashed out on this road was something enormous. At one spot
+is the famous Hell's Corner, so named because of the fierce fire that
+continually rained upon it, and here I counted 40 dead horses, as fine
+looking animals as ever were harnessed. Such is the toll of war.
+
+On the day that we arrived, our attention was drawn to an Algerian who
+seemed to be an inmate of the house. He could speak some English and
+seemed to spend most of his time cleaning his revolver. On the first
+afternoon I asked him why he was there and to what regiment he belonged.
+
+"The Algerian-African troop."
+
+"I understood they were in the trenches," I said. "Are you with the
+infantry?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I am."
+
+"Are you wounded?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then why are you not with your men?" I insisted.
+
+"I was lost in the retreat," he answered.
+
+"Why don't you go and look them up?"
+
+"I did, but I can't find them."
+
+Then he asked me if we were getting ammunition up.
+
+"Oh, yes, lots of it," I said.
+
+"When are you going to fire?"
+
+"Oh, pretty soon," I said.
+
+"What are you going to shoot at?" he asked.
+
+I told him we were going to plug the German trenches and the buildings
+around there, that we had orders to blow them up as they were filled
+with machine guns. He grinned from ear to ear, saying, "Good! Good!
+Shoot them all! Which ones you shoot first? I want to see them fall."
+
+I pointed out the ones my battery was going to demolish and his big
+white teeth were exposed in another grin, as he nodded approvingly, and
+walked off.
+
+That same afternoon my gun leveled the buildings assigned to me for
+demolishment and knowing beyond all shadow of a doubt that they were
+filled with men and machine guns, I watched through the glasses to see
+the gray-clad inmates popping out of the doors and windows. Judge of my
+astonishment! Not a solitary soul left the building my gun had
+destroyed. I watched each one of them in turn and in turn was awarded
+nothing for my pains. From others, however, hundreds of men rushed and
+as they scurried away our guns shrapneled them, dropping them by the
+score.
+
+A sort of a subconscious connection between my conversation with the
+Algerian and the effect of my gun fire found lodging in the back of my
+head, but it was not until later that it became a direct consciousness.
+Another thing that set me thinking was what seemed to me to be an undue
+familiarity between this Algerian trooper and our farmer; he had the
+entree of the house, apparently could go and come as he pleased,
+drinking coffee with the inmates, sleeping there nights and making
+himself generally at home. I didn't think much of it at the time, but
+later events made these trivialities very significant indeed.
+
+The bombardment was now commencing to have its effect on me, and McLean
+and I were both tired out; we were dead beat and looked around for a
+quiet spot where we could rest. Billy McLean was my especial pal ever
+since I had set foot in France.
+
+"Here is what the doctor ordered," he said, as we went off down the
+hedge a bit and came to a little opening in the bush into which we both
+crawled. It requires no effort for a man who has been sustaining the
+sound, shock and work of a bombardment, to fall asleep anywhere, any
+time, and we were soon Murphyized, as Mac expressed it.
+
+The rain now commenced falling heavily and in the midst of our slumbers,
+an orderly happened along and woke me up. I gave Mac a shove and he too
+woke up. We were drenched and made for the barn. We found the Old Man
+there with a lantern and told him we were going up in the loft, but he
+scowled and said we were not to go. "To hell with you!"--and up we went,
+finding five or six of the boys there taking advantage of the lull to
+snatch an hour's sleep. We quickly followed suit, getting hold of some
+straw and grain bags for a bed, and resumed our interrupted slumbers.
+
+In the midst of our dreams "S.O.S. Stand to!" was ordered, but we did
+not hear. One of our fellows, as we later learned, came running up to
+the farmhouse and asked the farmer if he had seen any of our men.
+
+"No," he scowled, "there are none here."
+
+When we had our sleep out we made for the guns. It did not take us long
+to see that a pretty thorough strafing had been going on, yet so dead
+beat to the utter exhaustion point were we, that we had failed to hear
+them.
+
+"Where the hell were you fellows?" asked one.
+
+"Asleep up there in the barn," said I; "why didn't you call us?"
+
+"I did, I asked that old blankety-blank and he told me he hadn't seen
+any of you fellows around there."
+
+"Well," said I, "he knew that Mac and I were up there, because we told
+him we were going, although he didn't want to let us go."
+
+Here the incident dropped and was forgotten for the time. That afternoon
+Fritz attempted to come over our way and on a "Stand to" we jumped to
+the guns and drove him back, sending across 200 expressions of our good
+will in record time. Then we "stood down." Following this we went
+through the usual routine of cleaning up our pet and making her ready
+for the next visitation, and while working away, friend farmer came
+along with one of his cows, a large white animal, leading it with a rope
+and permitting her to graze. He walked along in front of my gun where it
+stopped and grazed awhile; going in like manner in front of each of the
+guns. Then he led the animal over to the other side of the house, where
+it grazed in front of the French .75's.
+
+In the meantime we were working hard, getting our pets in shape, and
+someone asked who would volunteer for water. We were all dirty, thirsty,
+greasy and tired, and I offered to go. I ambled over to the farmhouse,
+stopping to speak to the Captain for a moment on the way, when I heard
+a shell explode; it had demolished No. 2 gun.
+
+"Stand to!" yelled the Captain; then to the farmer, "Take that damned
+cow away." He hurried the cow off and put it in the barn, but he had no
+sooner gone than Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! and the Captain and I were
+knocked off our feet. The water bottle was broken and I did not take
+time to get another but made for the guns. They were hammering our
+batteries thoroughly now and I was told to take shelter. I ran over to
+the farmhouse and asked the farmer's wife for a cup of coffee,--to sell
+me a cup, which she refused; in fact, her husband would not permit any
+of us to enter the house again. Then a smothering fire smashed the
+French battery, the destruction being so accurate and complete that it
+was done while I was asking and being refused the coffee! Just leaving
+the house, I met one of the French captains. "Did you notice anything
+peculiar in the farmer's actions?" he asked me; "I mean, with his white
+cow?"
+
+"I told him I hadn't noticed anything peculiar, that I had noticed he
+had taken his white cow out in front of our battery, grazing her there
+just before the battery was shot up.
+
+"Did the cow stop in front of your gun?"
+
+"Yes, it stopped before each one of them."
+
+"So it did at ours," he said.
+
+"_Merci_ Monsieur, you will hear from this." And he left in a hurry. He
+phoned the gendarmes in the city of Ypres and in less than half-an-hour
+they came. They entered the farmhouse and searched it thoroughly.
+Upstairs they found parts of a heliograph lamp and a complete telephone
+apparatus; there was also in his stove a system that had been
+inaugurated for forcing up a shower of sparks; this apparatus had been
+found in the houses of a number of spies who had paid the penalty for
+their work. Then they made a search of the cellar in which were found
+hundreds of tins of beef and jam, all of which had come from our
+rations, and then was explained the mysterious disappearance of our
+grub. There was no trace to be found of our Algerian trooper; he had
+made a hasty exit.
+
+Friend farmer and his wife were arrested, taken away with the children
+and placed in the coop, and there the traitorous couple got their
+deserts--they were taken to the square and shot.
+
+After they had gone we made ourselves at home in the building, and the
+comforts that awaited us there made us feel almost glad that they had
+turned out to be spies. Among the rations we found that they had taken
+stuff that had been purloined from other units as far back as three
+months before. After a thorough ransacking and a feed that filled us to
+our heart's content, we made for the battery, being greeted with a fresh
+outburst on our arrival, and under the fire we pulled our remaining guns
+away to another hedge 200 yards off, and waited for the storm to settle.
+
+While lying there the brains of one of our geniuses got to working and
+his ideas were quickly resolved into action. We went down to the barn,
+took a couple of wagons, taking off the wheels and the poles, and made
+up three dummy guns and placed them in the spot we had left, and in a
+few minutes' time we had the satisfaction of seeing Fritz spend three or
+four hundred good shells on our dummy battery.
+
+A consuming thirst was parching my mouth and I took a chance and ran
+along the open to the house for a drink. Then it was that the
+disadvantageous side of our good work with the dummy guns was
+exemplified; just as I was stepping out of the door, a shell tore a hole
+in one corner of the building, knocking it out as clean as if it had
+been drilled.
+
+The customary methods employed by the Germans to get information as to
+our guns, our troops, our supplies around Ypres, was to send a disguised
+soldier to the different farmhouses and threaten them with instant
+demolition by their guns if they did not furnish the information sought
+for, and thus did Fritz make good his promise to the farmer. By reason
+of our dummy guns and the strafing they got, and the fact that our guns
+still were firing, he believed that the farmer had given him a bunco
+steer, and he lost no time in making good his word.
+
+Remaining in the hedge for a few hours, we dug holes for the guns,
+covered them with tarpaulins and grass on top, giving them the usual
+scenic shelter. We did this work in the open but only one man at a time
+exposed; it was as much as life was worth for more than one to be seen
+working. That evening, in the midst of our meal at cookhouse,--"Stand
+to!" and we raced for our pets. When the concert was well under way,
+Munsey noticed a light three or four hundred yards off that was acting
+somewhat peculiarly; it would flare up and down oddly and seemed to be
+in a farmhouse straight at our rear, but not much attention was paid to
+it at the time. Next morning Munsey and I were in the cookhouse, trying
+to moisten a couple of hardtack biscuits with what juice we could
+extract from a piece of bacon rind, when an airplane hummed overhead and
+the attention of one of our anti-aircraft guns was immediately diverted
+to the bird. The cookhouse had formerly been a French dressing station,
+dismantled by the fire of those devils that know no law of God or man,
+composed of three huts in a row made of half-inch board. While eating,
+one of our own shells, a shrapnel, that had been sent up at a German
+stork and did not explode, dropped squarely into the middle of the
+cookhouse, frightened the cook out of his wits and hit the dixies,
+scattering them around our feet. "Stand to!" and we made our way
+carefully, keeping out of sight as much as possible from the watching
+bird overhead.
+
+When I got to the gun the shell fire was commencing to get dangerously
+close. "By God, there must be somebody giving our battery away," said
+Munsey. A number of our men had been wounded at this time and the
+airplane still buzzing above, made it impossible for us to fire, and we
+got a "Stand down!"
+
+"Come on over," Munsey proposed, "and we'll see what's in that building
+where I saw the light." We found a family of civilians living there and
+they were at once very solicitous about giving us coffee. "Never mind
+the coffee," said Munsey; "we have come to examine the house." The old
+man seemed quite willing to have us do so and pointed the way upstairs,
+starting himself to go out the door. Munsey grabbed him by the
+arm,--"Come along and show us the way." He indicated that we could find
+the way ourselves, but my mate was insistent and he forced the old man
+along and upstairs we went.
+
+At first nothing resulted from our thorough search, but Munsey's eye
+lighted on an Algerian serge lying in the corner of the room, and almost
+at the same time I noticed some bricks in the chimney that seemed to be
+loose. An old table in the middle of the room I pulled over to the
+chimney, tugged at some of the brick that I had noticed, and the whole
+thing caved in, part of a heliograph outfit falling out. The old fellow
+made a dart for the door, but was peremptorily intercepted. "Damn you,
+stay where you are!" I pulled out the rest of the stuff; there was a
+complete heliograph apparatus, and a little red cap, such as the
+Algerians wear, satisfying us both that the man doing the work used the
+uniform of an Algerian.
+
+On leaving the room, carrying the stuff with us and going down stairs,
+we saw a box against the wall and I heard a funny noise from it as if it
+contained something alive. I pulled it out and found it full of pigeons.
+"Who owns these?" I asked.
+
+"An Algerian soldier left them there," he answered.
+
+We then examined the cellar and entire basement, but found nothing
+further. We took the old fellow over to the gendarme who immediately
+took charge of him, and returned to the battery where we imparted the
+news of our find. It was the consensus of opinion that the spy was the
+farmer himself, and that the Algerian uniform was a blind. We were
+chatting away, discussing the matter, when the shells commenced flying
+as thick as peas in a pod; so swift and smashing was the fusillade that
+for awhile I thought hell's gate had opened wide. In less than no time
+one of our guns was knocked out and, getting a "Stand to!" we replied as
+fast as our legs and arms and heads would work.
+
+The excellent quality of the work that Fritz did here made the fellows
+unanimous that his information came from the farmer. Presently the duel
+cooled down and we resumed our chat.
+
+About a hundred yards off from the farmhouse where we had found the
+heliograph and Algerian uniform, was a windmill of the kind commonly
+seen in the farmhouses of the country, with large wings, and it happened
+that while firing, one of the boys, Boxer, noticed that the mill was
+going around in an irregular fashion,--going first one way and then
+another, and then stopping, and he called our attention to it and we all
+noticed it, and almost simultaneously with our observation of the mill,
+four shells came over, knocking another of our guns into uselessness and
+wiping out the crew, and after we got "Stand down!" and had cleaned up,
+Boxer suggested that we go over and see what was in the windmill.
+
+Together we went, going first to the house, and found the children
+crying with fright; some of them tried to tell us something, but we
+couldn't make out what they were saying. We crossed over to the windmill
+and a phenomenon indeed met our eyes,--the wheel was turning in the
+opposite direction from that in which the wind was blowing. We started
+up the steps and--Ping! Ping! and Boxer fell with an oath and a bullet
+in his leg. I assisted him to the farmhouse and then scooted over and
+communicated with the O.C. I also informed a French battery that had
+been terrifically shelled.
+
+In the meantime a stretcher had been sent for, and Boxer was brought
+back to the dressing station, where he had his wound dressed, which
+luckily turned out to be slight.
+
+That night I was filled full of the spirit of adventure and I wanted to
+visit the windmill again. I got a pal to go with me and endeavored to
+make it, but the flares were steadily burning and the snipers were so
+busy we had to lie low. Again I went to the French battery and told the
+officer commanding of my suspicions about the windmill. A smile of
+intelligence and gratefulness lighted up his fine face. "Monsieur, we
+shall see what we shall see," and he ordered a shell into the heart of
+the structure, bringing it down in splinters. Then we made for the ruins
+and found the body of a man dressed in an Algerian uniform; I looked him
+over carefully; he was the artist I had met in the farmhouse at our
+former station.
+
+There remained still the case of the old man in whose house we had
+discovered the heliograph and the pigeons. And the gendarmes were again
+sent for and the Belgian farmer was haled before the officer. With white
+face and streaming eyes he told the French Captain of the gendarmes that
+this man had come to him and told him that if he didn't permit him to go
+into his home, he would instantly signal for the shells and he and his
+family and buildings would be blown to eternity. The old man was
+permitted to go, as the French officer was satisfied he was sincere, but
+that he was utterly powerless to prevent the spy carrying out his plans.
+
+In conversation with us later, the farmer told us that the Algerian had
+brought pigeons with him; that he had written notes, put them in the
+little cup fastened to the bird's foot and sent some of them off, the
+others remaining in the box when the Algerian went upstairs. "I could
+hear the bricks falling, but he called to us not to come upstairs," went
+on the old man. "Shortly afterwards a man dressed in the uniform of a
+British soldier came, and he too went upstairs; he was carrying a bag.
+When he came in he asked if I wanted coffee and I answered 'No.' When he
+came in the Algerian called down to send him up, and he too went up.
+Presently the British soldier left and a few minutes afterwards your
+battery started firing. Then out ran the Algerian, saying he was going
+to the windmill and warned all of us on pain of losing our lives, not to
+come near the mill. That is the last I saw of him, Messieurs, until this
+evening when I see his dead body.
+
+"I am heart and soul with you, Messieurs; I know what you are doing for
+us and for Belgium; but you can see that I had no chance whatever to
+communicate with you; my life would have been the price, and what would
+have become of my family? If there had been anything I could have done,
+Messieurs, I would most gladly have done it, but I couldn't do
+anything, and the spy would have accomplished his purpose just the same
+had I made an attempt."
+
+It was now about 6:30 and on our way back to the gun pit we met a woman
+who seemed to be in the depths of despair, accompanied by a little girl.
+The woman was weeping bitterly. Our nerves were on edge and we were
+suspicious of everybody; trickery, deceit, traitor-work seemed to be in
+the very air itself, and we made a resolve that we would shoot anybody,
+man, woman or child, whom we saw loitering around our guns who had no
+business there; that very day the O.C. had sworn that he would ask no
+questions, but would shoot on sight. The woman's story was pitiful in
+the extreme.
+
+"Oh, what shall I do, what shall I do! My home is gone! My husband is
+gone! My children are gone! And for what?"--wringing her hands and
+gesticulating wildly. "For what, Messieurs? For being quiet,
+inoffensive, loyal people!"
+
+In my clumsy fashion I succeeded in somewhat calming the poor creature,
+and she proceeded a little more coherently.
+
+"Well, Messieurs, a man in Algerian uniform came to our house this
+morning. He asked permission of my husband, who was a loyal Belgian, to
+use our house--for what? To do spy work. My husband ran for a gun and
+warned him off. He said, 'You had better think it over; if you don't let
+me use your house you have not another day to live!' In spite of this,
+my husband presented the gun at him and he made off, but as he was
+leaving he called back, 'Do not on any account leave the house today,
+any of you, or you will be killed.'
+
+"We watched him and saw him go towards the hedge, and two or three men
+with bags met him, and they made off in the direction of your battery.
+Then, then--_Mon Dieu!_ How can I tell it!--a shell came and destroyed
+our home, killing my dear husband and my two babies."
+
+And again the poor woman burst into a paroxysm of weeping and sank to
+the ground in an utterly exhausted condition, moaning aloud in the
+despair of her misery. Her little daughter was screaming in terror at
+the plight of her mother, and we all set about to comfort them as best
+we could, but ah! God! how comfortless our words.
+
+The thought that perhaps the child would be quieted if she had
+something to eat suggested itself to me, but I had nothing except my
+iron rations, and our orders are very stern that under no circumstances
+must these be consumed except at the time designated, namely, when our
+supply wagons are destroyed and cannot reach us, and the order is issued
+from headquarters that we may use them. These rations are 16 ounces of
+bully beef, two hardtack biscuits, some tea and sugar in small wax
+envelopes. Each man must carry his own iron rations at all times and the
+penalty for eating them without orders is 28 to 90 days, first field
+punishment; therefore, I was taking a chance, but I hadn't the heart to
+resist the pitiful wail of that kiddie, and I felt that the risk I took
+was amply repaid by the cessation of her childish grief. The mother also
+had had nothing to eat all day, and she partook of some of the
+nourishment and was the better for it.
+
+There was nothing more for them that we could do and they departed, the
+poor creature with an expression in her eyes that plainly said, she
+didn't know where on earth she was going, and cared less.
+
+This was only an individual instance of the tens of thousands of blasted
+and stricken homes and families, resulting from the rule or ruin policy
+of the German "man of God."
+
+Half an hour after they had departed a train of ammunition wagons came
+galloping up, the driver telling us that in passing Hell's Corner they
+were given an exceptionally heavy dose by Fritz. "His aim the nicht was
+damn puir, however," said one of the Scotch drivers; "he never gave us a
+scratch; but I noticed on the road a woman wi' a little bairn, a wee
+thing, hardly higher than your knee, and as we were racing by them, a
+shell exploded on the side of the road, right alongside o' them, blawin'
+the puir things to their doom."
+
+From the description furnished by the driver, I was convinced it was the
+poor woman and child for whom I had taken the risk of punishment, and I
+could not help thinking what a blessing it was that death had come to
+them in the way it did, so soon after her inextinguishable sorrow.
+
+Another evidence testamentary of the industry of the German agents came
+to us that very night from the driver. After the wagons were loaded up
+at the wagon lines, someone undid the locks of the wagons and on the way
+to the guns the shells dropped out from time to time, scattering over
+the cobble stones, causing them to lose more than half of their precious
+loads.
+
+"Aye," said the Scotch driver who had told us about the woman and her
+child, "and a French battery coming up behind us, the horse kicked one
+shell that we dropped, and I'm damned if it did na' explode and blaw the
+puir beggars to the deil. By the Lord! They're doing gude work!" Good
+work, indeed, Fritz, but your day is coming!
+
+Next morning about ten o'clock we got a "Stand to!" as a bombardment had
+begun and Fritz had started coming over. We stopped him, but no sooner
+had we ceased firing than Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Bang! Bang! coming
+down so fast that we made off for shelter at the cookhouse. While there,
+Munsey thought he would like to have a look at the situation generally
+in the surrounding country, through the medium of a hole in the side of
+the cookhouse up near the roof and he hopped on top of a box and looked
+out in the direction of Ypres. The most notable object there was the
+town clock, and he had not been looking long before he noticed the hands
+moving this way and that; he watched closely and then called, "Come
+here, fellows, quick. Come and watch the clock!" We all jumped to a
+point of vantage and watched, and in few minutes we were satisfied that
+the shell fire that was raining upon us was being directed by the hands
+of the clock. We observed that when the long hand moved right, the rain
+of fire would increase; when it moved left, it decreased; each jump of
+the hand five minutes meant 25 yards increase or decrease, as the case
+might be. Every time the small hand moved one minute right, it meant
+three yards right; two minutes, six yards, and so on; and the same if it
+veered to the left. And when both hands turned at once to 12:00 o'clock
+we deduced from their fire that some object was registered and when that
+was done the large hand would go all the way around and the fire would
+increase to a regular hurricane; if it went half way round, it would
+decrease. The small hand going all the way round, the fire ceased.
+
+We watched intently for some time, keeping our eyes glued on the
+movement of the hands in conjunction with the fire, and then the matter
+was phoned to headquarters. A result of their combination guns and
+clockwork was the destruction of one of our pieces and two of the
+French battery. Another battery observer had noticed the clockwork at
+the same time that we were watching it, and the gendarmes were notified;
+they made a trip to the top of the tower in double quick time, finding
+there a man in a British uniform and one in French uniform; the man with
+the British uniform wore a French cap and he in the French had a British
+cap. They were taken and confined in the basement of a ruined building
+and a guard set.
+
+That night I was sent to the trench headquarters to do guard duty and
+next day, about 11:00 o'clock in the morning, I was standing in the
+doorway of the farmhouse where the pump had blown in on Scotty, and I
+was accosted by two men who were walking rapidly. They asked me where a
+certain Algerian Regiment was lying and I directed them, after giving
+them a drink of water and a biscuit. They also asked me what those
+headquarters were, and a number of other questions. However, no
+suspicion of there being anything wrong entered my mind, as they spoke
+perfect English. They left and had just turned the corner to cross a
+pontoon bridge over Yser Canal, going toward the front-line trenches,
+when three French guards came running like mad. They asked me some
+questions excitedly, but it was some time before I could make out what
+they wanted.
+
+Finally I got it through my head and told them and they raced off. The
+men who had accosted me were the two prisoners who had been taken in the
+clock tower at Ypres, as I heard subsequently, but they did not get away
+with their nervy trick; they were taken and paid the price.
+
+That same night a bunch of the 48th Highlanders, of Toronto, were on our
+right, and dug in in the bank, but there was considerable water in the
+bottom of their holes, while ours, compared to theirs, were beautifully
+dry. The Kilties came along, searching for blankets and whatever they
+could get, and we spared them whatever we could. Then one of them
+spotted a farmhouse, the occupants of which had been shelled out because
+they would not comply with the orders of a German agent, and had lost
+their home in consequence. They went in and helped themselves to straw
+and came out loaded down with armfuls of it. I decided to follow suit
+and went over, just reaching the barn, when Kr-kr-kr-p!--the first shell
+that came going right amongst them, setting the barn on fire and
+wounding several of the 48th. Their presence had been made known by a
+secret service agent, as it is one chance in a hundred thousand for a
+shell to hit so desirable a target at the first shot. The aim was
+excellent and the work accomplished by the shell was splendid--from a
+German point of view.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BITS OF BATTLE
+
+
+On the way over to the barn, where the shell hit the 48th, a piece of a
+tree limb smashed into the ground at my feet, following the familiar
+whiz just overhead of a large gun missive, with its accompanying wind
+gust, and at the same moment something struck with a thud the tree from
+which the splinter had come. Glancing up, I noticed a shell lodged in a
+fork of the two main branches, that had stuck there without exploding.
+For a shell to explode, it is necessary that the nose of the fuse,
+containing the detonator, shall come in contact with a solid substance,
+in order to make ignition and cause the explosion. This had not been
+done; owing to the intervention of kind nature in the shape of the
+crotch in that tree catching and holding the shell fast in a firm
+embrace, we were saved from that additional disaster and death.
+
+A dried-up creek that was being used by us for a trench on the Ypres
+sector was crossed by a wooden bridge about thirty feet long. This
+bridge was used as a means of transport at night and by Red Cross men in
+the daytime, and was very useful; it was most important that it be kept
+in constant repair. I was detailed in charge of the repair party. One
+day during the great Ypres battle, about ten o'clock in the morning, the
+bridge was smashed and I took my party up and made the necessary
+repairs. We had hardly returned to cover when the bridge was smashed
+again, and again we rushed out and fixed it up. As we ran, three men
+forged ahead of me and got to the middle of the thirty-foot structure; I
+was about twenty feet behind them, the rest of the party immediately
+behind me. I was shouting an order to them, when a shell exploded in the
+middle of the bridge, killing all three. I was saved by twenty feet.
+
+In the late afternoon one day of the battle, I was resting in a hole I
+had burrowed under a sand-bank; about 200 men were burrowed in the same
+bank in the same way. A monster shell struck the bank immediately above
+me, upheaving the ground and completely burying me and half a dozen
+others. I was dug out in a half smothered condition, but soon was able
+to assist in the work of resurrecting the rest. The only casualty that
+occurred in that incident was innocently caused by myself; as I was
+digging, my shovel struck the leg of an officer, inflicting such a gash
+that when resuscitated he had to go to hospital.
+
+A cunning device of the Germans to misuse the Red Cross came to light
+during the next few days. It was in the vicinity of the woods where the
+Imperial Batteries had lost their guns. In a counter attack to retake
+these guns our men went over, accompanied by the engineers, to destroy
+the guns, as it was thought it would be impossible to bring them back.
+This turned out to be true, as the enemy advanced in such strong mass
+formation that our fellows had their hands full fighting them off until
+the engineers made good their work, which they did by smashing the
+hydraulic buffers with picks, destroying the sights, blowing the guns
+up, and taking the breech-blocks back with them.
+
+In going over the ground that our barrage had covered a few minutes
+before, we found lying there German soldiers who had acted as stretcher
+bearers, wearing the red cross of Geneva on their arms, for the purpose
+of running wires from trench to trench, from battery to battery, and to
+headquarters, and the way they did the trick was to take a roll of wire
+on a stretcher covered with a blanket, to represent a wounded comrade,
+start the roll unwinding and running the wire between their legs as they
+walked. The blankets on the stretchers were used to deceive our
+observers and make them believe they were doing honest hospital work in
+the field. This was only one of their many unprincipled practices, for
+the Germans ignored all usages of war as practiced by civilization.
+
+During the busiest days of May, 1915, between the second and third
+battle of Ypres, I was on guard duty at field headquarters in the
+trenches. The Staff was located in an old two-story building that was
+much the worse for wear from German calling cards. My "go" was from
+eight to ten P.M. Promptly at ten o'clock a rap came to the door and,
+blowing out the light, I inquired who it was. It was my relief, Dave
+Evans, one of the best pals whom it has ever been my lot to soldier
+with. Dave was a heavy-set man, strong as an ox; I think he could have
+almost felled a bull with his fist, so powerful was he. I re-lit the
+candle after closing the door. This was Dave's first "go" at this
+particular spot, and I cautioned him to be careful not to show himself
+in the open doorway with the light behind him, as the building was under
+observation and the splinters that were being continually chipped from
+it demonstrated how keenly active and alert they were, and made it
+necessary for a man to be on the lookout every second of the time. He
+said he would take no chances. Dave had just obtained an Enfield rifle,
+for which he had been very glad to exchange his Ross, as the Enfield is
+better suited for trench purposes, and, not being thoroughly familiar
+with its workings, he asked me to explain it to him, which I did. Then I
+blew out the light, opened the door, whispered "good-night," and started
+down the path. About a hundred feet away I heard Dave calling me back; I
+turned; he was standing in the doorway, with the candle light gleaming
+behind him. He called out, "Grant, I don't quite get this safety catch
+and bolt; would you mind showing it to me again?"
+
+"Blow out the light, you damn fool," I called.
+
+"All right," and he did so and I started back. As he answered me I heard
+simultaneously the report of a rifle and the whiz of a bullet passing
+me. When I got to the door I stumbled over the body of my friend Dave;
+he had received the summons through the head.
+
+While standing guard at the open door, before Dave came, with the light
+out, however, I suddenly got a start that frightened me more than
+anything else that has happened me in France: In the gleam of a distant
+flare, the white faces of two women peered around the corner of the
+building, looking at me through the open door. There was something so
+damnably uncanny in their appearance, and so startling, that a cold
+sweat broke out over me, and I snapped my rifle to the present. Had they
+not been women they would not have lived; a loiterer around headquarters
+takes his life in his hands.
+
+They had been there that same afternoon, saying they were the owners of
+the place, and that they had stopped to take away some supplies. They
+were permitted to take their goods with them, but were warned against
+coming there again. They did not heed the warning. I reported their
+presence to the O.C. and they were promptly arrested and handed over to
+the French police. What their lot was I cannot tell, but to this day I
+can't help thinking that in some way poor Dave owes his fate to those
+women.
+
+After two days' hard marching we reached Givenchy June 9, 1915, a little
+town in France lying thirty miles south of Ypres. Our battery of two
+guns took up its position immediately outside, on the southwest side of
+the town. A few civilians were scattered through the town, living in the
+cellars, the rest having fled at the German approach. We were ordered to
+put our guns in the very front-line trench for the reason that the
+opposing trenches being so close together, it was impossible for the
+guns to do justice to themselves without inflicting serious casualties
+on our own men. To make our work as noiseless as possible, we took a
+number of old rubber tires, cut them in strips and wrapped them around
+the gun wheels with hay wire; this facilitated both the movement of the
+guns and the preservation of silence.
+
+We again had the honor of being the sacrifice battery for the
+division--in other words, having the profound pleasure of going
+heavenward, or in the other direction, before any of the others, for the
+purpose of working out the plan of action by the Command. We got the
+guns into position under cover of night, and thoroughly camouflaged
+them with grass and tree branches. We did the job so artistically that
+the birds would come and chatter and sing immediately over the guns when
+they were not telling their tale of love to Fritz.
+
+Out in front of our guns was a small ridge or embankment, gradually
+sloping up to a height of twenty feet and extending east and west for a
+distance of three or four hundred yards. This rising piece of ground was
+a decided obstacle to our progress and it was ordered mined for the
+purpose of leveling it. The engineers attended to the task. It turned
+out that Fritz also had mined the ridge in order to blow our sector
+skyward.
+
+The stage was set and the play started at 5:30 in the afternoon. Our
+orders were to blow holes in the parapet wire which ran in a zigzag
+direction every way out in front, for the purpose of enabling the
+infantry to get through when they got over. Our ammunition was of the
+best; we now took no chance on any defective goods. We had 20 rounds of
+shell for each gun. When we got the order--"Fire!" gaps were torn in the
+wire by my gun, and the other gun had blown away some small ridges. We
+were going strong when a shell--the very first one--took our other gun,
+blowing it and the crew into nothingness. We went on firing until we had
+exploded 18 shells and had made several gaps in the wire, when, without
+a moment's warning, our trench mine exploded. The trenches were packed
+with troops ready for the word. A mountain of debris was shot in the air
+and back over us, burying a number of soldiers in the trench, where they
+died miserably from suffocation. The concussion was so powerful that it
+blew the shield of my gun off downwards, cleaving Corporal King's skull
+in twain and blowing Gunner MacDonald, who was sitting on the handspike
+of the gun, 20 feet away. When we found him next day, every bone in his
+body was broken. I was sitting on the gun alongside of Corporal King at
+the time of his death, and how I escaped is more than I can tell. Again
+I couldn't help speculating that my life must have been spared for some
+good purpose; I sincerely hope so.
+
+It was impossible to do any further firing, as the muzzle of the gun was
+choked completely with the dirt that had been shot backward by the
+explosion of our own mine. Our misfortune, however, did not prevent or
+deter for a moment the intended movement. Unable to do anything further
+as a gunner, I hopped into the charge with the 48th Highlanders of
+Toronto, who had just started with one of their old-time yells to go out
+and over. When we reached the German front lines,--or what was left of
+them, for the explosion had blown from them all semblance of a
+trench,--it was jammed full of German troops--dead. On we went,
+inclining to the right and reaching an orchard in which was a nest of
+them concealed in the trees. Those on mother earth were speedily driven
+to hell or made good their escape, and we then attended to the case of
+the squirrels in the branches. This was somewhat difficult, as the night
+was excessively dark, but our snipers, circling everywhere underneath
+them, finally got them; not a single baby-killer escaped; it was a case
+of getting limburgers in an apple tree.
+
+No sooner had we cleaned up the job than the Fritzies returned _en
+masse_ formation, compelling us to beat a discretionary retreat to their
+front-line trenches, where we held and are still holding, and then some.
+Here we remained until the middle of the following month.
+
+Some minor engagements took up my duties after Givenchy, until about
+September 1, when my battery was instructed to proceed to Ploegsteert.
+
+Ploegsteert sets in ruins about two miles northwest of Armentières;
+there were no buildings that Fritz failed to level with the exception of
+the tower, which they used for registry purposes,--a reference point in
+artillery technology. We were stationed on this sector for eight months,
+and our stay here was more or less of a recreation; battle firing was
+only intermittent; and on the days that we did speak to Fritz, we rarely
+sent over more than 10 to 12 messages.
+
+Our battery was in a hedge here and we were having our wires cut several
+times, causing us considerable trouble and annoyance.
+
+Butler, one of my pals, was started out to make the necessary repairs.
+He left on his dangerous mission, crouching along and taking advantage
+of every bit of shelter on the way, but several ping! pings! warned him
+that he was treading on danger ground. He kept at his work, busily
+hunting for the break in the wire, with the sniping pills passing his
+ears continually.
+
+Crawling along on his hands and knees, with the wire running through his
+hand, he came to a little bush, where it slipped away from him, denoting
+that there was the break. At that moment the sniper got him in the leg,
+but he held to until he repaired it, and was in touch with headquarters,
+reporting that he had mended the break, when the wire was again cut. The
+bleeding from his wound now made it necessary for him to mend that break
+first, and he bandaged it as quickly as his nervous fingers would work.
+Again he took hold of the wire, crawling and stumbling along until he
+again came to the break, and again mended it. He was being closely
+watched now, as the bullets were whistling about him ceaselessly. Again
+he turned his attention to his wound, adjusting the bandage, and he
+noticed a British soldier crawling toward him on his hands and knees.
+
+"Hello, matey, what you doing out here?" he asked.
+
+"I'm mendin' me bloomin' leg now," Butler answered.
+
+"Well, if you hadn't been out here you wouldn't have got it. Why didn't
+you stay in your trenches?"
+
+"Someone's got to repair the wire," said Butler. He was growing
+perceptibly weaker from the loss of blood.
+
+"Oh, repairing the wire, were you? Well, don't repair any more"--and
+Butler had just time to see him level his revolver and then he dropped
+unconscious. The bullet had hit him in the thigh. But his communication
+had reached headquarters that he was wounded and it was not long before
+the stretcher bearers came out and found him. They took him to the
+dressing station, where it was found necessary to amputate his leg, but
+he parted gladly with his dented member when the O.C. told him that his
+grit and endurance were a splendid example for the entire unit,--"Aye,"
+he added, "and for the whole Empire."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Service was being held here in the field one Sunday morning and an
+incident occurred that makes me shake every time I think of it,--not so
+much at the incident itself as in the surrounding circumstances. In the
+midst of the service, a buzzing overhead announced the presence of
+German hawks and a dropping of bombs further announced that they had
+seen us and intended paying their respects.
+
+A face turned upward is one of the most easily detected objects by an
+airplane, and although we had strict orders on no account to look up,
+the temptation for some was too strong. Meantime, the minister continued
+to read the service, but the responses were not as hearty as they had
+been, and he himself was standing with shoulders hunched up to the back
+of his neck, the book pulled up to his nose, and furtively trying to see
+through his eyebrows the danger-birds in the blue. In the midst of the
+solemn moment an officer, glimpsing some of the men turning their faces
+skyward, bellowed, "Damn you, keep those mugs down."
+
+It was our good fortune that none of the messages reached their intended
+destination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+SANCTUARY WOODS
+
+(_3rd Battle of Ypres_)
+
+
+The third battle of Ypres commenced June 2, lasting until June 15, 1916.
+Sanctuary Woods was a cluster of trees, comprising about one thousand in
+number, and they were the very finest and noblest specimens of their
+various types,--oak, elm, ash and beech. They were located just one mile
+outside the city in a northwesterly direction. One of our trenches ran
+northeast and southwest through the middle of the woods.
+
+The line had been exceptionally quiet for the space of a week. My
+battery of six guns was located at a château known as the Belgian
+Garden, about 600 yards in the rear of the wood. Two guns were ordered
+into the wood as a sacrifice battery, and my usual luck attached me to
+one of them. We were located in a dry ditch, 300 yards back from the
+front line. Our orders, as usual in the case of the sacrifice battery,
+were to wait until the Germans, when they broke through, if they did,
+were almost in line with our guns.
+
+The morning of the 2nd was a beautiful summer's day; nature was in
+perfect repose; the birds sang gayly, the humming of bees and fragrance
+of flowers filled the air. We were busily engaged making our morning
+ablutions in some shell holes when, like a bolt from the blue, hell
+broke loose in the form of the most violent bombardment I had
+experienced up to that time, lasting twenty minutes, missiles of every
+kind raining down on us on all sides. "Stand to!"--and we waited.
+
+At the end of twenty minutes our men started jumping out of their
+trenches ahead of us and charging across. They were met by the enemy in
+mass formation and overwhelmed. They died to a man. The Germans pressed
+the attack home and came on, yelling like fiends incarnate, drunk with
+the joy of their apparent success and promised victory. On they came,
+apparently irresistible. We commenced firing, and I had the satisfaction
+of seeing gaps blown in their ranks and many of them biting the dust.
+Our poor little battery, however, feazed them but little.
+
+And I want to say right at this time that the idea that seems to be
+prevalent in the minds of many that the German is not a good fighting
+man is a lamentable mistake; he is a good fighter. He has not perhaps
+the initiative of the British, or the avalanche-like ardor in a charge
+of the French soldier, but with his officers pressing him behind and in
+mass formation, he is as formidable a foe as can be imagined.
+
+Our ammunition was exhausted, not a shell remaining, and we grabbed our
+rifles, retreating with the rest, and sniping and dropping as we fell
+back. We took parts of the guns with us to prevent Fritz making use of
+it, and threw them into a shell hole filled with water, as they were too
+heavy to carry and manipulate our rifles at the same time, and that
+ability was much more precious to us at that particular time than the
+gun-parts. One of my chums had been wounded in the pit before we
+retired, and was later taken prisoner, and two of my other chums were
+killed in the general retreat. My pals with the other guns, forty feet
+to our right, did not get all of their ammunition off before the Boches
+were upon them, and they, too, died there; they were incinerated alive
+in their little pit by smoke shells that started everything ablaze as
+they exploded.
+
+The retreat ended in Maple Copse Woods, where we established ourselves
+and held the Germans, they resting at the edge of Sanctuary Woods. Under
+orders, I and my partner started for Zillebeke, about 400 yards back
+from Maple Copse, where we established an observation station, with the
+necessary telephonic communication to headquarters, which, when done,
+was taken in charge by a relief party from another battery, and I
+returned to Belgian Gardens at 11:30 A.M., where I was put in charge of
+another gun crew.
+
+I thought I had done a fairly good morning's work and was hoping Fritz
+would behave himself for the balance of the day, but my hope was a
+delusion, for inside of half an hour Fritzie thought he would like to
+see the scenery in Maple Copse, and came on for another try. Heavy
+firing began, lasting about five minutes, and over they came again. We
+opened up heavily with our battery of four guns, throwing a barrage in
+his front as best we could; mine was the only battery left working on
+this particular sector. Our fellows went out and met Fritz in a
+hand-to-hand argument, backing up their contention so thoroughly with
+the cold steel that they sent him flying back to the line he had
+established at Sanctuary Woods.
+
+But it was necessary, in order to keep him quiet, to keep up a barrage.
+Our ammunition had run down to a point where we had only fourteen shells
+left, and we received orders to hold two high explosive shells, one for
+the muzzle and another for the breech of the gun, to put it out of
+business in case they broke through.
+
+If it became necessary to resort to the expedient of blowing up the gun,
+it would be done by placing a shell in the breech of the chamber, the
+breech closed, another shell inside the muzzle, the lanyard fastened to
+the firing lever and strung out of the front pit door for a distance of
+25 or 30 feet to a large tree standing at our rear, fastened to the
+tree, and when retreating pull it from there, blowing the gun and the
+gun pit into as many pieces.
+
+We took all precautions when it became likely that we were going to be
+overpowered and there was a chance of Fritz taking our gun. It is rarely
+necessary to take this precaution nowadays, nor has it been for the last
+two years; the shoe is on the other foot now and the returns showing
+the number of heavy German guns that we have captured within the last
+two years and a half, together with the fact that not a single British
+gun has been lost, shows how well the work is in hand on the Western
+Front.
+
+[Illustration: Over the Top]
+
+With their unexcelled means of observation, they soon discovered where
+our little battery was hidden, and decided to end the argument with our
+troublemaker there and then.
+
+A smothering fire burst upon us, and one of the shells clipped a large
+tree as easily as if it had been done with a giant razor, and it crashed
+down directly in front of our gun, putting it out of business for the
+time being.
+
+In a few minutes more another shell landed on the gun forty feet to our
+left, ending its usefulness, killing the crew to a man and leaving but
+two guns working; a few moments more and another lit in the
+telephonists' pit fifteen feet to our rear, wiping out three or four of
+the fellows on duty there. Lord! it was getting hot!
+
+We were then ordered to "Stand Down" (take cover), as the fire was
+getting hotter each second and it had all the appearance of being a
+wipe-out. I ordered my crew to beat it for the dugout, staying behind a
+moment or two to set the sight and fasten the lanyard to blow up the gun
+if needed. They started out of the gun pit, taking the turn to the
+right, along the path to the dugout, which was fairly well sheltered by
+big trees. I finished my work in a minute or two and took the turn to
+the left. When I reached the dugout the O.C. inquired where the men
+were.
+
+"They ought to be here, sir; they left ahead of me. I will go at once
+and find them."
+
+"I'll go with you." And we started through the trees. The dugout was
+only about forty yards in the rear of the gun pit and half way there we
+came across my crew lying underneath a huge tree, dead. It had been
+rooted from the ground, hurled in the air with the same ease as a toy
+balloon and dropped on the men. The hole torn in the ground at the root
+was big enough to swallow a horse and cart. Of the five members of my
+crew four were dead; the remaining man, Bill Clark, had fourteen wounds
+in one side of his body from splinters of the tree.
+
+I took him to the dressing station, where his wounds were dressed. As
+soon as he recovered consciousness he asked what had happened, and when
+I told him that his pals, including his bosom chum, Jim Chandler, had
+all been killed, he again lapsed into unconsciousness. He was later
+taken to the hospital, where, after a nine-months' battle with the Grim
+Reaper hovering constantly over his bed, he at last regained some of his
+old-time health. But he will never again be on the firing line.
+
+Every man was now weary, sore and thirsty, and my only grateful
+recollection of that day's work was the O.C.'s command that we be given
+an extra ration of rum. I am not a constitutional advocate of the brew
+that glistens like gold, but that was one time when I thanked the good
+Lord for that drink.
+
+Information was conveyed to the wagon lines of the terrible toll that
+had been exacted that day and the number of men that were needed to
+replace the casualties. Our parson, hearing what was going on in front,
+volunteered to come and officiate at the burial of the men that night,
+and mounting his horse he started in company with Archie Meehan and a
+small relief party.
+
+In the meantime I had made my way back to the cellar of the château,
+which we were using for a dugout, and the battery to our rear, an
+Imperial battery, was firing when it received an "S.O.S." Suddenly a
+German airplane hovered over the château, describing a half circle
+behind the Imperial battery, spotting its flash, and immediately
+wirelessing the location. Our observers, who were stationed at points on
+either side, did not notice the manipulation of the airplane at the rear
+of the battery. The "S.O.S." was accompanied by a burst of stars from
+the Imperial British Infantry, the signal working its way down right
+into the Canadian lines, where the ammunition was rapidly becoming
+exhausted.
+
+On account of the trees partially obscuring the flash of the guns of the
+Imperial battery, the airship that the battery in the château saw did
+not convey the exact information to the German batteries, and when they
+opened up on the château, chunks out of the building and trees and a
+general ripping up ensued, but their fire did not reach the battery. In
+all my experience at the front, in three years, I have never known at
+one time in one spot such a devastating fire as they put over at that
+particular time. There were over seven batteries--forty guns--ranging
+from 3 inch to 8 inch, constantly trip-hammering on the building, and
+the earth trembled and quivered as though in the throes of an
+earthquake.
+
+Another gun of our Canadian battery of four guns was here put out of
+action, leaving two guns out of the six. From off my gun we had removed
+the fallen tree, enabling us to get it into action again. At this time
+we were receiving the fire from the German batteries on the left rear,
+left, front and right, leaving only our right rear free from the
+destruction which was being waged on every other outlet.
+
+Then we gathered up every shell on which we could lay hands,--shells
+that had been discarded as defective, and rammed them in the guns as
+fast as our arms and hands would work. At that moment the German
+airplane returned, flying low and turning his machine gun upon us. We
+sniped at him with our rifles, but failed to get him.
+
+The Germans had been trying all day to reach Maple Copse, but we held
+there. Our artillery observer at Zillebeke now phoned that the Huns were
+massing in Sanctuary Woods--"Fire must come from somewhere." We pulled
+the last two guns of the Imperial battery and shoved them out in the
+open; the crews of the remaining guns of this battery were gone; these
+guns were 4.05's. On they came, and we let them have it beautifully for
+a good five minutes, and they faltered and fell back. In another ten
+minutes they came again, when suddenly hell broke loose from our
+lines,--the Empire batteries had opened up on them. These batteries
+derived their name from the fact that they were comprised of Australian
+guns, South African guns, guns from New Zealand, Canada, Scotland,
+England, in fact every part of the Empire was represented. For a time
+they smothered the German batteries in Sanctuary Woods. Then a flock of
+German airplanes flew over these guns and smothered them partially for a
+few minutes with their machine guns. This entire action had lasted an
+hour, and at this moment the little relief party, accompanied by our
+parson, arrived from the wagon lines. Again we were out of ammunition,
+and the O.C. asked me if I would volunteer to go to the wagon lines
+after it. "Yes, sir,"--and I mounted the parson's horse and started.
+
+Although it had now started raining, I left the dugout with nothing on
+but pants, shirt and boots; I had no gas helmet, no coat, no cap, no
+puttees,--there was no time to be lost--and I was covered with grease
+and dirt, and must easily have looked like an African.
+
+I had scarcely started when a shell lifted a tree out of its roots and
+threw it on the road right in front of me, but the horse cleared it with
+a jump. I passed a dressing station and the sight was unspeakably sad;
+laid in rows as thickly as they could be placed, the wounded men in all
+stages of agony were patiently waiting their turn,--ah, God! how patient
+those men were,--and scattered here and there on both sides of the road
+were groups of men who had just begun their last sleep, and at sight of
+them the horse would shy and balk every few yards. I had no spurs with
+which to control the animal, and my work was cut out for me! he was an
+ideal parson's horse, for the brute would hardly go faster than a walk.
+Getting through the gas barrage, I came to a camouflage hedge, used to
+screen and protect the traffic on the road, which sheltered me for four
+or five hundred yards further, and then I emerged again into the open,
+and again I was spotted. At this point a set of new dressing stations
+had been established, and they were as busy as bees looking after
+wounded men, and every moment of the time they were engaged in their
+work the machine guns of the enemy planes were hammering the stretcher
+bearers and the wounded men as industriously as though they were
+attacking fighting men. It was quite evident they knew I was a dispatch
+rider, and I was a target every step of the way, shells being planted
+before me, behind me and on each side of me. But I knew the Major's
+thought was with me every foot of the way; I knew he was counting the
+seconds until I would reach the wagon lines and deliver the message--and
+the only message--that would save the position; I knew he was praying
+for me that very moment and I knew that every man in the battery was
+doing the same thing. If I failed! It was not with me a question of my
+life; I didn't care a damn for that, and every man of us, on that day
+anyway, felt the same. But I must hasten with all the speed that was in
+me, and I must keep my life, and my head as well, that the others might
+live.
+
+Finally, I got the horse started on a straight run, came to a bridge
+crossing the Rampart Canal, but they were shelling the bridge so
+violently it would have been certain destruction to have attempted
+getting across. Jumping off, I pulled the horse into a ruined building,
+and there in the twilight I had a splendid opportunity to view the
+efficiency of the German observation work. They were making the most
+determined effort to prevent any communication being sent to the wagon
+lines for ammunition, and one continual stream of shells was following
+me down the road; they were dropping as thickly as hailstones for the
+entire distance up and down the road as far as I could see. I waited
+there ten minutes and then led the horse out, walking a hundred yards
+towards the bridge. Then came another burst of shells; again I stopped
+for a few minutes, made another hundred yards, and another bursting
+storm of shells. I was walking the horse all this time, but I made up my
+mind the time had come to make a dash for it. I jumped on his back, lay
+flat as a pancake, and with a good stout stick I lammed that poor brute
+as few horses ever were lammed, made a dash for the bridge and got
+safely across.
+
+About 100 yards over and down came a burst of concussion shells, flying
+and blowing everything around to smithereens. I was now very close to
+the square and could see it was being strafed for fair. My experience in
+watching and timing shell fire now stood me in good stead. I was able
+by the action of the shells to instantly determine whether the German
+guns were jumping, rendering their aim uncertain, and, also, to know
+when the next burst would come, where it would strike, and about how it
+would operate,--whether gas, shrapnel, or what not. Men were clinging to
+the walls, trying to take shelter, and it was clearly impossible to get
+through with the horse. I retraced my steps half way to the ruined
+building I had just left ten minutes before; I was looking longingly at
+it, wishing for its friendly shelter, when a shell struck it, blowing it
+to dust. I then led the horse, hugging the walls as closely as I could,
+until I got to the edge of the square, then made a run for it across,
+and had just cleared it when another cluster burst, wounding the horse
+in the leg. Notwithstanding his wound, he managed to bear me up until I
+got to the railroad crossing, lying southwesterly from the square about
+500 yards distant. Here the airplane spotted me again and directed a
+barrage to stop me crossing, but I took the chance and got through it.
+Every step of the way to the bridge crossing the Yser Canal, shells were
+being planted at my heels. I can only liken my state of mind to that of
+the tenderfoot in the saloon of the Wild and Woolly, when Halfbreed
+Harvey, just for the fun of it, took a revolver in each hand and
+commenced sending the nuggets of lead into the floor at the unoffending
+feet of the "Lady from the East," just to see him dance. When I came to
+within 50 yards of it I saw it was clearly impossible to cross on
+account of the heavy shell clusters that were raining down.
+
+I waited for a lull in the storm, then slipped on the animal's back, dug
+my heels in its ribs and rushed for it. I was spattered with mud from
+head to foot from the exploding shells, but not a single splinter
+reached me.
+
+As I left the bridge of the canal a hole was blown into it, and a
+working party, that was kept there all the time for the especial purpose
+of keeping it in repair, crawled out of their hiding places to engage in
+their perilous task. It was vitally necessary to keep this bridge intact
+to facilitate the supplies crossing and recrossing every minute of the
+night.
+
+The friendly cover of a hedge sheltered me for another hundred yards,
+and here followed a row of buildings that I hugged until I came to a
+narrow-gauge trench railroad. Clinging to the walls around were
+hundreds of wounded men waiting for a conveyance. There was an open
+stretch from this point and the fliers found me again; their machine-gun
+fire was directed at once fairly into the middle of the road before me
+and behind me; their range message was again flashed to their heavies
+and cobblestones were uprooted and flying everywhere; but the good Lord
+was with me and I pulled through it. A couple of large trees that had
+been blown down across the road next intervened, but the horse, lame as
+he was, cleared them.
+
+I reached the Belgian Château; strafing was going on fearfully in an
+endeavor to smash the headquarters; men were running hither and thither,
+stringing telephone wires as quickly as they were shot away; battalions
+of infantry, fresh troops who had not yet been up the line, were working
+their way to their destination; chaos seemed to reign on every hand. And
+yet, there was order. Leaving the Belgian Château, there was a hedge for
+two or three hundred yards which afforded me cover until I got to the
+road; there I saw a group of enemy airplanes gradually lowering until
+they got down to within a few hundred yards of the railroad; they
+dropped their bombs on the batteries here, starting monster ammunition
+fires and killing and wounding the gunners.
+
+Although pandemonium reigned everywhere, the guns never hesitated to go
+on with their work as steadfastly as though they were digging drains in
+peace time. The fierceness of the fire caused the horse to balk
+continually, and I again had to get off its back and lead it. This fire
+was from guns from practically every quarter of the Empire. It was
+impossible to make any speed now, even with the horse, as the road was
+black with holes everywhere, and I started to go around what is known as
+Snake Road. Shells were dropping everywhere; dead horses were piled one
+on top of the other; huge lorries were lying in the ditches and men were
+emptying them of their contents and carrying the ammunition on their
+backs up to the batteries. Here and there were small hills of empty
+shell cases; there was also considerable danger from the loaded shells
+that were scattered about that had been spilled from the ammunition
+wagon, as a kick from the horse on the fuse would have exploded any one
+of them.
+
+As the lorries advanced up the Snake Road and delivered their
+ammunition, they left by another road running straight south; this
+latter was packed with ambulances waiting to take wounded out, and
+civilians were running madly here and there endeavoring to get out of
+the fire zone.
+
+I reached Ouderham, which was at that time out of the range of the fire;
+estaminets were getting ready to close for the night, the hour of ten
+having struck. The ammunition drivers were lying around taking things
+easy and not expecting an ammunition call, but the moment I hove in
+sight they raced out to the wagon line. Many and eager were the
+inquiries fired at me as to what was happening up the line. They knew
+the parson had gone up and they were burning to know what was doing. I
+told them as well as I could.
+
+"Stand to!" from the Q.M. and they came running from their tents, not
+waiting to take even a blanket, throwing in their equipment as fast as
+they could, trotting their horses over to the ammunition trucks and
+hitching them up.
+
+"Stand to your horses! Prepare to mount! Mount!" came the three distinct
+orders roared out by the Quartermaster, with scarcely a second's time
+between each and its fulfillment. With a gunner in each wagon we
+started in less than eight minutes from the time the order was given,
+trotting as hard as horses could trot over the cobblestones.
+
+It was not long before we came in contact with the fire, but luck was
+with us and we escaped until we got to the ammunition dump, where we
+loaded up with ammunition as fast as men ever worked; it was a joy
+forever to see those boys work. We had to load up in chain fashion, as
+it was impossible for the wagons to get to a dump more than four at a
+time, and the loading was done by the men passing the shells from hand
+to hand until each wagon was loaded. Then not a second was lost in
+starting. The crossroads were reached, but the traffic was so congested
+we could not pass for a while.
+
+Shells were raining down when we finally started, one of them blowing
+the body off one of our wagons, leaving the limber, but no further
+damage beyond the driver, Luther, breaking his leg. A gunner took his
+place and Luther was laid in the gutter until such time as he could be
+picked up. We galloped past the Empire battery, got to the Belgian
+Garden at last, taking cover under a clump of trees until the firing had
+cooled somewhat, and then we took the chance--it was one in ten--to get
+by. Starting on a dead gallop, shells commenced to chase us all the way
+up the road. Keeping as well under cover of the hedge as we could, we
+crossed the railroad bridge, and as we neared the entrance to Ypres
+square the fire again cooled down; but on getting into the square 25
+shells, exploding one after the other as quickly as so many seconds,
+followed by thunderclaps of brain-splitting noise, ripped up the paving
+stones, flinging them in all directions, and taking chunks out of the
+eight wagons and wheels. Trotting sharply through the square, we got to
+Rampart Bridge, which they were showering with shells to prevent our
+engineers repairing it; it was badly smashed and we had to go a long way
+around by Ypres Rampart.
+
+Here we left the road and took a chance of getting across the open
+country, picking our way in the fields among the shell holes, eventually
+getting in back of the Garden, where we strung our wagons in the rear
+until the order "Ammunition up!" was given, and out from the dugouts
+rushed the men to unload the precious cargo. Here the captain and
+lieutenant were wounded, but they refused to go to hospital, saying
+their wounds were too slight; and, indeed, I can honestly say that
+every man that night who was wounded and could manage to hold out, did
+so; each one seemed to be imbued with the idea that his presence was
+absolutely necessary for the success of the plan in hand.
+
+"You did not need to come back, Grant," said the Major, upon my return.
+"I intended you should stay at the wagon lines tonight."
+
+"Thank you, sir, but I'd rather be back."
+
+"That's right, that's how we all feel."
+
+That I was more than pleased at this mark of approval from my O.C. goes
+without saying.
+
+Chains of men formed from the ammunition wagons into the gun pit, shells
+were passed from hand to hand to the guns where the men were waiting
+them, and I thought I saw tears of joy in the eyes of the Tommy as he
+caressed the first shell handed him. "That's for luck," he cried, as he
+spat on it. The gunners exploded them as fast as they were given them.
+The work was proceeding nicely when an airplane, flying low over the
+Garden, spotted our ammunition wagons; he signaled the place back to his
+batteries and shells from the guns behind hill 60 opened up on us; it
+became exceedingly violent; many of the horses and wagons were smashed.
+
+This was the order all night long,--wagons arriving with shells, shells
+passing from hand to hand to the guns, discharged by the gunners as fast
+as they were received, and enemy shells rained at us without let-up. We
+were at our posts all night long. Before daybreak the storm slackened
+and we got a breathing spell for a few hours.
+
+Immediately after breakfast, at daybreak, the concert opened up afresh,
+and for full seven days, June 2, to June 9, no man got a full hour's
+sleep at a time. When not being shelled by the German batteries, the
+machine gun bullets were raining around; if neither of these agencies of
+hell were busy, airplanes were flying, many times so low that they
+seemed to be even with the tops of the trees and singing us their
+humming hymn of hate. An idea of the deadly nature of the conflict may
+be had from the first day's casualties, that covered several thousand of
+our men.
+
+On the seventh day the German fire was so heavy it was impossible to get
+ammunition up to the guns, and we pulled the backs out of the gun pit as
+fast as we could smash them, man-handled the guns out of the Garden
+down on to a little unused road in the rear of the railroad,
+three-quarters of a mile southwest of the Garden; here the grass was a
+foot or two in length, and we covered the guns with it and some brush,
+dug out some large shell holes for them, then the wagons pulled up
+there, unloading the ammunition, eight hundred to a thousand rounds
+apiece, and we got orders to open up as an "S.O.S." came from the
+trenches.
+
+Fritz was not aware of our new position, for his fire was wild, and in
+the darkness we were safe from the airplanes, although their humming was
+distinctly audible as they flew here and there vainly looking for our
+new spot. We worked the guns until 2 o'clock, cleaned them up and got a
+couple of hours' badly-needed sleep.
+
+At 4:45 A.M. next day another "S.O.S." came from the trenches, and, as
+fast as we could do so, we let them have it,--this time in Sanctuary
+Woods. Fritz replied, but his fire was wild. Again the planes came, in
+an effort to find us, and we got the "keep-firing" whistle. The planes
+still hovered over us and, under the urgency of a new demand from our
+trenches, we again had to open up, and this time the plane found us, and
+the result was quickly seen by a group of visitors breaking directly
+over us. To register our battery was the work of but a few minutes. The
+first blast was too far to the right; the next fell short, and again the
+correction was made; with just three corrections they had our number;
+the fourth shell got its mark. The lighter German batteries then passed
+the range back to the heavies, 5.09 Howitzer batteries, and inside of a
+minute we were the object of their earnest attention. Their first shell
+smashed No. 2 gun and crew, leaving us with two guns. We held up our end
+for half an hour, each moment expecting to get the dose they gave No. 2.
+
+The efficiency of our work was disclosed during the day by the efforts
+Fritz made to smother us; his fire became so intense we were ordered to
+leave the battery and take refuge in the basement of a French
+schoolhouse near by, and from there we had to watch the destruction of
+our remaining two guns from the concentrated fire of five German
+batteries of all calibers poured upon them. Our ammunition was
+completely destroyed, and they struck No. 2 gun repeatedly, but the two
+other guns were left intact.
+
+It was now about 11 o'clock A.M. and orders were flashed for more guns
+and more ammunition; then the fire cooled down. During the day two more
+new guns were brought up, together with one thousand shells, and
+everything was ready for the retaking of Sanctuary Woods the following
+morning. Between three and five o'clock the next A.M. the 13th, 15th and
+16th Scotch-Canadian Battalion, some of Canada's finest regiments, along
+with several others, streamed up the road. Wherever the sweep of the
+kiltie went, there was going to be something doing.
+
+Daylight. "Stand to the battery! Targets, front-line trenches!" We
+opened up for thirty minutes; our telephonist reported there was such a
+smoke from the barrage that they could not see the infantry, but the
+woods were on fire. The Empire battery, together with heavy naval guns
+that had been brought up, and armored trains, were all concentrating
+their trip-hammers on the place. It was now evident that every living
+thing in the woods must be dead, as nothing could live under the
+hurricane of fire.
+
+We next attacked the road, stopping the German reserves and ammunition
+from getting near. Then--"Over!"
+
+The net result of the day's work was--the woods, the German front-line
+trenches, three thousand prisoners, German dead and wounded piled in
+heaps; wherever the eye turned, the shell holes, trenches and ditches
+were packed with wounded, dead and dying Huns.
+
+Our captain asked for volunteer observers, and I offered. We went into
+the place where once was Maple Copse Woods, but it was no more; here and
+there was a standing tree, but not a leaf or limb left of it, and the
+trunks were littered with pieces of steel and iron. Before the battle
+commenced, this spot was one of the loveliest places in the country
+round about that one could well imagine. Flowers, shrubbery and the
+rarest of plants of all kinds were there in abundance. This day it was a
+scarred ruin; the savagery of destruction was so terrible it is
+indescribable.
+
+We wound our way amongst the dead and the wounded to the top of Mont
+Soreul, first stopping to take a peep at our old guns; they were still
+there, but badly battered up; Fritz evidently thought it was barely
+possible we might have a chance to use them again. We reached our old
+telephonist's hut on the hill, looked around for Lieutenant Matthews,
+but he wasn't there; he had been wounded and taken prisoner.
+
+We established lines of communication at once, to hold the Germans back
+while we built up our own front. Our men were now coming back from their
+trip and our batteries put up one of the fiercest barrages I have ever
+witnessed to protect them on their return.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A BATH UNDER DIFFICULTIES
+
+
+Over near Hooge was a large naval gun of high velocity and long range,
+mounted on an armored train. The particular purpose of this nautical
+monster was to shoot up objects at short notice, such as a body of
+moving troops, a battery on the road, a train of ammunition wagons. It
+was concealed in a tunnel made for its specific use, and when it would
+discharge its missives of destruction it would first project itself from
+the tunnel, send the message, and then shoot back inside.
+
+It was at this time paying particular attention to the Square in
+Poperinghe,--the little station and the hospital there,--and it had
+become such a diabolical nuisance that it was determined to resort to
+heroic measures to "get it." A monster balloon was enlisted in the work
+and the mission of the floating bag was to direct the correspondence of
+one of our 9.2 naval guns, which was operating on a short railroad built
+by the Canadian Pacific Railway. This railroad, I may add, has been
+doing mostly all the track laying and railroad operating for the
+Canadian forces in Flanders. It was a matter of amazement for the
+natives to see how quickly a railroad could be placed and operated, and
+even the soldiers who were all more or less familiar with the workings
+of this magnificent system in Canada, were astonished at the speed with
+which the new machine, especially built by the Company for army
+purposes, would throw down the rails, fasten them--presto! a railroad to
+order.
+
+[Illustration: Victorious, But Dead Tired]
+
+It was resolved that the first work of the balloon should be devoted to
+putting this German naval gun out of action. In this section at this
+time the German balloons were thick in the air, and this gave them good
+control of the Ypres salient. We dared not attempt the experiment there
+for a long time, but it was finally determined to launch this one, and
+it was brought up one evening, with its volunteers, inflated during the
+night, and launched in the morning. Promptly at 10:00 o'clock, when it
+was ready for raising, the German planes hummed busily overhead. Despite
+their activities, the balloon got well up and was doing good observation
+work on its way over to the naval nuisance; there it reached its
+objective, making the necessary notations and records. Then--Kr-kr-kr-p!
+Kr-kr-kr-p! And the shells commenced to scatter around it. Then it was a
+case of getting the bag down, which was not so easy. These observation
+balloons are operated from a large armored truck, to which they are
+fastened, and the truck runs along carrying the air-bag with it,
+attached with a long cable; it is handled just as a toy balloon would be
+carried by a boy,--when the boy runs along, the balloon runs with him.
+Attached to the bottom of the gas bag is a basket, usually holding four
+observers, with a parachute for each man, and while in the air they have
+to work as fast as possible, because their stay in the azure is as short
+as the energies of Fritz can make it. If the wind is up and the sky
+cloudy, it is one chance in a dozen that they will escape before the
+planes get them, as the swing of the basket makes it difficult in the
+extreme for them to notice the danger until it is upon them.
+
+On this morning the first indication that they had that their time was
+up was the swooping down of a cluster of birds of death on all sides.
+The weather was foggy, a stiff wind blowing and the basket swinging
+from side to side. This was the first time an attempt had been made to
+float a balloon in the Ypres salient, as the danger was too obvious to
+take the risk. However, as I say, the chance was taken. It so happened
+that our guns were taking a breathing spell, and we stood on the top of
+our gun pit eagerly watching the fall of the balloon and its escape. The
+road along which the armored truck had run ran at one point quite close
+to the German lines, and the airplanes were now coming thicker every
+moment and bombing it from every quarter. Telephone and telegraph wires
+running from trenches to headquarters and all parts of the lines
+intervened between the balloon and safety, and there was nothing for
+them but to cut the wires to let the bag get through. Each minute the
+danger increased, but the men in the truck scrambled up the poles,
+nipped the wire with their nippers, and the balloon passed through. This
+was done repeatedly before it reached its haven. Bets were freely made
+by every man in my gun crew, with the odds of 5 to 1, that the Huns
+would get it. Somehow I had an inspiration that she would navigate the
+storm, and I took up all the offers in my battery against the bag--and
+lost. Her mission of observation had been accomplished, but when she
+got through the wires she floated to the wagon line, and the result of
+her arrival here was disastrous in the extreme, as the German shells
+followed the bag as assiduously as any bunch of schoolboys snowballing a
+foe, and hundreds of splendid horses were mangled to a jelly by the
+explosion amongst them.
+
+When it got to the wagon line the crew on the truck commenced to pull it
+down as rapidly as they could, but when half-way to the ground a flying
+shell split the cable in twain as neatly as it could have been done with
+a razor blade, and the bag floated away with the remaining two men out
+over the German lines. When the descent had commenced two of the crew
+had taken to their parachutes and got away safely.
+
+Anti-aircraft guns now opened up on it from our lines in an endeavor to
+destroy it and prevent it getting into the hands of the enemy, and
+German airplanes and anti-aircraft guns were also firing at it, so that
+it was a target for all concerned. This, perhaps, is about the only
+incident in the entire war to date where both the British and the
+Germans were equally bent upon the destruction of a common object.
+
+The wind suddenly changed and a steady current of air in the other
+direction brought it back over our own lines; then the two remaining men
+seized the opportunity to leave the floater in their parachutes,
+dropping to safety. A bevy of our planes then went after it, riddled it
+with rifle bullets, causing the gas to escape, and it finally sank
+majestically to the ground.
+
+After the battle, I resumed my place at the gun and the usual day's
+work. Two days later I was detailed to watch for airplanes and was
+sitting crouched under a culvert, when the familiar humming struck my
+ear. I could not at first locate it, and crawled out to have a better
+look skyward, but still failed to place it. Presently the humming
+stopped, and I thought it had departed, and seized the chance to go to
+the cookhouse for a cup of tea. When almost there--Kr-kr-kr-p!
+Kr-kr-kr-p! a slather of German guns had opened upon ours and the
+fellows fled pell-mell from the gun pit and made for the culvert, taking
+shelter underneath. They were there about a minute when a shell landed
+straight on the culvert, going through eight feet of cement and brick,
+blowing everything in all directions and killing 15 out of the 16 men
+who had taken refuge there. Less than sixty seconds had elapsed since I
+left the spot.
+
+When the battle was at its greatest height a wonderful discovery was
+made. Complaint had been made about the horses dropping on the road on
+the way up. Some thought it was cramps, others, colic; the veterinary
+officers were quite puzzled. One night 18 loads of ammunition, three
+horses to a load, were on their way to the guns and ten of the horses
+dropped. The vets then took it for granted there must have been poison
+in the feed, and an examination disclosed that little steel oats were in
+the grain. The oats had come from the United States and they had been
+deposited in the grain there.
+
+The discovery was so important that the O.C. offered a prize of five
+francs to every man discovering these death-dealing pellets in a bag of
+oats. The bellies of the horses were secure forevermore, as far as these
+pills of Kaiser Bill were concerned; those five francs did the trick;
+every grain of the feed that went down the animals' throats first passed
+an individual examination through the hands of every money-hungry Tommy
+in the bunch.
+
+After the third battle of Ypres had cooled down, we were permitted to go
+to the rear as far as Poperinghe, for the purpose of giving ourselves a
+scouring, as we were filthy with dirt and lousy with lice. My particular
+chum on this journey was the little telephonist, Fox, who had been
+through every big battle up to that time, including the Sanctuary Woods
+carnage. We got to the wagon lines, eight miles off, by stealing rides
+on any passing vehicle upon which we could fasten a tooth or a finger
+nail,--ammunition wagon lorries, ambulances, supply wagons,--as we were
+thoroughly tired out.
+
+At the wagon lines we persuaded the Q-M to loan us horses for the
+balance of the journey, which he cheerfully consented to do. But the
+horses, unfortunately, were mules, practically ready for the bone-yard;
+the Quartermaster had put them to one side, as they were useless for any
+further work, and they were awaiting the arrival of the veterinary
+officer to receive capital punishment. Every time I dug my spurs in my
+mount, in a mad endeavor to make it go, the only result was a kick in
+the air with its hind feet.
+
+There was another transportation service in vogue there,--a large
+number of donkeys, and each time a donkey passed my charger, it would
+stop dead and wag its ears much after the fashion of a Hebrew
+gesticulating with his hands in selling a suit of clothes. This was
+repeated every time we met one of the little donkeys, and each time I
+had to get off and back the brute for some distance, until it again took
+the notion to go forward; it was a case of one step forward and two back
+before I reached my destination.
+
+The most ridiculously funny instance connected with the meeting of the
+mule and the donkey was the manner in which each indulged in its muleism
+and donkeyism; the little donkey would shoot its head straight forward,
+stick its ears out sidewise, at right angles, and commence its song of
+greeting, which sounded exactly like a man sawing wood, and the mule
+would warble its well-known lyric of sweetness,--"Hee-Haw! Hee-Haw!
+Hee-Haw!" keeping time with the flapping of its long lugs.
+
+When I got to Poperinghe Square the mule and myself were all in; save
+for the ride on the Parson's charger to the wagon lines, I had not been
+riding for the space of a month, and my legs were so chafed I was
+compelled to walk like an aged rheumatic for three or four days; but I
+had company,--the other fellows were similarly affected.
+
+We made our way to the bath in a rush, as every man wanted to be in
+first. The bath contained 200 men at a time, and 200 tubs; there was no
+pool in which to bathe; every man had to do his swimming and slopping
+and washing in a tub; and the sight of the women and girl attendants was
+a welcome one, as it had been a couple of months before anything
+feminine had come within the range of our vision. We had to take our
+turn in going through the routine of the bath.
+
+When I was next, the woman attendant handed me a shirt; a little further
+along I got a pair of socks, then drawers. Thus equipped, I entered the
+bathroom; there were about 100 men in there, splashing each other like
+mad in their wild joy. In stepping along the water-soaked boards, I
+happened to slip and fall in the wet, and my dry garments were soaked
+with the water slopped on the boards, assisted by the splashing showers
+the men were throwing around.
+
+It so happened that one of the fellows had been particularly well
+splashed by a chum and he was watching for a chance to get even; he
+determined to wait until his chum had put on his clothes, so that he
+could execute his vengeance with all the more fullness of perfection.
+The avenger stood just inside an alley leading to the dressing room,
+with a pail of water in hand for his intended victim; the water had been
+scooped out of a tub that had just been used, and it was as dirty as
+water could be.
+
+As I came even with the alley opening, thinking I was the victim, he let
+me have it full in the face. I was blinded for a moment with the greasy,
+soapy, dirty water, and, when my eyes were sufficiently open, it was
+impossible for me to learn who it was. However, like all things of that
+kind, I took it in good part and hastened to undress. I filled my tub
+with pails of water from the tap and started my bath. Oh, how refreshing
+it was! I don't think I ever appreciated the luxury of a bath until that
+moment. When through with my ablution it was necessary, before I could
+dress, to grease my body with a vermin-killer that is supplied the men.
+This done, I commenced dressing, and had donned my underwear and pants
+when,--Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p!--and a shell landed right in the middle
+of the bathroom, and the bunch of merry-hearted fellows was transformed
+into a panic-stricken crowd, leaping and jumping out of the tubs in
+every direction in a pell-mell rush, helter-skelter, of men, some half
+dressed, others absolutely naked, intermingled with the women
+attendants, in the scramble for safety. Civilians, coming from their
+houses in a mad rush, added to the confusion.
+
+When the smoke of the explosion cleared, thirty of the bathers lay dead
+in, on and around the tubs, and forty were wounded, all more or less
+badly. Inside of three minutes, more shells were planted, some of them
+landing plumb in the square, and, to my intense sorrow, I learned later
+that Fox, my little chum, there had paid the supreme price. These shells
+were totally unexpected, coming from the Hooge district, 11 miles
+distant.
+
+Everybody sought shelter in the cellars, or any other hole they could
+crawl into, until night. I searched out my mule, and was thankful to
+find it where I had left it, tied to a tree, gave it a feed of oats,
+waited until it munched, unperturbed by the crashing explosions breaking
+in the immediate neighborhood, and utterly oblivious of the fact that I
+was counting the seconds until it had finished.
+
+Under cover of the night, I returned to the wagon lines, and in much
+better time than coming down, for which I had to thank the feed of oats.
+The bath gave me a new hold on life; I felt ten years younger and
+several pounds lighter.
+
+I learned next day that the station master at Poperinghe had been
+arrested, tried as a spy and shot. It transpired that he had a wire
+running from the station depot straight to the German lines, together
+with some other signaling apparatus, and there was no doubt in the minds
+of the trial board that it was due to this man's espionage that the
+bathers lost their lives while in the tubs.
+
+The spy system had so thoroughly impregnated every hole and corner of
+the district around Ypres that it became the sorest thorn in the sides
+of the Command, but we finally managed to root it out hip and thigh, and
+that sector is now as immune from their activities as any other sector
+in the front lines.
+
+Going up to take my position with the gun next day I met a bomber of the
+21st Canadian Infantry, carrying a bag of his wares--hand grenades. We
+walked together for some distance, and just as I was on the point of
+leaving him to turn off over to my battery I was appalled by one of the
+most horrifying sights I have seen at the front. One of the pins of a
+grenade worked loose in the bag and exploded, blowing his right hand and
+leg completely off. I have seen scores of happenings, each of which in
+its entirety was a thousand times more terrible, but there was something
+about the suddenness, the total unexpectedness, and the fearful spurting
+of his life's blood, that filled me more full of horror than anything
+before or since.
+
+In this conflagration that is shaking the world, death stalks on every
+hand in a hundred different forms, entirely apart from the destruction
+that the enemy can bestow. I was standing but three feet behind him. As
+quick as I could I gave him first aid and yelled for a stretcher, but
+there was nothing that could be done; he lived until sundown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+HAMBONE DAVIS
+
+
+One evening we were sitting outside of our bivouac watching some German
+balloons being downed by one of our airplanes; our flier had good luck
+that evening, accounting for three of the floating sausages; and as we
+were awaiting the finish of the last sausage, and speculating on how
+long it would take our air bird to get it, or whether he would get it at
+all, the gambling spirit ran rife, and fast and furiously the bets were
+placed.
+
+Open-mouthed and eager we watched and, while watching, a strange-looking
+figure of a soldier ambled, or shuffled, up the path toward our place.
+He was a man about 45, though looking more like 55, quite grizzled,
+furrowed face, and a stubby mustache, thickly stained with tobacco
+juice, decorated his upper lip. He was chewing tobacco as if his life
+depended on the quantity of juice he could extract from each mouthful,
+and dried tricklings of the liquid ornamented his chin. As he came
+toward us his face was turned upward, taking in the scrimmage in the
+sky. "What's them bloody things?" he asked, indicating the air sausages.
+He had evidently just come up the line fresh from England. I told him
+and he jerked out an indelible pencil and made a note, sucking the lead
+of the pencil two or three times before he finished, and this habit,
+continuous with him, kept his lip constantly stained with the indelible
+lead.
+
+Just then a mighty roar of delight went up from the entire crowd, as our
+bird gobbled the last remaining sausage, but our indelible friend paid
+no attention to the uproar,--he simply took out his little book and made
+another note.
+
+The "Fall-in!" whistle was blown and we were a bit surprised as well as
+amazed to see our strange friend fall in in front, still chewing
+vigorously; he evidently didn't know or didn't care a damn whether it
+was against the rules to chew tobacco when parading. The Sergeant-Major
+eyed him curiously and then stepping to his side whispered something; we
+knew he was explaining to him that he was infringing orders, but a
+non-commissioned officer is not permitted to bawl out another non-com in
+the presence of the men. Hastily bestowing the quid in his hand he
+stood to attention. Roll call finished and we retired to our bunks.
+
+Early next morning when we emerged from our quarters the first person we
+saw was the odd-appearing individual that had joined up with us the
+night before, with his inevitable note book in his hand. He was still
+busily sucking his indelible pencil in the corner of his mouth, and, in
+the light of the morning sun, there was nothing about his mug that was
+any more prepossessing than appeared in the twilight of the previous
+night. He also had on the sleeve of his coat a crown, indicating that he
+was to be our acting Sergeant-Major in the absence of the regular
+officer, and when not so acting, he was to be the First Sergeant of the
+section.
+
+The official activity of our new friend commenced to be evidenced in a
+number of ways; he lost no time in making us understand that he was
+First Sergeant. "Sergeant Grant, detail two men for the cookhouse!" Then
+to the gunners, "Here, you, clean up your wagons and take off all that
+mud; it's filthy"; this was absolutely unnecessary and the fellows swore
+vehemently under their breath; to the drivers,--"Clean up that 'ere
+'arness and get that mud hoff it"; he also compelled us to burnish the
+steel and made the gunners scrub the paint off the brass and sandpaper
+it up. This necessitated the men going to a shop and purchasing the
+sandpaper themselves, as disobedience of the order meant a sojourn in
+the clink and the excuse that he had no sandpaper would not go.
+
+By the time old Sol had reached the meridian, the First Sergeant had
+succeeded in getting himself thoroughly hated, and many and earnest and
+unique were the resolutions to "get even." This feeling was intensified
+by his order to gather up some scantlings of hard wood and bring them to
+his quarters; he was a sort of a one-horse carpenter by trade and had
+started manufacturing for his own especial use and benefit a wooden
+structure large enough to house himself.
+
+The idiosyncrasies of our newfound friend manifested themselves
+variously, the first and chief characteristic by which he came to
+acquire the _sobriquet_ of "Hambone Davis," was his habit of heading for
+the cookhouse each morning before the men were dismissed from the horse
+lines--which was necessary before we could appease our always ravenous
+appetites--so that he could garner for himself an edible that was longed
+for and looked for by every man who could get it, i.e., the ham bone,
+because there were always more or less pickings on it and he was a lucky
+fellow indeed who was successful in capturing the prize. But, in his
+official capacity, Davis was able to get out and get over there ahead of
+us every morning and during his entire stay in our crowd, he was the
+only man who each morning got the ham bone. Hence his cognomen.
+
+Long, earnest and secret conferences were had as to the way we had best
+settle our grievances. Among the conspirators were Dynamite Pete,
+so-called because of his habit of taking shells, fuses and bombs apart
+and examining and prying into their contents. One time his curiosity
+came nearly getting him a quick passage West. He was examining a bomb
+and, taking out the pin, was holding it in his hand, looking at it for a
+brief instant. Providentially an officer was standing beside him who saw
+his mad act and, grabbing the bomb from his hand, flung it into the
+field--and just in time! It exploded before it had well gotten on its
+way.
+
+Pete's answers to the officer, while respectful, were tantalizing to a
+degree:
+
+"What did you do that for?"
+
+"What are they here for?"
+
+"Why did you take the pin out?"
+
+"Because it is made to come out."
+
+"Did you want to kill yourself?"
+
+"If I did it would have been my own funeral."
+
+"How about the others?"
+
+"They had no business here."
+
+"Think it over in the clink--ten days."
+
+I could think of nothing else but the fellow who was passing a private
+residence one day with a pitchfork on his shoulder, and a big dog came
+rushing out at him, and he jammed the dog through with his pitchfork,
+killing him. The owner came out in a great rage.
+
+"What did you do that for?"
+
+"What did your dog run at me for?"
+
+"Why didn't you hit him with the other end?"
+
+"Why didn't he come at me with his other end?"
+
+Gunboat Stevens was another of the plotters; his suggestions were so
+unique and uncommon that each of them sent us into an uncontrollable
+roar of laughter. Unfortunately, as we thought, they were usually as
+impracticable as they were strange. This member of our gang derived his
+alias from his warm adherence to the navy as against the army. Never was
+there an argument started about the navy that it did not have a burning
+advocate in Stevens; he would even go to the length of challenging any
+man in the crowd to fight him then and there who had the temerity to
+claim that the Empire had as good a defender in the military as in the
+naval arm of the government.
+
+We also had a Jesse James; his surname was really James and it was easy
+fitting on the handle.
+
+The conference finally resolved itself into a determination to burn his
+new-made bivouac, but I dissuaded them and convinced them that it would
+be much better for them to lug it over to the incinerator and throw it
+into the pit. To complete the plot and give it an artistic finish, it
+was necessary to have a ham bone, and Gunboat volunteered to get it.
+"I'm on picket tonight," he said, "and I'll go to the cookhouse when the
+cook is asleep and fix it." He did so; when the cook was dreaming of
+everything but the front line, Gunboat quietly slipped in, unearthed
+the ham that was in readiness for our breakfast, and with his knife he
+quickly extracted the bone, taking care of the pickings with his teeth
+while finishing his sentry go.
+
+The next night everything was in readiness and when the opportune moment
+arrived, with Hambone leaving with ammunition for the guns, I passed the
+word. When he was well on his way we hurried over to his shack, rooted
+it out and carried it bodily over to the incinerator, setting it
+completely over the hole. Now for the artistic touch. We took the ham
+bone, fastened it with wire to the end of a stick that we nailed across
+the top of the shack, with the end protruding well out to the side, and
+on the end of the ham bone we hung a placard, so that all could see,
+reading, "Here lies the remains of Hambone Davis. Gone but not
+forgotten." Then we scampered over to one side and with the glee of
+mischievous schoolboys watched developments. Nearly every passing
+soldier, noticing the odd sight, strolled over and read the sign, going
+off snickering.
+
+The following evening Hambone arrived back from the guns; he had with
+him some of the conspirators carrying wood that he wanted; it was the
+first time they experienced real pleasure in that work because they
+foresaw the dénouement in store.
+
+When they reached the spot where his home had been, Hambone looked
+around in a dazed sort of fashion, almost swallowing a mouthful of
+tobacco juice as he blurted out, "Where the bloody 'ell is my 'ouse?
+What bloody well nonsense is this? Hi'll make someone pay for this!" The
+rest of us were loitering in the immediate vicinity, listening with
+sheer chucklings to his burning vows, and it was all we could do to
+stifle our laughter. Then Hambone ran around like a looney, looking here
+and there for his house, and when he found it and saw the bone and read
+the placard, his feelings were so intense that he actually spat out his
+mouthful of tobacco, juice and all.
+
+"'Ere, you lobsters! You, Grant, who has done this?"
+
+"I don't know; how should I know?"
+
+"Hi bet you do know!"
+
+"Aw, what the hell are you getting at? Don't try any of that on me or
+I'll have you up for office," I threatened.
+
+He didn't seem to be getting anywhere in his efforts to find out the
+guilty ones, so he did the next best thing.
+
+"Sergeant Grant, take six of your men and put that 'ouse back." There
+was nothing for it but to obey, but I made a mental resolve he would
+never sleep in that shack that night at least. We took hold all together
+and lifted it up, and on the way over I purposely stumbled in such a way
+that the mansion of Hambone fell on one corner and with the fall it came
+tumbling to pieces.
+
+Our arch-enemy composed himself to sleep that night in the guard room,
+as none of us would give him room in our quarters, and it so happened
+that Gunboat Stevens was in the clink at the time for having called him
+"Hambone." They occupied the same room, his bed immediately opposite the
+First Sergeant's, with just a foot or two of space between the bottom of
+each bed. As may be imagined, no kindly good nights passed between the
+two.
+
+Now Davis had just been over from England but a short time and was
+comparatively clean in his person, while Stevens was lousy, and to
+complete the diabolism of the revenge, Gunboat, instead of throwing his
+shirt on the floor as he usually did, watched his opportunity and when
+he heard a snore from Hambone that had no camouflage in it, he slipped
+his shirt in at the head of the bed where our official tormentor
+reposed.
+
+Our glee was positively fiendish next day when watching Hambone
+wriggling uneasily in his clothes at parade. Gunboat had sent us an
+underground message telling us what he did, and we did not fail to
+recognize the symptoms at once; every moment he got a chance he was
+scratching himself; and as soon as he had the opportunity he made for
+the nearest tree and, rubbing his back violently against it, almost wore
+a hole in his coat. Miserable were his moments throughout that day. "'Ow
+in 'ell can a man fight an' scratch at the same time!" he would snort.
+
+There was no let up to his officiousness, however; his damnable orders
+were as numerous as before; so we concluded to hatch a scheme that would
+most effectively put him on the blink, and the opportunity occurred the
+very next night. Hambone was detailed to proceed to the guns, to relieve
+the Sergeant-Major there, and it was his duty to take charge of the
+supply wagon that carried the supplies for the men there, and by chance
+there was among the rations this time a jar of rum. Accompanying Hambone
+were Snow and Reynolds of our section, they sitting in the back end of
+the wagon. They had barely started when Snow discovered the rum jar, and
+he and Reynolds at once got their wits working as to how they could get
+away with it. When about half-way there, Hambone, to stretch his legs,
+got off the wagon and walked alongside, and Snow instantly whispered to
+Reynolds, "get off and walk with him and tell him you hear a shell
+coming." Reynolds did as directed and Hambone ducked for cover and the
+wagon stood stock still. No sooner was the First Sergeant's back turned
+than Reynolds threw the jar into the ditch.
+
+A minute or two elapsed and no explosion taking place, Hambone rejoined
+the wagon and the party proceeded. Then Snow slipped off the back and
+went back for the jar, but instead of going up the road, he took the
+railroad track, beating the wagon by some minutes and hiding his jar of
+joy in my gun pit, immediately got back and was standing beside the
+wagon when it arrived. Hambone seeing him there hadn't the remotest idea
+that he had hopped off at any time, and supposed that he had ridden the
+entire way with them. Snow gave Reynolds the wink and he knew the prize
+was safe.
+
+The first thing Hambone did was to go to the back of the wagon for the
+jar. It was gone! He searched wildly about for a moment, asking first
+one and then the other what had become of it, and Snow volunteered the
+opinion that probably it had dropped off when the wagon lurched that
+time he thought the shell was coming. There was nothing for it but to
+report his loss, and the only excuse he could give was that the rum had
+probably rolled off when they trotted at a coming shell, and what the
+officer didn't say to Hambone for trotting, which was a violation of
+orders, would not be worth repeating. He bellowed at him to go and
+search for it, and with wicked delight we watched the duffer going back
+over the route, peering from side to side of the road in his vain
+search.
+
+The journey was a nine-mile trot and he covered more than half the
+distance, endeavoring to find the precious container, and when he came
+back in a couple of hours without it, the poor devil thought he was
+going to be licked, such was the anger of the men at missing their rum
+rations, because they sorely needed it; none but those who have been
+there can and do appreciate how sorely it is needed in that region of
+the world.
+
+I make no apology or attempt to excuse myself as an accessory after the
+fact. It is an unwritten law among the men that the only crime involved
+in stealing liquor is--using an Irishism--not to steal it.
+
+The only men in the section that night who had a ration of the treasured
+fluid were Dick Snow, Reynolds and myself, and in the midst of our
+conviviality we prophesied that if Hambone survived this disaster, he
+was immortal.
+
+Toasting the health of the King, the army, the navy and our loved ones
+at home, we retired in blissful consciousness of a good job well done.
+
+Next morning, black looks and cursing threats in low voices greeted
+Hambone on all sides, and his work that day was so fidgety, and he made
+so many mistakes in getting the ranges on the sights, that the Major
+performed the _coup d'état_ for which we were all anxiously waiting by
+transmitting as quickly as he could to headquarters his recommendation
+that he be retired, and Hambone, to our immense relief, was shipped back
+to England.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BEES, HONEY AND HELL
+
+
+On Tuesday, August 29, 1916, my battery pulled into Martinsaart, in the
+Somme district, which lies three miles immediately west of Thiepval. The
+Battle of the Somme had been raging since July 1. We took up our
+position in a beautiful orchard, its trees laden down with apples, and
+along the hedge on one side of the orchard were ten beehives, humming
+and throbbing with busy bee life. Underneath some large apple trees we
+placed our guns and the thickly woven hedge right in front of us gave us
+a splendidly concealed nook; through the hedge we cut a hole for our
+beauty's nozzle.
+
+At 5:15 in the afternoon we started registering our "love letters," in
+preparation for another phase of the big bombardment which had been more
+or less continuously in operation since the commencement of the battle,
+and after accomplishing our purpose we got a "stand down." The apples
+clustering on the trees looked as tempting to us as did the apple of
+our first father and before we started registering, every man in the
+battery had mentally made his tree selection as the one he would climb
+as soon as he got a minute to himself. It was unnecessary to climb,
+however; with the advent of the explosion of our guns, the concussion
+shook the trees as with a strong wind and the luscious fruit showered
+upon our heads in abundance.
+
+Then we cleaned up our guns, munching the red apples, and the enemy
+planes were humming like bees over our heads, darting here and there
+like bats, trying to find our place of concealment, but we were too well
+hidden. When night fell, McLean and I started for the rear, passing the
+hives on our way. "By, Golly, Grant, here's a chance for a mouthful; I
+know how to handle this proposition," and he made for the hives. He
+lifted off the top, with the bees flying all around, and handed me the
+top to hold while he inserted his hand and took out a comb, which he
+passed over to me, saying, "Take this till I get another, the damned
+bees are stinging me." Thousands were around him. I took it and started
+on the dead run for my billet, about 400 yards away, and in a minute or
+two Mac followed with another comb. The fellows greeted us with
+exclamations of delight and surprise; many of us had been two years in
+the battle line without ever having seen, let alone tasted, such a
+delicious morsel. Every man in the billet fell to, munching the honey
+with expressions of sheer joy; every fellow in the bunch had his face
+and hands littered with the sticky joy like so many kids munching taffy.
+In the midst of our feasting, visitors called; the robbed bees came
+flying into the room after their treasure. McLean, by this time, had
+been stung about twenty times, and I had about a dozen nips on my hands
+and face, and in the very heat of our argument with our visitors, "Stand
+to!" was sounded, and honey, bees and everything else was dropped as we
+raced for the guns. But the bees did not drop us; they chased us every
+bit of the way; they attacked our hands, our mouths, our
+necks,--wherever there was a particle of our anatomy exposed we were
+stung.
+
+On our way to the guns McLean brought a comb with him, leaving the other
+alongside his bed. We had to pass the Major on our way, whose dugout was
+close to the hives, and by that time he had an inkling of what was
+going on and he yelled, "Grant, throw that honey down; you too, McLean."
+As he yelled his orders I was passing the telephonist's hut and I threw
+it in to him,--"Here, Graham, here's some honey for you, it's great,"
+and continued my run down to the guns, the bees still following us up.
+
+McLean laid his comb on a pile of shells beside the gun, and the heat of
+the August day caused the honey to trickle over the shells. I commenced
+pointing the gun while Mac worked the range drum; the angles were passed
+to us and inside of a minute we were firing, and inside of another
+minute we had the sternest kind of a battle on our hands, for thicker
+than ever the bees came swarming around the gun.
+
+"Who in hell broke into those hives?" yelled the Major.
+
+No reply; we were busily working and "hadn't time" to answer. The honey
+on our hands, coupled with the dust, made a grit that in opening and
+closing the breech caused the mechanism to stick, and the honey clinging
+to the shells caused the breech chamber to stick, making the shell cases
+jam in the gun after being discharged, forcing us to pry open with a
+sharp pick the breech each time to extract the empty cartridge. All
+during the operation the Major was cursing like a madman at the men,
+whoever they were, that brought the bees into the business.
+
+It was my duty to set the sight, and as I did so, each time, the bees
+would attack my hands and head, and in trying to attend to the sight and
+wipe the bees off at the same time, my work was harder than can well be
+imagined; but poor Billy's case was even harder, he had to keep a steady
+hold of his range drum with both hands and he couldn't budge to brush
+off his attackers, as it was absolutely necessary to hold dead steady to
+enable us to do our shooting accurately.
+
+"Grant, for God's sake knock this bee off my neck," he pleaded; "it's
+stinging hell out of me"; but every time I made a move to help him, the
+Major roared, "Get that angle on, Grant; get your range on, McLean." And
+we had to take our medicine. Parker, who was passing shells, was in the
+same plight as the rest of us; his hands were covered with the sugary
+fluid that had settled between the copper splinters of the driving bands
+on the shells and the slivers were slitting his hands. This is a
+necessary accompaniment that the men passing the shells into the gun
+have to contend with, and ordinarily it is a sore and painful piece of
+business, but in conjunction with the swarm of the bees it was simply
+hellish.
+
+A change of angle was momentarily expected from the observer; we had
+been looking for it for some minutes, and the Major was beginning to
+rave and rant, very much like a theater manager when the star has not
+yet put in her appearance and the impatient audience on the outside are
+giving vent to catcalls. He could stand it no longer and ran as fast as
+his legs would carry him over to the telephonist's hut; there he found
+Graham crouching alongside of his telephone in the folds of a blanket
+over his head and face. It was the usual field telephone that we used,
+in conjunction with a telegraph buzzer, and Graham was endeavoring to
+deliver his messages and fight off the bees at the same time, while
+bringing to his aid the smoke of a fag that he was endeavoring to puff
+into the faces of his antagonists in the hope that it would help some.
+
+The Major bellowed, "You damned jackass! take off that blanket. What do
+you mean?" Graham threw off the blanket and started working his buzzer,
+but the bees had as little regard for the rank of the Major as they did
+for that of Sergeant Graham, and three or four of them kept pinging away
+at him, but as long as the Major was there his splendid discipline
+enabled him to do his work. He got into communication at once with the
+trenches, gave us our new targets and we kept on with our work until
+darkness prevented further registering that night, although the twilight
+still prevailed.
+
+"Stand down!" came the order. "Clean up guns and lay on S.O.S. lines for
+the night," meaning to load the gun with a fuse shell timed for a
+certain range, or to burst on percussion, just as the target requires,
+safety catch down, sight set, range on range drum and the gun laid on a
+predetermined point to be covered, in both cases being the front line
+trench, although it might be a machine-gun emplacement, barbed-wire,
+bombing post, crossroads or observation station. For a front-line trench
+and an attack started by the enemy, the S.O.S. signal is passed from the
+trench, either through the telephonist in the trenches, or by means of
+colored star shells. Immediately upon receipt of this signal by our
+S.O.S. sentry or the telephonist at the battery, we get the order
+"S.O.S. stand to the battery," and in the space of four seconds from
+the time we receive that order, our first shell must be exploded in the
+German lines under pain of the severest penalty. If a man were taking a
+wash, he would have to jump out of the water and get to the guns as
+quickly as God and nature would permit him.
+
+Before retiring for our billets, Mac and I decided that we might as well
+get some more honey, as we felt that the bees had done about all that
+they could to us and we were deserving of a little further reward for
+what we had endured, and arming ourselves with smoke helmets, we made a
+further sortie on the camp of our winged enemies. As fast as if I were
+ramming home a shell, I lifted off the hive while Mac pulled out a
+couple of combs swarming with bees. We thought we were making a good job
+of it this time and getting away scot free, when suddenly I felt a stab
+under my coat sleeve and almost at the same moment Mac had the same
+experience and we broke into a run for the billet. By the time we got
+there we were being stung frightfully on our bodies, as the bees had
+made their way up under our shirt sleeves and we ripped off our coats
+and shirts, fighting the common enemy at the same time. The boys in the
+billet beat it outside while we "carried on."
+
+After a vigorous battle we seemed to have the foe beaten into submission
+and the fellows returned; then we had a feed of honey, hung up the
+remainder on the wall and retired for the night. Mac retired to his bunk
+first and had scarcely settled down when he emitted another snort, then
+a yell; the bees had settled in between the blankets of his bed and were
+renewing their onslaught on his helpless body.
+
+Everybody started laughing at McLean's plight, but no sooner were the
+rest of us settled down till we too had a battle on our hands; and in
+the middle of the fray, Fritz started shelling our billets with gas
+shells, one of the missiles going clean through the tile roof and
+knocking the tiles down on our heads. Then came a salvo--six
+shells--followed by several others. "S.O.S." was signaled and "Stand
+to," and out we raced for the guns, sans shirt, sans everything, bumping
+into the trees on our way and falling in shell holes in the orchard.
+
+The gas they were putting over at this time was more dangerous than any
+I had yet experienced, it having a more direct effect on the lungs than
+any they had yet given us. It had started to rain and the darkness was
+black, but we reached the guns within scheduled time, and under great
+difficulty we exploded our shells; but most of our work in that
+discharge was guesswork.
+
+It soon cooled down and we again sought our billets after laying the
+guns on "S.O.S." and even the pain from the stings of the bees did not
+prevent us getting into dreamland in short order.
+
+At 3:30 in the morning I went out to visit the last guard shift, as was
+my duty. Then, dawn breaking over the land, I went out to see what
+damage the shells had done, and on the way I stumbled into a crop of the
+most delicious mushrooms. Off came my helmet and I filled it to the brim
+and hastened to the cookhouse with them; he had just got his fire
+started and I asked him if he would oblige me by cooking them for me, as
+I wanted them for my gun crew, and he gladly complied with my request.
+
+Then cookhouse was called and the crew came to breakfast and when each
+man got his portion of the mushrooms served him, his astonishment was as
+great as when he got the honey. So that between the honey and the dewy
+dainties I had gathered, together with a couple of jars of pickled pork
+and two small jars of rolled butter found in one of the vacated cellars
+by an industrious member of our crew, you can imagine the excited
+condition of our minds that morning at breakfast.
+
+During the course of the feasting the Sergeant-Major arrived on the
+scene. "Well, for Heaven's sake! Who was the guy that got the
+mushrooms?" He was informed that I was the lucky individual and he asked
+me if I would show him the way, and I was just directing him when "Stand
+to the battery!" intervened, and we bolted for the guns and opened up.
+"Fifty rounds gunfire" was ordered; then "Second fire ten seconds," then
+"Second fire five seconds," then "Gunfire steady"; next, "Independent
+fire ten seconds"; then came the order for a sweeping fire to enable our
+infantry to dig in in a trench they had just taken, and to prevent Fritz
+getting it back. Our work was accomplished and "Stand down and lay on
+day lines!" was ordered and I was cleaning the sight of my gun and
+wiping off the effects of the gas fumes when the Sergeant-Major came
+along and asked me to indicate where I had gathered the mushrooms; I
+pointed the spot out to him, and he made a bee line. In a couple of
+minutes I heard him calling and I looked up, "Here's a beauty you
+missed, Grant; you must have been blind," and he held up a mushroom as
+large as a breakfast plate. I laughed and replied, "Yes, you are lucky,
+Sergeant-Major." Then Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! and Fritz started getting
+busy again as an airplane hovered about, and the pace getting too
+deucedly hot, we started for the trenches; it was a ditch-trench half
+full of water which came to our waists, and in it we paddled our way
+until we got to a fairly good trench, and on the journey down
+imprecations of all kinds were hurled on the head of the offending
+Sergeant-Major. "Where is that damned fool of a Sergeant-Major?" asked
+one; "It was his gathering those mushrooms in the open that started
+Fritz." Just at that moment down the ditch came the Sergeant-Major
+limping; he had been slightly wounded in the leg by a bit of shrapnel,
+but he was hanging onto his mushrooms.
+
+"'Ere, Grant, take this, will you, till I fix me leg," and he handed me
+the mushrooms and started undoing his puttee where the blood was soaking
+through. When he had bound up his wound I handed him his dainties and
+he held them up admiringly.
+
+"It was a bit dangerous, doncher know, but, blow me tight, if I wouldn't
+do it again to get a beauty like that," holding up the large one he had
+shown me when he was gathering them.
+
+"You bleedin' idiot," I said, "don't you know a mushroom when you see
+it? That's a toadstool! I passed it up."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SCOTTY COMES BACK AT THE SOMME
+
+
+The German lines were on the hills; every time we took a position it was
+always uphill, until we got over Pozières Ridge and then our work was
+downhill for the time. We arrived at the firing line on the 29th of
+August, 1916. The accompanying map will convey a general idea of the
+object intended to be attained by the great drive. The German
+organization in this district was fed by railroads having terminals at
+Bapaume and it was clearly evident that with this city in our possession
+the supply organization of the enemy would be largely demoralized. Hence
+the plan. Bapaume lay southwest from our trenches a matter of 15 miles;
+intervening were the towns of Labazell, Pozières, Courcelette and
+Martinpuieh,--all on the Albert-Bapaume road.
+
+We arrived just in time to save Pozières. The Australian boys had driven
+their way clean through to this place, but had not sufficient
+reënforcements to hold it, and were being exterminated when we reached
+the point and saved them with our guns and the wonderful work of our
+infantry in driving the Boches half-a-mile over the ridge. The
+opportunity for Canada to assist her sister dominion was a matter of
+profound thankfulness to every man of us; to lend a helping hand under
+such circumstances was indeed cheery work.
+
+The Imperial troops and Australians, under great difficulties, had
+blasted their way into Labazell, the crater of the mine blown up being
+one of the largest I have seen on the Western front. This was the
+commencement of the Somme offensive and happened on the 1st of July,
+1916. When I reached this crater two battalions of Canadian troops were
+stationed in its depths in holes burrowed all around the sides, and it
+was used as an assembling point for reënforcements. This will convey an
+idea of the extent of the mining operations.
+
+The distance from the mine to our new position was three-quarters of a
+mile and the ground was billeted with corpses all the way to our
+battery; in the crater itself it was impossible to step without walking
+on bits of human bodies, and the dugouts surrounding were filled with
+German dead; there were thousands of them. It was so manifestly
+impossible to give them any sort of a burial that the order was issued
+to fill in the dugouts where they lay and this was done by heaving the
+ground in on top of them. Never to my dying day can I forget the sight
+of those German dead! Dead everywhere! In whatever direction the eye
+turned there were the rigid warriors of the Kaiser cold in death. It was
+many nights before I could get a straight sleep without seeing
+mortifying Huns. But I have long since ceased to have any pity for them.
+Although they are the victims of a system over which they have no
+apparent control, yet they are supposed to be human beings with human,
+red blood in their veins, and the numberless deeds of which they have
+been guilty have branded them as nothing better than brute beasts in the
+eyes of all humanity.
+
+With the help of the Pozières Ridge we could observe Fritz quite clearly
+now, and every time he attempted any digging-in work our guns would
+speak to him in terms so convincing that he fain would desist. My
+battery then moved up to within a thousand yards of the foe, one and a
+half miles northwest of Labazell, where we had to dig right in the
+open. At this point the dead were also strewn so thickly that it was
+practically impossible to walk without stepping on a corpse, or part of
+one, every other step, among them being many of our own fellows who here
+paid the supreme price, and each time we came across a laddie in khaki
+it was a signal for an outburst of swearing. Had we not sworn we would
+have wept, and, naturally, as men we preferred to do the other thing.
+
+While here our rations ran short; our prisoners numbered over 20,000 and
+the policy of the British Government being to treat a prisoner as well,
+if not better, than her own soldiers (their wants are always attended to
+first), we were practically without food, and were compelled to resort
+to the heroic method of taking the rations from the bodies of our poor
+comrades who were lying cold on the ground and who would need them no
+more.
+
+Three-quarters of a mile north of Labazell we were in our gun pit one
+night and "Ammunition up!" was the order. This meant that everybody,
+including officers and down to cook, the telephonist on duty alone being
+excepted, had to get out and help unload the life-saving material. I
+remember thinking of the anomaly at the time,--how strange it was that
+we should regard the ammunition as life saving, when it was in reality
+so destructive of life. While working like Turks unloading the shells,
+some of the drivers were talking about a strange sight they had seen
+down the road near Albert (pronounced Albare), when loading up at the
+ammunition dump. They told us that huge contraptions covered with
+tarpaulin were lying on the side of the road, with six-pounder guns
+protruding from their sides; in conversation the drivers referred to
+them as land boats, and some, as land dreadnaughts. Speculation ran rife
+as to their purpose. We were soon to see. Next morning as dawn was
+breaking, "Stand to!" rang out. Waiting in our gun pits for the next
+command, I heard the sound of an engine put-put-ing along the road,
+something akin to that of a machine gun, but yet different.
+
+I looked in the direction of the sound and presently there hove in sight
+a colossal something of behemoth proportions;--something the like of
+which I had never seen or heard of in all my life, and I was stricken
+dumb with amazement. A monstrous monstrosity climbed its way without let
+or hindrance, up, over, along and across every obstacle in its path.
+Presently it reached the top of Pozières Ridge; every man who could see
+had his eyes glued on it. It came down the ridge at about five miles an
+hour with two small guns peering out of each side. It was the first
+tank! We all thought at first it was an armored car of some kind. Then
+it swung off the road, crossing a ditch 8 feet wide and 17 deep and when
+we saw it perform this stunt our faculties were for the moment
+spellbound, and then we burst into uncontrollable cheering.
+
+From all quarters of the valley soldiers were running to see the
+absurdly strange sight; it was as if a general fire alarm had been
+sounded, with everybody hastening to the scene of the conflagration.
+Passing close by our battery, it paused for a while, and I had the
+opportunity of giving it the once-over, and then it waddled on its way
+again. In a few minutes two companion land boats made their début
+amongst us; up they went over the ridge, rolling down the German
+barbed-wire entanglement as if it were so much thread and forcing huge
+gaps for the Infantry to pass through, continuing their way placidly on
+through the trenches of the Hun, flattening scores of German soldiers
+under their bulk who were too awe-stricken to move.
+
+Our Infantry then took up the beaten path, charging the enemy trenches,
+and Fritz was an easy prey that morning.
+
+Inside of half an hour after our tanks reached the lines of Fritz, the
+prisoners in gray commenced to stream toward our lines; for a distance
+of seven miles the road was jammed with captured Huns. Some of them
+passing by our battery spoke to me in English, as good as, if not
+better, than my own, and asked me what in hell was the meaning of waging
+war in such fashion; they referred to the tank as Landfuerchtenichts. I
+told them that was nothing to what was in store for them. "Why," I said,
+"I've got reserved seats on one of them for Berlin."
+
+"You'll never get that far," he retorted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The action on the Somme was well under way when one morning at daybreak,
+making my way to the cookhouse, I was greeted, "Hello, Grant, hoos awa'
+wi' ye, laddie? Ma sontes, but you're lookin' fine! An' damned if he
+isn't a Sergeant!" It was Scotty, reinstated in our unit in his former
+capacity of cook, and he had brought with him his nerve, his twinkle,
+his bow legs and all. I must confess I was glad to see him, and when we
+had a few minutes together he told me, with all the gusto imaginable, of
+his exploits in London.
+
+With his little eyes twinkling like pin points, he related how England
+needing every available man, he was reinstated, and having observed
+strict military discipline while in the camp he was, under the rule,
+entitled to back pay, so that he had a year's wages coming. He obtained
+leave of absence, hastened to London and procured in some manner a
+British Major's uniform, in which he disported himself in first-class
+hotels, restaurants and the like, receiving the homage that became a
+returned fighting man, in the shape of dinner engagements, theater
+invitations and drinks galore. The deception was discovered and he was
+clinked for thirty days, at the end of which he was packed off to the
+front lines.
+
+He wound up by telling me that, he expected to get into the game
+shortly, as he wanted to be in it when the Germans got what was coming
+to them.
+
+We were occupying at this time some splendid dugouts and trenches that
+we had taken from Fritz; they were made of chalk as was also the
+cookhouse. Of our battery of sixteen guns at this point my gun was
+nearest to the cookhouse, and I was mightily tickled at the prospect of
+having an opportunity now and again to slip in and have a drink of hot
+tea, or something of the kind, with my old friend.
+
+[Illustration: Ex-German "Pill Box" That Is Now a British Dugout]
+
+That night I dropped in on Scotty and casually remarked that our guns
+would speak shortly and I expected we would bring the German fire upon
+us, as was the usual result. Scotty's voice quavered I thought, as he
+asked me when we would begin. "Oh, in an hour, maybe. Have you got a sup
+of hot tea, Scotty?" "No, I hae na tea, Grant; you'll get your tea at
+the proper time and not before." "Well, of all the----." I couldn't find
+words, and then I remembered his old-time habit of thriftiness, and I
+made up my mind to keep a sharp lookout, and if I caught him
+profiteering in rations he had saved from the men, I mentally resolved I
+would show him no mercy.
+
+Exactly at 2 o'clock that morning we started sending our messages to
+Fritzie, and inside of a minute--Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p!
+Kr-kr-kr-p! And his shells were flying all around us. The cookhouse was
+only about 20 yards off and I wondered if Scotty would now loosen up a
+bit, and I stepped over leaving Lawrence in charge of the gun. The cook
+had crawled under his bunk, which was merely a slight wire mattress
+raised a couple of feet off the floor. There was a dixie of hot tea
+standing near and I started to help myself to a drink. He saw what I was
+doing and with chattering teeth told me he would report me in the
+morning. He had scarcely spoken when a shell tore through the cookhouse,
+going clean through the wall over his bed, and as the roar of it passed
+by, I heard Scotty again offering up supplications in a manner that
+would arouse the admiration of the most earnest camp-meeting devotee.
+The shells were commencing to pop all around and I knew instantly that
+Fritz had located the cookhouse instead of the battery, and I roared to
+Scotty to come out, but he wouldn't budge. I reached under and grabbed
+him by the leg, dragging him to the door and leading him by the hand,
+for he was shaking like a leaf, made my way to the battery. By that time
+Fritz had got a better line on the guns and it was getting so hot that
+we got orders to retire to our dugouts. I pushed the cook ahead of me
+and when we got to the path leading to our quarters, about 200 yards
+off, no sprinter ever lived that could equal the pace of the bow-legged
+chef. I doubt if a moving picture machine could have caught the flash of
+his legs.
+
+The following day we got the welcome order of billets. When there the
+O.C. made an announcement that he would give a prize of 20 francs to the
+driver of the best pair of mules on inspection day, which was two weeks
+hence. This was done for the purpose of encouraging the well-being of
+the animals,--a most important factor in our own well-being. Scotty's
+eye to thrift ever open, he entered into an engagement with one of the
+drivers that he would feed his mules potato peelings if he would split
+fifty-fifty with him on the prize. The driver agreed and a few days
+later he and his helper appeared at the door of the cookhouse with one
+of the mules to get his feed. In order to prevent spilling the peelings
+at the entrance to the cookhouse, he backed the mule up against the
+door. In France, as is well known, every farmhouse has a cesspool in
+which all manner of refuse is distilled by means of a pump and straw,
+and used to fertilize the soil. These pools are all the way from 8 to
+10 feet deep. Immediately in front of the cookhouse and the mule was one
+of these cesspools, our billets here being on a farm. It happened that
+when Scotty was peeling his potatoes that day, he had thrown them so
+close to the fire that they got thoroughly heated. He hastily gathered
+them up and threw them in a pan which he handed to Tompkins, the man who
+had charge of the mules and who had entered into the agreement with him;
+the driver was still on the animal's back. When the mule stuck his nose
+into the hot peelings he jerked backwards into the door of the
+cookhouse, the driver's back struck the wall over the entrance and he
+was shot clean off the mule's back head-foremost into the cesspool 10
+feet away. When I say that the bone-grinding department of a stockyard's
+plant is pleasant compared to the odor of the mixture contained in the
+cesspool, some idea will be had of the driver's condition when he was
+pulled out by Tompkins. In the meantime, Scotty was standing in the
+cookhouse, laughing his sides out at the driver's plight, and he had
+forgotten to notice that the mule was backing further and further into
+the room. Just then Mr. Mule got his foot tangled up in one of the
+dixies that were lying on the floor, and in attempting to kick it off,
+his foot missed Scotty's head by about six inches. Scotty backed up and
+so did the mule, still kicking, each kick bringing his hoof nearer
+Scotty's mug.
+
+"Take your damn mule out," he roared, but they returned the laugh on him
+and made no move. The next kick brought the hoof and dixie within an
+inch of the cook's skull and in desperation and fear for his life he
+slid sidewise under the mule's belly and just escaped a vicious bite as
+he was getting out of the door.
+
+What the mule did not do in that room to the dinner preparations was not
+worth doing and Scotty was peremptorily demoted for the loss of the
+men's dinner and put to tending mules instead. He had no more idea of
+caring for a mule than he had for performing a delicate operation on the
+brain and, as a consequence, when inspection day came around, the hip
+bones of the animals he had cared for could be used as a hat rack and
+the officer ordered them shot and buried. The cook's thrift again came
+to the front. "Grant, I'll tell ye what I'll do, if ye'll help me take
+the carcasses to an abattoir we'll sell them for forty francs, and then
+we can dig a grave and let on we've buried them, and I'll go half wi'
+ye. What do you say?" The scheme looked plausible enough to me and I
+consented, and I was the richer by 20 francs.
+
+Owing to his misfortune with the mules the O.C. ordered him to report
+for duty on my gun and Scotty came into the lines with us the following
+week. I was in charge of a trench mortar and our duty was to send over 8
+or 10 shells, instantly take the gun to pieces and remove it to another
+position for the purpose of getting away from the return fire that Fritz
+was sure to send. When the first 10 messages were sent across, I ordered
+all hands to take their respective parts and carry them to the point
+designated, I superintending the dismemberment of the gun. When the last
+man, who happened to be Scotty, had taken away his respective part of
+the gun, I picked up the range-finder and started for the spot about a
+hundred yards off down the trench. I had scarcely gone 10 yards when an
+ear-splitting roar came hurtling through the air and an explosion
+followed that made the very earth tremble. I knew it was somewhere in
+the neighborhood of our selected spot and I anxiously hastened my
+steps. I got there to find every man of my gun crew with one exception
+blown to atoms, the exception being Scotty, but he too had paid the
+supreme price. With the help of another soldier, we carried him to the
+rear of the cookhouse and covered him with a blanket. When daylight
+broke I went over there with a party to give him as decent a burial as
+possible, and the new cook, who was a Scotchman, came out to have a look
+at the dead pal.
+
+"Well, if it isn't Jock Henderson!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Did you know him?" I asked.
+
+"Know him! Why, mon, we were bakers taegither in Glascae. I could tell
+him anywhere by his bow-legs, an' he's got a scar on one o' them as big
+as your face."
+
+"Yes, I know he has, where the shell grazed him at Mons."
+
+"Shell grazed him at Mons? Shell hell! It was a pan o' hot dough that
+fell on his leg in the bake-shop, and I'll never forget his yell tae my
+dyin' day."
+
+Like the last star of dawn the only remaining shred of poor Scotty's
+valor faded away and was gone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+BEHEMOTH
+
+
+The Somme district is composed of chalk pits; wherever the ground was
+dug up it showed white. This afforded an excellent opportunity for the
+enemy birds to spot any work we were doing. While in this section every
+man in the ranks looked very much like a white-wash artist--white dust
+everywhere, filling our eyes, ears, noses, mouths. Lord! when I think of
+that chalk dust!
+
+For five days after the first advance of the tanks they were lying, six
+of them, immediately at the right of our battery on the edge of the
+road; no one seemed to know what they were doing there or what was
+contemplated. Then they moved up four miles to the edge of Pozières
+Woods, where they believed they would be safer from view, and for the
+further reason that they would not have so far to travel when the next
+drive was pulled off. They waddled in there at night, but the following
+morning Fritz's keen eye searched them out, wirelessed the necessary
+directions to their heaviest battery, and in almost less time than it
+takes to write it tremendous shells came smashing around, damaging one
+of them pretty severely, and the other five immediately waddled back to
+a safer place in the rear.
+
+That same night canvas dummies were drawn up by mules and set up in the
+same place. Again the keen-eyed birds of the air spotted them, flashed
+their range back to their heaviest mouthpieces, and for the better part
+of the day the entire batteries of their heaviest caliber, expended
+their energies and their shells on the dummies; there was no kind or
+character of explosive shell that did not land on the frauds.
+
+Late in the afternoon two of the air birds wanted to get down a little
+closer, undoubtedly to satisfy themselves as to how the work of
+destruction had progressed, and one of our little observation planes
+gave battle to the visitors, engaging the nearest one first. His
+companion bird made for ours, but before he could get underneath to do
+anything, the first German bird had been winged and downed. Our
+anti-aircraft guns now made it so warm for the other bird that he beat
+it. The visit, however, must have had beneficial results for Fritz, for
+immediately after the plane returned to their lines, he ceased paying
+any attention whatever to the dummies. That night we put the real tanks
+behind the dummies and the day following not a single shell broke over
+or near them, and that same night they crept down into Pozières Valley
+under shelter of a bombardment made to prevent the keen ear of Fritz
+detecting the throbbing of their engines.
+
+By this time batteries had been and were being installed everywhere at
+Pozières where there was room to place a gun: like beavers the men were
+working as busily as men could work, although they were constantly
+subjected to the severest strafing; but on the Somme it seemed that
+nobody minded. For my part I had the firm conviction that death would
+come when it would come and not till then, and I went about my work
+absolutely careless of any possible hurt. And I can positively testify
+to the same state of mind in each one of my comrades,--not one of whom
+seemed to think of his personal safety in any way whatsoever when there
+was work to be done.
+
+Here the British soldier's fatalism was exemplified in the superbest
+manner!
+
+On that same night that the tanks went forward again, I was detailed to
+go to the trenches to assist the telephonist, who was hard pressed for
+help, and in the morning I was in the front-line trench assisting the
+Captain with his observation work. All the time on the Somme all hands
+were busy doing something. Immediately after dawn, at five o'clock, the
+guns belched forth with an ear-splitting, deafening roar and
+simultaneously over the top appeared the five behemoths, one of them
+passing within a few feet of me.
+
+The gunfire from our pieces at this time was immensely superior to the
+enemy's and his trenches had been flattened, but the wires still stood,
+and here it was the tanks did the work. On they came! Rolling through
+and making gaps 10 to 15 feet wide the Infantry plunging along in their
+wake. Forgetting my orders to stay where I was, I hopped in with the
+Infantry and reached Fritz' second-line trench.
+
+"Gawd!" yelled a Tommy. "Wot the bloody 'ell will Fritz think of these
+beauties? 'E'll think its Satan's advance guard!"
+
+On and yet on they reeled and rolled, one of them dipping nose first
+into a crater, and when I saw it going over the top of this huge hole my
+heart gave a bound of fear, as I surely thought its usefulness was now
+over. In this crater there were about 300 German soldiers when the tank
+plunged into it, and under its huge bulk 75 of them had their lives
+mashed out.
+
+A spirit of wonderful fervor filled me as I saw that our behemoth was
+not disturbed in the slightest by the fact that he had gone into a
+crater; he continued to waddle all around the huge hole, his machine
+guns playing on the balance of the men that were jumping this way and
+that, and swarming like ants up, over and on top of it, to escape and
+save their lives in some manner. In sheer mad desperation they climbed
+over every part of the mammoth, discharging their revolvers at any seam
+in the metal or place where they thought it might be effective, breaking
+their bayonets on its iron coat--in vain! They could not overcome the
+unknown! One man thrust a hand grenade into the muzzle of one of the
+guns, but was blown to bits in the try. Still, over and over it they
+swarmed, like bees searching for a nook in a flower, the difference
+being that instead of getting honey they got hell. Then the poor
+desperate devils, in the frenzy of despair, flung themselves from the
+top and sides of the titan down into the crater and tried to scamper up
+the sides to the top, only to be met with a hail of bullets when they
+reached the edge and fall backwards into the crater depths, upsetting in
+their fall their companions who were behind them, and also trying vainly
+to get out of that hole of hell.
+
+Language is futile to give anything like an adequate description of the
+scene in the crater. A few of the Huns, more long-headed than the rest,
+still clung to the tank, remaining there until it reached the top, when
+they held up their arms, yelling Kamerad at the top of their lungs, and
+these were all that were left of that 300--just 20.
+
+The titanic ducks were each of them doing similar work on every part of
+the line, but the particular one whose work I was able to follow then
+made a call on a whiz-bang battery, smashing one of the guns when it
+first stepped upon it, and mowing the gunners down, the rest fleeing as
+though from the wrath to come. Many batteries and crews were similarly
+smashed, and then their work being done for the day, they all returned
+with the exception of one which lay in the German lines for about five
+hours, due to engine trouble. While lying there, Fritz did his damndest
+to place a mine underneath the helpless hulk, but the earnestness and
+the energy with which our boys at the guns worked for the preservation
+of their beloved behemoth, prevented him carrying out his purpose; and
+while the concert was in full swing all around us, the preserving
+messages from our guns whizzing past it in one direction, and the
+destructive messages from the German guns coming at it from the other
+direction, the tank crew quietly and industriously went about their
+work, repaired the engine trouble, said "ta-ta" to Fritz and waddled
+back home.
+
+No returning hero from the scene of his glory ever received such a
+greeting as did the crews of the mighty monsters when they stepped out
+of the sheltering internals of their huge bowels. Clad in pants and
+boots, littered with grease, dirt and oil, scarred with bruises incurred
+as they were thrown from side to side of their armored shelter by the
+swaying of the thing, when they stepped from the door to the ground, the
+shouts and roaring cheers of ten thousand times ten thousand men
+thrilled them with such a thrill, that they felt fully repaid for
+everything that they had done that day.
+
+The Tommies grabbed them in their arms, hugged them, slapped them on the
+backs and chests until the wind was fairly knocked out of them, and if
+we had been Frenchmen instead of Britishers, our mouths would have been
+covered with black grease from kisses imprinted on their cheeks.
+
+All night long, long lines of men in gray were passing through our
+sector, in some places as many as 50 of them being escorted by one
+soldier; German Red Cross men were carrying out our wounded, eagerly
+volunteering for this work in the thought that they would find favor by
+so doing.
+
+After taking Pozières and driving over the ridge and on down into the
+Courcelette Valley, we took up a position about 500 yards from the
+German front lines. Here occurred another of those remarkable escapes
+from the Grim Reaper's toll that won for me throughout the unit the
+pseudonym, "Horseshoe Grant."
+
+Eighteen loads of ammunition were being hauled to the guns and when
+being unloaded, enemy fire opened up on the position, several horses
+were hit, the doors of the wagons were flung open and the horses,
+stricken with fright, galloped madly about, the shells being strewn over
+the ground all the way to the bridge several hundred yards off,--a
+bridge that was a vitally important structure to us, because over it
+every pound of supplies and ammunition had to cross in order to get to
+us. I have often thought what a disaster it would have meant to us had
+Fritz ever got to this passageway. The drivers finally managed to close
+the wagon doors and get most of them back over the bridge, but the shell
+fire had then become so heavy that "Take cover!" was ordered.
+
+The Hun kept up the bombardment for some time and the O.C. thought it
+better to let the ammunition lie where it was until daylight, when he
+intended to have it gathered up. He did not wait for daylight; in the
+middle of the night we were called out to manhandle the ammunition from
+an improvised sled that had been built and loaded with it and hauled
+over the mud to the bridge. There was no slacking on that job, every man
+carrying two of the shells--18 pounders--and when we finally got them
+to the guns we were allowed to turn in.
+
+[Illustration: Behemoth in Battle]
+
+Just before daylight a counter attack started and we were ordered to
+repel it, which we did with all the ammunition that was capable of being
+used; lots of it we could not use as the mud and dirt prevented; it had
+to be thoroughly cleaned and oiled before being fired. The battle lasted
+well until noon, and having accomplished our work we got a "Stand down!"
+after which came the usual hurry and scurry to clean and oil our pet and
+get her all in readiness for the next act. There was still some
+ammunition left lying on the ground that had been spilled, and we were
+instructed to gather it in at once, clean and oil it and put it in the
+gun pit. While busy at this job I glanced overhead and noticed an
+airplane: "I believe that's a German," calling attention to it. The
+fellows didn't agree with me, they holding it was a British bird, and we
+all went on with our work. I kept my eye on it, however, for some
+reason, and saw it finally go over the ridge and turn, and as it
+turned--Kr-kr-kr-p! and a shell lit on the ridge 25 yards in our front;
+it was about an 8-incher and showered the dirt in all directions. We
+scurried like rabbits into our pit, emerging in a few minutes when the
+dirt and dust had blown away. Glancing up again I noticed the air bird
+turn again, and instantly another one came, this time landing near the
+gun pit, throwing a shower of mud and dirt on it, and causing
+considerable profanity for the extra work given us by Fritz. Instant
+orders were given us to take cover as a strafing was in sight, and we
+shot out of the gun pit, jumped into the trench and ran along. Two of
+the fellows were immediately ahead of me, Dinghy and Graham, and
+Graham's footwork was so slow that I jumped up on the parapet of the
+trench to get past him, and over the top I skedaddled toward our 30-foot
+dugout, which had formerly been the home of the Germans; like most of
+their quarters it was large, roomy and comfortable. To get to the dugout
+we had to go through a German gun pit which was then being used by us as
+a cookhouse. Just before I reached my destination a shell had landed
+squarely in this gun pit, where a number of the men were lined up
+waiting for supper. The effect of this shell was not only deadly in the
+extreme, but very peculiar in its action. At the right hand side corner
+of the gun pit was the dugout for the left section, and the right
+section occupied the dugout on the left hand side corner. The shell
+struck the edge of the right section dugout in which four men at the
+bottom were having a card game; the fuse tore its way down the steps,
+knocking large chunks of the steps off in its course, and down into the
+center of the card game, scattering the money in every direction and not
+injuring a single member of the party. The back lash of the deadly
+visitor, however, ripped the life out of the men waiting for supper at
+the cookhouse and the side lash of its stroke caught the men in the
+right hand side dugout in which were two soldiers sitting on a box,
+munching biscuits. One of them had the upper half of his head blown off,
+scattering the blood and brains over his chum, who escaped without a
+scratch.
+
+I reached the gun pit about one minute after the explosion. God in
+Heaven! What a sight met my eyes! The floor of the pit was strewn with
+the men in all directions, six of them dead and the balance fearfully
+wounded. I dashed out for stretcher bearers and Fritz just then started
+increasing his fire; he had kept an eye on the men running through the
+trench to the gun pit. He therefore knew that there must be a nest of us
+there.
+
+In spite of the gain in the enemy's gunfire, we started our wounded pals
+to the officers' dugouts; most of the lads had been so severely
+shell-shocked that we had a most trying time to keep them in their
+stretchers. Men who have been shell-shocked most usually exhibit it by
+wanting to run off in all directions; I have seen them with wounds that
+ordinarily would cause them to collapse, but under the influence of the
+shock exert themselves with such strength and violence that it would
+take a couple of sturdy men to hold them. There is a trite saying that
+every disadvantage has a corresponding advantage and I wondered that
+night when I got back to the gun pit if nature intended that the
+advantage from this disaster was the increase in our supper ration due
+to the death and wounding of my soldier pals!
+
+A few days after, we were notified we were going to drive forward
+another stage, and I went to the trench with the telephonist party for
+the purpose of making our communication as clear as possible; I was
+detailed especially to assist the Captain in this work.
+
+The attack was launched at daybreak, with a ten-minute bombardment
+preceding, and then our fellows were up and over. As before, the tanks
+blazed the way, one of them passing about 30 feet to my right just
+before I went over the top. As I lay in the trench, the darling old
+titan passed me, leveling the wire in front, and I had then an even
+keener realization of what it meant for Fritz to have these monsters
+piling over and smashing him under foot just about as a man would tread
+on a worm and mash it. And if there ever was one time during my entire
+three years of campaigning, when I felt an atom of sympathy for the
+gray-clad devils, it was at that moment.
+
+But how can sympathy obtain for devils in human form?
+
+My immediate family was strongly represented in this attack. To my right
+among the men who went over, were the Canadian Grenadier Guards, of
+which my young brother Billy was a member. This regiment had made an
+undying place in the annals of Canadian history in the advance on
+Courcelette, having out of its 950 men but 66 men left intact when the
+roll was called after the battle, the balance being either killed or
+wounded. But they achieved their objective, Courcelette!
+
+Billy and his regiment, which had been mustered up to strength, passed
+over the top within four hundred yards of me to the right. On my left,
+my older brother, Gordon, who was supporting a trench mortar battery in
+the front-line trench, was working away within 500 yards of me. I was
+not aware of the presence of either until a comparison of notes later on
+apprised me of their presence. To my right hand was Hughey and his
+brother Archie and to my left Jim, three brothers, all of them my first
+cousins.
+
+Jim had enlisted in New Zealand, Archie in Australia and Hughey in
+Canada. The only relative of whose presence in the battle I was aware,
+was Hughey. Through a rule obtaining in the army, these three brothers
+took the opportunity when they got to France, to get a transfer to the
+Canadian army, all in the same unit. Later, however, the casualties
+necessitated changing them around somewhat. All three had been wounded
+and gassed, but were back again as full of fight as ever. We went over
+under the shelter of such a terrific barrage that the German front line
+and its occupants were practically annihilated; the work of our
+artillery was nothing short of wonderful. Staying there ten minutes we
+went on and took the second line, meeting a little more stubborn
+resistance as we went forward, but finally taking it. In going over
+between the first and second lines it was necessary to jump into shell
+holes from time to time. The men ahead of us were mostly Brandenburgers,
+Bavarians and Prussians. At one place I had leapt with my pal into a
+small shell hole, and over to my right was a kiltie engaged in a
+hand-to-hand struggle with a Hun. The kiltie was an undersized chap and
+Fritz was about twice his size, and with a much longer bayonet, and Jock
+seemed to be getting a bit tired. I didn't think it wise to wait, even
+though I felt very certain that Jock could hold his own, and taking
+careful aim with my revolver I tumbled the Fritzie over. Looking then to
+the left I saw another kiltie in an argument with a Prussian; they were
+fencing with their bayonets, and a second Hun was coming up behind and
+again I took aim, but before I was able to get my pill started, my mate
+robbed me of the honor and sent his pill crashing through Fritzie's
+head. So I turned my attention to the immediate opponent, but before I
+could shoot, the kiltie's body interposed in my line of vision, and when
+I got a glimpse of the Prussian a second later, he was in the throes of
+death with a bayonet in his bowels. Further over to my right, two Huns
+were trying to bayonet a soldier, but our man was an expert and seemed
+to be easily holding his own, in fact, getting the better of it a
+little, and I noticed a Prussian jump out of a hole, aim his rifle at
+our fellow, and I yelled, "Get that one, Walter!" But Walter had already
+seen him and started blazing at him and winged him in the shoulder; he
+was later gathered in among the prisoners.
+
+Then we turned to the duel and blazed at one of the Prussians, being
+lucky enough to land him, and at the same time Sandy got in his work
+with the cold steel on the other Hun. Then, wiping the perspiration from
+his face with a swipe of his hand, he looked toward us and hollered
+"Gude work, laddies," and dashed on ahead.
+
+All these scrimmages took place in less time than it takes to tell about
+them; everywhere, as far as the eye could reach, the cleaning-up process
+was going on. This was as far as I could go at this time, because I had
+strict orders to remain with my party there for observation purposes,
+the Infantry going on ahead and taking the third line.
+
+Resistance was growing more stubborn with the advent of each successive
+line, but they cleaned up and started for the fourth, and it fell. It
+was on that day that I understood the expression "Seeing red"; there was
+only one thought in my mind, kill! kill! kill! kill! The wave forged
+ahead for the fifth German line, taking it and smashing down all
+resistance in their way. They were in the middle of the cleaning-up
+process of the fifth line when the welcome sight of friend tank again
+hove in view, arousing cheers. They were needed just then.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE FAMILY LUCK
+
+
+At the fifth line the men stayed awhile, waiting for the word to take
+the sixth line, and our barrage was directed on this trench line so
+heavily, the Germans could not hold it. They left and our wave crossed
+over, but could not reach the much sought-for ditch, as a massed
+counter-attack drove them back. Our barrage again drove Fritz back, thus
+converting the sixth-line trench into a No Man's Land.
+
+The Boche made a determined effort to retain it and counter-attacked
+time and time again, but each try met our machine guns, rifles and
+grenades, together with the barrage, and a distorted heap of dead
+Kaiserites was added to those already in this ditch of death.
+
+Their ranks were getting woefully thin and pale; wave after wave came up
+in a bull-headed effort to keep the line, and, finally, to assist the
+fainting Prussians, a regiment of Brandenburgers jumped to their help,
+and again they came. By this time the trench was literally filled with
+dead, dying and wounded men. Over the Brandenburgers came, one thousand
+strong, right in the teeth of our barrage; in mass formation they
+charged, and it was impossible for a bullet to miss its billet in that
+line. They fell like flies on a tanglefoot sheet, and back they wavered
+into the trench. But there was no shelter for them there, as it had
+ceased to be an abiding place, because their dead and wounded comrades
+were piled in it clear up to the brink, and there was no place for them
+to stoop or crouch to escape the rain of death.
+
+Our O.C. paused awhile to see what Fritz would do further, but--nothing
+stirring! So, over our fellows went. The corpse-filled trench offering
+no attraction for shelter, the wave rolled on to the seventh line,
+taking it and putting up there for the night.
+
+A few hours later Fritz made a most determined attack on the seventh
+line, and sorry am I to tell that they made a little headway, taking
+some prisoners, among them being my cousin Jim; roll call the following
+morning also disclosed Archie as missing. For my dear Auntie's sake it
+is my sincere prayer that he may yet be alive and well.
+
+When the wave reached the first line in this drive, the trenches were
+filled with prisoners and orders were given to corral them in the
+different dugouts and rush them into the holes, but there was no need
+for hurrying them,--they were diving for them as fast as their legs
+would carry them. My brother Billy and a party was put in charge of a
+number of dugouts, Billy having one under his control. He did not know
+how many were in the dugout he guarded, but outside was a captured
+Prussian officer. The boys had now gone on ahead, leaving the prisoners'
+escorts posted here and there along the trench to guard them. This
+Prussian officer was standing a few feet away from Billy, on his right,
+and something diverting Bill's attention from him, the Prussian officer,
+in strict accordance with the Prussian code of honor, seized the
+opportunity, grabbed a rifle, and was about to plunge the bayonet into
+Billy, but he turned just in time to catch him in the act and avoid him.
+He lunged with his bayonet, catching the dastard in the left shoulder,
+and while tugging to get it out, the prisoners started rushing up the
+steps of the dugout, and Bill was forced to let go of the rifle; as he
+did so, the weight of the gun pulled the bayonet downward, ripping
+through the Prussian's black heart. Bill then took a bomb--he had eight
+of them--and let them go one after another into the dugout. Although
+fighting for his life, he knew if he faltered for a moment he would be
+lost, and he did not lose his head for a second; he realized that if he
+let any of these bombs leave his hand and reach the dugout in sufficient
+length of time before it exploded, they would seize them and hurl them
+back at him, or else escape this particular bunch who were trying to get
+him and who were strung on the steps leading down into the dugout. So,
+in the midst of the scrap he kept his nerve and his head, not letting a
+single bomb leave his hand until he was dead certain the time had
+expired and that the moment it struck the top step of the dugout, their
+mission of destruction would have been accomplished. This done, he
+yanked his rifle out of the officer's shoulder and jumped to the
+entrance of the pit for any others that might have escaped his fusillade
+of grenades. None came.
+
+"Billy, take those prisoners out of the dugout," sang out the
+Sergeant-Major, "and get them to the rear, and tell the rest of the boys
+to do the same."
+
+"I don't know how many are there, sir."
+
+"I'll take a look and see," and the Sergeant-Major jumped into the
+dugout. In a moment he reappeared. "There are nine killed and three
+wounded. Round up these three and get them to the rear and get over the
+top as fast as you can."
+
+Billy did so, catching up with his pals at the third line trench. When
+he got to the sixth line, a shell exploded in front of him, hitting him
+in the thigh and dislocating his hip bone, besides giving him a painful
+flesh wound. He was knocked unconscious and thrown into a shell hole.
+The hole was almost filled with water, but the horseshoe luck of the
+Grant family was with him; when he fell in his head was just out of the
+water.
+
+There he lay for eight hours, when the moaning of a wounded pal, three
+or four feet away, roused him and he pulled himself over to him; his
+pal's leg had been shattered from the knee down and Billy, in spite of
+his own condition, managed to drag him for some distance toward the
+dressing station, hopping on his left foot as he went and then resting a
+bit. Finally the pain became too great and he could go no further;
+every nerve and fiber of his aching body was at the breaking point of
+utter exhaustion, and the pain of the gangrene in his wound, inspired by
+the mud and dirt, gave him his finishing touch and he dropped. Bill's
+pal then took up the struggle; he tottered to his sound foot and dragged
+him to the dressing station, where he dropped beside him.
+
+The tremendous rush of wounded men waiting for treatment made it
+necessary for them to take their turn, and it was three-quarters of an
+hour before they could either of them get attention; the German wounded
+were treated in turn along with our own men, no favors being shown. This
+is in marked contradistinction to the untold and unspeakable brutality
+exercised upon our wounded prisoners in the German lines.
+
+In due time they were carried to the rear by German prisoners, and then
+to England through the medium of the base hospitals and casualty
+clearing stations.
+
+It is with pardonable pride I can say that they were not long in the
+hospital before they got word they were to receive a medal for their
+magnificent work.
+
+Billy's splendid physical condition rapidly brought him through,
+although it was five months before he was really himself again, and he
+has since then gone back to the lines, where he was again wounded and in
+the hospital, and has again gone back and is still doing his bit.
+
+On the following morning, I returned to the battery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE DEAD SHELL[1]
+
+
+A late September mist, more hazy than foggy in its character, enveloped
+the line following a heavy deluge of nearly two days that had poured
+almost a foot of water in our trenches, and in some spots where holes
+had formed in the trench-bed the water came gurgling over the knee. On
+the whole, however, conditions were very much less worse than wading in
+the water up to one's waist, which was our common lot in the earlier
+days of the war. As one of our wags had it, "Mud under me, water around
+me and hell above me."
+
+[Footnote 1: _A dead shell is one that explodes at a predetermined time
+after it strikes--from one minute to several hours._]
+
+For nearly a month Fritz had been inordinately busy with his "dead"
+shells; we had no rest from his activities. If there was an interval of
+time when we were not being served with the "dead" messages, the hiatus
+was filled with whiz-bangs and gas. Whichever his fancy dictated, for us
+it was the Devil's choice.
+
+Following orders, under the friendly shelter of night's curtain, I was
+leading my squad to our gun positions in the front line, about three
+miles distant, and in slipping and sliding over the muddy ground, pitted
+with holes in such a manner as to suggest to one's mind that the earth's
+surface had been scourged with an attack of elephantine smallpox, we
+could not help chuckling, in spite of the discomforts of our journey, at
+the ejaculation of a Cockney Tommy: "Strike me pink, Sergeant, but Fritz
+would think we was his pals if he only saw this goose-step work." This
+was an allusion to the fashion we had to employ in picking our steps on
+the lookout for holes. In this region the fair face of nature is
+distorted in every conceivable way with holes and ditches, some of the
+holes big enough to engulf a house, and it is no mere desire to avoid
+the water in these holes that compels us to pick our steps in this
+hell-swept part of the world; it is the first law of nature, self
+preservation, for many a poor lad has been done to death in them by
+drowning.
+
+On this night my squad, including myself, was composed of 13 men, and
+although none of the men, if they did notice it, mentioned the
+coincidence, I must confess, although I myself studiously refrained
+from making any comment about it, the thought of the fateful number kept
+recurring to my mind as we made our way to the spot where the visits of
+the Grim Reaper were so frequent that death had ceased to be anything
+but an every-day occurrence. It was only when some friend or chum paid
+the supreme price that we gave the matter any particular attention, and
+then it would be for but a short time. The necessity of every man's
+looking out for his own life gave him but little time to think of much
+else, unless, indeed, killing the Huns. Next to saving our own lives
+that is the heartfelt desire of each man--get Fritz. And yet, although
+the first thought of everyone is, naturally, for his own life, there is
+no history in this war that can be written that can recount the number
+of occasions when the seeming first thought of men was to do for their
+pals, utterly regardless of their own safety. For sheer toying with
+death and taking chances in situations that did not seem to offer the
+slightest hope or chance of getting through, the Great War discloses
+feats of valor with which nothing can compare that comes out of the mist
+of "Days of old when knights were bold."
+
+After goose-stepping for over an hour, and almost completely winded, we
+flopped on the ground for a few minutes to catch our breath. We were
+within about half-a-mile of the ridge over which we had to go in order
+to get down into our dugouts, and Fritz' calling cards were commencing
+to come in our direction; star shells were shooting up at short
+intervals, the gleam of a flare every now and then plainly revealing
+ourselves to each other. As we sat there the conversation seemed to lag
+and a silence that struck me as somewhat ominous pervaded our little
+group. I wondered if the rest were thinking of our number. One of my
+best chums, Corporal Lawrence, was sitting next me, and I thought I
+heard him sigh.
+
+"What's the matter, Corporal, winded?" I asked.
+
+"No, no, Sergeant, I was just thinking."
+
+"Thinking? Thinking of what? The cookhouse? I'll bet we are all thinking
+about that."
+
+"No, Sergeant, it was not the cookhouse."
+
+"Well, if it wasn't the cookhouse, is it that letter that is coming for
+you tonight?" said I.
+
+"No, you are wrong, Sergeant; it wasn't either of those things, much as
+I would enjoy both the letter and the grub."
+
+I felt that the gloom would become infectious if it were not immediately
+dissipated, and I blurted out, "Well, for God's sake, don't keep us all
+in suspense; how in hell are we going to go on until we know what you
+are thinking about?"
+
+His answer made me sorry I spoke.
+
+"I was just thinking," said he, "that my number is up."
+
+This is an expression of the men on the Western Front when they have a
+premonition that their time on earth is short. A sudden fear smote me,
+but I banished the thought and started jollying him profanely.
+
+"Now, Corporal, you know what damn nonsense it is to talk that way! Do
+you want to wish it on yourself?"
+
+"No, Grant, I should say not, but I can't help thinking it, all the
+same."
+
+"Yes, Lawrence," said McLean. "For God's sake don't wish any trouble on
+us more than we have got."
+
+Billy McLean was my dearest pal; we had enlisted together and had formed
+one of those attachments that men sometimes make and is only severed by
+death, and we shared each other's most intimate thoughts. The words had
+scarcely died on McLean's lips when--Woo-o-f! Bang! Bang! and shells
+commenced to land all about us.
+
+The spot we had selected to rest on was under observation; Fritz had
+evidently become aware of the fact that it was our usual course in
+coming to the trench and had registered the place for a target, just as
+he registered battery roads, ammunition depots, railway heads, sleeping
+quarters,--everywhere and anywhere that exhibited a trace of life
+immediately became an observation target and was subject to a hail of
+shell and shrapnel any hour of the day or night.
+
+We were all slightly stunned by the dose, but recovered our senses in a
+minute or so.
+
+"All right, fellows, let's be going," I said, and up we jumped, all
+except Lawrence.
+
+"Come on, Corporal, finish your dream in the dugout." He made no reply.
+With a sickening at my heart I went over and put my hand on his face; it
+was wet with his life's blood; he was shot through the head. As
+hurriedly and as gently as possible we laid him in a hollow place and
+started for the ridge; we had no time for even a prayer, as we were
+being treated to a fair-sized fusillade, and ducking and dodging, this
+way and that, we made our way to the top as quickly as every ounce of
+energy left in our legs would permit, and rolled, tumbled, scrambled and
+fell--any old way--down the front side of the ridge into the ditch at
+the bottom, that was dignified by the high-sounding title of trench. It
+was as much a trench at that spot as any bog-hole. Its only virtue lay
+in the fact that if we crouched low enough into the water and mud we
+could escape the watchful eye of the enemy. We stumbled along through
+the inky blackness toward our gun positions, shrinking our anatomy to
+its smallest dimensions each time a flare shot up, and I was commencing
+to congratulate myself that we would reach our destination without any
+further hurt than the elimination of the thirteenth man;--I took a sort
+of sad comfort in the superstitious thought;--but we had still another
+target to pass. The Germans had made an observation point of a part of
+our ditch just a little bit farther along, and when we got to the spot
+we received a blast of shell fire that knocked us out of even our power
+to swear; we hadn't the strength; as a matter of fact, we were suffering
+with a slight shell shock. The dose consisted of about 200 shells,
+administered in quantities, first, of six at a time, then ten, then
+twenty-five.
+
+One of the fellows nearest me again ventured the remark that he thought
+our number was up, and I just had enough vocal power left to curse him
+roundly for a damn fool. "You know what happened Lawrence, don't you?
+Cheer up, you mutt! They will never get my number."
+
+Throughout my three years' campaigning I persisted in repeating that
+"they would never get my number," until it almost became second nature
+with me, and the hairbreadth escapes I have had almost convinced me
+"there is something in it." Be that as it may, hundreds of men all
+around have "gone West" while I have been permitted to go through three
+years of it comparatively unscathed.
+
+We finally got past the observed spot. The trench now commenced to run
+into a valley, and although there was water in it to a depth of fully
+two and a half feet, through which we had to wade, we were glad we were
+alive to paddle through it. But there was more trouble ahead. Fritz was
+turning gas into the valley, and I, being in front, got the first
+whiff.
+
+"Masks, on with your masks," I roared, jamming on my own at the same
+moment. In addition to the gas, our friends had succeeded in shooting up
+a large ammunition dump, four hundred yards farther on, and the smoke
+and fumes from the exploding bombs, shells and other ammunition, to say
+nothing of the ear-splitting din, got me speculating as to whether our
+13-squad was to go the way of so many reported thirteens. But my native
+optimism came to the rescue, and, with a curse, I drove the thought from
+me.
+
+By this time our eyes were so blinded and stinging from the smoke of the
+ammunition fire that we were making our way almost by instinct, as we
+were half blinded, but the time-old provision of all things,--"Never a
+disadvantage without a corresponding advantage,"--came to our help.
+Under cover of the smoke we were practically secure from the shells and
+snipers, and stumbling and staggering round the fire, giving it a wide
+berth, we at last got to our gun position.
+
+But, no rest! We had barely arrived when a delayed action shell battery
+opened up on us with a steadily-increasing fire, and, as the pace grew
+hotter every moment, I felt as if my nerves couldn't hold out longer;
+but the knowledge that these men were in my care helped me again to take
+hold of myself. But the rest of the fellows were commencing to show
+signs of giving way to the shock effect. My best pal, Billy McLean,
+staggered toward me. "They've got my number, they've got my number," he
+shouted in my ear, and, beginning to give way to the shock, he fell at
+my feet, in the mud. I grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. "Cheer
+up, Billy, cheer up, old pal, how in hell are we going to pull through
+if you give way like this?"
+
+"It's no use, Reg, they've got my number," and he moaned half
+hysterically as he leaned on me with an arm around my neck. Almost
+desperate, I shouted in his ear, "Billy, old pal, think of your mother
+and father; what would the old man say if he saw you acting like this?
+You know those hounds haven't a shell for either of us."
+
+He roused himself: "I guess I haven't got the guts, Sergeant; I must be
+a damned coward."
+
+"No, no, nothing of the kind, old fellow," I shouted, "but these boys
+are in my charge and I want you to help me play the game." He braced
+himself. "You're right, Sergeant, they haven't got our number and never
+will have." "Of course they won't," I answered reassuringly.
+
+Poor Billy! His was a nature that was never intended for the business of
+killing; he was in constant dread and his nerves were always on edge
+when he was within shelling distance of the enemy, and he couldn't seem
+to shake off the terrible fear that was ever present except when in the
+top-notch excitement of going over; that was the only moment that he was
+able to throw off the blighting shadow that haunted him. Then indeed
+have I seen him throw the very first instincts of prudence to the winds
+and hurl himself into places where "angels fear to tread." But after the
+mad frenzy of the charge, with its accompaniment of shooting, stabbing,
+killing and maiming, he would collapse, and it would be some hours
+before he could regain his wonted composure.
+
+The fire gradually slackened, our spirits began to revive, nature
+commenced to reassert herself, and we made our way to the cookhouse. We
+got our mess-tins filled with bread, cheese and jam, puddled our way to
+the dugout and fell to with the relish of healthy, hungry, tired men who
+had fasted several hours. We gathered in the dugout occupied by Billy
+and myself. Feeling thoroughly rejuvenated, someone suggested a game to
+pass the time until mail arrived, and the well-worn deck was produced.
+Billy was sitting on my right hand and held cards that ought to have
+cleaned up, but he seemed to have lost the first instinct of a poker
+player, and I couldn't refrain from telling him he ought to confine
+himself to checkers. He whispered to me, "Reg, I can't get that out of
+my head." "What's that?" I asked.
+
+"Fritz has my number; my time's nearly up and I know it." "Oh, hell!" I
+exclaimed, with a good-natured impatience, and giving him a poke in the
+ribs, "Forget it!"
+
+The rest of the fellows chimed in with recollections of several fellows
+who persisted in saying that their number was up, and who were now
+pushing poppies, and the little Cockney murmured, "The poor beggars, and
+if they had kept their mouths shut they'd 'ave been with us yet."
+
+It is a strange philosophy, but it is prevalent up and down the line.
+
+At that moment the mail arrived, and Billy forgot his premonition for
+the time, for along with letters from his mother and sister, there was a
+photograph from his sweetheart that he showed me with suppressed joy.
+
+"I say, fellows, what do you think of that for good time," said one, "my
+letters were both mailed on the 13th and this is only the 29th."
+
+"That's a rum go," says the Cockney, "mine, too, was mailed on the
+13th."
+
+An examination of the mailing dates of our letters revealed the somewhat
+startling coincidence that every single letter we got that night had
+been mailed on the 13th. I mentally cursed the fateful number, but the
+news from home overshadowed the thought, as it did everything else, and
+I was careful to do everything I could to prevent its recurrence in the
+conversation. And, besides, the British soldier's fatalism, that death
+will come when it will come, prevented for long any gloom or
+oppressiveness in the atmosphere that might have been engendered by the
+time-old superstition. It was only in the exceptional cases when a
+soldier got into his head the premonition that his number was up that
+his spirits took a drop. I wish it were possible to convey in exact
+language the wonderful spirit of the men under circumstances and
+conditions endured by no soldiers in any other war since primeval man
+enforced his claims with his club.
+
+Every man in the squad got letters and parcels that evening, and, all
+things considered, it was a happy bunch that left us to seek their bunks
+in their own dugouts. Billy and I remained up awhile after the others
+had gone, chatting about the home folks and, particularly, about his
+sweetheart, for at every opportunity he would turn the talk in her
+direction; he was positive there was no other girl quite so sweet as
+Aileen, for that was her name, and there was nothing for me to do but
+affirm everything he said.
+
+"Reg, I want you to promise me one thing," said Billy, after we had been
+talking for an hour or more.
+
+"What is it, Billy? You know I'll do it, old scout, if I can."
+
+"Yes, I know you will. Well, it is this: I've told you how I came to
+correspond with Aileen, and, altho' I've never seen her yet, I really
+think she is one real girl. But here's the rub," he continued; "I don't
+really love the girl; I'm not such an idiot as to fall in love with a
+girl I have never seen; and you know lots of these photos are fifty per
+cent camouflage, ain't they?"
+
+"You're dead right, old chap," I replied.
+
+"Well, now, this one may be in the other fifty, and I'm thinking she is;
+and if you should get home before I do, will you look her up and let me
+know just exactly what you think of her?"
+
+"Why, of course I will."
+
+"That's what I wanted, Reg. You see, God only knows when I may get home,
+if I ever do, but I don't want to be nursing ideas about Aileen, and
+perhaps causing thoughts to arise in her mind, that may never be
+realized. You get me, Reg, don't you?"
+
+"Surest thing, Billy, and you're damned right and sensible to look at it
+that way."
+
+So that when we finally tumbled in, it was long after the witching hour
+of night.
+
+The dugout we occupied we had built ourselves, and we took great pains
+to make it as roomy and comfortable as possible; hence the tendency of
+the fellows to make it their rendezvous. Our bunks consisted of sandbags
+spread out on the floor, and the ceremony of retiring occupied about one
+minute or less.
+
+A half-muffled shriek woke me from a sound sleep and brought me bolt
+upright in the bunk. In the blackness I could just discern the outline
+of a man standing in the middle of the dugout and gulping as if trying
+to catch his breath. I jumped up and went to him. It was Billy. "What is
+it, Billy? What's the trouble?"
+
+"Oh, Reg," he gasped, "I have had the most horrible dream!" He was
+shaking like an aspen. I put my arm around him and drew him over to my
+bunk. "Come, lie down with me, old man, and you will be as right as the
+rain in a minute." He laid down alongside of me and, still shivering, he
+recounted his dream to me.
+
+"Do you remember that night I was telling you about when I was out
+observing?"
+
+"Yes," I answered.
+
+"Where we lost Thompson and the others when the flare went up? Well, you
+know that big Prussian I told you about, that came so near getting me?
+Do you know that fellow's face has never been out of my thoughts since I
+killed him, and I dreamed we were out there on that same spot again, and
+again the flare went up and we were rushed, and who should come at me
+but this man I had killed. I shrieked: 'You're dead! I killed you once.
+Get to hell out of here!' But he only gave a ghoulish grin and came at
+me. I dodged his blow and ran my bayonet through him, as I thought, but
+there he was coming at me again. Again I dodged and plunged into him,
+and again he was coming. Suddenly all power left me; my hands, arms and
+legs became nerveless, and I stood rooted; he clubbed his rifle, and as
+it crashed on my skull I awoke, and that must have been the time I cried
+out. And, Reg, just as sure as I am lying here, my number is up. I am as
+good as dead, I tell you."
+
+"Now, don't talk such utter damn nonsense, Billy," I said, doing my
+utmost to comfort him.
+
+"No damn nonsense about it. You know yourself we started out yesterday
+with thirteen men and Lawrence got it, and here tonight every letter we
+got was postmarked the thirteenth, and I just can't get it out of my
+nut, and I am not going to try any further."
+
+"Billy, don't you want to live to get back home? Don't you know what it
+will mean to your mother and your father if anything happens to you?
+Well, what's the use of tempting fate? If it will come, it will come,
+and nothing you or I can do will prevent it; but there is something
+that helps a man--call it luck, or fate, or providence, or what you
+will--by keeping the idea firmly fixed in your mind that nothing can
+harm you."
+
+I knew in my heart that nothing could prevent the dread messenger's
+visit when it was actually headed for one, still my philosophy had
+taught me that so far as I myself was concerned my determination to
+think positively about the matter had sustained me through many a trying
+moment when the fires of hell had surged about me, and up to that time I
+was as much alive as any man could wish to be, and I determined to stick
+to the philosophy, no matter how foolish it might seem when the cold
+light of logic played upon it.
+
+A deep sigh was his answer. I continued for half an hour to encourage
+and jolly him, telling him that dreams always went by the contrary, and
+my efforts were rewarded by his growing calm and promising he would
+fight tooth and nail against the thought, and we finally dropped off to
+sleep.
+
+"Show a leg, Grant, show a leg, cookhouse up," was yelled at me as
+daylight broke, and up we tumbled. I was much relieved that Billy was
+looking and acting as if nothing whatever disturbed him, except the
+possibility of being a second behind anybody else in getting to the
+cookhouse.
+
+Although we were bosom friends and companions, there was just a shade of
+the big-brother idea on my part of the fellowship, and I kept track of
+him whenever and wherever I could. This was not alone because of the
+congenial soul that was within him, but, also, because I had learned
+through him to know his mother. And such a mother! It is a forward
+impetus on life's journey to know such a woman, and I knew instinctively
+she would expect me to keep an eye on him. And so, while I was
+fulfilling my duty, I had the double satisfaction of having combined
+with it the pleasure of association with a fellow whose tastes and
+ideals were absolutely akin to my own. There was no confidence we did
+not share; we laid bare our hearts to each other; in short, we were
+chums in every sense that the word implies.
+
+Billy was ready for breakfast a second or two ahead of me, and he
+started up the steps, out through the door of the dugout. "I'm coming,"
+I called, and grabbed my mess-tin and went up the steps two at a time.
+I reached the top and the door of the dugout, and, simultaneously, a
+roar and rush of air struck me, and I was thrown to the floor, stunned
+for the moment. My senses quickly recovered themselves, and I found my
+face and clothes dripping with blood. I commenced looking for my wound,
+but failed to find any. The discovery momentarily mystified me. It was
+blood, but whose? There was no report or explosion. A dead shell! A
+terrible fear took possession of me, and I shot up the steps into the
+trench. The Thing that met my eyes stilled my heart with a chill. The
+headless body of Billy lay at my feet. It was his life's blood that
+covered my face and clothes. A mist shrouded my brain for a moment, as I
+leaned against the side of the trench, utterly unable to speak or think.
+Then as the truth of the Thing worked its way into my brain, I glanced
+around for the cause. A large, jagged hole had been torn through in our
+front trench wall by a 300-pound shell, had snuffed out my pal's life in
+its course, and buried itself in the parados of the trench. There it
+was, the rear end of it just inside the outside edge of the hind trench
+wall, and when it exploded it meant death for any living thing within a
+radius of several yards.
+
+Nature's primal law asserted itself and I dragged the remains of my
+best-loved friend several yards away and took from his pockets all his
+belongings and trinkets, and when I came to the photograph, partly
+stained with his heart's blood, hot, scalding tears blinded my eyes, and
+in deference to my dead friend's desire, I retained the photo, intending
+to get the news and picture back to her--in person, if possible. The
+O.C. took charge of the balance of his effects.
+
+Disregarding all thought of my own peril from the unexploded shell which
+lay at the mouth of our dugout, I ran down the steps and got a blanket,
+in which I wrapped the poor headless body, and then reported to the O.C.
+and received orders to keep my men away from the spot for twelve hours.
+I hastened to the cookhouse and imparted the news to the men, as well as
+the orders. Heartfelt expressions of regret came from all, for in spite
+of his constitutional nervousness, Billy was a prime favorite. But I
+knew that I was the only one with whom the pain and sting would live;
+the men were so calloused by such happenings that they no longer made a
+lasting impression.
+
+That was the longest and dreariest day I ever remember throughout my
+three years of campaigning. No thought of my turn coming entered my
+head, as I had so schooled myself into the belief that Fritz could not
+make a shell for me that I had long since ceased to give the matter any
+consideration whatsoever.
+
+The day's work kept me from giving way to grief, and at nine o'clock
+that night, when in the cookhouse, I heard a whistle and someone shouted
+my name. It was our O.C., Major Wright. I hastened to his dugout.
+
+"Sergeant Grant, I want you to take a party of six and make a grave and
+bury poor McLean. I know something of the relationship that existed
+between you, and I know that you will spare no effort to see that he is
+properly buried. While you are working I will try and fashion a cross
+for him. Report as soon as you are finished."
+
+"Yes, sir," and I saluted and went to the dugout occupied by my squad.
+The men were either reading or writing letters, and not only the six,
+but the ten of them responded, dropping their letters and books, and
+asked to take part in the burial. So we paddled through the darkness
+and the mud to where the body lay, and as we approached we noticed
+several huge rats scurrying away from it. A hatred for the vermin almost
+as intense as for the Hun has possessed me ever since. Of course, the
+bestiality of the latter has descended to such depths of infamy that it
+is impossible quite to class them with any other breed of vermin; it
+would be an insult even to the rat.
+
+We dug the grave as well as we could, assisted by such light as we got
+from the intermittent flashes of the guns and the edge of the flare
+gleams sent up by the enemy every little while. When the melancholy work
+was almost complete, I hurried over to the O.C. and he handed me the
+simple cross he had made,--just two pieces of wood with the inscription,
+"William McLean, C.E.F., September 30th, 1916, R.I.P."
+
+"When you have finished, Grant, take the party and build up the part of
+your trench that was shot away this morning."
+
+I saluted and returned to the grave. The boys had finished; there was
+nothing more on earth we could do for Billy.
+
+"O.C. says to build up the hole in the trench that was shot away this
+morning; you can go, fellows; get busy and I will be with you in a
+minute." They started and I was alone. Bitter tears again half blinded
+me as I placed the sign of the Christ at the grave's head; I couldn't
+place it at Billy's, because the shell had obliterated all traces of his
+head. With a short but very earnest prayer that God would help his
+mother and dear ones to sustain their loss and soften their grief, I
+hurriedly rejoined my men. On the way over I could not help thinking how
+lonely it would be that night in the dugout without Billy, and memories
+of the hundred and one incidents connected with our toil and trouble and
+joy in fixing up our nest flocked through my tired mind.
+
+They were hard at work mending the damage done at daybreak by that
+messenger of hell. As I reached the spot, one of the boys remarked, "If
+that shell explodes before we get through, there will be no need of a
+grave for us." Very nearly fifteen hours had passed, however, since it
+had struck, and none of us felt there was any danger from that
+direction, as it was quite uncommon for any of them to burst if they had
+not done so within at least twelve hours, and I answered, "Oh, no,
+fellows, there is nothing to fear from it." I stepped to the back of the
+trench where the shell was imbedded in the parados and examined the
+spot. "I guess it is there for keeps," I said, and returned to work. In
+a few minutes one or two of the boys complained of thirst, and I
+volunteered to get water. I ran down the steps into my dugout, got
+Billy's water bottle and my own, and doubled down to the cook's dugout,
+filled them with drinking water, and was just starting back when the
+ground under me shook with an explosion, splinters coming from all
+directions, and one of them slightly wounding the cook. I thought at
+first Fritz had struck an ammunition depot, so tremendous was the roar.
+I grabbed the bottles and shot back to my party.
+
+They did not need the water; they had been swept into eternity by the
+dead shell, and I was the sole surviving man of the thirteen-squad that
+I had taken into the line the night before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SATAN'S SHELLS AND SCENTED GAS
+
+
+Prior to an attack in the morning, we cleaned up the gun and ammunition,
+getting everything in shape and retiring at 11:30. "Stand to!" was
+called at four o'clock, firing commenced at 4:30, and we worked our guns
+for two hours, during which time the boys went over, took three lines of
+trenches from Fritz and in a remarkably short time, hundreds of
+prisoners were turning into our lines without escort.
+
+That night the prisoners were employed going up and down our lines
+carrying out wounded. I shall never forget the contented look on the
+faces of these captives as they worked inside our lines; they did
+everything required of them with a willingness and cheerfulness that at
+first seemed to be amazing. Most of them were young Bavarians and
+presented a very shabby appearance.
+
+We then decreased our rate of fire, letting go one round every two
+minutes, giving us time to sit around and chat about the big surprise
+we had given Fritz and the success of our attack. Before giving the word
+to fire I would first warn the men, so they could look out for their
+eardrums, besides getting out of the way; we never fire unknowingly to
+any of the men as the concussion works a severe hardship on the ears.
+One of the boys was sitting on an ammunition box, leaning against the
+gun wheel, with his feet on a little fireplace that we had taken a
+chance on installing, thinking the fog was so thick Fritz would not
+notice the smoke. As usual, our ammunition was stationed in our rear.
+One fellow was squatting on the sand bags and leaning against the
+shells; I was sitting in seat three, between the gun wheel and the left
+side, while another was on seat four, also between the gun wheel and the
+gun on the right; another man was standing ready to put a shell in the
+muzzle.
+
+"Fellows, are you ready?" I asked.
+
+"All right."
+
+"Fire!"
+
+The next instant I felt my feet giving way from under me. The gun had
+blown off at the shield, the muzzle being blown to pieces, gas and fumes
+filled the air, the spokes were blown out of the wheels, splinters
+striking me on the feet and legs. I started to the front of the gun and
+fell on top of Graham.
+
+"What happened?" he asked. "I don't know," I said. There were several
+pieces of tube lying about that looked like parts of a German shell.
+Graham yelled to know what had happened. "A German shell hit the gun," I
+said. He was then seized with shell shock and became uncontrollable.
+Park, who was leaning against the ammunition, was blown up, the shell
+having driven clean through his spine; the man loading the shell had a
+fragment driven clear through his stomach. The man leaning against the
+gun wheel was beheaded as cleanly as any king's executioner with his ax
+could do it, his head lying in the fireplace! The cartridge had exploded
+but the shell did not.
+
+The trouble was caused by what is known as a "defective" shell.
+
+I left the gun pit to help Graham over to the dressing station and I had
+a job on my hands; he was suffering from a bad attack of brain
+concussion. After attention a couple of Fritzies carried him to the
+rear.
+
+Returning to the gun pit I found a state of wild confusion among the
+fellows as to what had really happened. On examination I found it was
+this defective shell; over to the right of the gun I picked up a chunk
+of it over a foot long.
+
+Those who remained of our gun crew went that night to the wagon lines,
+spending a few days there while waiting for our gun to be replaced.
+
+When our gun was replaced I started back from the wagon lines, carrying
+a piston rod of the buffer, with Downey assisting me. We were on
+horseback and getting into Labazell Valley, when a shell passed over our
+head so close that we felt the wind of it; it was accompanied by a great
+flare over to our right. The shell struck one of our ammunition dumps
+containing about 50,000 rounds of shells and other explosives, such as
+rifle grenades, Mills bombs, French mortar bombs, aerial torpedoes, high
+explosive shells, shrapnel shells, star and gas shells. The disaster
+resulting from this one single shell was almost inconceivable. It
+started a fire that gathered strength each second, for all the world
+like a prairie fire, and the scenic effect was that of a titanic
+fireworks exhibition. The moon was brightly shining in a clear sky, but
+the star shells shooting in the air and exploding with a constantly
+increasing rapidity, the blaze of artificial light quickly obtained
+ascendency over the mistress of the night; and the shrapnel shells,
+throwing their contents of danger in all directions, together with the
+hissing and roaring of all the other exploding missiles of death, formed
+a diapason of sound that makes one of those wonder-moments that come so
+seldom in a lifetime.
+
+The reflection of the fire from the explosion was quickly observed by
+Fritz, and in short order he had his airplanes hovering overhead, and
+they too were dropping their bombs wherever human activities were noted.
+We hastily dismounted, tying our horses to the barbed-wire iron pickets
+in the side of the road, and rushed with a body of men, mostly wagon
+drivers whose wagons were stalled on the road in the congestion, over to
+do what we could to save the ammunition which is so badly needed at all
+times.
+
+In the first rush toward the pile an explosion snuffed out the lives of
+thirty or forty of the men, knocking the rest of us off our feet like so
+many nine-pins, besides killing several of the horses on the road, and
+to add to the already indescribable chaos, several of the horses
+stampeded, racing blindly into barbed-wire entanglements and adding to
+the general destruction.
+
+What with Fritz dropping bombs from his airplanes, our horses stampeding
+and screaming like wild things, and our own explosives bursting in every
+conceivable direction with a thousand different roars, the scene can be
+better imagined than described. We saved about 10,000 rounds out of that
+entire dump. For a distance of twenty miles the reflection of the fire
+extended, the rockets themselves being visible for a space of ten miles.
+I don't suppose since the world began was there ever a scene of such
+awful beauty; it was a bursting Vesuvius with the co-mingled radiant
+beauties of a thousand rainbows.
+
+When there was nothing further that we could do, we regained our
+frightened mounts and resumed our journey. Such a road of confusion! The
+ground being wet, turning the chalky earth into white, the moving,
+wriggling vehicles of every kind and description afforded a magnificent
+target for the marksmen of the air and casualties here, there and
+everywhere along the road was the order of the night.
+
+A short distance along, the sounds of battle in the air reached our
+ears, and looking up I saw two shadows passing between our eyes and
+moon, then two more. Suddenly our searchlights opened up, and there, in
+full view, were four planes, two British and two German, engaged in one
+of those struggles which practically forms the only feature in this war
+around which is thrown any of the elements of romance that appeals to
+all the instinct of a vivid imagination. It was a fair field and no
+favor. The battle had been on about three or four minutes when one of
+the British birds landed on Fritz, driving him down nose first. He could
+not regain control and he dashed headlong into the earth to destruction.
+Our fellow then rose and went to the assistance of his pal and they made
+short work of the second Taube.
+
+That is the only time I have ever witnessed a scene of that kind under
+those circumstances, and it is a rare occurrence indeed that one has the
+privilege of seeing such a struggle with such a background.
+
+We were now among the batteries; to the right and left of us the guns
+had commenced speaking to the German roads, and the ammunition dumps
+there, in retaliation for the destruction of our gun-food; the
+anti-aircraft guns were also getting into the chorus, together with the
+pom-poms, and the whole swelled into a mighty chorus of sound that
+filled every crack and crevice in the air, making one feel as if he were
+inhaling sound rather than ozone.
+
+As we neared Pozières a 9.02 howitzer gun on our left fired a shell that
+exploded in the gun and blew the gun and crew in all directions. The
+shell also started some ammunition going that was lying about and it was
+under the greatest difficulty that the men, whose lives were not lost in
+the first explosion, managed to get away. The men were trying to
+manhandle the remainder of the guns of the battery and we jumped off our
+horses, fastened them to an old wagon lying in the ditch, and headed
+over to lend a hand. With much tugging and perspiring we saved three of
+the guns.
+
+Explosions of these tremendous projectiles were deafening in the
+extreme, and here there were two or three of them exploding at once in
+our immediate neighborhood.
+
+Again we mounted on our way to Pozières and, when reaching our journey's
+end, Fritzie began pumping in his crying shells; these are the kind
+that draw copious tears, inflame the eyes and make things generally
+disagreeable. We had not brought our goggles and suffered from a
+temporary spell of blindness; we had not had any trouble from this
+particular kind of visitor for some time and had not bothered to keep
+our glasses with us. Groping along, blinking my eyes to get a little
+gleam of light, I stumbled across four or five dead horses and was
+nearly thrown from my horse.
+
+I warned Downey, who was behind me, and he avoided the trouble, but we
+had to keep a tight rein on our thoroughly frightened animals. It was
+impossible to get them past the dead horses until some others went by
+and then, leading them by the bridle, we got by.
+
+Traffic was now fearfully congested on account of some tanks that were
+taking cover in the sunken road for their attack in the morning, and a
+shower of shells dropping here and there along the road did not add to
+our comfort. We passed through Courcelette Valley and came to a small
+bridge crossing a trench; this particular bridge was the subject of hot
+shellfire, as it was the only point where traffic could cross for about
+a mile to the right or left, and Fritz was well aware of the fact. When
+half-way across, a shell exploded, killing my horse, and the animal
+rolled over with me on its back, twisting my leg. For a while I thought
+my number was up; in a few moments I was able to get up behind Downey.
+
+We had reached the end of our journey, got to the gun, delivered the
+piston rod and reported to the Captain. He instructed us to stay there
+for the night and told Downey to tie up his horse in one of the German
+gun pits; then Downey was ordered to go on S.O.S. sentry duty. He had
+our sincere sympathy, for the rest of us were just breaking into the
+little old game for the balance of the night (morning).
+
+In the middle of the game Downey came running in. "Say, fellows, there's
+a hell of a smell out here,--something sweet, never smelt it before,
+don't know what it is." "It's gas," I yelled, "the new kind! Get on your
+masks!"
+
+We adjusted our protectors and made for the entrance. Downey began to be
+overcome by the fumes and I took over sentry; the warning gas horns were
+booming up and down the line like a deep-throated buzzing,--a most
+unearthly and weird sound.
+
+The gas shells were now dropping plenteously round about and one of my
+pals, Dory, was instructed to assist me in relighting our lamps, as they
+were growing dim; these are our feed lamps that are lit every night with
+candles and placed, one for each gun, about 50 feet in front, and on
+these lights the sights are trained, so that it is vital to keep them
+burning all night long.
+
+We rapidly commenced replacing the burnt-out candles, and just then we
+heard the warning roar of a coming shell, but before it burst I heard a
+splash; it was Dory taking a header into a shell hole full of water; I
+threw myself flat. In adjusting our lamps we had to remove our gas
+helmets, and after waiting some time for the expected explosion and
+hearing none, I looked up; white fumes were rising from the ground at
+about the spot the shell had entered; there had been no explosion of
+splinters.
+
+This particular shell is very thin, is fired with great velocity, and
+when meeting resistance it breaks and cracks and the white gas fumes
+like steam come floating out. "What do you think of that, Grant!" from
+Dory in the shell hole; "I thought the blankety-blank was a Jack
+Johnson." His thought had cost him a soaking and the reflex action of
+his thought was strongly in evidence during the balance of our watch.
+
+The remainder of our lonely duty was not enhanced in pleasure by the
+contemplation of scores of stretcher bearers carrying out men who had
+been caught unprepared by the gas and who were choking and suffocating
+from its effects.
+
+So earnestly pernicious is the gas device as a fighting weapon that it
+is a matter of common talk among the boys that Fritz, when he invented
+his contrivance, must have been in direct communication with his Satanic
+Majesty.
+
+Working tooth and nail to smother the Hun, and he in turn working might
+and main to smother us, was the order of the day continuously throughout
+the campaign on the Somme, and a few nights following the happening
+above, Dory and myself were on S.O.S. sentry.
+
+About 3:00 o'clock A.M. the messages from Germany started coming and our
+replies were mailed back as fast as the postal authorities at the guns
+could handle the matter; in fact, throughout our campaign on the Somme
+we mailed our replies and our additional messages so rapidly and so
+effectively, that nine times out of ten Fritzie's working force was
+swamped.
+
+On this A.M. his shells were gas which glazed the feed lamps and the
+sight of the lenses, as well as accumulating in the inside of the gun
+muzzle, making it necessary to swab out the muzzle of the gun before
+using, as otherwise it would rust badly, which would result in putting
+the gun out of commission in short order. The fire developed into a
+first-class artillery duel, our battery and nine others answering ten
+German batteries. The net result of the duel was two of Fritzie's guns
+put out of business.
+
+Before long our lamps on the sandbags, by which we got our light to see
+to work the guns, were knocked off by an explosion and we were in
+darkness; following that, the springs in the buffer of my gun were
+broken, making it necessary to put it back in place by hand. Each time
+the gun is fired it recoils and is brought back to place by the
+hydraulic buffer containing the spring; but we had to perform this work
+in the darkness by hand. The coals of Hades were now coming in heavier
+each moment, because heavier caliber pieces had opened up on us, and we
+were getting the worst of it; our weightier sisters must take a hand at
+the game, and we kept up our end of the argument until this could be
+done.
+
+It was Dory's duty to reload the gun and push it forward in place for
+position, each time yelling "Ready!" One time the gun was shoved into
+place and the man on the right,--Dory was on the left--gave the "Ready!"
+and I fired. The darkness was still thick and I could not see that Dory
+was pushing up on the gun with all his might, to bring it into place
+when I fired, and the recoil drove him back into the corner against a
+pile of ammunition, smashing his arm. We assisted him, and one of the
+fellows volunteered to go with him to the dressing station, but Dory was
+game to the core; he was one of the most happy-go-lucky boys I ever met.
+"Hell! I will make it myself. Stay here while the fun is on. I wish to
+God I could stay too!"
+
+We renewed our duel, but the heavier caliber shells were commencing to
+tell; number 3 gun was struck and part of the crew wiped out. Our
+telephonist 'phoned headquarters for the weightier women to get busy,
+telling them of our plight, and inside six minutes the ladies of larger
+girth, the 9.02 howitzers, started debating the question with Fritzie so
+vigorously that inside of thirty minutes not a single reply was to be
+had from their guns.
+
+"Stand down!"--and cleaning our guns, gun pits and carrying ammunition,
+busied us. In the midst of our work a dizziness seized my head,
+accompanied with a choking in the throat and lungs, and before I could
+cry out or warn my pals, I dropped. I had unconsciously imbibed the
+potion when I removed my mask to relight the feed lamps, and it is one
+of the peculiar effects of this dose that it is some time after its
+inhalation that the harmfulness becomes apparent;--so it was with me. I
+was lifted onto a stretcher and carried to the dressing station near
+what is known as the Sunken Road. The ground around the station was
+dotted with men suffering from attacks of a similar nature; there were
+56 of us in all.
+
+The doctor's examination was brief,--"Gas," and I was laid alongside my
+brothers in misery. We were ordered to keep absolutely quiet and on no
+account to leave our stretchers; but while lying there the unwelcome
+messages from the German guns began coming in our neighborhood; and the
+ever terrifying sound of their explosions brought the nerves of the men,
+already on edge, over the border line of reason, and a number of them
+struggled up from their cots and started running away, forgetting or
+ignoring the doctor's orders. The poor fellows paid dearly for it; some
+of them dropped in their tracks, dying, where they dropped; some died
+after they were brought back to the station, and some gave up the ghost
+when in England they lost the last remaining tissue of their lungs, due
+to the effect of their running. "I mustn't budge!" I kept repeating to
+myself, for my own nerves were at the jumping-off point and I thought
+the veins in my head would burst if I had to endure those
+explosion-roars another minute. Happily they ceased as suddenly as they
+began.
+
+There is no kind of suffering endured in the battle front that has such
+a horror for the men as the gas; it is that fighting for breath that
+takes the life out of a fellow, and, God! how it chokes. Out of that
+bunch of 56 gassed men, only six came out whole.
+
+The following week we were ordered to leave the Somme. Although I felt
+in the mood for sticking it as long as I had the strength to keep
+going, yet I must confess the order filled my soul with a gratitude that
+was unspeakable. I had been in the Somme campaign three months, and when
+our guns swept into position at Martinsaart, my weight was 171; when I
+left, I tipped the scales at 145. The men who had been with the guns
+there and who know what it is to work 24 hours in the day for many days
+in the week, rarely during the three months experiencing the refreshing
+rest of a consecutive two hours' sleep, and working like veritable
+demons during every waking moment, either at the guns or cleaning the
+ammunition, or carrying the ammunition into place,--they will understand
+what it means to lose 25 pounds in weight on the Somme.
+
+My uniform was in rags and saturated so thickly with grease and dirt
+that for many days it was one of my pet recreations to take a knife and
+scoop it by the bladeful out of the khaki cloth. And my skin! What a
+hide! The combination of cleaning and repairing guns, working them
+constantly, driving horses, observation work, together with the gas, my
+body was saturated with a mixture that took weeks to extract.
+
+The cut-up-ground, pock-marked with shell holes as closely as the cells
+in a honeycomb, was of course carefully noted by Fritzie's aerial
+observers, and they were naturally led to believe that it would be
+physically impossible for our batteries to be relieved,--that is, to
+retire and another battery take our place. But we camouflaged. Under
+cover of a fog we worked like beavers for a day and a night, filling in
+shell holes, and made fairly decent roads under the conditions, and one
+fine morning, still under the friendly shelter of the fog, leaving our
+ammunition behind, we pulled out the gun; the entire Canadian Division
+retired and were relieved by the English Tommies.
+
+As we were going out we passed their batteries coming in and it was
+heartening indeed to hear the compliments and praises that were showered
+upon us by the lads of England, although we had not done a single thing
+that they could not have done and done just as well as we, and maybe
+better.
+
+In some places where our guns were stationed the ground conditions made
+it absolutely impossible to remove them for the time; in such cases the
+Imperial batteries left their guns at the horse lines and took over the
+Canadian guns, the Canadian gunners taking their pets instead. This
+occasioned a real and heartfelt loss to both Canadian gunners and
+Imperial boys who had to change over their pets, because every gunner
+learns to acquire a real affection for his mistress, as he terms the
+gun, and with many of the men it was like losing a good horse or a dog
+to whom they had become sincerely and warmly attached, the attachment
+being born of weeks and months of the most arduous trial and test.
+
+We reached the wagon lines with our guns still intact and we felt as
+safe as if we were back in our beloved Dominion. We were going back of
+the lines, and the scene of breaking camp in our preparations for
+returning to the rear was picturesque in the extreme. Bonfires made of
+refuse and waste material for which we had no further use were burning
+everywhere; men were hurrying hither and thither; and through it all you
+could hear the steady digging, shoveling and pounding of the German
+prisoners who were repairing the roads their own guns mangled. I felt a
+large measure of satisfaction at seeing them working as hard as they
+could go, restoring at least that much of their destructiveness; they
+will never, they can never replace the wantonness, the frightfulness,
+of which they have been the inspired tool in this the struggle of their
+lords and masters for the earth's control.
+
+Night and day for three days we traveled on our batteries, arriving at a
+place called Camblain-Châtillon, a small town in a mining valley. Here
+we were billeted in barns, but the inhabitants hearing that we were
+Canadians who had been operating on the Somme, came out _en masse_ to
+greet us and give us of their best. We were invited to their homes, and
+their larders were placed at our disposal; a large bath made of
+granite--a splendid outfit used by the miners of the town, was thrown
+open to us, and it is needless to say we reveled in the luxury of a
+plunge as quickly as we could tumble in. How we needed it! I had not
+known a bath during all the time I was on the Somme and lousiness was
+part and parcel of my make-up. I was so accustomed to it, however, that
+it had long ceased to cause me more than a passing thought; there were
+too many other things to think about during that session. But once
+relieved from the tension of the daily struggle to save life, as well as
+take it, the desire to become normal, decent, cleanly human beings took
+possession of every man of us, and we wallowed in the bath until we
+could once more look other respectable citizens in the face.
+
+In this haven of rest and retirement we luxuriated for two weeks, then
+moved into action on the Lens-Arras road. We placed our guns on the side
+of the road, digging our trails in the edge of the cobble stone pavement
+as a trail block, to hold the guns steady when firing. Chicken wire on
+top, covered with grass and brushwood, completed the scenic protection.
+
+Our work was the well-known ruse of a night raid in preparation for the
+attack on Vimy Ridge, and carried out for the purpose of keeping the
+Germans guessing as to where the next drive would be driven.
+
+Leaving four men and the telephonist with the guns that night, we went
+to Anges, half a mile from the gun position, to our billets; this was an
+old French château, and comfortable beyond expression. As the foes of
+our anatomies had again attacked in mass formation, this time we were
+annoyed to a degree. Procuring creolin, we rubbed it on our bodies pure;
+it should have been adulterated. During the night the natural
+perspiration of our bodies caused the vermin grease to work through
+the pores, and excessive stinging and smarting was the outcome. One
+fellow awoke with a grunt of impatience and then a snort of anger, as a
+sense of the stinging brought him to a realization of his discomfort;
+then another, and another, until the entire bunch was in a fine frenzy,
+fanning our bodies and running into the night air for relief. My carcass
+was on fire and I wished to heaven I had left the lice alone; they could
+not at least have prevented my sleeping. I determined for the future, as
+against this cure, I would keep the curse. I felt as if I were suffering
+from a severe sunburn over every inch of my body.
+
+[Illustration: A First Line Hospital]
+
+In the midst of our misery "Stand to!" was sounded, necessitating the
+dropping of all our skin troubles and skedaddling to get to the guns. We
+ran across an open field that had been converted into a graveyard after
+the French drove the Germans over on to Vimy Ridge, but there was no
+thought of sacrilege in our minds as we raced pell-mell over the
+grave-filled land; there never is but one thought in our minds; we are,
+every man of us, souls with but a single thought when "Stand to!"
+sounds. We reached the guns practically in the nude, and fastening the
+sights and scratching my hide at the same time kept me fairly busy.
+
+We worked the guns for an hour; then "Ammunition up!" was the order for
+the rest of the night. We were not allowed to return to our billets as
+another attack was expected. At 5:30 the first snowstorm of the winter
+swept over the land. The ground was fairly firm from the preceding
+frost, and in a short time the country was resting underneath a mantle
+of beautiful purity. With the enthusiastic ardor of a lot of school
+boys, we grabbed up the beautiful element in our hands and an old time
+snowball fight took place. Then the "Stand to!" of the morning was
+given.
+
+Our objective this time was to cut channels through the wire about 15 to
+20 feet wide, to permit the infantry to pass. This work is effected by
+means of shrapnel shells that cut the wire into little strands, then
+high explosives are used to root out the remaining posts. When we had
+accomplished our purpose and made everything ready for the charge,
+"Stand down!" was sounded. The infantry took up the program and dashed
+over and through the gaps we had made. They cleaned up the first line,
+then on to the second, smashing their guns, trench mortars and
+trenches, bombed the dugouts, destroyed their rations and sent back over
+1800 prisoners. What I call a fair morning's work!
+
+Now, as I have heretofore said, the objects most easily seen by an
+airplane are white and black and the surface of the earth being covered
+with a mantle of snow, naturally the things that the keen-sighted
+airbirds would first look for would be dark-colored.
+
+The snow around our battery by this time had been thoroughly melted by
+the heat from our guns--as a matter of fact, the guns were steaming--and
+one of our Sergeants, knowing how easily discernible our pieces would be
+to the enemy airbirds, began gathering snow and spreading it all over
+the places where it had melted. He was working hard throwing the snow
+immediately in front of my gun when another "Stand to!" came. Let me
+repeat, if I have not already made it entirely clear, that when this
+most imperative order is sounded, there is only one thought in the mind
+of every man of the battery, to get our message off as quickly as human
+power can send it; and throughout every stage of the world's work that
+we are doing over there, there is no time when the bodies of men are
+entirely free of bruises received in collision with one another in the
+absorbing endeavor of every man to respond. This will account for the
+lamentable accident that occurred at this time.
+
+The Sergeant, unthinkingly, after "Stand to!" was sounded, went on in
+his earnest endeavor to camouflage the battery with the snow. Now it so
+happened that at the identical time that the Sergeant was so engaged, a
+kiltie battalion was making its way to the trenches on a foot path,
+running diagonally across the front of the guns. In obedience to the
+command to fire, the crew speeded to their respective guns, jammed back
+the levers and the missiles started on their journey of destruction. The
+shell from our gun in front of which the Sergeant was working killed him
+before he knew what had happened and, as luck or the devil would have
+it, the shell was a premature; it exploded at the point of the muzzle
+and its 365 shrapnel pellets, each traveling at the rate of 2200 feet
+per second muzzle velocity, and which when exploded assume the shape of
+a gigantic fan, shot death and destruction into the kiltie battalion in
+front. Sixty of the kilties paid with their lives the price of this
+premature shell, including the Sergeant. For a hundred yards in every
+direction the heads, arms and legs of the Scotch fighting men were
+strewn all over the ground. It was one of those terrible things that is
+a matter for the deepest concern and regret, and yet cannot be helped.
+
+We were next ordered back to the wagon lines at Camblain-Châtillon,
+arriving there on the evening of the 23rd of December, and preparations
+for Christmas dinner were uppermost in the mind of every man. We were
+delighted by a visit from the town authorities who asked us if we would
+like to use the schoolhouse for our celebration and that we were most
+heartily welcome to it, which offer we were most heartily glad to
+accept, and the authorities proceeded at once to decorate the
+schoolhouse in true holiday fashion, evergreens and lanterns filling
+every nook and corner of the large room. The tables, of course, we
+supplied ourselves.
+
+For turkey we had a French pig purchased from a farmer for 300 francs,
+each man chipping in three francs; new carrots, Irish potatoes, boiled
+onions, cranberry sauce, the latter supplied by a large-hearted French
+lady in the town, made up the accompaniment of the "Turkey." For dessert
+we had a speech from Major Wright, congratulating us on our work in the
+Somme. In a few well-chosen words he told us how we had lost over 60 per
+cent of our men, counting the reinforcements, and that it was a matter
+of sincere gratitude to every man of us that we were there to enjoy the
+bounteous Christmas cheer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+BEFORE VIMY
+
+
+In the course of ten days we arrived at Bully-Grenay, situated in the
+very heart of the mining district, three mines being located in the town
+itself. We were still working on the Vimy Ridge proposition. At no time
+in France were our quarters more comfortable than here; each gun of my
+battery was stationed in the cellar of a private house on the outskirts
+of the town from which the civilians had been shelled, and at night in
+the midst of a game of cards, or engaged in our letter writing, or
+reading, when we got the "S.O.S." signal, the lanyard was at my hand and
+I had only to pull the rope. Our quarters were heated by coal purchased
+direct from the mine and furnished to us at ten cents per bag. Every
+mine in this place was worked only at night, the smoke of the industry
+indicating to Fritz where to plant his shells; therefore, the entire
+coal mining was done during the hours of sleep.
+
+The Huns were making a most determined effort to get possession of
+Bully-Grenay and these most valuable coal mines, and they were anxiously
+looking forward to the time when they could attack successfully, and
+knowing how vital to us it was to get out this coal, they concentrated
+their efforts through the daytime on the mine shafts in an effort to
+destroy them; but having no smoke signals to guide their fire, their
+efforts generally were futile.
+
+A notable instance of the spirit controlling our ideas of warfare was
+splendidly illustrated in this particular sector. Among the captured
+French mines that the Germans were working was one in close proximity to
+a church, of whose existence they took particular pains to let us know;
+and the church, in addition to being used as a protection for the mine,
+was also used as a camouflage for one of their batteries, the guns being
+placed immediately in front of it. It is repugnant to the very soul of a
+British soldier to level his gun at a church, so Fritz was able to get
+away with his camouflage.
+
+On the morning of the third day of our visit here we were treated to
+another superb example of _kultur_. The school children were playing in
+the school yard and Fritz dropped a shell in their midst, killing and
+wounding several, following it up by two others that smashed the
+schoolhouse. A panic followed among the teachers and children, and the
+only thing we could do at the time was to stand there and watch the
+devilishness. Some of the men of an infantry battalion who were billeted
+on the outskirts of the town, rushed to the school and carried out the
+wounded and dead. If Fritz could have seen and heard the maddened fury
+of those rescuers as they carried out the maimed and bleeding little
+ones, his first thought would have been to have given them as wide a
+berth as possible; but when they did meet,--God help them!
+
+At 1:00 o'clock in the morning Fritz opened up with gas shells,
+smothering the civilian population, and the people who were running out
+of the town, choking and suffocating, brought to my mind a most vivid
+recollection of the city of Ypres. How can I describe the agony, the
+despair on the faces of the inoffending citizens who were having their
+homes blasted to bits, their lungs choked with suffocation, separated
+from their loved ones in the wild scramble of the night for shelter and
+safety! Any place, anywhere but there!
+
+Donning our helmets we got to our guns and waited for orders, which we
+presently received. I never worked with more love and energy than I did
+that night, and never did I spit more liberally on each individual shell
+as it was shoved into place for departure. Inside of twenty minutes
+Fritzie decided that the pastime of shelling Bully-Grenay with gas
+shells was not as funny as it was cracked up to be; he broke off short
+and quick.
+
+In the two weeks following we were at Estari Chic, another Vimy Ridge
+position. Here we were stationed at the horse lines. While there, an
+order was issued that we could not buy bread from the civilian
+population for the reason that our military authorities considered the
+rations we were getting were sufficient for all our needs. The
+shop-keepers were quite willing to sell any soldier, however, and we
+were more than anxious to get his bread if we could safely do so. The
+manner in which we disobeyed orders was as follows: The bake-shop was
+about half-a-mile from our billet and we had to pass several policemen
+on the way down; two fellows would stand outside the building while I
+went inside and purchased the bread, and if policemen were seen coming,
+the man nearest to the officer would give the signal and I would duck
+off into an alley-way and up the back streets into the billet, and it
+would not be long before my outpost would join me; then the jam would be
+produced and in short order the delicious French bread and jam would be
+winding its way down into our voracious stomachs.
+
+We left this point for Camblain-le-Abbeau for another nip at the ridge
+from that angle, pulled into the wagon lines for two days and then got
+into action on the Lens-Arras road. We laid the guns on the side of the
+road, camouflaging them in the usual fashion. We were the first
+battalion to arrive, but within four days 100 or more batteries were
+there. Our work here was to cut the wire in preparation for one of the
+usual raids, to blind Fritz and keep him guessing where the drive was to
+be launched. We performed our work flawlessly, the boys of the infantry
+going over through the gaps we had made and capturing several machine
+guns and prisoners.
+
+On the second day following, the Captain asked me to go into the
+trenches to assist him in observation work. We found after inspection
+that the point we wanted to get our data upon could not be obtained
+from the low-lying trenches, and the Captain, wondering where we had
+best go, happened to get his fancy settled on a mine shaft. "We will go
+up there, Grant," he said, and together we made our way to the spot. The
+climb to the top was no easy matter, and when we got there we set about
+making ourselves as comfortable as possible. As soon as we had our
+apparatus working, the Captain commenced registering the cemetery, the
+tombstones of which were being carried away by Fritz to place around his
+dugouts. The Captain flashed the necessary information and in ten
+minutes they were pretty thoroughly shot up.
+
+The Captain then directed his attention to a trench digging party, sent
+his compliments to the guns--would they kindly take care of the trench
+digging party, which they did. Then we were spotted; in a few seconds we
+were the recipients of a blast of machine-gun fire; a _minenwerfer_
+dropped at the foot of the mine shaft, blowing the entire corner away,
+and it became very evident the place was ours no longer, and we started
+for the bottom.
+
+In going down it was necessary for me to execute a sort of slide, as I
+had to hang on with my hands while my feet were going down, and the
+Captain, in his naturally human haste to get to a place of safety,
+inadvertently trod on my fingers.
+
+"For God's sake, Captain," I yelled, "get off my fingers!"
+
+"Take your damned fingers out of my way!" replied the Captain.
+
+"How can I? Your foot is on them!" He eased up a bit and I was able to
+release my mangled fingers, but Lord! he weighed about 200 pounds.
+
+Now Captain Black was a man who was absolutely afraid of nothing in
+human shape; his fighting spirit is unbeatable; every man in the battery
+can testify to his absolute fearlessness, and I am glad to lend my
+humble testament to his unquestionable bravery. However, in going down
+the shaft the shots were coming thick and fast, and it was the most
+natural thing in the world for him to tread on my fingers in his desire
+to avoid the sniping shell or machine-gun bullet, but my fingers were
+sadly in need of repair by the time we got to the bottom.
+
+When we reached the foot we got into the shell hole blasted out by the
+_minenwerfer_ that had torn the corner of the shaft away. We had not yet
+completed our observations and Cap decided he would try the top of the
+slag heap. To the top we crawled, placing our periscope and telephone in
+position, and were nicely settled and doing good work, the Captain
+congratulating himself audibly on his bright thought in selecting this
+spot, when his congratulations were cut short by a shell smashing the
+periscope glass, followed by a _minenwerfer_ striking the bottom of the
+slag heap, making another huge excavation and causing the slag at the
+top to roll down from under us, taking us with it. But the Cap was not
+to be driven away so easily. "Come on, Grant, let's try it again," and
+up we went again, and again another large shell at the bottom of the
+pile caused a cave-in, and down we rolled. Still the Captain had not
+enough, and up we went a third time. The same thing happened again, the
+shells tearing away a large hole at the bottom of the slag heap, causing
+the slag on which we were standing to give way and carrying us to the
+bottom. By this time the shells were showering the entire place and
+Captain Black reluctantly decided that it was no go, and we gave it up.
+
+It was during the stay of my battery on the Lens-Arras road, during the
+Vimy Ridge preparation, that I again personally encountered Fritz in
+the form of his spy system. One night after the guns had been oiled and
+prepared for their next job, and we were all busy cleaning up the
+ammunition for the work in hand, I was accosted by a couple of British
+officers, a Captain and a Major.
+
+"Sergeant, would you kindly help us to a drink of water?" said the
+Major. "Certainly, sir," I answered, saluting; "if you will wait here a
+moment I will get it for you."
+
+"Thank you," they replied, and I went for the water. Returning I found
+the Major with one of our shells in his hand and the Captain examining
+the gun.
+
+"She's a beauty, Sergeant," said the Captain.
+
+"Yes, sir," I smilingly answered, "and she is just as good as she is
+beautiful,--never kicks or falters."
+
+"By Jove!" laughed the Major, "that's a good one. How many messages did
+you send them last night, Sergeant?"
+
+"None, sir."
+
+"You don't say! Why I thought I heard you firing. Where is your battery
+operating?"
+
+"Oh, we just sent off a few rounds at the crossroads."
+
+"She seems to have been doing her bit today all right."
+
+While conversing with the Major, I noticed the Captain talking with one
+of my men about the gun sight and, hastily excusing myself to the Major,
+I went over to him. "Pardon me for interrupting. Billy, you had better
+go over to the Major and tell him the gun is ready at once for
+inspection."
+
+Billy excused himself to the Captain and started off. The officers then
+prepared to leave.
+
+"Won't you wait a moment, sir, and see the Major? He will be right
+over."
+
+"Well, we will see him on our way back. We're in a kind of a hurry,
+Sergeant." And they bade me good night and left.
+
+There was something told me that all was not well with these men, but
+the suspicion had not become sufficiently rooted in my head to find
+expression, and, consequently, I said nothing at the time.
+
+The very next morning after inspection, orders were read and in the
+instructions were explicit descriptions of two British officers who were
+German agents and who were making the rounds of the lines, picking up
+information wherever they could, and commanding all ranks to be on the
+lookout and arrest them on sight, shooting them if they resisted, and
+offering a prize of ten pounds to the man who succeeded in effecting
+their arrest. "Good Lord!" I thought. "What a miss!" If my wits had been
+properly working, I would have been ten pounds the richer, together with
+a four-weeks' leave of absence.
+
+These audacious agents had visited all sections and doubtless had
+acquired a store of general information, and headquarters urged a most
+rigorous search for them. The following night they were spotted in a
+French _estaminet_, by a bunch of sharp-eyed Tommies, and, as luck would
+have it, the men were chatting about the ten-pound prize for capturing
+these same fellows, and their mouths were watering at the picture that
+each one of them was painting of what he would do if he only had the
+prize.
+
+"I'll tell 'e what it is," said one, "if my blinkers falls on them chaps
+I'll wet the whole damned outfit!"
+
+As they entered, the soldier's eye went over the room and lit on the
+very men in question, seated by themselves in a little side room of the
+inn. In a low tone he communicated his thought to his companions.
+"Blime me, I'll eat your mother-in-law if there ain't our meat!" There
+was about 20 in the bunch, and they did not waste time in consultation.
+At once they were in the anteroom, confronting these men.
+
+"What do you want?" gruffly asked the Major.
+
+"We have to come to tell you, sir, that the O.C. wants to see you and
+the Captain at once."
+
+"All right, tell your O.C. we will be over directly."
+
+"'E wants you now, sir."
+
+"Well, didn't you hear me say we'd be over there shortly?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, damn you, tell him so, and I'll see that you are taken care of
+for your impertinence."
+
+"I don't mean to be impertinent, sir, but I'm here to see that you come
+and come now."
+
+Like a flash both men drew their revolvers, but before they had a chance
+to use them, the entire bunch was on top of them, and it was a somewhat
+mussed up Major and Captain that appeared before the O.C. at the
+headquarters of the Tommies who sleuthed them. The intuition of the
+soldier proved correct; with absolute certainty he had falconed his prey
+and the prize was his.
+
+And he was as good as his word. What that bunch didn't have to eat and
+drink while the money lasted wasn't purchaseable at the front.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+VIMY
+
+
+With Vimy Ridge in the possession of the Germans, their access for
+observation placed us at a decided disadvantage; the Lens-Arras, the
+Mont St. Eloi road--all vital feeding routes for our system--were
+absolutely open to his inspection at all hours of the day or night;
+there was no movement along these channels of communication of either
+men, guns, ammunition, supplies of any kind, of which they were not
+fully cognizant. So it will be seen that the possession of this
+elevation was of wonderful advantage to the side holding it.
+
+One of the chief gains to be derived from its possession was the control
+of the vast coal mines of Lens, one of the richest coal producing
+sections in France, and the benefit of which has been in German hands
+since the gray rush first went through. And the possession of the output
+of these mines gave Fritz a priceless advantage over us. His overlooking
+position also made it impossible for us to work in the daytime the few
+coal mines that we had; neither could we supply our guns with the
+necessary ammunition during the hours of daylight; and further, the
+possession of this vantage point would release for duty elsewhere a
+tremendous number of men whose presence there was unavoidable, because
+of the control he had over the valley and the surrounding country. So,
+when the chief command decided to take the ridge, they went about the
+job in a manner thoroughly characteristic of the Scotch commander, Sir
+Douglas Haig, and his thoroughness was well borne out by the results.
+
+For the space of a month prior to the drive, every hour of the darkness
+was used to get guns, ammunition and supplies into place; all night long
+the traffic on the roads was so congested that going faster than a walk
+with any conveyance, over any part of the channels of communication, was
+simply out of the question; but when day broke it was imperative that
+not a single conveyance of any kind be in sight on any road.
+
+Do not imagine, however, that we were free to work as long as the
+shelter of night lasted; in the artificial light furnished by the
+flares, Fritz did a lot of damage. On one single night during this work
+of preparation on the Mont St. Eloi road alone, 156 horses were killed;
+and on all through roads, each night that the stage was being set for
+the production of the first scene, casualties were had with deadly
+regularity.
+
+When everything was in place and the curtain ready to be drawn up, 1400
+batteries were in a position along the Lens-Arras road and valley,
+standing wheel to wheel, many of them brought to bear over roads that
+had been specially constructed for their conveyance, as regular routes
+were not usable for them and a road one-and-a-half-miles long, made out
+of three-inch thick planking, was placed ready for use in three days'
+time, together with a narrow-gauge railroad, for rushing up ammunition
+and taking back wounded men. This road and narrow-gauge railway took a
+short cut across the valley and proved a godsend in relieving the
+congestion on the regular road, and was of inestimable value in
+achieving our end.
+
+On the 2nd day of April, 1917, stage manager Haig ordered the curtain
+raised and, with its raising, vengeance was let loose. Gaps 20 to 30
+feet wide were blasted in the barbed wire; some of the mine shafts
+about Lens were flattened and destroyed; Fritzie's supply roads were
+rained upon with a steady hail of hell night and day, preventing the
+entrance to his trenches not only of ammunition, but also of food, and
+prevented the withdrawal of any men from his lines; his ammunition dumps
+were set ablaze, the fires from them lighting up the whole country-side
+for miles around. In the air the efficiency of our preparatory work was
+equally demonstrated. A new type of flier winged his way back and forth
+over the sausage-fed warriors, and the ability of our birds to hold the
+line in the Heavens was amply demonstrated, one British airman, on the
+28th of March, five days before the battle began, downing three German
+eagles in quick succession. Spellbound I watched the magnificent work of
+this flier.
+
+Far up as the eye could reach, six British planes in battle formation,
+the leader of the squad about three hundred yards in advance, four
+others in a row, the sixth three hundred yards in the rear, winged their
+way. Suddenly, the rear bird shot downward, volplaning and looping the
+loop with as much abandon as if he were in an exhibition park. I
+quickly discerned the object of his lightning-like descent. Hovering
+over our trenches were three German vultures. As he dropped, Fritz
+volleyed at him with his anti-aircraft mouthpieces, but failed to land.
+The bird kept on his downward plunge until he reached his objective, and
+as he dove into the vultures, our anti-aircraft guns, which had been
+endeavoring to wing the German birds, ceased fire and all eyes were
+turned heavenward. With bated breath we watched and waited the outcome.
+
+The Fritzies spread out in circle formation, with a view to surrounding
+it, each a little higher than the other. With a lightning-like swoop the
+British bird, getting right in front of it and turning sharply, let fly
+his machine gun in rapid fire, Fritz answering energetically. In less
+than three minutes' time, a distinct wabbling was noticeable and the
+British sparrow, seeing that his work there was done, turned his
+attention to the others. His work was surely done; Fritz continued to
+wabble and then plunged in a deadly drop until he got to the Lens-Arras
+road, where he made a desperate attempt to alight on the highway; but he
+got tangled up in the trees, his wings being smashed and remaining in
+the branches, the body of the plane shooting down into a deep ditch and
+embedding itself and its two occupants in the mud. They were dead. A
+tremendous cheer greeted this victory over the first opponent. The other
+two airmen followed our bird, volleying at him as they flew. With a
+quick motion he turned upside down, swooping for the bird on his upper
+left, and continued to chase and fight him in this position. The other
+German bird was off to one side, put-put-put-put-ing! for all he was
+worth, but his bullets were wasted by reason of the upside down
+position. In a run of another 500 yards the work of our lad was
+finished, his machine gun having done the trick; and Fritz and his pilot
+being killed, the machine dashed rudderless to the ground, nose first.
+
+There remained but one. Our bird again got on top, but there was no
+fight left in Fritz; he scooted for a hundred yards in the direction of
+home, but was winged while running, part of his left wing dropping off.
+The rest was easy; his machine became unmanageable, an explosive bullet
+smashed into his petrol tank and he dropped in flames.
+
+The entire ceremony of sending the three German chickens to their
+eternal hen-coop did not take ten minutes. As each bird fell to its
+death, the entire valley resounded with wild cheering; and when the last
+foe fell, the cheering wave of sound was followed by a tiger in the
+shape of a volley from every rifle--in fact, everything that would
+shoot, except the big guns.
+
+Our bird then executed his stunt of victory, looping the loop several
+times over Fritzie's trenches, and the spirit of Fritz was amply
+exemplified by the thousand times ten thousand shots which were leveled
+at the air king to bring him down. He bore a charmed life; although his
+plane was perforated with machine-gun bullets, none touched a vital
+spot.
+
+But, suddenly, from out the clouds swooped a German swallow in a
+frenzied attack to retrieve the disgrace. He had all the advantage of
+position, and a great fear filled my heart that our champion might not
+long enjoy the fruits of his victory. However, when about 400 yards
+above our bird, our watchful boys at the Archee guns (the anti-aircraft
+guns, so nicknamed because of their peculiar explosive sound) opened on
+him, and with the third shot, off flopped his fish tail. He dove in a
+wabble to the ground and, in his descent, his petrol tank was struck by
+one of our explosive bullets. When it reached the ground in No Man's
+Land, it was a mass of flames.
+
+For seven days, every hour of the night and day, the mighty chorus of
+1400 batteries rose and swelled unceasingly in a vast concourse of
+sound.
+
+Promptly at ten minutes past five, on the morning of the seventh day,
+the word having passed from end to end of the lines, the men were up and
+over. A mine that had been prepared in the Ridge by our engineers was
+exploded, the shock rocking every German trench in the valley, killing
+several thousand men and wounding twice as many more. The first and
+second lines were taken without any trouble, and over we went into the
+third. Some opposition was here met, but quickly overcome. The program
+was repeated until the entire six lines of German trenches were in
+Canadian hands, and late in the afternoon we were masters of the Ridge.
+
+The personal comfort to the men taking a stroll through the streets of
+Arras, after the Ridge was in our possession, had to be seen to be
+appreciated. Heretofore such a thing as a pleasure walk or shopping tour
+was out of the question, as the sniping was continuous, and the only way
+now for Fritz to snipe the town was with his heavy naval pieces, six or
+seven miles off, and as these visitors are a hundred times scarcer than
+the callers from the short range boys, the peace and quiet of our
+fellows were correspondingly increased one hundred fold.
+
+No need now was there to hide our work in and around the coal mines, the
+precious element being taken out of the bowels of bountiful nature in as
+large abundance as was required; our hungry guns can now be supplied
+with all the grub they require in any hour of the twenty-four; our wagon
+lines moved forward behind the Ridge to a place of perfect security;
+several army corps were released for service in other parts of the
+lines, and the city of Lens, honeycombed with German soldiers, is
+practically bottled up, they not daring to retreat, and it being
+impossible for them to advance. But the over-weaning advantage of this
+movement and the reduction of this obstacle is the tremendous impetus
+that will be given our forces when the waves of the great drive that is
+in contemplation sweep the gray-clad hordes of Huns from the land of
+Sunny France. From a military point of view, it can be stated that our
+success here was of far-reaching importance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY
+
+
+I spent the two nights following at the wagon lines, taking a
+much-needed rest, and after my first night's sleep there I sought out a
+spot in a grassy nook, as far away from the road and bustle of the lines
+as I could safely go, and lay at full length on the green sward; I felt
+as if I wanted to lie there forever, without even exerting myself to
+think. As the sun was setting, I awoke from my day dream, and my stomach
+felt the call of the cookhouse.
+
+On the day following, one of my chums, Mulhall and myself were ordered
+to go to the line, gathering up the horses that were wounded or had
+fallen out through exhaustion. Our errand of mercy to the dumb animals
+had to be done on horseback, and, with the roads still under
+observation, it was dangerous for more than two men to go together.
+
+We corralled several of the poor beasts, and their condition of
+suffering in many instances smote me with a kind of remorse; I couldn't
+help feeling that we humans were responsible for the pain and misery of
+these most useful animals that bounteous nature had put upon earth for
+our comfort and help. We placed them in the ruins of a barn, made them
+as comfortable as we could, and left them with a supply of water; for
+feed they had to wait.
+
+It is with much pleasure that I can commend the splendid work in
+connection with caring for these wounded and sick horses that is being
+done at the front by the societies organized for that purpose. The
+amount of suffering alleviated in this, the noblest animal of all, would
+be ample justification for the work done; but the economic advantage
+derived in addition makes the object of the societies most worthy in
+character. Two of the horses that were only slightly wounded I pulled to
+the line, and as they were inclined to lie down at every step of the
+way, the condition of my arms when I reached my destination may be
+imagined; every nerve and muscle from the shoulder down was aching.
+
+When we got to the line, Fritz was retaliating on the Ridge and a heavy
+bombardment was in progress; our guns were vigorously answering, and
+over we ran to the gun pit, getting into the game with both feet. After
+an hour's hard drubbing, I took occasion to step over and see a man
+whose friendship I had never ceased to curry--the cook, and I was just
+swallowing the first mouthful of the fruits of my friendship when my joy
+was rudely interrupted by an orderly.--"The Major wants to see you,
+Grant." Over I went, wondering what was up, and ransacking my noodle for
+some breach of discipline of which I might have been guilty.
+
+"Did you want to see me, sir?"
+
+"Yes, Grant," smiled the Major; two officers were standing by and they
+beamed on me in a fashion that made me think my future mother-in-law had
+gone on a long journey. "Listen carefully, Grant," said the Major, as he
+started to read something. I paid strict attention and I could scarcely
+believe my ears as the true import of the communication commenced to
+dawn upon me;--the G.O.C. had granted me a furlough and I was instructed
+to return to Canada immediately on a three-months' leave of absence. I
+was walking on air for a few minutes, and it was quite some little time
+before I could make myself really believe I wasn't dreaming.
+
+I lost no time in bidding my pals good-bye, and when I had convinced
+them that it was an actual fact, the gun Sergeant said, "Fellows,
+Grant's going; we'll give him the best we've got; ten rounds of gun
+fire. Ready! Fire!" and ten ear-drum splitters clove the air. I had no
+cotton in my ears and the effects of that farewell stayed with me
+several minutes after I left. I then went to say good-bye to the man
+whose friendship I had always nursed, my good friend the cook. He urged
+me to wait while he fixed me up the feed of my life, as he expressed it,
+and you can understand the state of my feelings when I tell you that I
+refused his bounty. I never did such a thing in my life!
+
+I turned to go and found myself face to face with the Major. "What the
+hell are you hanging around here for? Didn't I tell you to beat it to
+the wagon lines before you got hit? Do you think your horseshoe luck is
+going to stay with you forever? While you have got your furlough in your
+hand, beat it!"
+
+I hastened my steps. On the way I passed the burial party who were
+laying to their last rest the men who had fallen the night before, and
+as I glanced at the faces of the boys who would never again see their
+beloved Canadian homes, tears, for the first time in many long months,
+welled up into my eyes.
+
+I doubled from there to a battery in the rear to say farewell to my
+cousin Hughie, and while going from pit to pit in his battery, looking
+for him, the guns were speaking as fast as they could, and retaliation
+from Germany was blasting its way through the air. Right at this moment
+the Major's warning was most beautifully exemplified; a splinter struck
+me in the cheek, flooring me and knocking out two teeth in the upper
+left jaw. When I recovered my balance, the diligence I exercised in
+getting away from the scene of activity would have satisfied even the
+Major; besides, I was doubly anxious that he should not know of my
+mishap, as he would be bound to twit me unmercifully.
+
+Holding my jaw, I made my way carefully to one of the horses I had
+brought up, mounted, and kicked the poor brute in the ribs every step of
+the way back to the wagon line. My feelings of sympathy for the animal
+were completely submerged in the feeling in my jaw, my haste to get to a
+dressing station, and home. For fear it would reach the Major's ears, I
+told the doctor at the dressing station that the horse had kicked me. He
+washed and dressed it with a bandage, but just before getting to the
+wagon lines I removed it.
+
+Here I had another hard time convincing the fellows that I was off for
+home, but when they saw me go to the paymaster and draw 50 francs, they
+were constrained to believe that there must be something in it, and I
+was the recipient of hearty congratulations and well wishes. Forty of
+the francs went for champagne and eats; I felt that this might be the
+last time I would have the opportunity to enjoy the company of many of
+them.
+
+I departed next morning in the mess cart, and just before leaving I had
+another send-off;--the entire wagon lines paraded and gave me a parting
+cheer. Again the tears!
+
+I arrived at Béthune, boarded a French civilian train and traveled for
+five hours, reaching a junction point where, in company with a number of
+wounded men who were able to walk, I boarded a box car.
+
+The train was traveling at a funereal pace and the weather turned
+sharply cold; neither the wounded nor the well men, with one exception,
+had any blankets; the exception had seven blankets that he monopolized,
+refusing to share an inch of them with anyone. Such unparalleled
+hoggishness and meanness never went unpunished at the front, and I
+resolved that he would be no exception to the rule. In order to take the
+chill off ourselves, we jumped off the train every chance we got,
+gathering up some coal, until we had accumulated enough to make a
+fair-sized fire, which we kindled on the floor of the car; it was
+necessary to shove the burning coals here and there over the surface to
+avoid burning a hole through it. At one point I noticed a horse-car
+filled with straw bedding for the animals, and the train going here at a
+snail's pace enabled me to jump off and chuck an armful of the straw
+into our car; I did this with my friend of the blankets in mind. I threw
+the damp straw on top of the live coals and in a few minutes or less the
+car was filled with rank, reeking smoke that fairly made the eyes water.
+Up jumped the blanket monopolist, rushed to the window for a breath of
+air, and while inhaling the ozone I chucked his blankets out of the car
+door. When he returned to his nest, which was a nest no longer, he swore
+several swears, both large and small, but he was forced to fare like the
+rest of us,--on the bare boards.
+
+All this time the pain in my jaw was gradually getting worse. A
+swelling had started and I was feeling a little the worse for wear.
+
+It was morning when we reached Abbeville Station, where we were to wait
+until night before being able to resume our journey. Here there was a
+horrible mass of dead horses--about 500 in all--lying in the railroad
+yards; they had died in the cars on the way back for treatment. It was a
+fearsome sight.
+
+In an hour or so my face was commencing to throb violently, and I hunted
+up the nearest dressing station, which was a casualty clearing station,
+and addressed myself to the nurse.
+
+"What's the matter, Canada?" she asked, looking at my jaw.
+
+"Why, I got hit, nurse."
+
+"I can plainly see that, but what makes it that color? It looks like
+gangrene! Come in and see the doctor."
+
+He examined me and found there was a piece left sticking there; I would
+have to be operated on at once, he said, and there was no time lost
+getting down to business. He extracted a small splinter.
+
+"See that this man is put to bed at once; gangrene has just started."
+
+When I got off the table my face was so bound up in bandages that only
+my nose and one eye were visible.
+
+"Go to bed, now," said the nurse. "Oh, no, I can't," I said; "I have got
+to leave at once."
+
+"No, no, you mustn't do anything of the kind; you must go to bed at once
+and have the closest care for some weeks." She fixed up a cot for me in
+the station and I went to bed. After lying there for three hours I asked
+her if I might go up to the station and get my kit, that I had some
+valuable souvenirs I didn't want to lose, and that I would like to
+present her with some of them. She let me go, and at the station I saw
+some box cars going through. Grabbing my kit, I slung myself aboard and
+reached a station by nightfall, where I got off and waited for the
+through train, which finally came along. The fellows on board with whom
+I had become acquainted on the way down, told me the hospital orderly
+was searching for me high and low.
+
+After another wearisome day aboard those unspeakable box-cars, I reached
+the base. My jaw, although not throbbing so fiercely, was still
+painfully troublesome, and I sought out one of the hospitals and had to
+swallow the unwelcome news that the condition of my face was such that
+it would be necessary to luxuriate in a hospital bed for a week or ten
+days, which I did.
+
+The kindness of the nurses was beyond praise, and the efforts for the
+wounded men left nothing to be desired; there was absolutely every
+provision for the health and well-being of the men. The wonderful
+organization of the British Red Cross and its workings in this war will
+go down through the pages of history as the one spot in the nation's
+management of the campaign that is absolutely flawless.
+
+At the end of ten days I was permitted to leave the hospital, with the
+understanding that I would take good care of myself and report daily for
+dressing. I then went to the Y.M.C.A., making my home there for three or
+four days, and here, also the treatment accorded me was most
+praiseworthy; the provision made for the men's recreation will remain a
+lasting tribute to this most beneficial organization.
+
+I left the boys for England, embarking on board ship at 5:00 o'clock in
+the evening, leaving about an hour later. On the way over submarines
+were reported in the channel, but my horseshoe luck was still with me,
+and I made the tight little isle in safety next morning. I arrived at
+Southampton the latter part of May. My first errand in England was to
+report to the O.C. at Camp Shorncliffe. Then I made haste to look up my
+brother Billy, who was in the hospital 200 miles away. On my way to the
+camp I happened to meet a pal of Billy's, and was delighted to learn
+that he was well and out of hospital, fully recovered from his wound in
+the thigh, and in a few minutes' time we were gripping hands.
+
+I never before realized the large measure of affection in our hearts for
+each other as I did on that morning. It seemed as if we had both been
+through the Valley of the Shadow and had been led safely through by an
+all-wise and bountiful Father.
+
+In due time I embarked at Liverpool, on board the Mistress of the Seas,
+the S.S. _Olympic_, the largest passenger boat afloat. For three days we
+lay in the channel, awaiting our escort, four torpedo boat destroyers,
+and, finally, as the wheel of the mighty leviathan commenced churning
+the waters, I knew we were really off for home!
+
+In starting, we followed the course mapped out for us by three or four
+of the little channel pilot boats that threaded their way through the
+maize of mines placed in the water there, and by night time we were on
+the bosom of the Atlantic.
+
+The following day was quiet, nothing happened to interrupt the usual
+monotony of an ocean voyage, but that night at 9:15 the ship from stem
+to stern was thrown into a turmoil of excitement by the firing of a gun
+and the terrifying word--"Submarine!" The boat was darkened, not a light
+showing, and everyone was rushing from their cabins in a mad state for
+life belts, utterly ignoring the rigid command not to leave their
+portholes open and expose the lights of the vessel. It was worse than
+confusion confounded!
+
+I had been appointed one of provo N.C.O.'s, and my duty was to see that
+everybody was supplied with a lifebelt, wear it at all times except when
+going to bed, and then they were ordered to have them at hand in case of
+emergency. Although some of the people obeyed the instructions to the
+letter, even going so far as to sleep in them, many others neglected the
+order.
+
+Some idea of the sense of responsibility on the Captain and his crew can
+be had when I state that 1400 women and children on board were in his
+absolute care and keeping. Everything possible was done to calm the
+frantic people; nothing could convince them that that single shot had
+sunk the sub. But so indeed it was! The steady nerve and unfailing aim
+of the gunner had done the trick, and there was no more danger to be
+feared from that particular snake of the sea. The gunner was an old
+man-o'-war's man and was completely overwhelmed by the grateful and
+heartfelt thanks of the passengers, he, in his native modesty,
+apparently thinking he hadn't done any more than he ought to have
+done,--which indeed was very true. But if he had missed!
+
+There was only one sad mishap throughout the entire excitement. A woman,
+losing her head and trying to climb into a lifeboat, before she was
+ordered to do so, and carrying her baby in her arms at the time, as she
+was clambering up the rail of the vessel to get into the boat, let her
+baby slip from her arms into the dark waters below. With a frenzied
+scream, she seemed as if about to throw herself after her little one,
+but strong hands caught her and prevented.
+
+In spite of the watchful eyes of the four escorts plowing along at each
+corner of the vessel, and signaling constantly, never for a moment
+during the time we were in the submarine zone did the ship cease its
+zigzagging course, and lookouts were stationed on every point of the
+boat from which observations could be had.
+
+The trip was made in perfect safety and I arrived in Halifax, Nova
+Scotia, five and a half days from the time I left Liverpool.
+
+At last I was on the train for home! I commenced to count the minutes on
+the last lap of my journey, and no blushing young girl, making her
+début, was any more excited than I was when the iron horse choo-chooed
+into the station at Ottawa two days later. As fast as a taxi could make
+the trip without violating the rigors of the law against speeding, I
+dashed homeward. I had sent no word ahead to my people, as I wanted to
+give them a complete surprise and I succeeded most admirably, my
+favorite sister fainting as I entered the door.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of S.O.S. Stand to!, by Reginald Grant
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of S.O.S. Stand to!, by Reginald Grant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: S.O.S. Stand to!
+
+Author: Reginald Grant
+
+Release Date: May 1, 2006 [EBook #18292]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK S.O.S. STAND TO! ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Geetu Melwani, Graeme Mackreth, David Clarke
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
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+
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+
+</pre>
+
+<p class="center" style="margin-bottom: 6em;">
+<img src="images/illus01.jpg" alt="cover"  />
+</p>
+
+<h2>S.O.S.</h2>
+
+<h3>STAND TO!</h3>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus02.jpg" alt="pipped"  />
+</p>
+<p class="center">Patching up the "Pipped"</p>
+
+<h2>S.O.S.</h2>
+<h2> STAND TO!</h2>
+
+<h5>BY</h5>
+
+<h3>SERGEANT REGINALD GRANT</h3>
+<h4> 1ST FIELD ARTILLERY BRIGADE, 1ST CANADIAN DIVISION</h4>
+
+<p class="center" style="margin-top: 5em;"><small>ILLUSTRATED</small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK LONDON 1918</small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="smcap">Copyright</span>, 1918, <span class="smcap">by</span> D. APPLETON AND COMPANY</small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>Printed in the United States of America</small></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>DEDICATION</h4>
+
+<p><b>IN HUMBLE, REVERENT SPIRIT I DEDICATE THESE PAGES TO THE MEMORY OF THE
+LADS WHO SERVED WITH ME IN THE "SACRIFICE BATTERY," AND WHO GAVE THEIR
+LIVES THAT THOSE BEHIND MIGHT LIVE, AND, ALSO, IN BROTHERLY AFFECTION
+AND ESTEEM TO MY BROTHERS, GORDON AND BILLY, WHO ARE STILL FIGHTING THE
+GOOD FIGHT AND KEEPING THE FAITH.</b></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>REMARK PREFATORY</h4>
+
+<p>The general purpose and scope of the rehearsal of my three years'
+personal experience while in the artillery arm of the First Division of
+Canada's overseas forces is to lay before the reader an outline of the
+movement of our Division as it may be gathered from the performance of
+my own specific duties, with especial reference to the battles of Ypres
+(the 2nd), Givenchy, Sanctuary Woods (Ypres 3rd), the Somme and Vimy
+Ridge.</p>
+
+<p>Very little attention or space has been devoted to the detail of
+initiatory camp life, drill, rations and the like; even had I the space
+to do so, those features have been liberally covered by a number of
+earlier writers; besides, I am of the opinion that the average reader is
+more concerned with the desire to be imaginably transported as nearly as
+possible to the heart of the struggle,&mdash;to live in his own mind the
+strain and turmoil of the individual soldier in the desperate conflict
+which now rages, the decision of which will determine whether democracy
+or military autocracy shall be the predominating factor in the
+governments of the peoples of the earth.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>INTRODUCTORY</h4>
+
+
+<p>The devastating rush of the gray-clad hordes of Huns into the
+peace-loving lands of Belgium and France has demonstrated conclusively
+that to win this or any other war the one thing necessary is superiority
+in artillery. Without this, an enemy sufficiently strong in numbers and
+other equipment, can drive ahead, overcoming and crushing all obstacles.</p>
+
+<p>The average lay reader is too apt to lose sight of the supreme
+importance of this arm of the service, to which all other movements are
+subsidiary; the dash of the charge by the infantry over the top,
+magnificent in its appeal, submerges to a degree the real factor upon
+which success or failure of the charge depends, i.e., the blazing of the
+trail by the guns. Little thought is devoted to the man who, with hell
+bursting on and around him, has to get his shell home in a certain
+number of seconds so that the charge can be made.</p>
+
+<p>Neither is it generally known that the percentage of loss in units is
+greater in the unit known as the sacrifice battery than in any other
+branch of the fighting machine.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, I may be pardoned if I feel a certain human pride in the fact
+that it was my honorable lot to serve in this unit nearly a score of
+times during my work over there, and I can account for my failure to be
+seriously injured (a dislocation or a little gassing is comparatively
+trivial) to nothing other than, as my Major emphatically expressed it,
+"Damned horseshoe luck!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>CONTENTS</h4>
+
+
+
+<ul class="TOC">
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I"><span class="smcap">Can't Kill Me</span></a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II"> <span class="smcap">The First Night</span></a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III"><span class="smcap">Ypres</span></a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><span class="smcap">My Horse Shoe Working</span></a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V"><span class="smcap">Hun Helpers</span></a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><span class="smcap">Bits of Battle</span></a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><span class="smcap">Sanctuary Woods</span> </a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><span class="smcap">A Bath Under Difficulties</span> </a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><span class="smcap">Ham Bone Davis</span> </a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X"><span class="smcap">Bees, Honey and Hell</span> </a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI"> <span class="smcap">Scotty Comes Back at the Somme</span> </a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><span class="smcap">Behemoth</span> </a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><span class="smcap">The Family Luck</span></a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><span class="smcap">The Dead Shell</span> </a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><span class="smcap">Satan's Shells and Scented Gas</span></a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><span class="smcap">Before Vimy</span> </a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><span class="smcap">Vimy</span></a></li>
+<li>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><span class="smcap">Back to God's Country</span></a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+<h3>S.O.S. STAND TO!</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br />
+
+CAN'T KILL ME</h4>
+
+
+<p>"Hello, Central, give me Queen 4000. Is that you, Burt? You are going,
+aren't you?"</p>
+
+<p>Burt Young was one of my pals and I had just learned from the morning
+paper that enlistments for Canada's first overseas contingent were being
+taken that day and I had called up to inquire if he were going.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, I am going. Where will I meet you?"</p>
+
+<p>We arranged to meet at the exhibition ground and, taking French leave of
+the office, I hastened to the camp where the recruiting was going on,
+picking up Burt on the way.</p>
+
+<p>It was as if a baseball championship series were on; the crowd
+good-naturedly swayed and jammed as each man struggled to get to the
+door and signed up before the quota was full. With only the loss of a
+hat and some slight disarrangement of my collar and tie, I was one of
+the lucky ones.</p>
+
+<p>And we were lucky! Although visions of lands to be seen and adventures
+to be had flitted rapidly through my mind, and although I believe none
+of us on that day dreamed of what we were getting into, yet, looking
+back over it all, I would not have missed my place in Canada's First
+Division for anything I ever hope to have on earth.</p>
+
+<p>In two hours I was in khaki and in another hour I had bade the folks
+farewell and was standing on the station platform waiting for the train
+that would take us to Valcartier, the greatest gathering place of
+soldiers that Canada has ever known.</p>
+
+<p>Some idea of my knowledge of things military may be gleaned from the
+following:&mdash;chatting with Burt, he suddenly espied a large car, with two
+girls, shooting up the street to the station, and called my attention to
+it. One of the girls was my sister. I immediately scented trouble. I
+skipped across to the other side of the depot, intending to board the
+train from the other side when it came in; I was not going to have my
+soldiering interfered with if I could help it. Standing in the shelter
+of a pillar, I did not notice two husky recruits in khaki behind me.
+"Is your name Grant?" they asked. "Yes." "The Colonel wants to see you
+at once," they informed me, and they marched me back.</p>
+
+<p>As I approached, my sister was talking earnestly and energetically to
+the Colonel and I could plainly see I was the object of the
+conversation. I waited.</p>
+
+<p>"How is this, Grant, this lady says you are not of age. Is that so?"
+asked the Colonel.</p>
+
+<p>"I am of age and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stand to attention!" snapped the Colonel. I straightened up and folded
+my arms respectfully across my chest.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand to attention, damn you! Don't you know how to stand to
+attention?" I shifted my feet a little uneasily, wondering how he wanted
+me to stand.</p>
+
+<p>"Put those heels together," he snorted. I did so. "Keep your toes
+apart," he half hissed and half shouted. I spread my toes apart. I still
+had my arms folded. Almost purple in the face with his violence, he
+roared, "Put those damned hands of yours down!" and he grabbed my wrists
+and flopped them down. "Young lady, you'll have to take this matter up
+at Valcartier; there is no time to do anything now. You can go," this
+to me. I turned on my heel.</p>
+
+<p>"Here," he roared. "Don't you know enough to salute your superior
+officer? Salute!" I gingerly raised my hand to my forehead and held it
+there, much after the fashion, I think, of a man shading his eyes from
+the sun, or a nautical chap gazing intently seaward.</p>
+
+<p>"You idiot!" he bellowed, as he grabbed my hand and fiercely flung it
+down. "Don't you know how to salute? Here, do this"&mdash;and he saluted. I
+followed as well as I was able, but the utter disgust that was plastered
+all over his visage as he turned on his heel would not have left much
+hope for soldierly qualifications in one any less hopeful and
+enthusiastic than I was.</p>
+
+<p>My sister, in spite of her tears, could not keep back the smile as I
+again kissed her good-by.</p>
+
+<p>It was about noon next day when I reached Valcartier and after a month
+of solid work, the like of which I had never before experienced, I was
+as hard as a nail, and as tough, as indeed was every man in that honor
+division of Canada's expeditionary forces.</p>
+
+<p>We received orders to leave for England on the 14th day of September,
+1914. I was detailed on a gun limber of my subsection of the First
+Battery, the artillery being the arm of the service to which I was
+assigned. Starting about 4:30 in the afternoon, in torrents of rain, we
+headed for the city of Quebec. Along the way the people had thoughtfully
+built large bonfires on either side of the road, serving the double
+purpose of lighting our way during the night and enabling us to jump off
+and warm ourselves, as we were thoroughly chilled.</p>
+
+<p>The road was in a horribly bad condition and the rain did not improve it
+any, and while the limber was lurching from side to side, like a ship
+staggering in a storm, it was the better part of wisdom for me to keep
+my eyes open to save myself from being thrown off and having my precious
+neck broken.</p>
+
+<p>To prevent in some measure the rain trickling down my neck, I took a
+rubber sheet, used to cover the horses, tied the two corners together,
+making a sort of cape of it, and put it round my neck.</p>
+
+<p>Then I settled myself down to hold on to the limber and think at the
+same time of the great game of which I had become an infinitesimal
+part. I was sitting on the right hand side of the limber close to the
+wheel and, before long, the effort to think and hold on at the same time
+was too much for me, and I fell into a fairly sound sleep, Sergeant
+Johnson, my companion, doing likewise.</p>
+
+<p>While dozing, the string from the end of the cape engaged itself with
+the axle, wound itself round and round and started pulling me down. When
+I awoke it had a grip on me and every moment I was being drawn closer to
+the wheel. I yelled to the driver to stop the horse, but the rattling
+and rumble of the limber and the gun carriage drowned my call; neither
+he nor the Sergeant heard me. Numb with cold, absolutely helpless, my
+head almost down to the wheel, I gave one more yell for dear life. The
+Sergeant suddenly and providentially woke up; he thought he had a
+nightmare. I was almost choked and could hardly breathe, but managed to
+make him understand, and he whipped out his knife, cut the string and
+released me from what in a couple of seconds more would have been
+instant death, as I would have been pulled from my seat and crushed to a
+jelly between the wheels. This was my first close shave from death. I
+had no horseshoe or four-leaf clover with me, and I can account for my
+escape in no other way than that it was my lucky star that has
+accompanied me throughout the long months of times that try men's souls
+and that has never deserted me.</p>
+
+<p>No further mishaps befell until I was safely aboard ship. I was in
+charge of a fatigue party, bringing hay from the bulkheads of the ship
+up on to the different decks for the horses; there was a pulley leading
+to the bottom of the boat by means of which the hay was hoisted up, and
+in going down each man gripped it and was slowly lowered. On the trip
+down the men would cling to the rope, two or three at a time, with about
+ten to twenty feet of space between them. In making a downward trip I
+was second; the man ahead of me going down was over twenty feet from me;
+and the rope suddenly slipping off the pulley and out of the hands of
+the men running it, I dropped fifty feet. The man below on the rope
+broke his leg and on top of him I fell. Although my drop was twenty or
+thirty feet longer than his, on account of the space between us being
+that much greater, I was none the worse except for a bad shaking-up.
+Like all the men in Canada's First Division, my pal was in excellent
+physical shape, and it was not long before his leg mended and he was
+himself again. Nothing of further moment happened until we heard the
+welcome call of land!</p>
+
+<p>The different batteries were ordered to remove their guns, limbers and
+horses from the boat, and I had charge of one party unloading guns and
+limbers. A derrick and cable was used to lift our pets from the vessel's
+hold, swing them up across the side of the boat and over on to the dock.
+In my duty I was stationed on the dock, catching hold of the guns and
+wagons as they were swung out and over by the derrick, and pulling them
+across on to the dock. While pulling over a gun, the cable skidded and
+the gun, coming on top of me, caught me partly under it, knocking me
+unconscious. Luckily the weight of the gun did not fall on me in its
+entirety; if it had, I would not be telling this story; it caught me on
+the hip, dislocating the hip bone. I was removed to the ship's hospital
+and was under the doctor's care till morning, and from there I went to a
+hospital in Plymouth City for six weeks. From there I was removed to the
+field general hospital in Salisbury Plain, where I tarried an
+additional ten days. While here I had a two-fold adventure.</p>
+
+<p>The hospital was in a tent where I reclined with forty other patients,
+and directly opposite our tent was another in which were confined under
+guard a number of patients who were subject to fits, some of a very
+serious nature. Lying in bed, my leg encased in its plaster-of-paris
+cast, about ten o'clock one night, when just dozing off, I was
+frightened into wakefulness by a scream. A man, who turned out to be an
+escaped epileptic, was standing in the doorway screaming, his eyes
+bulging out of his head. He had escaped by striking the sentry over the
+head with the fire brazier, used to keep the sentry warm. Staring wildly
+about the room for a couple of seconds, he made a leap for the nearest
+man and bit him in the arm; he then jumped at the next patient, biting
+him; I was the following recipient of his devotions, getting a bite on
+the wrist. Utterly unable to help or defend myself, as I was bound down
+in my plaster-of-paris cast, I had to content myself with landing a
+couple of punches on his mad mug, but he didn't seem to mind them in the
+least,&mdash;rather enjoyed them, I fancy.</p>
+
+<p>By way of diversion he then took hold of the beds and started upsetting
+them, rolling the patients out on to the floor, causing a tremendous
+amount of excitement, as well as pain and suffering to the men upset
+who, some of them, like myself, had casts on their limbs. In the midst
+of his mad capers the guard and orderlies rushed in, but before he was
+subdued he managed to fasten his molars in the arm of a guard.</p>
+
+<p>A bite from a man in his condition is no laughing matter and the doctors
+took no chances; every man who was bitten had the wound immediately and
+thoroughly cauterized and was inoculated.</p>
+
+<p>My other adventure was the honor and pleasure of receiving a handshake
+from their Majesties, the King and Queen of England, who were on a visit
+of inspection to the camp. The visit of their Majesties was concluded by
+a splendid little speech from Queen Alexandra in which she complimented
+us and thanked us for our loyalty.</p>
+
+<p>After my release from the hospital due to the effects of the accident at
+Plymouth, I set to work looking after our horses and performing general
+battery work. After my narrow escape from the gun wheel, the fall into
+the hold of the vessel and the close shave I had had on the dock, I was
+commencing to wonder whether I was destined ever to get to France.</p>
+
+<p>Thus musing, I was riding one of the horses bare-back to a small creek
+to give it a watering, and the rein, which was a long one, I held in my
+right hand. I had to pass the targets where shooting practice was going
+on, and the brute, taking fright, gave a sudden leap and threw me off
+his back. I fell backwards and on the left side, and as I fell the long
+rein wound itself round my right arm, keeping me tied as it were to the
+horse; and my head came dangerously close to the animal's front hoofs
+which he was kicking up every other second; with each jump he took,
+those hoofs, in their upward motion of making a spring, almost struck my
+face. I was dragged helpless for about twenty feet when, providentially,
+the rein broke and I dropped to the ground, the horse dashing on in his
+fright until he was finally captured.</p>
+
+<p>I was picked up for dead and a stretcher was sent for; but, while on the
+way, consciousness returned and in a few minutes I was able to navigate
+without assistance. I then and there decided that I surely was
+preserved for France and was not doomed to die an ignominious or
+untimely death behind the front line trenches.</p>
+
+<p>After supper that night I listened to the remarkable story of a man
+whose lot was destined to be woven with mine to a degree:&mdash;"Aye, laddie,
+they came on thick at Mons! There was one time there when there was only
+Sandy MacFarlane and mysel' left out o' the whole company, and for two
+or three hours we lay behind a wee bank, no higher'n your knee, fighting
+them off. Lord how we plugged them! They died like flies! And then puir
+Sandy got his, an' there was naething left for me tae do but tae beat an
+honorable retreat, an' I grabbed Sandy's rifle an' retired on to the
+main body, wi' the bullets buzzin' like bees around me. On my way back I
+loaded both rifles as quick as I could and dropped every noo an' again
+to let them hae it, and I was carefu' not to waste a damn shot; every
+bullet told."</p>
+
+<p>The speaker was Scotty Henderson, late of the Seaforth Highlanders, as
+he informed us, and he was relating his experiences during the world
+memorable retreat at Mons, when Britain's little regular army,
+denominated by His Majesty, Wilhelm II, "The contemptible little English
+army," was practically wiped out.</p>
+
+<p>In the cookhouse we listened, open-mouthed, to the wonderful exploits of
+this Scotch fighting man. "Were you wounded?" asked Lawrence. "Aye,
+laddie, you're damned right I was," and he rolled up his trouser leg and
+exhibited a large, broad scar on the inside of his right leg. "There's
+where I got it."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a funny looking wound,&mdash;looks like a burn," said Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>"You're damned right it's a burn," said Scotty, "it was the shell that
+burned me as it grazed my leg."</p>
+
+<p>The probable reason, I thought, why the shell could graze the inside of
+one of his legs without injury to the other was because the fighter was
+blessed with a pair of bow-legs that couldn't have stopped the
+proverbial pig in the proverbial alley. In addition to this decided
+detraction from his manly beauty, he was short, squatty, thick-necked, a
+nose of the variety commonly known as a stub, and a couple of little
+eyes that had a constant twinkle, half-shrewd and half-humorous, the
+whole surmounted with a shock of shaggy red hair. But these detractions
+from his beauty did not in the least lessen our admiration for his
+personal bravery; he was in our eyes a first-class fighting man; he had
+proven it by his work at Mons and had the scar to show for it.</p>
+
+<p>"But how did you come to get into a Canadian unit?" asked another.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see, after I was wounded in the leg and got my honorable
+discharge, as soon as I was well, I wanted to do my bit again, and
+knowing that you laddies get bigger pay than in the British army, I
+thought I would kill two birds wi' the one stone,&mdash;get more money and
+get into the game again. So I ups and goes to the Colonel and says I,
+'Colonel, I'd like to get into the game again.' 'Well,' says he, 'I hae
+na room for any more men in my command, but I do want a gude cook,' an'
+it just happened that I was a cook by trade, and a gude one too, and
+told him so, and says he, 'Well, you're just the man I want,' and he
+signed me up there and then, and here I am."</p>
+
+<p>He was a good cook and he was proud of it too; we had no reason to
+complain of the way our meals were prepared. There was only one thing
+about Scotty that caused a shade of dissatisfaction,&mdash;he was so
+scrupulously careful to see that no man got more than his just share of
+the grub that many a fellow grumbled about not getting enough to eat
+and, in many cases, that they did not get what was coming to them. But
+Scotty would shut them with the authority of an old soldier and,
+besides, in his cookhouse he was monarch of all he surveyed. In a
+half-humorous, half-scolding voice he would say, "Mon, what do you want
+to be a hog for? Do you want to let someone else gang hungry? Tak'
+what's given ye and thank God you're alive to eat it, because it won't
+be long maybe before you'll be where ye won't need any grub&mdash;although
+undoubtedly you'll need water."</p>
+
+<p>This was an allusion to our probable future abode. So we had to be
+content with what he chose to serve us. But there were speculations by
+some as to whether or not Scotty really served us all the grub given him
+by the quartermaster's department, and someone was so unjust, I thought,
+as to venture the suggestion that he believed "the damned Scotch runt is
+selling the grub to men in other units." "How does it happen," said he,
+in support of his suspicion, "that he always has a little change when
+the rest of us are broke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nonsense," said I, "a good soldier wouldn't do such a thing, and we
+all know he is a good soldier; there is no getting away from that."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br />
+
+THE FIRST NIGHT</h4>
+
+
+<p>I arrived in France early in February, 1915, and for three weeks we were
+put into the hands of an Imperial battery, the Warwicks. They had taken
+part in the battle of Mons, and the tales of the veterans of this
+world's memorable retreat, told in their own modest way, gave me my
+first clear impression as to what the boys of the Imperial Army really
+had endured for civilization in that campaign.</p>
+
+<p>At first I thought they were trying to bluff us Colonials, but the first
+night I was in the lines I realized in the largest degree of human
+intensity the fearful truth of their experiences.</p>
+
+<p>The tuition given us by these warriors could not be excelled. They took
+us to Fleurbaix, where their batteries were located on the outskirts of
+the town, in cellars in the back part of a building destroyed by German
+fire. There they had skillfully transformed the cellar into a gun pit,
+with a loophole four feet in diameter overlooking an orchard at the
+rear. Each time the gun spoke it would first be shoved into the hole and
+the brush and sandbags removed, and as quickly as the message was sent,
+the camouflage was replaced.</p>
+
+<p>The color of the sandbags was a rusty gray and this, in conjunction with
+the brushwood, prevented the spot taking on a dark appearance, which,
+next to white, is the most easily distinguishable to an airplane; the
+air birds are always on the lookout for these dark spots, watching them
+intently to discover if any signs of activity are there, and immediately
+anything smacking of life appears, the exact location is wired to their
+trenches and the place is whirlwinded with showers of death and
+destruction.</p>
+
+<p>When the Warwicks had completed our educational course, there was no
+detail of handling the guns with which we were not acquainted, and
+thoroughly so, and I had the honor of being in charge of my gun, due to
+the accuracy in my work. I think my chest expansion increased a trifle,
+but my cap did not get any smaller.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of ten days we left Meteren, arriving there February 28. It
+was on the way from Meteren that I received my battle christening; the
+ceremony was performed by a bevy of six airplanes, two of them flying
+low and doing the sprinkling honors with a fusillade of bombs, dropped
+on the road round about us. They left twenty or twenty-five of these
+calling cards, but two of the batteries of anti-aircraft guns handled by
+the Warwicks greeted them so warmly that they quickly decided they had
+overstaid their welcome and made a hurried departure.</p>
+
+<p>When the battery arrived at its designated point, we proceeded to
+camouflage the guns with the artistry we had derived from our
+instruction, covering them securely with grass and brushwood.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this time that I lost not only my increased chest expansion,
+but also a trifle more, because I was ordered to take my gun to a
+position known as the sacrifice gun position, three hundred yards back
+of the front line trench. It derives its name, "sacrifice gun," from the
+fact that rarely, if ever, in case of a heavy enemy raid, does the gun
+or any of its crew escape. This "honor" I was destined to receive many
+times throughout my career in the Great Adventure.</p>
+
+<p>I was in charge of the gun and I installed it in a hedge. The only time
+we were to fire was when the enemy broke through and when our men in
+retreating were on a line even with us; and we could not fire until we
+got orders from the officer commanding or from headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>The idea of a sacrifice gun is this: if the enemy broke through on
+either or both flanks, pushing our men back, we had to wait for orders
+from the commanding officer or from headquarters before firing; All the
+ammunition carried was fifty shells; it was all we could get in those
+days. In daytime the gun was covered with brush and other means of
+concealment to keep it from the ever watchful eye of the Hun. At night
+the crew consisted of two men, one on each side of the gun, and three
+more in a ruined building a hundred yards in the rear of the gun. Our
+shifts were two hours on and four off. The purpose pursued by the
+sacrifice gun is to surprise the enemy when in full view and exposed,
+killing as many of them as possible, blasting gaps through their line
+and enabling our men to dig in in the position to which they have
+retired, we knowing all the while that there is not one chance in a
+thousand that the men connected with the sacrifice gun will escape
+either death or capture. Our orders were under no circumstances to leave
+the gun as long as a shell remained and a man lived. Deuced pleasant!
+The ground in front of us was well drilled with concealed holes all the
+way from four to six feet deep, in each of which strands of barbed wire
+had been placed and the opening carefully concealed with clumps of
+grass, brush and the like.</p>
+
+<p>Blaisdell and I volunteered to take first shift on the gun on the first
+night, about 10 o'clock. We had to take a narrow path on the way, with
+Fritz sniping us every step; he had registered the path and it was a
+constant target for his machine guns and snipers. Our pet was well
+hidden in the hedge, with its nose poking through a hole in the leafage
+and so cunningly camouflaged that it was absolutely impossible to be
+noticed.</p>
+
+<p>While lying stretched on each side of the gun between the muzzle and
+wheel, any talking we did was to whisper cautiously to each other, as
+the very grass beneath our feet contained spies in those days; the
+country-side round about was as thickly infested with them as cells in
+a honeycomb; and thus we waited.</p>
+
+<p>Presently we heard the crackle of a piece of brushwood immediately out
+in our front. The intruder had gotten into our entanglement. "Halt! Who
+goes there?" No answer. I repeated the challenge; still no answer. We
+made our way cautiously through the hedge, unclicked our safety catches
+and were just about to fire in the direction of the sound when someone
+yelled, "Where's the Durham Light Infantry lying?" We ordered them to
+advance until within ten feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Who are you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Durham Light Infantry."</p>
+
+<p>In the darkness we could not tell who they were but they spoke English
+like natives.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing out here wandering around in this fashion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," one of them answered, "we were taking a stroll and got lost and
+we want to find our way back."</p>
+
+<p>We directed them and when they were lost sight of in the darkness, we
+resumed our places on each side of the gun and thought no more of the
+incident for the time. We again installed ourselves comfortably and
+were comparatively safe from the sniping in front, which was going on
+more or less all the time we were there, and about thirty minutes had
+elapsed when, in the silence of the night, I thought I again heard the
+crackling of a twig. Blaisdell heard it too. "Hist! Did you hear that,
+Grant?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I whispered.</p>
+
+<p>We listened intently and heard it again, this time a little closer. We
+jumped up.</p>
+
+<p>"Halt! Who goes there?"</p>
+
+<p>No answer. Bang! Blaisdell fired, and these same fellows called, "Don't
+shoot! We're looking for the Durhams." We emerged through the hedge.</p>
+
+<p>"What in hell are you fellows doing around here again?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we can't find the Durham Light Infantry."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you find some place away from here if you want to live to eat
+your breakfast. If I find you around here again I'll shoot without
+warning."</p>
+
+<p>Again they asked us the way and again we directed them, and saw them
+started on their way to the rear.</p>
+
+<p>Once more we took our places on the gun between the wheels and were
+hardly settled down when a sniper opened up on us from the rear, taking
+a chip out of the wheel to my right. Ping! Ping! Ping! and the tree
+standing ten feet in our rear was nipped. Ping! Ping! and the shield of
+the gun got it this time. We were concealed behind the gun shield, which
+protected us pretty thoroughly from the front fire and were
+congratulating ourselves on our haven of safety when Ping! Ping! again
+from our rear came the messages from a sniper hidden there. In glancing
+back over my shoulder I noticed in the pitchy blackness the flash of a
+rifle simultaneously with the report, and it seemed to come from a
+haystack about 200 yards to our right.</p>
+
+<p>"Blais, look back for a minute and tell me what you see."</p>
+
+<p>Black darkness again for a few minutes, then another flare; we both
+watched intently.</p>
+
+<p>"By God!" exclaimed Blaisdell simultaneously with another report. "Right
+out of the stack!" There was nothing for us to do but to lie there and
+watch, and we absolutely confirmed our convictions that we were being
+sniped at from this particular haystack.</p>
+
+<p>When our watch was up I made my way to the ruin occupied by our relief,
+woke them and told them to keep their eyes open for the haystack and
+make themselves as small as midgets. Shortly after they started,
+Blaisdell came in. He told me that the relief party had been sniped at
+every step of the way to the gun. As Blaisdell entered, the open door
+threw out a fitful glare of light from our flickering candle, and a
+report from this particular haystack was followed by a bullet that
+knocked off a chip of brick just above the doorway. Our friend was
+certainly industrious, but I hoped to go him one better in the morning.
+I grabbed the phone and called up headquarters, informing them of what I
+had seen from the stock. The O.C. said the matter would be looked into
+immediately.</p>
+
+<p>There was no sleeping that night; we were too excited and chattered away
+like school girls over our experiences, and to pass the time the
+inevitable card game started. During the game the sniping was active and
+continuous, the bullets chipping the building in all quarters. Our light
+was from a candle jammed into a jam tin and set between a couple of sand
+bags that we used for a table. Our mate, who had not yet taken his turn
+on the gun-watch, was inclined to be rather skeptical about our story
+of the sniper, declaring it couldn't be possible that Fritzie could be
+carrying on such work in the very midst of our lines, and that our
+imaginations had been running riot with us. We had been playing about
+three-quarters of an hour when a gust of wind blew the door open,
+throwing the faint gleam of the candle out in front. I jumped to close
+the door, the light blowing out as I did so, and at the same instant I
+heard a report from the same direction as before. I closed the door,
+telling Blaisdell to light the candle. He fumbled for his matches and
+lit it, and we were both stricken dumb for the moment; our chum was
+lying stone dead with a hole squarely in his forehead. The gentleman in
+the haystack was surely doing good work for his Kaiser.</p>
+
+<p>Just before daylight we had a call from the O.C., accompanied by three
+or four men; he had phoned us he was coming. He wanted all particulars
+regarding my previous message. Under cover of the hedge we got to within
+fifty yards of the stack and everybody was convinced of the certainty of
+the information I had given, for, as we watched, two more flashes came
+from the stack. Not a particle of doubt was left and the officer ordered
+a bomb thrown into the haystack. Inside of a minute the red flames
+began shooting out from all sides, in another minute it was ablaze, and
+in five minutes we had the joy and satisfaction of hearing the muffled
+shriek of the soldier who had so well served his Kaiser.</p>
+
+<p>This ended for me a busy first night in the front line.</p>
+
+<p>When the ashes of the fire were searched we found the charred body of a
+man, the remains of a rifle and a complete set of telephone apparatus,
+which was traced to our trenches, and from there to the German lines.</p>
+
+<p>Wilhelm for a certainty lost an ace in the haystack. Besides our chum
+and heavens knows what others, he had sniped the road along which relief
+parties were passing up and down; and that same night one of the
+soldiers of an infantry battalion of the Warwicks, winding its way to
+the front trenches, got his death from a bullet squarely in the neck;
+and the Germans having through him gotten an absolutely accurate range,
+our gun was wiped out by a single shell, together with two members of
+the crew.</p>
+
+<p>Next afternoon, while resting in billets to where I had been ordered, a
+shell struck the building, a splinter knocking out the eye of Ed.
+Jackson, who was sitting beside me. He was not killed, but his wound was
+a blighty, taking him out of the game for good. The unwelcome visitors
+continuing to come, we were rushed to our battery of three guns in an
+orchard near by; a curtain of sandbags was placed in front to prevent
+the flash being seen. As soon as we started firing, rifle shots from our
+left scattered the mud on all sides, coming at intervals of five or ten
+minutes. Speculation was aroused and we set a man to watch, and
+suspicion fastened on a farmer who was working his plow. Nothing was
+found on him. Next day the same thing happened and again the watch was
+set. This time our efforts were rewarded; the scout saw the farmer shoot
+and throw the rifle down. He reported to the officer and we went over.
+The horny-handed son of toil was very busy at the plow as he saw us
+coming. He couldn't speak English. The officer sent to the nearest
+French battery and presently a French soldier came who interpreted the
+officer's questions and the man's replies. He knew nothing, whatever, he
+said, about the rifle shots coming from his direction.</p>
+
+<p>A search was then made for the rifle where the scout had seen him throw
+it and not only one rifle, but several, including English, French and
+German makes, were found in various parts of the field, partly buried in
+the soil. When the guns were discovered the farmer threw up his hands,
+wildly gesticulating and vehemently protesting that he knew nothing
+whatever as to how they came there. His was a short shrift. He was tried
+on the spot, tied to the pump of his own farm and shot.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br />
+
+YPRES</h4>
+
+
+<p>I remained in this spot with the guns until March, when the costly
+victory of Neuve Chapelle was fought. My battery was playing on their
+northern flank. The objective of the British Tommies was the city, which
+they took, but at a terrible toll; 6,000 Indian troops, mostly Ghurkas,
+were slain. The fearful mortality exacted from these troops was due to
+their impetuosity; they do not know fear; it was impossible to hold
+them; they rushed out before their time and some of them suffered from
+the fire of our own guns. It was in this fight that our own famous and
+gallant regiment, the "Princess Pats," was decimated, sustaining a loss
+of over 700 men. This magnificent body of fellows went into the war
+1,150 strong and at the last roll call but 22 of the original men
+answered. The price paid was too much for what was accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>We were then ordered to billets and stayed there until April 20th, when
+we were ordered to Ypres, arriving there April 21. My battery was
+stationed at St. Julien, one and a half miles northwest of the city.
+Here I was detailed as observer, my duty being to get into the
+front-line trench and from the most advantageous nook that I could find,
+try to discover whatever I could about the movement of the enemy,
+communicate my knowledge to the telephonist who would in turn send it to
+headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon I reported to the telephonist that a big fire was
+in progress somewhere on our left, as an immense smoke cloud was rising
+there and coming toward us. As shells had burst his wire, rendering it
+useless, he started out to deliver the message by word of mouth, running
+on top of the parapet as he started. That was the last I ever saw of
+him; he did not come back; Fritz was coming and ahead of him rolled the
+sinister-looking cloud on our left. Then happened the strangest thing!
+The line trembled from one end to the other, as the Algerian troops
+immediately on our left, jumped out of their trenches, falling as they
+ran. The whole thing seemed absolutely incomprehensible&mdash;until I got a
+whiff of the gas. They ran like men possessed, gasping, choking, blinded
+and dropping with suffocation. They could hardly be blamed. It was a
+new device in warfare and thoroughly illustrative of the Prussian idea
+of playing the game.</p>
+
+<p>When the great yellow clouds came rolling toward us, orders were roared
+to wet our handkerchiefs and stuff them in our mouths, and half choked
+and blinded we held for a day and a half. The buttons on our uniforms
+were tinged yellow and green from the gas, so virulent was the poison.</p>
+
+<p>Cooks and everybody else had been ordered into the line, as the giving
+way of the Algerians necessitated our lengthening out so as to take over
+their ground. Scotty of Mons fame was in the trench bay a few yards away
+from me, and when the cloud had passed by I saw him rolling on the
+ground, apparently blinded, tears streaming from his eyes. I helped him
+to his feet and when he got his voice back his courage returned and,
+yelling, "Let the barbarians come," he seized his rifle, rushed to the
+parapet and fired point blank every cartridge in his rifle in the
+direction of Fritz.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the second day another wave of hell's atmosphere came
+across, more deadly than any of the others, followed by a smothering
+fire from the German batteries, and the Germans broke in upon us on
+our right and left. Yard by yard we retreated, fighting as we went, and
+they occupied some of our front trenches&mdash;for a time.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus03.jpg" alt="gas attack"  />
+</p>
+<p class="center"> A Chlorine Gas Attack from the Trenches</p>
+
+<p>That night Scotty and I received orders to report to a French dressing
+station for treatment. I half-dragged and half-walked him to the doctor;
+I had a feeling that he ought to have been able to make the trip without
+my help as I was certain he wasn't suffering any more than I was. After
+we left the doctor and got outside the dressing station, Scotty swayed
+from side to side, groaning like a man who had lost his last hope on
+earth, and the doctor told him to get away as quickly as he could as he
+was playing the devil with the nerves of the men who were lying around
+there half-dead from the poison fumes. He staggered over and sat down
+beside me on the side of the road, still wringing his hands. I
+remonstrated with him and told him that bad as it was it could not be
+anything like Mons, and to my amazement he stopped his moaning all at
+once and said with a twinkle in his eye, "Let's beat it to the dugout;
+the doc won't see us." We took the chance and started. On the way Fritz
+shot up the road and with a spring like an india-rubber man, Scotty
+jumped behind a tree. We finally reached our destination and Scotty
+proceeded to get something to eat. He lit a fire while I brought the
+water. The cookhouse here was in the house of a farmer who had vacated,
+and as the smoke coming from the chimney got thicker every moment, I was
+apprehensive lest Fritz would see it and send over a shell message, but
+Scotty pooh-poohed the idea.</p>
+
+<p>Dinner was almost ready when&mdash;Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Bang! and a shell
+shot clean through the joint. The concussion threw me to the floor,
+covering me with lime and plaster-of-paris from the walls and ceiling. I
+got up and looked around for the cook. The hero of Mons had been knocked
+down, with the stove on top of him, and he was lying in the corner
+praying like a good fellow. "Oh, Lord! look down in pity and save me!
+Thou knowest, Lord, I am unworthy o' thy mercy, but please control the
+shells o' those barbarians and send them in anither direction, and Thine
+shall be a' the glory." Then he saw me standing there and he yelled, "Do
+you think there'll be any more?" "No, that was merely a stray shell.
+Let's get this grub, I'm starving." "Stray shell be damned," said he,
+"they've seen the smoke and they'll be putting more over."</p>
+
+<p>No sooner said than Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! and three or
+four more shells banged about the place, one of them blowing the pump
+from outside through the shack past Scotty, out through the other wall,
+and Scotty, ducking and dodging like a man trying to buck the line in a
+football game, shot through the door and vanished in the night.</p>
+
+<p>The pan of bacon he had been cooking was still intact except that it had
+a coating of plaster-of-paris from the walls and ceiling of the room,
+and I proceeded to put it under my belt as fast as my jaws would work,
+and then made for my dugout. I was just settling down to a quiet smoke
+when I heard the Major calling for Scotty at the top of his voice.
+Getting no response, he called for me and I hastened to his quarters.</p>
+
+<p>"Grant, go down and see if that Scotch cook has fallen in the soup; find
+out if cookhouse is ready." "Yes, sir." I said nothing about what had
+happened and returned to the cookhouse to find six Algerians devouring
+the officers' rations in such fashion as to make one think of the man in
+the side show who was advertised in letters twenty feet deep as the
+original snake-eater of South America; there wasn't enough left for a
+one-man meal. I reported to the O.C. that there were no signs of Scotty
+but that the cookhouse had been hit by a shell.</p>
+
+<p>"Go and see if he is at the dressing station." I went back to the
+station. For nearly a mile the wounded and gassed men were lying on each
+side of the road waiting for conveyances to remove them. I spoke to a
+Tommy who had met with a peculiar accident; he had two plates in his
+mouth and the concussion of a shell explosion in his immediate vicinity
+had broken the plates into four pieces, leaving him practically
+toothless.</p>
+
+<p>Strongly suspecting by that time that if Scotty were anywhere on earth
+he was at the rear in the wagon line, I waited around the station just
+long enough to lend plausibility to my search before reporting to the
+O.C. The Major was in a towering rage over our losses, and, damning the
+cook, he dismissed me. The officers that night had to look to another
+cookhouse for their evening meal.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning I was sent for by the Major and dispatched to the wagon
+lines on an errand;&mdash;at that time I was fulfilling the duties of a
+runner for our unit;&mdash;he also told me to have a lookout for the cook
+while there and make some inquiries about him. I saluted and left. The
+first place I went to in the wagon lines was the cookhouse and as I got
+there I thought I noticed the swish of someone quickly disappearing
+round the corner and the cockney-cook there informed me that Scotty had
+spent the previous evening with them and had only left a minute ago.</p>
+
+<p>"'E's no slouch, that cook of yours," he said, "'e's a fighter, 'e is."</p>
+
+<p>"That so?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're right, 'e is. Wy, where 'e was stationed, when the Germans
+rushed 'em in the trench, 'e 'eld 'em back, killin' two of 'em
+single-handed until the others had retreated. 'E ought to get the
+D.C.M., 'e ought; that's what hi say. By Gawd! when it comes to the real
+thing, give me the Scotch! An' honly last night 'e was in his cookhouse
+with some blighter by the name of Grant when the shells came along, and
+this fellow must have 'ad a streak of yellow for he promised to 'elp
+Scotty with the meal, but bolted like a bullet at the first shell."</p>
+
+<p>"How did he come to be down here?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Wy, he got relieved."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hover in the dugout."</p>
+
+<p>I learned that the hero of Mons had regaled them with accounts of his
+feats of valor in the trenches, very similar to the tales he had
+recounted to us at Salisbury Plain of his achievements in the Great
+Retreat, and the cook had given him a meal befitting a hero of his
+caliber, which Scotty had devoured with the relish and avidity of four
+heroes, while the others had shown him the due and necessary deference
+becoming a man of action.</p>
+
+<p>For the benefit of the cook I informed him that Scotty was a damned
+liar; that it was I who had been with him; that he ran like a
+white-livered cur under fire from his cookhouse and didn't stop until he
+had reached the wagon lines; that he was there without being relieved
+and that he would shortly have another tale to tell.</p>
+
+<p>I hastened to the dugout he had indicated as Scotty's retreat and found
+him in the innermost corner, pretending to be asleep; he didn't answer
+until I called him three or four times.</p>
+
+<p>"Scotty, the O.C. wants to know why you left the cookhouse without guard
+permitting some Algerians to eat up his bacon and stuff, and, further,
+why you ran away under fire. You are in for hell as sure as there is
+heather in your hair." His countenance took on a greenish hue and he
+mumbled something about being shell-shocked and refused to come. I
+persuaded him, however, to come over to the Quartermaster of the wagon
+line, and that officer asked him what he was doing there.</p>
+
+<p>"Weel,&mdash;I was wounded and couldna' fight anither stroke; I was jeest
+tired oot wi' killin' Boches and hadna' the strength to stand anither
+minute; I jeest had to get away."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've had a damned good rest now and you can get back to the
+O.C. and tell him what you have told me and he will see that you get a
+fitting decoration." This latter was spoken very grimly, and I could see
+the great fighter's face fall. "You will see to it, Grant," said the
+Q.M. "that Henderson doesn't hide his heroism from the O.C.; that he
+gives it to him in detail, just as he has to me." "Yes, sir," and I left
+with my prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>We hurried along as night was falling and the German flares were
+commencing to fly. On the way back we met two Algerian troopers and in
+the gleam of a star shell and the fading twilight they looked more like
+two escaped denizens of the chamber of horrors than anything I could
+well imagine. Indeed, their appearance was so ghastly under the weird
+light of the flares and the fading day, that I involuntarily shivered,
+hardened though I was by that time to grim sights. Each of them carried
+on his shoulder the hind-quarter of a cow that had been killed by a
+shell at a nearby farm, and the dripping blood from the beast had
+slopped all over their uniforms; under each arm was tucked a ham they
+had "swiped" from the farmhouse and each had a young suckling pig
+running ahead, squealing and grunting, tied by a string on the hind leg
+and held by the left hand, while in the right hand each man carried a
+sharply pointed stick to prod the pig when it veered from a straight
+line, which was about every other step or so.</p>
+
+<p>Just as we got immediately opposite the looters a burst of shell fire
+from the German guns, followed by a hail of shrapnel, blazed all about
+us, and the hero-cook jumped like a bullfrog, bumping plumb into one of
+the Algerians, and he and the cook and the pig tumbled over and over,
+the pig squealing like mad, the Algerian rolling out deep-throated oaths
+in his native tongue, and Scotty cursing as only a redheaded gabby
+Scotchman can, all amid an ear-splitting din of shrieking shells and
+flare-gleams completing a <i>mise en sc&egrave;ne</i> as striking as anything ever
+created by a master artist of stagecraft.</p>
+
+<p>When Scotty extricated himself from the tangle his face and clothes were
+smeared from the blood of the dripping beast, so that he could indeed
+have passed for the blood-stained hero he had proclaimed himself in the
+cookhouse, and in spite of his plight Scotty grinned as I suggested the
+thought to him and the twinkle returned to his eye, and his spirits took
+a decidedly upward turn until we reached the Major's quarters.</p>
+
+<p>The Major was still cursing mad over the loss of the trenches in the gas
+attack and I felt the moment he spoke that Scotty's fate looked black.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have you been, Henderson?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was in the cookhouse, sir, when a shell struck it, smashing
+everything in sight, and I lost complete control o' my nerves and
+started for the wagon lines wi'out knowing what I was doing or where I
+was going, and didna' come to mysel' until Grant ran across me in the
+dugout."</p>
+
+<p>"That won't go, Henderson. Orderly room at ten-thirty in the morning.
+It's the first case of cowardice in this unit and I'll take damned good
+care that it will be the last. Grant, escort the prisoner back to the
+wagon lines."</p>
+
+<p>I could not help feeling sorry for the poor devil because, coward though
+he was, his was one of those personalities that carried with it a sort
+of likeableness, somewhat after the fashion of our time-honored
+Falstaff, and his funk under fire made him liable to the extreme
+penalty,&mdash;a firing squad. His teeth chattered like the keys of a
+typewriter as he asked me, "What do you think will come o' it, Grant? Do
+you think he really means it?"</p>
+
+<p>I hadn't the heart to tell him what I really thought and strove to jolly
+him by saying that the Major would feel in a better humor in the
+morning, "and besides," said I, "when we take back those trenches
+tomorrow, he will get over his flurry."</p>
+
+<p>I turned my prisoner over to the guard of the wagon lines, first
+informing the Quartermaster, and when he asked me what the trouble was,
+I had to tell him of the variance of the prisoner's story told him and
+that he told the Major, and that the Major directed that he be up for
+orderly room in the morning. Without any further ceremony Scotty was
+jammed in the clink.</p>
+
+<p>It was now almost daybreak of the morning of the third day following our
+first gas attack and, almost ready to drop with fatigue, I went over to
+the wagon lines, gathered some straw and bags together under an
+ammunition wagon, and was in a dead sleep in less time than it takes to
+tell it.</p>
+
+<p>At ten-thirty I reported to the orderly room to attend Scotty's trial.
+The Major was in his appointed place and in due course the guard marched
+in with the prisoner. His ammunition pouches and cap had been removed
+and he stood to attention as well as the contour of his legs and the
+thickness of his yellow streak permitted. Still I could not help
+remembering what he had done at Mons; there was no doubt about that
+because I had seen his scar and I knew that the ranks of the Seaforth
+Highlanders had never held a coward; and I mentally concluded that he
+must really have been suffering from shell shock or he would never have
+left his post as he did, and I sincerely hoped that he would in some way
+get through. The evidence was short and conclusive and the verdict was
+curt and decisive:&mdash;"held in close confinement for general field court
+martial at Steenwercke, May 12." And Scotty was led out looking as if he
+hadn't a friend in the world; there was very little sympathy for him
+from anyone.</p>
+
+<p>The same evidence was repeated at the field court martial trial, but the
+twinkle in Scotty's eye must have reached the heart of the commanding
+officer for he was ordered deported to England, pending dishonorable
+discharge. There he was sent to the military camp at Shorncliffe, put
+under open arrest and utilized around the camp in a number of ways for
+over a year.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon Colonel Morrison sent for me. "Grant, run to Colonel
+Curry and find out how strong the Forty-eighth Highlanders and the Third
+Brigade are, and how soon he can get the men together for attack."
+"Yes, sir," and I started. I was running along the top of the canal bank
+in broad daylight and in the open, expecting every second that one of
+the missiles from the shower that was pattering the ground everywhere
+would get me. In that race through that bullet-swept zone I felt a
+common bond of kinship with the Irish soldier who was running as fast as
+his legs could carry him from the Battle of the Wilderness in the
+American Civil War and General Sherman, noticing him, turned his horse
+in the direction of the fleeing soldier and halted him up.</p>
+
+<p>"Here, you soldier, what are you running away for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because, Gineral&mdash;because I can't fly."</p>
+
+<p>How I longed for wings! The Colonel later recommended me for a
+commission and many times since have I wondered how he would feel about
+that recommendation if he ever learned the real state of my feelings at
+that moment. He did me the honor of requesting Colonel Morrison to
+permit me to enter his unit and Colonel Morrison did me the additional
+honor of refusing to let me go. I had gotten a somewhat painful scalp
+wound on the way over, and I made my way to the French dressing station
+in a half-unconscious condition. The French doctor nearly completed
+matters by spilling the iodine in my eye and nearly blinding me. Some
+dope was then administered that brought me to my full senses shortly
+after.</p>
+
+<p>When I was getting fixed up at the dressing station&mdash;I had a hard time
+as the wounded men were swarming everywhere&mdash;I saw two women in the
+station carrying baskets and speaking to the soldiers. They seemed to be
+peasant women, but spoke very good English. They left after some little
+time and wended their way up the road; but something in their appearance
+directed attention to them and they were watched! After they had gone a
+little bit up the road one of them was seen to open her basket and let a
+pigeon go. They were at once arrested, handed over to the French police
+and taken to Ypres.</p>
+
+<p>The work of the gendarmerie was unexcelled; they were everywhere they
+were needed; had it not been for their lightning-like acumen and prompt
+service, the Lord only knows what would have become of us poor
+Britishers in that country, as we were practically at the mercy of the
+spies, not knowing who was who.</p>
+
+<p>The two women were taken to Ypres and were treated to their deserved
+fate&mdash;shot. But the pigeon did its work. Within an hour after their
+arrest the hospital was shelled; it was packed with patients and in one
+of the wards one of those flying ministers of death exploded, leaving
+not a single living man.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br />
+
+MY HORSESHOE WORKING</h4>
+
+
+<p>It was the fourth day of the second battle of Ypres. I was in charge of
+my subsection at the guns and the men wanted water. I volunteered and
+went to a farmhouse 150 yards off, got the water and had started back
+for the guns. I had just stepped outside the door of the farmhouse when
+Kr-kr-kr-p! a huge shell came over and blew the gun and gun crew into
+kingdom come. A French captain was standing twenty feet from the door
+and, following the report, I started for our gun. I had just taken a
+step or two when another monster of death came hurtling through the air,
+straight for me, as I thought, but, instead, it was a message for the
+French soldier; it got him squarely, leaving not a fragment of his body
+to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after the death of our gun crew and the French captain our
+gun position was moved, and that same evening after supper, consisting
+of the usual bread, jam and tea, Walter Hope and I were on our way to
+the dugout. When half-way there a sudden emptiness entered into my life
+and the next thing I knew I was being lifted on to a stretcher. I
+rebelled and got to my feet. What had happened was this, as told me by
+one of the boys who was standing a short distance off,&mdash;a shell had come
+and exploded almost at my feet, throwing me in the air for a distance,
+as he said, of fully twenty feet. It is impossible for me to personally
+make an estimate of the distance, as I was unconscious when I went up
+and when I came down.</p>
+
+<p>When I recovered my senses, Hope was hopping around holding his right
+hand with his left and exclaiming like a madman. His hand had been
+almost severed by a fragment from the shell and was hanging to the wrist
+by a shred. He ran to the cookhouse and the cook advised him to go at
+once to the dressing station, as he couldn't do anything for him;
+instead, in his frenzy, he ran to the gun pits, going from one to the
+other, looking for help. Every man there wanted to help him, but he
+wouldn't and couldn't stand still; the concussion of the shell had
+affected his brain and this accounted for his ungovernableness. Then a
+few of us grabbed him and I bandaged it as best I could, walked over to
+the road with him and started him on his way to the dressing station; I
+could go no further, as we had commenced firing, and he made his way
+alone. When nearing the station his senses completely left him for the
+time and he plucked off his hanging hand and threw it from him. The poor
+lad was then taken into the station, properly attended to and sent to
+England.</p>
+
+<p>Thankful am I to tell that he came through all right and is now working
+in Toronto earning his living by writing with his left hand, which he
+has learned to manipulate with practically the same agility the lost
+member possessed. We were deeply regretful at the loss of Hope from the
+crowd&mdash;fearless Hope, as he was known, and, sometimes, hopeless
+Hope&mdash;because never in all my experience have I seen a man who was so
+utterly regardless of danger; he would expose himself to what seemed
+certain death, and, as luck would have it, he got his blighty at a place
+that ordinarily would be considered about as safe from harm as could be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>On the fifth day of the second battle of Ypres, April 25, 1915, McKay,
+an orderly, came up the line with ammunition for the guns as our supply
+was exhausted. As soon as the shells were delivered it was his duty to
+report at once to the Captain for further orders. The poor fellow was
+starving for something to eat and he thought he would steal the time to
+slip up to the cookhouse and get a bite of grub. He rode his horse
+across and was in the act of leaning over to get a couple of hardtacks
+the cook was handing him, when a splinter of a shell that had exploded
+at his horse's feet, struck him in the neck, killing him instantly,
+slightly wounding his horse and destroying the rations and vessels in
+the cookhouse. The Captain yelled, "Ammunition orderly wanted," and I
+volunteered. I jumped on the horse, galloped him as well as his limping
+leg would permit, and weathered the storm of shells through the fire
+zone, making my way to the wagon lines, where I gave the Quartermaster
+the order.</p>
+
+<p>Then I had the pleasure of witnessing for the first time the admirable
+celerity and effectiveness with which an order of this kind is carried
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"Ten loads of ammunition wanted at once, sir; ammunition pretty nearly
+exhausted at the guns," was the message I delivered. The Quartermaster
+blew his whistle&mdash;"Stand to! ammunition up!" he yelled. The Sergeant
+then carried on; the men were standing easy by their horses waiting for
+the word. In these days, when a battle is on, the men are always ready
+for the word at a moment's notice, with their horses fully harnessed,
+nothing being removed from the animals except the bit to enable them to
+take their feed from the bag, and in no case is an ammunition wagon left
+without its guard; at night when the guard would lie down to snatch an
+hour's sleep, another one was there ready to carry on. "Prepare to
+mount! Mount! Walk&mdash;march! Trot!" yelled the Sergeant in quick
+succession, each command being executed with clock-like exactness, and
+they trotted from under cover of the trees where they were concealed
+from the airplanes and proceeded rapidly up the road under shell fire,
+bumping and stumbling along.</p>
+
+<p>I was guide for the party. We passed through Breeland, but could not
+make the best kind of speed as the traffic was terribly congested. On
+the left hand side of the road long lines of ambulances bearing wounded
+men were going down, stretcher bearers were carrying their suffering
+burdens and wounded men who were able to walk were making their way
+around and through the wagons as best they could, among them being men
+from every branch of the Imperial service, together with French and
+Algerians; on the other side of the road supply wagons of all
+descriptions were going forward. In the course of our journey the
+harness of one of the horses rubbed the animal until he was lame,
+stopping up the wagon. Immediately the Sergeant who was riding alongside
+ordered the wagon to one side, removed the horse, installed his own,
+jumped on the wagon and caught up with the others. The speed with which
+he did the trick almost made me gasp with astonishment; in all my life I
+never saw work of the kind handled so smoothly and swiftly. A dash of
+the picturesque was added to the scene by the Algerian ration-bearers
+winding their way in and out of the wagons, carrying trays of hot food
+on their heads and shoulders. It was nothing short of marvelous, the
+skillful manner in which they carried their precious burden of food, for
+never did they have a spill unless killed or wounded.</p>
+
+<p>One of the funniest sights a man can see was the way my chums of the
+ammunition wagons defied the explicit and peremptory order, "No smoking
+on the road at or around Ypres." There is something in the rise and
+fall of the lighted cigarette when being smoked that attracts the
+attention at long distances and many a man has had to pay the penalty,
+which was most severe,&mdash;28 days field punishment, which means 28 days
+without pay and breaking your back at fatigue duty around the camp, the
+cookhouse and the wagon lines, in addition to four hours extra drill
+each day. The temptation to smoke is so compelling that the punishment
+does not deter most men and they take the chance. By taking the collar
+of their coat and tucking it around their faces, lighting the match
+under their coat next to their ribs, burying their faces in their coat,
+they get a light without much danger of detection. In puffing it a man
+will hold the fag in his closed fist to his mouth, take the inhale, and,
+if there should happen to be a provo or other suspicious guardian of the
+rules in sight, down into his stomach would go the smoke. I don't know
+why it is but it has always seemed to me that the more stringent the
+rules are against the forbidden luxury, the more chances men will take
+to get their smoke.</p>
+
+<p>We made the run to Ypres Square in an hour and a half. As soon as we
+entered I noticed a woman clinging tightly to a little girl and hugging
+the wall of the Nunshouse, a building standing immediately opposite the
+town hall in the square. The square itself was a large open place in the
+city about 350 feet long by 150 wide. I jumped off my horse, gave it to
+the driver and went over. In broken English I learned they wanted to
+cross, but on account of the fire continually bursting the woman would
+not, so I picked up the child and carried her across to a cellar about
+five doors out of the square. A chunk had been blown out of the building
+and there was no difficulty in getting into the cellar, and as soon as I
+got to this place the child murmured, "<i>Bon! bon!</i>" and indicated she
+would go in there. I set her down and she turned her pretty little face
+to me for a kiss. She then caught my arm as I was about to go and
+slipping off a tiny locket from her little neck, handed it to me,
+indicating that she wanted me to keep it. I have it to this day and I
+prize it tenderly. It has a small picture of the patron saint of France,
+Joan of Arc.</p>
+
+<p>I ran back to her mother, pointed out where the child was, but she still
+seemed afraid to venture across. Although my little adventure did not
+occupy over three minutes, I could wait no longer, and jumped on my
+horse and the train of wagons trotted sharply out of the square. As the
+last wagon was leaving, I heard a sound like a train leaving a
+depot&mdash;choo! choo! choo! choo! growing louder each instant, and as the
+tail-end of the last wagon was trotting out of the square a shell, the
+largest ever employed by the German command and called the Ypres
+Express, landed full in the square, killing every living thing there and
+destroying ambulances and wagons of every kind, catching our rear wagon
+and blowing it up, wounding the driver and destroying the magnificent
+Cloth Hall, the last vestige of this most beautiful piece of
+architecture being destroyed by the resulting fire. That shell was from
+one of two guns that were expressly manufactured for the purpose of
+destroying the city of Ypres, a couple of months being taken to build
+cement platforms in which to set the ordnance, and the death-dealing
+monsters started on their mission of destruction from Dixmude, about 22
+miles distant.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus04.jpg" alt="British Battery"  />
+</p>
+<p class="center"> British Battery in Action</p>
+
+<p>Not long after, an airplane located these monsters and succeeded in
+destroying one by a downpour of explosives he dropped on it, and the
+other one, a couple of days following, when being fired by its crew,
+the shell exploded in the gun itself, tearing it from its cement
+foundation and destroying itself and crew. These were the only guns of
+that caliber that have ever been used, so far as is known. The passage
+through the air of those missiles of death, heralded by their choo!
+choo! sent a shiver of dread up and down the lines as far as the sound
+would reach, and deep and lasting was the satisfaction of all ranks when
+the last of these mammoths of destruction wended its final flight.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br />
+
+HUN HELPERS</h4>
+
+
+<p>On the sixth day after the first gas attack on the Canadians at Ypres,
+we took up a new position in a hedge about three-quarters of a mile
+north and a quarter of a mile east of Ypres, and about a thousand yards
+from the German trenches. We galloped like mad over the shell-swept
+road, taking just exactly an hour and a half to get the guns placed and
+blazing. We had four guns when we pulled into this position, but were
+latterly reinforced by two more from another battery, their sisters
+having been smashed and the crews bayoneted, including their commanding
+officers, and like friendless children they came to us looking for a
+home and were gladly taken in, thus increasing our battery to six guns.</p>
+
+<p>The hedge of the thickly growing thorn bushes ranged to the height of
+four feet, making it incumbent upon us to continually assume a stooping
+position when walking, involving a crick in the back for a good part of
+the time while there, but the bush was as thick as could be and formed
+an admirable shelter.</p>
+
+<p>The beauty of these hedges in blossoming time is charming and the buds
+were now coming out, their fragrance filling the air with sweet nectar.
+To our right was a large farmhouse, of two stories and a gable roof, and
+the nearest gun to the house was not over 30 feet off. The house was
+occupied by a farmer, his wife and two young children, a boy and a girl.</p>
+
+<p>The farmer's demeanor toward us was that of a systematic grouch and his
+appearance did not belie his disposition&mdash;as surly and sulky looking as
+a whipped criminal. He would stand in the doorway, watching us
+continually, as if he feared we were going to steal his house from over
+his head, and about the only thing he would say was to warn us not to
+destroy the hedge. But our love for the shelter, to say nothing of our
+love for the fragrant blossoms, made this injunction needless.</p>
+
+<p>Over on the other side of the house, 40 feet to the right of it, was
+another hedge behind which was a French battery of .75's. This battery
+had been through the Marne and they were veterans of the finest order,
+the very cream of the French artillery service, and their Captain was an
+educated gentleman, speaking English as fluently as his native tongue.
+They had come up from the Champagne district to reinforce the position
+at Ypres and their battery also consisted of six guns, each gun capable
+of 24 shells a minute.</p>
+
+<p>In appearance these guns are the last in the world to give one the
+impression of supreme efficiency; when we saw them coming down the road
+we wondered what they could be and were amazed when informed that they
+were the famous .75's that had made the work of the French guns ring
+throughout the world; we couldn't at first bring ourselves to believe
+that these were the famous guns until we saw them at work, because there
+is nothing in the general aspect of the piece to make one think that
+they are any better, if as good, as our old field pieces.</p>
+
+<p>The secret of these magnificent guns lies in the buffer and in the
+ability of the muzzle of the gun to cool off; after discharging 24
+rounds they are just as ready to discharge another 24 as when they
+started, while in the case of our pieces we have to let them cool, and
+15 or 18 per minute is the limit of our effort, because any more would
+cause them to jam from the heat. There is no gun on earth that can
+compare with the .75's.</p>
+
+<p>Our ammunition was supplied to us at this spot over a road running
+between our wagon lines, half way between Flamingad and Breevland, about
+a thousand yards away, but they had to go in a roundabout way, traveling
+fully 800 yards out of the direct route on account of the ditches. It
+was a physical impossibility for the horses to bring up sufficient
+ammunition for the guns during the night, and they had to make the
+perilous trip many times during the day, and with the German shells
+pounding the road every foot of the way, their fire being guided by the
+wireless directions from their planes, the number of horses that had
+their lives smashed out on this road was something enormous. At one spot
+is the famous Hell's Corner, so named because of the fierce fire that
+continually rained upon it, and here I counted 40 dead horses, as fine
+looking animals as ever were harnessed. Such is the toll of war.</p>
+
+<p>On the day that we arrived, our attention was drawn to an Algerian who
+seemed to be an inmate of the house. He could speak some English and
+seemed to spend most of his time cleaning his revolver. On the first
+afternoon I asked him why he was there and to what regiment he belonged.</p>
+
+<p>"The Algerian-African troop."</p>
+
+<p>"I understood they were in the trenches," I said. "Are you with the
+infantry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he replied, "I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you wounded?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why are you not with your men?" I insisted.</p>
+
+<p>"I was lost in the retreat," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you go and look them up?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did, but I can't find them."</p>
+
+<p>Then he asked me if we were getting ammunition up.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes, lots of it," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"When are you going to fire?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, pretty soon," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to shoot at?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>I told him we were going to plug the German trenches and the buildings
+around there, that we had orders to blow them up as they were filled
+with machine guns. He grinned from ear to ear, saying, "Good! Good!
+Shoot them all! Which ones you shoot first? I want to see them fall."</p>
+
+<p>I pointed out the ones my battery was going to demolish and his big
+white teeth were exposed in another grin, as he nodded approvingly, and
+walked off.</p>
+
+<p>That same afternoon my gun leveled the buildings assigned to me for
+demolishment and knowing beyond all shadow of a doubt that they were
+filled with men and machine guns, I watched through the glasses to see
+the gray-clad inmates popping out of the doors and windows. Judge of my
+astonishment! Not a solitary soul left the building my gun had
+destroyed. I watched each one of them in turn and in turn was awarded
+nothing for my pains. From others, however, hundreds of men rushed and
+as they scurried away our guns shrapneled them, dropping them by the
+score.</p>
+
+<p>A sort of a subconscious connection between my conversation with the
+Algerian and the effect of my gun fire found lodging in the back of my
+head, but it was not until later that it became a direct consciousness.
+Another thing that set me thinking was what seemed to me to be an undue
+familiarity between this Algerian trooper and our farmer; he had the
+entree of the house, apparently could go and come as he pleased,
+drinking coffee with the inmates, sleeping there nights and making
+himself generally at home. I didn't think much of it at the time, but
+later events made these trivialities very significant indeed.</p>
+
+<p>The bombardment was now commencing to have its effect on me, and McLean
+and I were both tired out; we were dead beat and looked around for a
+quiet spot where we could rest. Billy McLean was my especial pal ever
+since I had set foot in France.</p>
+
+<p>"Here is what the doctor ordered," he said, as we went off down the
+hedge a bit and came to a little opening in the bush into which we both
+crawled. It requires no effort for a man who has been sustaining the
+sound, shock and work of a bombardment, to fall asleep anywhere, any
+time, and we were soon Murphyized, as Mac expressed it.</p>
+
+<p>The rain now commenced falling heavily and in the midst of our slumbers,
+an orderly happened along and woke me up. I gave Mac a shove and he too
+woke up. We were drenched and made for the barn. We found the Old Man
+there with a lantern and told him we were going up in the loft, but he
+scowled and said we were not to go. "To hell with you!"&mdash;and up we went,
+finding five or six of the boys there taking advantage of the lull to
+snatch an hour's sleep. We quickly followed suit, getting hold of some
+straw and grain bags for a bed, and resumed our interrupted slumbers.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of our dreams "S.O.S. Stand to!" was ordered, but we did
+not hear. One of our fellows, as we later learned, came running up to
+the farmhouse and asked the farmer if he had seen any of our men.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he scowled, "there are none here."</p>
+
+<p>When we had our sleep out we made for the guns. It did not take us long
+to see that a pretty thorough strafing had been going on, yet so dead
+beat to the utter exhaustion point were we, that we had failed to hear
+them.</p>
+
+<p>"Where the hell were you fellows?" asked one.</p>
+
+<p>"Asleep up there in the barn," said I; "why didn't you call us?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did, I asked that old blankety-blank and he told me he hadn't seen
+any of you fellows around there."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said I, "he knew that Mac and I were up there, because we told
+him we were going, although he didn't want to let us go."</p>
+
+<p>Here the incident dropped and was forgotten for the time. That afternoon
+Fritz attempted to come over our way and on a "Stand to" we jumped to
+the guns and drove him back, sending across 200 expressions of our good
+will in record time. Then we "stood down." Following this we went
+through the usual routine of cleaning up our pet and making her ready
+for the next visitation, and while working away, friend farmer came
+along with one of his cows, a large white animal, leading it with a rope
+and permitting her to graze. He walked along in front of my gun where it
+stopped and grazed awhile; going in like manner in front of each of the
+guns. Then he led the animal over to the other side of the house, where
+it grazed in front of the French .75's.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime we were working hard, getting our pets in shape, and
+someone asked who would volunteer for water. We were all dirty, thirsty,
+greasy and tired, and I offered to go. I ambled over to the farmhouse,
+stopping to speak to the Captain for a moment on the way, when I heard
+a shell explode; it had demolished No. 2 gun.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand to!" yelled the Captain; then to the farmer, "Take that damned
+cow away." He hurried the cow off and put it in the barn, but he had no
+sooner gone than Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! and the Captain and I were
+knocked off our feet. The water bottle was broken and I did not take
+time to get another but made for the guns. They were hammering our
+batteries thoroughly now and I was told to take shelter. I ran over to
+the farmhouse and asked the farmer's wife for a cup of coffee,&mdash;to sell
+me a cup, which she refused; in fact, her husband would not permit any
+of us to enter the house again. Then a smothering fire smashed the
+French battery, the destruction being so accurate and complete that it
+was done while I was asking and being refused the coffee! Just leaving
+the house, I met one of the French captains. "Did you notice anything
+peculiar in the farmer's actions?" he asked me; "I mean, with his white
+cow?"</p>
+
+<p>"I told him I hadn't noticed anything peculiar, that I had noticed he
+had taken his white cow out in front of our battery, grazing her there
+just before the battery was shot up.</p>
+
+<p>"Did the cow stop in front of your gun?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it stopped before each one of them."</p>
+
+<p>"So it did at ours," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Merci</i> Monsieur, you will hear from this." And he left in a hurry. He
+phoned the gendarmes in the city of Ypres and in less than half-an-hour
+they came. They entered the farmhouse and searched it thoroughly.
+Upstairs they found parts of a heliograph lamp and a complete telephone
+apparatus; there was also in his stove a system that had been
+inaugurated for forcing up a shower of sparks; this apparatus had been
+found in the houses of a number of spies who had paid the penalty for
+their work. Then they made a search of the cellar in which were found
+hundreds of tins of beef and jam, all of which had come from our
+rations, and then was explained the mysterious disappearance of our
+grub. There was no trace to be found of our Algerian trooper; he had
+made a hasty exit.</p>
+
+<p>Friend farmer and his wife were arrested, taken away with the children
+and placed in the coop, and there the traitorous couple got their
+deserts&mdash;they were taken to the square and shot.</p>
+
+<p>After they had gone we made ourselves at home in the building, and the
+comforts that awaited us there made us feel almost glad that they had
+turned out to be spies. Among the rations we found that they had taken
+stuff that had been purloined from other units as far back as three
+months before. After a thorough ransacking and a feed that filled us to
+our heart's content, we made for the battery, being greeted with a fresh
+outburst on our arrival, and under the fire we pulled our remaining guns
+away to another hedge 200 yards off, and waited for the storm to settle.</p>
+
+<p>While lying there the brains of one of our geniuses got to working and
+his ideas were quickly resolved into action. We went down to the barn,
+took a couple of wagons, taking off the wheels and the poles, and made
+up three dummy guns and placed them in the spot we had left, and in a
+few minutes' time we had the satisfaction of seeing Fritz spend three or
+four hundred good shells on our dummy battery.</p>
+
+<p>A consuming thirst was parching my mouth and I took a chance and ran
+along the open to the house for a drink. Then it was that the
+disadvantageous side of our good work with the dummy guns was
+exemplified; just as I was stepping out of the door, a shell tore a hole
+in one corner of the building, knocking it out as clean as if it had
+been drilled.</p>
+
+<p>The customary methods employed by the Germans to get information as to
+our guns, our troops, our supplies around Ypres, was to send a disguised
+soldier to the different farmhouses and threaten them with instant
+demolition by their guns if they did not furnish the information sought
+for, and thus did Fritz make good his promise to the farmer. By reason
+of our dummy guns and the strafing they got, and the fact that our guns
+still were firing, he believed that the farmer had given him a bunco
+steer, and he lost no time in making good his word.</p>
+
+<p>Remaining in the hedge for a few hours, we dug holes for the guns,
+covered them with tarpaulins and grass on top, giving them the usual
+scenic shelter. We did this work in the open but only one man at a time
+exposed; it was as much as life was worth for more than one to be seen
+working. That evening, in the midst of our meal at cookhouse,&mdash;"Stand
+to!" and we raced for our pets. When the concert was well under way,
+Munsey noticed a light three or four hundred yards off that was acting
+somewhat peculiarly; it would flare up and down oddly and seemed to be
+in a farmhouse straight at our rear, but not much attention was paid to
+it at the time. Next morning Munsey and I were in the cookhouse, trying
+to moisten a couple of hardtack biscuits with what juice we could
+extract from a piece of bacon rind, when an airplane hummed overhead and
+the attention of one of our anti-aircraft guns was immediately diverted
+to the bird. The cookhouse had formerly been a French dressing station,
+dismantled by the fire of those devils that know no law of God or man,
+composed of three huts in a row made of half-inch board. While eating,
+one of our own shells, a shrapnel, that had been sent up at a German
+stork and did not explode, dropped squarely into the middle of the
+cookhouse, frightened the cook out of his wits and hit the dixies,
+scattering them around our feet. "Stand to!" and we made our way
+carefully, keeping out of sight as much as possible from the watching
+bird overhead.</p>
+
+<p>When I got to the gun the shell fire was commencing to get dangerously
+close. "By God, there must be somebody giving our battery away," said
+Munsey. A number of our men had been wounded at this time and the
+airplane still buzzing above, made it impossible for us to fire, and we
+got a "Stand down!"</p>
+
+<p>"Come on over," Munsey proposed, "and we'll see what's in that building
+where I saw the light." We found a family of civilians living there and
+they were at once very solicitous about giving us coffee. "Never mind
+the coffee," said Munsey; "we have come to examine the house." The old
+man seemed quite willing to have us do so and pointed the way upstairs,
+starting himself to go out the door. Munsey grabbed him by the
+arm,&mdash;"Come along and show us the way." He indicated that we could find
+the way ourselves, but my mate was insistent and he forced the old man
+along and upstairs we went.</p>
+
+<p>At first nothing resulted from our thorough search, but Munsey's eye
+lighted on an Algerian serge lying in the corner of the room, and almost
+at the same time I noticed some bricks in the chimney that seemed to be
+loose. An old table in the middle of the room I pulled over to the
+chimney, tugged at some of the brick that I had noticed, and the whole
+thing caved in, part of a heliograph outfit falling out. The old fellow
+made a dart for the door, but was peremptorily intercepted. "Damn you,
+stay where you are!" I pulled out the rest of the stuff; there was a
+complete heliograph apparatus, and a little red cap, such as the
+Algerians wear, satisfying us both that the man doing the work used the
+uniform of an Algerian.</p>
+
+<p>On leaving the room, carrying the stuff with us and going down stairs,
+we saw a box against the wall and I heard a funny noise from it as if it
+contained something alive. I pulled it out and found it full of pigeons.
+"Who owns these?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"An Algerian soldier left them there," he answered.</p>
+
+<p>We then examined the cellar and entire basement, but found nothing
+further. We took the old fellow over to the gendarme who immediately
+took charge of him, and returned to the battery where we imparted the
+news of our find. It was the consensus of opinion that the spy was the
+farmer himself, and that the Algerian uniform was a blind. We were
+chatting away, discussing the matter, when the shells commenced flying
+as thick as peas in a pod; so swift and smashing was the fusillade that
+for awhile I thought hell's gate had opened wide. In less than no time
+one of our guns was knocked out and, getting a "Stand to!" we replied as
+fast as our legs and arms and heads would work.</p>
+
+<p>The excellent quality of the work that Fritz did here made the fellows
+unanimous that his information came from the farmer. Presently the duel
+cooled down and we resumed our chat.</p>
+
+<p>About a hundred yards off from the farmhouse where we had found the
+heliograph and Algerian uniform, was a windmill of the kind commonly
+seen in the farmhouses of the country, with large wings, and it happened
+that while firing, one of the boys, Boxer, noticed that the mill was
+going around in an irregular fashion,&mdash;going first one way and then
+another, and then stopping, and he called our attention to it and we all
+noticed it, and almost simultaneously with our observation of the mill,
+four shells came over, knocking another of our guns into uselessness and
+wiping out the crew, and after we got "Stand down!" and had cleaned up,
+Boxer suggested that we go over and see what was in the windmill.</p>
+
+<p>Together we went, going first to the house, and found the children
+crying with fright; some of them tried to tell us something, but we
+couldn't make out what they were saying. We crossed over to the windmill
+and a phenomenon indeed met our eyes,&mdash;the wheel was turning in the
+opposite direction from that in which the wind was blowing. We started
+up the steps and&mdash;Ping! Ping! and Boxer fell with an oath and a bullet
+in his leg. I assisted him to the farmhouse and then scooted over and
+communicated with the O.C. I also informed a French battery that had
+been terrifically shelled.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime a stretcher had been sent for, and Boxer was brought
+back to the dressing station, where he had his wound dressed, which
+luckily turned out to be slight.</p>
+
+<p>That night I was filled full of the spirit of adventure and I wanted to
+visit the windmill again. I got a pal to go with me and endeavored to
+make it, but the flares were steadily burning and the snipers were so
+busy we had to lie low. Again I went to the French battery and told the
+officer commanding of my suspicions about the windmill. A smile of
+intelligence and gratefulness lighted up his fine face. "Monsieur, we
+shall see what we shall see," and he ordered a shell into the heart of
+the structure, bringing it down in splinters. Then we made for the ruins
+and found the body of a man dressed in an Algerian uniform; I looked him
+over carefully; he was the artist I had met in the farmhouse at our
+former station.</p>
+
+<p>There remained still the case of the old man in whose house we had
+discovered the heliograph and the pigeons. And the gendarmes were again
+sent for and the Belgian farmer was haled before the officer. With white
+face and streaming eyes he told the French Captain of the gendarmes that
+this man had come to him and told him that if he didn't permit him to go
+into his home, he would instantly signal for the shells and he and his
+family and buildings would be blown to eternity. The old man was
+permitted to go, as the French officer was satisfied he was sincere, but
+that he was utterly powerless to prevent the spy carrying out his plans.</p>
+
+<p>In conversation with us later, the farmer told us that the Algerian had
+brought pigeons with him; that he had written notes, put them in the
+little cup fastened to the bird's foot and sent some of them off, the
+others remaining in the box when the Algerian went upstairs. "I could
+hear the bricks falling, but he called to us not to come upstairs," went
+on the old man. "Shortly afterwards a man dressed in the uniform of a
+British soldier came, and he too went upstairs; he was carrying a bag.
+When he came in he asked if I wanted coffee and I answered 'No.' When he
+came in the Algerian called down to send him up, and he too went up.
+Presently the British soldier left and a few minutes afterwards your
+battery started firing. Then out ran the Algerian, saying he was going
+to the windmill and warned all of us on pain of losing our lives, not to
+come near the mill. That is the last I saw of him, Messieurs, until this
+evening when I see his dead body.</p>
+
+<p>"I am heart and soul with you, Messieurs; I know what you are doing for
+us and for Belgium; but you can see that I had no chance whatever to
+communicate with you; my life would have been the price, and what would
+have become of my family? If there had been anything I could have done,
+Messieurs, I would most gladly have done it, but I couldn't do
+anything, and the spy would have accomplished his purpose just the same
+had I made an attempt."</p>
+
+<p>It was now about 6:30 and on our way back to the gun pit we met a woman
+who seemed to be in the depths of despair, accompanied by a little girl.
+The woman was weeping bitterly. Our nerves were on edge and we were
+suspicious of everybody; trickery, deceit, traitor-work seemed to be in
+the very air itself, and we made a resolve that we would shoot anybody,
+man, woman or child, whom we saw loitering around our guns who had no
+business there; that very day the O.C. had sworn that he would ask no
+questions, but would shoot on sight. The woman's story was pitiful in
+the extreme.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what shall I do, what shall I do! My home is gone! My husband is
+gone! My children are gone! And for what?"&mdash;wringing her hands and
+gesticulating wildly. "For what, Messieurs? For being quiet,
+inoffensive, loyal people!"</p>
+
+<p>In my clumsy fashion I succeeded in somewhat calming the poor creature,
+and she proceeded a little more coherently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Messieurs, a man in Algerian uniform came to our house this
+morning. He asked permission of my husband, who was a loyal Belgian, to
+use our house&mdash;for what? To do spy work. My husband ran for a gun and
+warned him off. He said, 'You had better think it over; if you don't let
+me use your house you have not another day to live!' In spite of this,
+my husband presented the gun at him and he made off, but as he was
+leaving he called back, 'Do not on any account leave the house today,
+any of you, or you will be killed.'</p>
+
+<p>"We watched him and saw him go towards the hedge, and two or three men
+with bags met him, and they made off in the direction of your battery.
+Then, then&mdash;<i>Mon Dieu!</i> How can I tell it!&mdash;a shell came and destroyed
+our home, killing my dear husband and my two babies."</p>
+
+<p>And again the poor woman burst into a paroxysm of weeping and sank to
+the ground in an utterly exhausted condition, moaning aloud in the
+despair of her misery. Her little daughter was screaming in terror at
+the plight of her mother, and we all set about to comfort them as best
+we could, but ah! God! how comfortless our words.</p>
+
+<p>The thought that perhaps the child would be quieted if she had
+something to eat suggested itself to me, but I had nothing except my
+iron rations, and our orders are very stern that under no circumstances
+must these be consumed except at the time designated, namely, when our
+supply wagons are destroyed and cannot reach us, and the order is issued
+from headquarters that we may use them. These rations are 16 ounces of
+bully beef, two hardtack biscuits, some tea and sugar in small wax
+envelopes. Each man must carry his own iron rations at all times and the
+penalty for eating them without orders is 28 to 90 days, first field
+punishment; therefore, I was taking a chance, but I hadn't the heart to
+resist the pitiful wail of that kiddie, and I felt that the risk I took
+was amply repaid by the cessation of her childish grief. The mother also
+had had nothing to eat all day, and she partook of some of the
+nourishment and was the better for it.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing more for them that we could do and they departed, the
+poor creature with an expression in her eyes that plainly said, she
+didn't know where on earth she was going, and cared less.</p>
+
+<p>This was only an individual instance of the tens of thousands of blasted
+and stricken homes and families, resulting from the rule or ruin policy
+of the German "man of God."</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour after they had departed a train of ammunition wagons came
+galloping up, the driver telling us that in passing Hell's Corner they
+were given an exceptionally heavy dose by Fritz. "His aim the nicht was
+damn puir, however," said one of the Scotch drivers; "he never gave us a
+scratch; but I noticed on the road a woman wi' a little bairn, a wee
+thing, hardly higher than your knee, and as we were racing by them, a
+shell exploded on the side of the road, right alongside o' them, blawin'
+the puir things to their doom."</p>
+
+<p>From the description furnished by the driver, I was convinced it was the
+poor woman and child for whom I had taken the risk of punishment, and I
+could not help thinking what a blessing it was that death had come to
+them in the way it did, so soon after her inextinguishable sorrow.</p>
+
+<p>Another evidence testamentary of the industry of the German agents came
+to us that very night from the driver. After the wagons were loaded up
+at the wagon lines, someone undid the locks of the wagons and on the way
+to the guns the shells dropped out from time to time, scattering over
+the cobble stones, causing them to lose more than half of their precious
+loads.</p>
+
+<p>"Aye," said the Scotch driver who had told us about the woman and her
+child, "and a French battery coming up behind us, the horse kicked one
+shell that we dropped, and I'm damned if it did na' explode and blaw the
+puir beggars to the deil. By the Lord! They're doing gude work!" Good
+work, indeed, Fritz, but your day is coming!</p>
+
+<p>Next morning about ten o'clock we got a "Stand to!" as a bombardment had
+begun and Fritz had started coming over. We stopped him, but no sooner
+had we ceased firing than Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Bang! Bang! coming
+down so fast that we made off for shelter at the cookhouse. While there,
+Munsey thought he would like to have a look at the situation generally
+in the surrounding country, through the medium of a hole in the side of
+the cookhouse up near the roof and he hopped on top of a box and looked
+out in the direction of Ypres. The most notable object there was the
+town clock, and he had not been looking long before he noticed the hands
+moving this way and that; he watched closely and then called, "Come
+here, fellows, quick. Come and watch the clock!" We all jumped to a
+point of vantage and watched, and in few minutes we were satisfied that
+the shell fire that was raining upon us was being directed by the hands
+of the clock. We observed that when the long hand moved right, the rain
+of fire would increase; when it moved left, it decreased; each jump of
+the hand five minutes meant 25 yards increase or decrease, as the case
+might be. Every time the small hand moved one minute right, it meant
+three yards right; two minutes, six yards, and so on; and the same if it
+veered to the left. And when both hands turned at once to 12:00 o'clock
+we deduced from their fire that some object was registered and when that
+was done the large hand would go all the way around and the fire would
+increase to a regular hurricane; if it went half way round, it would
+decrease. The small hand going all the way round, the fire ceased.</p>
+
+<p>We watched intently for some time, keeping our eyes glued on the
+movement of the hands in conjunction with the fire, and then the matter
+was phoned to headquarters. A result of their combination guns and
+clockwork was the destruction of one of our pieces and two of the
+French battery. Another battery observer had noticed the clockwork at
+the same time that we were watching it, and the gendarmes were notified;
+they made a trip to the top of the tower in double quick time, finding
+there a man in a British uniform and one in French uniform; the man with
+the British uniform wore a French cap and he in the French had a British
+cap. They were taken and confined in the basement of a ruined building
+and a guard set.</p>
+
+<p>That night I was sent to the trench headquarters to do guard duty and
+next day, about 11:00 o'clock in the morning, I was standing in the
+doorway of the farmhouse where the pump had blown in on Scotty, and I
+was accosted by two men who were walking rapidly. They asked me where a
+certain Algerian Regiment was lying and I directed them, after giving
+them a drink of water and a biscuit. They also asked me what those
+headquarters were, and a number of other questions. However, no
+suspicion of there being anything wrong entered my mind, as they spoke
+perfect English. They left and had just turned the corner to cross a
+pontoon bridge over Yser Canal, going toward the front-line trenches,
+when three French guards came running like mad. They asked me some
+questions excitedly, but it was some time before I could make out what
+they wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Finally I got it through my head and told them and they raced off. The
+men who had accosted me were the two prisoners who had been taken in the
+clock tower at Ypres, as I heard subsequently, but they did not get away
+with their nervy trick; they were taken and paid the price.</p>
+
+<p>That same night a bunch of the 48th Highlanders, of Toronto, were on our
+right, and dug in in the bank, but there was considerable water in the
+bottom of their holes, while ours, compared to theirs, were beautifully
+dry. The Kilties came along, searching for blankets and whatever they
+could get, and we spared them whatever we could. Then one of them
+spotted a farmhouse, the occupants of which had been shelled out because
+they would not comply with the orders of a German agent, and had lost
+their home in consequence. They went in and helped themselves to straw
+and came out loaded down with armfuls of it. I decided to follow suit
+and went over, just reaching the barn, when Kr-kr-kr-p!&mdash;the first shell
+that came going right amongst them, setting the barn on fire and
+wounding several of the 48th. Their presence had been made known by a
+secret service agent, as it is one chance in a hundred thousand for a
+shell to hit so desirable a target at the first shot. The aim was
+excellent and the work accomplished by the shell was splendid&mdash;from a
+German point of view.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br />
+
+BITS OF BATTLE</h4>
+
+
+<p>On the way over to the barn, where the shell hit the 48th, a piece of a
+tree limb smashed into the ground at my feet, following the familiar
+whiz just overhead of a large gun missive, with its accompanying wind
+gust, and at the same moment something struck with a thud the tree from
+which the splinter had come. Glancing up, I noticed a shell lodged in a
+fork of the two main branches, that had stuck there without exploding.
+For a shell to explode, it is necessary that the nose of the fuse,
+containing the detonator, shall come in contact with a solid substance,
+in order to make ignition and cause the explosion. This had not been
+done; owing to the intervention of kind nature in the shape of the
+crotch in that tree catching and holding the shell fast in a firm
+embrace, we were saved from that additional disaster and death.</p>
+
+<p>A dried-up creek that was being used by us for a trench on the Ypres
+sector was crossed by a wooden bridge about thirty feet long. This
+bridge was used as a means of transport at night and by Red Cross men in
+the daytime, and was very useful; it was most important that it be kept
+in constant repair. I was detailed in charge of the repair party. One
+day during the great Ypres battle, about ten o'clock in the morning, the
+bridge was smashed and I took my party up and made the necessary
+repairs. We had hardly returned to cover when the bridge was smashed
+again, and again we rushed out and fixed it up. As we ran, three men
+forged ahead of me and got to the middle of the thirty-foot structure; I
+was about twenty feet behind them, the rest of the party immediately
+behind me. I was shouting an order to them, when a shell exploded in the
+middle of the bridge, killing all three. I was saved by twenty feet.</p>
+
+<p>In the late afternoon one day of the battle, I was resting in a hole I
+had burrowed under a sand-bank; about 200 men were burrowed in the same
+bank in the same way. A monster shell struck the bank immediately above
+me, upheaving the ground and completely burying me and half a dozen
+others. I was dug out in a half smothered condition, but soon was able
+to assist in the work of resurrecting the rest. The only casualty that
+occurred in that incident was innocently caused by myself; as I was
+digging, my shovel struck the leg of an officer, inflicting such a gash
+that when resuscitated he had to go to hospital.</p>
+
+<p>A cunning device of the Germans to misuse the Red Cross came to light
+during the next few days. It was in the vicinity of the woods where the
+Imperial Batteries had lost their guns. In a counter attack to retake
+these guns our men went over, accompanied by the engineers, to destroy
+the guns, as it was thought it would be impossible to bring them back.
+This turned out to be true, as the enemy advanced in such strong mass
+formation that our fellows had their hands full fighting them off until
+the engineers made good their work, which they did by smashing the
+hydraulic buffers with picks, destroying the sights, blowing the guns
+up, and taking the breech-blocks back with them.</p>
+
+<p>In going over the ground that our barrage had covered a few minutes
+before, we found lying there German soldiers who had acted as stretcher
+bearers, wearing the red cross of Geneva on their arms, for the purpose
+of running wires from trench to trench, from battery to battery, and to
+headquarters, and the way they did the trick was to take a roll of wire
+on a stretcher covered with a blanket, to represent a wounded comrade,
+start the roll unwinding and running the wire between their legs as they
+walked. The blankets on the stretchers were used to deceive our
+observers and make them believe they were doing honest hospital work in
+the field. This was only one of their many unprincipled practices, for
+the Germans ignored all usages of war as practiced by civilization.</p>
+
+<p>During the busiest days of May, 1915, between the second and third
+battle of Ypres, I was on guard duty at field headquarters in the
+trenches. The Staff was located in an old two-story building that was
+much the worse for wear from German calling cards. My "go" was from
+eight to ten P.M. Promptly at ten o'clock a rap came to the door and,
+blowing out the light, I inquired who it was. It was my relief, Dave
+Evans, one of the best pals whom it has ever been my lot to soldier
+with. Dave was a heavy-set man, strong as an ox; I think he could have
+almost felled a bull with his fist, so powerful was he. I re-lit the
+candle after closing the door. This was Dave's first "go" at this
+particular spot, and I cautioned him to be careful not to show himself
+in the open doorway with the light behind him, as the building was under
+observation and the splinters that were being continually chipped from
+it demonstrated how keenly active and alert they were, and made it
+necessary for a man to be on the lookout every second of the time. He
+said he would take no chances. Dave had just obtained an Enfield rifle,
+for which he had been very glad to exchange his Ross, as the Enfield is
+better suited for trench purposes, and, not being thoroughly familiar
+with its workings, he asked me to explain it to him, which I did. Then I
+blew out the light, opened the door, whispered "good-night," and started
+down the path. About a hundred feet away I heard Dave calling me back; I
+turned; he was standing in the doorway, with the candle light gleaming
+behind him. He called out, "Grant, I don't quite get this safety catch
+and bolt; would you mind showing it to me again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Blow out the light, you damn fool," I called.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," and he did so and I started back. As he answered me I heard
+simultaneously the report of a rifle and the whiz of a bullet passing
+me. When I got to the door I stumbled over the body of my friend Dave;
+he had received the summons through the head.</p>
+
+<p>While standing guard at the open door, before Dave came, with the light
+out, however, I suddenly got a start that frightened me more than
+anything else that has happened me in France: In the gleam of a distant
+flare, the white faces of two women peered around the corner of the
+building, looking at me through the open door. There was something so
+damnably uncanny in their appearance, and so startling, that a cold
+sweat broke out over me, and I snapped my rifle to the present. Had they
+not been women they would not have lived; a loiterer around headquarters
+takes his life in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>They had been there that same afternoon, saying they were the owners of
+the place, and that they had stopped to take away some supplies. They
+were permitted to take their goods with them, but were warned against
+coming there again. They did not heed the warning. I reported their
+presence to the O.C. and they were promptly arrested and handed over to
+the French police. What their lot was I cannot tell, but to this day I
+can't help thinking that in some way poor Dave owes his fate to those
+women.</p>
+
+<p>After two days' hard marching we reached Givenchy June 9, 1915, a little
+town in France lying thirty miles south of Ypres. Our battery of two
+guns took up its position immediately outside, on the southwest side of
+the town. A few civilians were scattered through the town, living in the
+cellars, the rest having fled at the German approach. We were ordered to
+put our guns in the very front-line trench for the reason that the
+opposing trenches being so close together, it was impossible for the
+guns to do justice to themselves without inflicting serious casualties
+on our own men. To make our work as noiseless as possible, we took a
+number of old rubber tires, cut them in strips and wrapped them around
+the gun wheels with hay wire; this facilitated both the movement of the
+guns and the preservation of silence.</p>
+
+<p>We again had the honor of being the sacrifice battery for the
+division&mdash;in other words, having the profound pleasure of going
+heavenward, or in the other direction, before any of the others, for the
+purpose of working out the plan of action by the Command. We got the
+guns into position under cover of night, and thoroughly camouflaged
+them with grass and tree branches. We did the job so artistically that
+the birds would come and chatter and sing immediately over the guns when
+they were not telling their tale of love to Fritz.</p>
+
+<p>Out in front of our guns was a small ridge or embankment, gradually
+sloping up to a height of twenty feet and extending east and west for a
+distance of three or four hundred yards. This rising piece of ground was
+a decided obstacle to our progress and it was ordered mined for the
+purpose of leveling it. The engineers attended to the task. It turned
+out that Fritz also had mined the ridge in order to blow our sector
+skyward.</p>
+
+<p>The stage was set and the play started at 5:30 in the afternoon. Our
+orders were to blow holes in the parapet wire which ran in a zigzag
+direction every way out in front, for the purpose of enabling the
+infantry to get through when they got over. Our ammunition was of the
+best; we now took no chance on any defective goods. We had 20 rounds of
+shell for each gun. When we got the order&mdash;"Fire!" gaps were torn in the
+wire by my gun, and the other gun had blown away some small ridges. We
+were going strong when a shell&mdash;the very first one&mdash;took our other gun,
+blowing it and the crew into nothingness. We went on firing until we had
+exploded 18 shells and had made several gaps in the wire, when, without
+a moment's warning, our trench mine exploded. The trenches were packed
+with troops ready for the word. A mountain of debris was shot in the air
+and back over us, burying a number of soldiers in the trench, where they
+died miserably from suffocation. The concussion was so powerful that it
+blew the shield of my gun off downwards, cleaving Corporal King's skull
+in twain and blowing Gunner MacDonald, who was sitting on the handspike
+of the gun, 20 feet away. When we found him next day, every bone in his
+body was broken. I was sitting on the gun alongside of Corporal King at
+the time of his death, and how I escaped is more than I can tell. Again
+I couldn't help speculating that my life must have been spared for some
+good purpose; I sincerely hope so.</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to do any further firing, as the muzzle of the gun was
+choked completely with the dirt that had been shot backward by the
+explosion of our own mine. Our misfortune, however, did not prevent or
+deter for a moment the intended movement. Unable to do anything further
+as a gunner, I hopped into the charge with the 48th Highlanders of
+Toronto, who had just started with one of their old-time yells to go out
+and over. When we reached the German front lines,&mdash;or what was left of
+them, for the explosion had blown from them all semblance of a
+trench,&mdash;it was jammed full of German troops&mdash;dead. On we went,
+inclining to the right and reaching an orchard in which was a nest of
+them concealed in the trees. Those on mother earth were speedily driven
+to hell or made good their escape, and we then attended to the case of
+the squirrels in the branches. This was somewhat difficult, as the night
+was excessively dark, but our snipers, circling everywhere underneath
+them, finally got them; not a single baby-killer escaped; it was a case
+of getting limburgers in an apple tree.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had we cleaned up the job than the Fritzies returned <i>en
+masse</i> formation, compelling us to beat a discretionary retreat to their
+front-line trenches, where we held and are still holding, and then some.
+Here we remained until the middle of the following month.</p>
+
+<p>Some minor engagements took up my duties after Givenchy, until about
+September 1, when my battery was instructed to proceed to Ploegsteert.</p>
+
+<p>Ploegsteert sets in ruins about two miles northwest of Armenti&egrave;res;
+there were no buildings that Fritz failed to level with the exception of
+the tower, which they used for registry purposes,&mdash;a reference point in
+artillery technology. We were stationed on this sector for eight months,
+and our stay here was more or less of a recreation; battle firing was
+only intermittent; and on the days that we did speak to Fritz, we rarely
+sent over more than 10 to 12 messages.</p>
+
+<p>Our battery was in a hedge here and we were having our wires cut several
+times, causing us considerable trouble and annoyance.</p>
+
+<p>Butler, one of my pals, was started out to make the necessary repairs.
+He left on his dangerous mission, crouching along and taking advantage
+of every bit of shelter on the way, but several ping! pings! warned him
+that he was treading on danger ground. He kept at his work, busily
+hunting for the break in the wire, with the sniping pills passing his
+ears continually.</p>
+
+<p>Crawling along on his hands and knees, with the wire running through his
+hand, he came to a little bush, where it slipped away from him, denoting
+that there was the break. At that moment the sniper got him in the leg,
+but he held to until he repaired it, and was in touch with headquarters,
+reporting that he had mended the break, when the wire was again cut. The
+bleeding from his wound now made it necessary for him to mend that break
+first, and he bandaged it as quickly as his nervous fingers would work.
+Again he took hold of the wire, crawling and stumbling along until he
+again came to the break, and again mended it. He was being closely
+watched now, as the bullets were whistling about him ceaselessly. Again
+he turned his attention to his wound, adjusting the bandage, and he
+noticed a British soldier crawling toward him on his hands and knees.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, matey, what you doing out here?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm mendin' me bloomin' leg now," Butler answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you hadn't been out here you wouldn't have got it. Why didn't
+you stay in your trenches?"</p>
+
+<p>"Someone's got to repair the wire," said Butler. He was growing
+perceptibly weaker from the loss of blood.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, repairing the wire, were you? Well, don't repair any more"&mdash;and
+Butler had just time to see him level his revolver and then he dropped
+unconscious. The bullet had hit him in the thigh. But his communication
+had reached headquarters that he was wounded and it was not long before
+the stretcher bearers came out and found him. They took him to the
+dressing station, where it was found necessary to amputate his leg, but
+he parted gladly with his dented member when the O.C. told him that his
+grit and endurance were a splendid example for the entire unit,&mdash;"Aye,"
+he added, "and for the whole Empire."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Service was being held here in the field one Sunday morning and an
+incident occurred that makes me shake every time I think of it,&mdash;not so
+much at the incident itself as in the surrounding circumstances. In the
+midst of the service, a buzzing overhead announced the presence of
+German hawks and a dropping of bombs further announced that they had
+seen us and intended paying their respects.</p>
+
+<p>A face turned upward is one of the most easily detected objects by an
+airplane, and although we had strict orders on no account to look up,
+the temptation for some was too strong. Meantime, the minister continued
+to read the service, but the responses were not as hearty as they had
+been, and he himself was standing with shoulders hunched up to the back
+of his neck, the book pulled up to his nose, and furtively trying to see
+through his eyebrows the danger-birds in the blue. In the midst of the
+solemn moment an officer, glimpsing some of the men turning their faces
+skyward, bellowed, "Damn you, keep those mugs down."</p>
+
+<p>It was our good fortune that none of the messages reached their intended
+destination.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br />
+
+SANCTUARY WOODS</h4>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>3rd Battle of Ypres</i>)</p>
+
+
+<p>The third battle of Ypres commenced June 2, lasting until June 15, 1916.
+Sanctuary Woods was a cluster of trees, comprising about one thousand in
+number, and they were the very finest and noblest specimens of their
+various types,&mdash;oak, elm, ash and beech. They were located just one mile
+outside the city in a northwesterly direction. One of our trenches ran
+northeast and southwest through the middle of the woods.</p>
+
+<p>The line had been exceptionally quiet for the space of a week. My
+battery of six guns was located at a ch&acirc;teau known as the Belgian
+Garden, about 600 yards in the rear of the wood. Two guns were ordered
+into the wood as a sacrifice battery, and my usual luck attached me to
+one of them. We were located in a dry ditch, 300 yards back from the
+front line. Our orders, as usual in the case of the sacrifice battery,
+were to wait until the Germans, when they broke through, if they did,
+were almost in line with our guns.</p>
+
+<p>The morning of the 2nd was a beautiful summer's day; nature was in
+perfect repose; the birds sang gayly, the humming of bees and fragrance
+of flowers filled the air. We were busily engaged making our morning
+ablutions in some shell holes when, like a bolt from the blue, hell
+broke loose in the form of the most violent bombardment I had
+experienced up to that time, lasting twenty minutes, missiles of every
+kind raining down on us on all sides. "Stand to!"&mdash;and we waited.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of twenty minutes our men started jumping out of their
+trenches ahead of us and charging across. They were met by the enemy in
+mass formation and overwhelmed. They died to a man. The Germans pressed
+the attack home and came on, yelling like fiends incarnate, drunk with
+the joy of their apparent success and promised victory. On they came,
+apparently irresistible. We commenced firing, and I had the satisfaction
+of seeing gaps blown in their ranks and many of them biting the dust.
+Our poor little battery, however, feazed them but little.</p>
+
+<p>And I want to say right at this time that the idea that seems to be
+prevalent in the minds of many that the German is not a good fighting
+man is a lamentable mistake; he is a good fighter. He has not perhaps
+the initiative of the British, or the avalanche-like ardor in a charge
+of the French soldier, but with his officers pressing him behind and in
+mass formation, he is as formidable a foe as can be imagined.</p>
+
+<p>Our ammunition was exhausted, not a shell remaining, and we grabbed our
+rifles, retreating with the rest, and sniping and dropping as we fell
+back. We took parts of the guns with us to prevent Fritz making use of
+it, and threw them into a shell hole filled with water, as they were too
+heavy to carry and manipulate our rifles at the same time, and that
+ability was much more precious to us at that particular time than the
+gun-parts. One of my chums had been wounded in the pit before we
+retired, and was later taken prisoner, and two of my other chums were
+killed in the general retreat. My pals with the other guns, forty feet
+to our right, did not get all of their ammunition off before the Boches
+were upon them, and they, too, died there; they were incinerated alive
+in their little pit by smoke shells that started everything ablaze as
+they exploded.</p>
+
+<p>The retreat ended in Maple Copse Woods, where we established ourselves
+and held the Germans, they resting at the edge of Sanctuary Woods. Under
+orders, I and my partner started for Zillebeke, about 400 yards back
+from Maple Copse, where we established an observation station, with the
+necessary telephonic communication to headquarters, which, when done,
+was taken in charge by a relief party from another battery, and I
+returned to Belgian Gardens at 11:30 A.M., where I was put in charge of
+another gun crew.</p>
+
+<p>I thought I had done a fairly good morning's work and was hoping Fritz
+would behave himself for the balance of the day, but my hope was a
+delusion, for inside of half an hour Fritzie thought he would like to
+see the scenery in Maple Copse, and came on for another try. Heavy
+firing began, lasting about five minutes, and over they came again. We
+opened up heavily with our battery of four guns, throwing a barrage in
+his front as best we could; mine was the only battery left working on
+this particular sector. Our fellows went out and met Fritz in a
+hand-to-hand argument, backing up their contention so thoroughly with
+the cold steel that they sent him flying back to the line he had
+established at Sanctuary Woods.</p>
+
+<p>But it was necessary, in order to keep him quiet, to keep up a barrage.
+Our ammunition had run down to a point where we had only fourteen shells
+left, and we received orders to hold two high explosive shells, one for
+the muzzle and another for the breech of the gun, to put it out of
+business in case they broke through.</p>
+
+<p>If it became necessary to resort to the expedient of blowing up the gun,
+it would be done by placing a shell in the breech of the chamber, the
+breech closed, another shell inside the muzzle, the lanyard fastened to
+the firing lever and strung out of the front pit door for a distance of
+25 or 30 feet to a large tree standing at our rear, fastened to the
+tree, and when retreating pull it from there, blowing the gun and the
+gun pit into as many pieces.</p>
+
+<p>We took all precautions when it became likely that we were going to be
+overpowered and there was a chance of Fritz taking our gun. It is rarely
+necessary to take this precaution nowadays, nor has it been for the last
+two years; the shoe is on the other foot now and the returns showing
+the number of heavy German guns that we have captured within the last
+two years and a half, together with the fact that not a single British
+gun has been lost, shows how well the work is in hand on the Western
+Front.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus05.jpg" alt="over the top"  />
+</p>
+<p class="center">Over the Top</p>
+
+<p>With their unexcelled means of observation, they soon discovered where
+our little battery was hidden, and decided to end the argument with our
+troublemaker there and then.</p>
+
+<p>A smothering fire burst upon us, and one of the shells clipped a large
+tree as easily as if it had been done with a giant razor, and it crashed
+down directly in front of our gun, putting it out of business for the
+time being.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes more another shell landed on the gun forty feet to our
+left, ending its usefulness, killing the crew to a man and leaving but
+two guns working; a few moments more and another lit in the
+telephonists' pit fifteen feet to our rear, wiping out three or four of
+the fellows on duty there. Lord! it was getting hot!</p>
+
+<p>We were then ordered to "Stand Down" (take cover), as the fire was
+getting hotter each second and it had all the appearance of being a
+wipe-out. I ordered my crew to beat it for the dugout, staying behind a
+moment or two to set the sight and fasten the lanyard to blow up the gun
+if needed. They started out of the gun pit, taking the turn to the
+right, along the path to the dugout, which was fairly well sheltered by
+big trees. I finished my work in a minute or two and took the turn to
+the left. When I reached the dugout the O.C. inquired where the men
+were.</p>
+
+<p>"They ought to be here, sir; they left ahead of me. I will go at once
+and find them."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go with you." And we started through the trees. The dugout was
+only about forty yards in the rear of the gun pit and half way there we
+came across my crew lying underneath a huge tree, dead. It had been
+rooted from the ground, hurled in the air with the same ease as a toy
+balloon and dropped on the men. The hole torn in the ground at the root
+was big enough to swallow a horse and cart. Of the five members of my
+crew four were dead; the remaining man, Bill Clark, had fourteen wounds
+in one side of his body from splinters of the tree.</p>
+
+<p>I took him to the dressing station, where his wounds were dressed. As
+soon as he recovered consciousness he asked what had happened, and when
+I told him that his pals, including his bosom chum, Jim Chandler, had
+all been killed, he again lapsed into unconsciousness. He was later
+taken to the hospital, where, after a nine-months' battle with the Grim
+Reaper hovering constantly over his bed, he at last regained some of his
+old-time health. But he will never again be on the firing line.</p>
+
+<p>Every man was now weary, sore and thirsty, and my only grateful
+recollection of that day's work was the O.C.'s command that we be given
+an extra ration of rum. I am not a constitutional advocate of the brew
+that glistens like gold, but that was one time when I thanked the good
+Lord for that drink.</p>
+
+<p>Information was conveyed to the wagon lines of the terrible toll that
+had been exacted that day and the number of men that were needed to
+replace the casualties. Our parson, hearing what was going on in front,
+volunteered to come and officiate at the burial of the men that night,
+and mounting his horse he started in company with Archie Meehan and a
+small relief party.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime I had made my way back to the cellar of the ch&acirc;teau,
+which we were using for a dugout, and the battery to our rear, an
+Imperial battery, was firing when it received an "S.O.S." Suddenly a
+German airplane hovered over the ch&acirc;teau, describing a half circle
+behind the Imperial battery, spotting its flash, and immediately
+wirelessing the location. Our observers, who were stationed at points on
+either side, did not notice the manipulation of the airplane at the rear
+of the battery. The "S.O.S." was accompanied by a burst of stars from
+the Imperial British Infantry, the signal working its way down right
+into the Canadian lines, where the ammunition was rapidly becoming
+exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>On account of the trees partially obscuring the flash of the guns of the
+Imperial battery, the airship that the battery in the ch&acirc;teau saw did
+not convey the exact information to the German batteries, and when they
+opened up on the ch&acirc;teau, chunks out of the building and trees and a
+general ripping up ensued, but their fire did not reach the battery. In
+all my experience at the front, in three years, I have never known at
+one time in one spot such a devastating fire as they put over at that
+particular time. There were over seven batteries&mdash;forty guns&mdash;ranging
+from 3 inch to 8 inch, constantly trip-hammering on the building, and
+the earth trembled and quivered as though in the throes of an
+earthquake.</p>
+
+<p>Another gun of our Canadian battery of four guns was here put out of
+action, leaving two guns out of the six. From off my gun we had removed
+the fallen tree, enabling us to get it into action again. At this time
+we were receiving the fire from the German batteries on the left rear,
+left, front and right, leaving only our right rear free from the
+destruction which was being waged on every other outlet.</p>
+
+<p>Then we gathered up every shell on which we could lay hands,&mdash;shells
+that had been discarded as defective, and rammed them in the guns as
+fast as our arms and hands would work. At that moment the German
+airplane returned, flying low and turning his machine gun upon us. We
+sniped at him with our rifles, but failed to get him.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans had been trying all day to reach Maple Copse, but we held
+there. Our artillery observer at Zillebeke now phoned that the Huns were
+massing in Sanctuary Woods&mdash;"Fire must come from somewhere." We pulled
+the last two guns of the Imperial battery and shoved them out in the
+open; the crews of the remaining guns of this battery were gone; these
+guns were 4.05's. On they came, and we let them have it beautifully for
+a good five minutes, and they faltered and fell back. In another ten
+minutes they came again, when suddenly hell broke loose from our
+lines,&mdash;the Empire batteries had opened up on them. These batteries
+derived their name from the fact that they were comprised of Australian
+guns, South African guns, guns from New Zealand, Canada, Scotland,
+England, in fact every part of the Empire was represented. For a time
+they smothered the German batteries in Sanctuary Woods. Then a flock of
+German airplanes flew over these guns and smothered them partially for a
+few minutes with their machine guns. This entire action had lasted an
+hour, and at this moment the little relief party, accompanied by our
+parson, arrived from the wagon lines. Again we were out of ammunition,
+and the O.C. asked me if I would volunteer to go to the wagon lines
+after it. "Yes, sir,"&mdash;and I mounted the parson's horse and started.</p>
+
+<p>Although it had now started raining, I left the dugout with nothing on
+but pants, shirt and boots; I had no gas helmet, no coat, no cap, no
+puttees,&mdash;there was no time to be lost&mdash;and I was covered with grease
+and dirt, and must easily have looked like an African.</p>
+
+<p>I had scarcely started when a shell lifted a tree out of its roots and
+threw it on the road right in front of me, but the horse cleared it with
+a jump. I passed a dressing station and the sight was unspeakably sad;
+laid in rows as thickly as they could be placed, the wounded men in all
+stages of agony were patiently waiting their turn,&mdash;ah, God! how patient
+those men were,&mdash;and scattered here and there on both sides of the road
+were groups of men who had just begun their last sleep, and at sight of
+them the horse would shy and balk every few yards. I had no spurs with
+which to control the animal, and my work was cut out for me! he was an
+ideal parson's horse, for the brute would hardly go faster than a walk.
+Getting through the gas barrage, I came to a camouflage hedge, used to
+screen and protect the traffic on the road, which sheltered me for four
+or five hundred yards further, and then I emerged again into the open,
+and again I was spotted. At this point a set of new dressing stations
+had been established, and they were as busy as bees looking after
+wounded men, and every moment of the time they were engaged in their
+work the machine guns of the enemy planes were hammering the stretcher
+bearers and the wounded men as industriously as though they were
+attacking fighting men. It was quite evident they knew I was a dispatch
+rider, and I was a target every step of the way, shells being planted
+before me, behind me and on each side of me. But I knew the Major's
+thought was with me every foot of the way; I knew he was counting the
+seconds until I would reach the wagon lines and deliver the message&mdash;and
+the only message&mdash;that would save the position; I knew he was praying
+for me that very moment and I knew that every man in the battery was
+doing the same thing. If I failed! It was not with me a question of my
+life; I didn't care a damn for that, and every man of us, on that day
+anyway, felt the same. But I must hasten with all the speed that was in
+me, and I must keep my life, and my head as well, that the others might
+live.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, I got the horse started on a straight run, came to a bridge
+crossing the Rampart Canal, but they were shelling the bridge so
+violently it would have been certain destruction to have attempted
+getting across. Jumping off, I pulled the horse into a ruined building,
+and there in the twilight I had a splendid opportunity to view the
+efficiency of the German observation work. They were making the most
+determined effort to prevent any communication being sent to the wagon
+lines for ammunition, and one continual stream of shells was following
+me down the road; they were dropping as thickly as hailstones for the
+entire distance up and down the road as far as I could see. I waited
+there ten minutes and then led the horse out, walking a hundred yards
+towards the bridge. Then came another burst of shells; again I stopped
+for a few minutes, made another hundred yards, and another bursting
+storm of shells. I was walking the horse all this time, but I made up my
+mind the time had come to make a dash for it. I jumped on his back, lay
+flat as a pancake, and with a good stout stick I lammed that poor brute
+as few horses ever were lammed, made a dash for the bridge and got
+safely across.</p>
+
+<p>About 100 yards over and down came a burst of concussion shells, flying
+and blowing everything around to smithereens. I was now very close to
+the square and could see it was being strafed for fair. My experience in
+watching and timing shell fire now stood me in good stead. I was able
+by the action of the shells to instantly determine whether the German
+guns were jumping, rendering their aim uncertain, and, also, to know
+when the next burst would come, where it would strike, and about how it
+would operate,&mdash;whether gas, shrapnel, or what not. Men were clinging to
+the walls, trying to take shelter, and it was clearly impossible to get
+through with the horse. I retraced my steps half way to the ruined
+building I had just left ten minutes before; I was looking longingly at
+it, wishing for its friendly shelter, when a shell struck it, blowing it
+to dust. I then led the horse, hugging the walls as closely as I could,
+until I got to the edge of the square, then made a run for it across,
+and had just cleared it when another cluster burst, wounding the horse
+in the leg. Notwithstanding his wound, he managed to bear me up until I
+got to the railroad crossing, lying southwesterly from the square about
+500 yards distant. Here the airplane spotted me again and directed a
+barrage to stop me crossing, but I took the chance and got through it.
+Every step of the way to the bridge crossing the Yser Canal, shells were
+being planted at my heels. I can only liken my state of mind to that of
+the tenderfoot in the saloon of the Wild and Woolly, when Halfbreed
+Harvey, just for the fun of it, took a revolver in each hand and
+commenced sending the nuggets of lead into the floor at the unoffending
+feet of the "Lady from the East," just to see him dance. When I came to
+within 50 yards of it I saw it was clearly impossible to cross on
+account of the heavy shell clusters that were raining down.</p>
+
+<p>I waited for a lull in the storm, then slipped on the animal's back, dug
+my heels in its ribs and rushed for it. I was spattered with mud from
+head to foot from the exploding shells, but not a single splinter
+reached me.</p>
+
+<p>As I left the bridge of the canal a hole was blown into it, and a
+working party, that was kept there all the time for the especial purpose
+of keeping it in repair, crawled out of their hiding places to engage in
+their perilous task. It was vitally necessary to keep this bridge intact
+to facilitate the supplies crossing and recrossing every minute of the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>The friendly cover of a hedge sheltered me for another hundred yards,
+and here followed a row of buildings that I hugged until I came to a
+narrow-gauge trench railroad. Clinging to the walls around were
+hundreds of wounded men waiting for a conveyance. There was an open
+stretch from this point and the fliers found me again; their machine-gun
+fire was directed at once fairly into the middle of the road before me
+and behind me; their range message was again flashed to their heavies
+and cobblestones were uprooted and flying everywhere; but the good Lord
+was with me and I pulled through it. A couple of large trees that had
+been blown down across the road next intervened, but the horse, lame as
+he was, cleared them.</p>
+
+<p>I reached the Belgian Ch&acirc;teau; strafing was going on fearfully in an
+endeavor to smash the headquarters; men were running hither and thither,
+stringing telephone wires as quickly as they were shot away; battalions
+of infantry, fresh troops who had not yet been up the line, were working
+their way to their destination; chaos seemed to reign on every hand. And
+yet, there was order. Leaving the Belgian Ch&acirc;teau, there was a hedge for
+two or three hundred yards which afforded me cover until I got to the
+road; there I saw a group of enemy airplanes gradually lowering until
+they got down to within a few hundred yards of the railroad; they
+dropped their bombs on the batteries here, starting monster ammunition
+fires and killing and wounding the gunners.</p>
+
+<p>Although pandemonium reigned everywhere, the guns never hesitated to go
+on with their work as steadfastly as though they were digging drains in
+peace time. The fierceness of the fire caused the horse to balk
+continually, and I again had to get off its back and lead it. This fire
+was from guns from practically every quarter of the Empire. It was
+impossible to make any speed now, even with the horse, as the road was
+black with holes everywhere, and I started to go around what is known as
+Snake Road. Shells were dropping everywhere; dead horses were piled one
+on top of the other; huge lorries were lying in the ditches and men were
+emptying them of their contents and carrying the ammunition on their
+backs up to the batteries. Here and there were small hills of empty
+shell cases; there was also considerable danger from the loaded shells
+that were scattered about that had been spilled from the ammunition
+wagon, as a kick from the horse on the fuse would have exploded any one
+of them.</p>
+
+<p>As the lorries advanced up the Snake Road and delivered their
+ammunition, they left by another road running straight south; this
+latter was packed with ambulances waiting to take wounded out, and
+civilians were running madly here and there endeavoring to get out of
+the fire zone.</p>
+
+<p>I reached Ouderham, which was at that time out of the range of the fire;
+estaminets were getting ready to close for the night, the hour of ten
+having struck. The ammunition drivers were lying around taking things
+easy and not expecting an ammunition call, but the moment I hove in
+sight they raced out to the wagon line. Many and eager were the
+inquiries fired at me as to what was happening up the line. They knew
+the parson had gone up and they were burning to know what was doing. I
+told them as well as I could.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand to!" from the Q.M. and they came running from their tents, not
+waiting to take even a blanket, throwing in their equipment as fast as
+they could, trotting their horses over to the ammunition trucks and
+hitching them up.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand to your horses! Prepare to mount! Mount!" came the three distinct
+orders roared out by the Quartermaster, with scarcely a second's time
+between each and its fulfillment. With a gunner in each wagon we
+started in less than eight minutes from the time the order was given,
+trotting as hard as horses could trot over the cobblestones.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before we came in contact with the fire, but luck was
+with us and we escaped until we got to the ammunition dump, where we
+loaded up with ammunition as fast as men ever worked; it was a joy
+forever to see those boys work. We had to load up in chain fashion, as
+it was impossible for the wagons to get to a dump more than four at a
+time, and the loading was done by the men passing the shells from hand
+to hand until each wagon was loaded. Then not a second was lost in
+starting. The crossroads were reached, but the traffic was so congested
+we could not pass for a while.</p>
+
+<p>Shells were raining down when we finally started, one of them blowing
+the body off one of our wagons, leaving the limber, but no further
+damage beyond the driver, Luther, breaking his leg. A gunner took his
+place and Luther was laid in the gutter until such time as he could be
+picked up. We galloped past the Empire battery, got to the Belgian
+Garden at last, taking cover under a clump of trees until the firing had
+cooled somewhat, and then we took the chance&mdash;it was one in ten&mdash;to get
+by. Starting on a dead gallop, shells commenced to chase us all the way
+up the road. Keeping as well under cover of the hedge as we could, we
+crossed the railroad bridge, and as we neared the entrance to Ypres
+square the fire again cooled down; but on getting into the square 25
+shells, exploding one after the other as quickly as so many seconds,
+followed by thunderclaps of brain-splitting noise, ripped up the paving
+stones, flinging them in all directions, and taking chunks out of the
+eight wagons and wheels. Trotting sharply through the square, we got to
+Rampart Bridge, which they were showering with shells to prevent our
+engineers repairing it; it was badly smashed and we had to go a long way
+around by Ypres Rampart.</p>
+
+<p>Here we left the road and took a chance of getting across the open
+country, picking our way in the fields among the shell holes, eventually
+getting in back of the Garden, where we strung our wagons in the rear
+until the order "Ammunition up!" was given, and out from the dugouts
+rushed the men to unload the precious cargo. Here the captain and
+lieutenant were wounded, but they refused to go to hospital, saying
+their wounds were too slight; and, indeed, I can honestly say that
+every man that night who was wounded and could manage to hold out, did
+so; each one seemed to be imbued with the idea that his presence was
+absolutely necessary for the success of the plan in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"You did not need to come back, Grant," said the Major, upon my return.
+"I intended you should stay at the wagon lines tonight."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, sir, but I'd rather be back."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, that's how we all feel."</p>
+
+<p>That I was more than pleased at this mark of approval from my O.C. goes
+without saying.</p>
+
+<p>Chains of men formed from the ammunition wagons into the gun pit, shells
+were passed from hand to hand to the guns where the men were waiting
+them, and I thought I saw tears of joy in the eyes of the Tommy as he
+caressed the first shell handed him. "That's for luck," he cried, as he
+spat on it. The gunners exploded them as fast as they were given them.
+The work was proceeding nicely when an airplane, flying low over the
+Garden, spotted our ammunition wagons; he signaled the place back to his
+batteries and shells from the guns behind hill 60 opened up on us; it
+became exceedingly violent; many of the horses and wagons were smashed.</p>
+
+<p>This was the order all night long,&mdash;wagons arriving with shells, shells
+passing from hand to hand to the guns, discharged by the gunners as fast
+as they were received, and enemy shells rained at us without let-up. We
+were at our posts all night long. Before daybreak the storm slackened
+and we got a breathing spell for a few hours.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after breakfast, at daybreak, the concert opened up afresh,
+and for full seven days, June 2, to June 9, no man got a full hour's
+sleep at a time. When not being shelled by the German batteries, the
+machine gun bullets were raining around; if neither of these agencies of
+hell were busy, airplanes were flying, many times so low that they
+seemed to be even with the tops of the trees and singing us their
+humming hymn of hate. An idea of the deadly nature of the conflict may
+be had from the first day's casualties, that covered several thousand of
+our men.</p>
+
+<p>On the seventh day the German fire was so heavy it was impossible to get
+ammunition up to the guns, and we pulled the backs out of the gun pit as
+fast as we could smash them, man-handled the guns out of the Garden
+down on to a little unused road in the rear of the railroad,
+three-quarters of a mile southwest of the Garden; here the grass was a
+foot or two in length, and we covered the guns with it and some brush,
+dug out some large shell holes for them, then the wagons pulled up
+there, unloading the ammunition, eight hundred to a thousand rounds
+apiece, and we got orders to open up as an "S.O.S." came from the
+trenches.</p>
+
+<p>Fritz was not aware of our new position, for his fire was wild, and in
+the darkness we were safe from the airplanes, although their humming was
+distinctly audible as they flew here and there vainly looking for our
+new spot. We worked the guns until 2 o'clock, cleaned them up and got a
+couple of hours' badly-needed sleep.</p>
+
+<p>At 4:45 A.M. next day another "S.O.S." came from the trenches, and, as
+fast as we could do so, we let them have it,&mdash;this time in Sanctuary
+Woods. Fritz replied, but his fire was wild. Again the planes came, in
+an effort to find us, and we got the "keep-firing" whistle. The planes
+still hovered over us and, under the urgency of a new demand from our
+trenches, we again had to open up, and this time the plane found us, and
+the result was quickly seen by a group of visitors breaking directly
+over us. To register our battery was the work of but a few minutes. The
+first blast was too far to the right; the next fell short, and again the
+correction was made; with just three corrections they had our number;
+the fourth shell got its mark. The lighter German batteries then passed
+the range back to the heavies, 5.09 Howitzer batteries, and inside of a
+minute we were the object of their earnest attention. Their first shell
+smashed No. 2 gun and crew, leaving us with two guns. We held up our end
+for half an hour, each moment expecting to get the dose they gave No. 2.</p>
+
+<p>The efficiency of our work was disclosed during the day by the efforts
+Fritz made to smother us; his fire became so intense we were ordered to
+leave the battery and take refuge in the basement of a French
+schoolhouse near by, and from there we had to watch the destruction of
+our remaining two guns from the concentrated fire of five German
+batteries of all calibers poured upon them. Our ammunition was
+completely destroyed, and they struck No. 2 gun repeatedly, but the two
+other guns were left intact.</p>
+
+<p>It was now about 11 o'clock A.M. and orders were flashed for more guns
+and more ammunition; then the fire cooled down. During the day two more
+new guns were brought up, together with one thousand shells, and
+everything was ready for the retaking of Sanctuary Woods the following
+morning. Between three and five o'clock the next A.M. the 13th, 15th and
+16th Scotch-Canadian Battalion, some of Canada's finest regiments, along
+with several others, streamed up the road. Wherever the sweep of the
+kiltie went, there was going to be something doing.</p>
+
+<p>Daylight. "Stand to the battery! Targets, front-line trenches!" We
+opened up for thirty minutes; our telephonist reported there was such a
+smoke from the barrage that they could not see the infantry, but the
+woods were on fire. The Empire battery, together with heavy naval guns
+that had been brought up, and armored trains, were all concentrating
+their trip-hammers on the place. It was now evident that every living
+thing in the woods must be dead, as nothing could live under the
+hurricane of fire.</p>
+
+<p>We next attacked the road, stopping the German reserves and ammunition
+from getting near. Then&mdash;"Over!"</p>
+
+<p>The net result of the day's work was&mdash;the woods, the German front-line
+trenches, three thousand prisoners, German dead and wounded piled in
+heaps; wherever the eye turned, the shell holes, trenches and ditches
+were packed with wounded, dead and dying Huns.</p>
+
+<p>Our captain asked for volunteer observers, and I offered. We went into
+the place where once was Maple Copse Woods, but it was no more; here and
+there was a standing tree, but not a leaf or limb left of it, and the
+trunks were littered with pieces of steel and iron. Before the battle
+commenced, this spot was one of the loveliest places in the country
+round about that one could well imagine. Flowers, shrubbery and the
+rarest of plants of all kinds were there in abundance. This day it was a
+scarred ruin; the savagery of destruction was so terrible it is
+indescribable.</p>
+
+<p>We wound our way amongst the dead and the wounded to the top of Mont
+Soreul, first stopping to take a peep at our old guns; they were still
+there, but badly battered up; Fritz evidently thought it was barely
+possible we might have a chance to use them again. We reached our old
+telephonist's hut on the hill, looked around for Lieutenant Matthews,
+but he wasn't there; he had been wounded and taken prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>We established lines of communication at once, to hold the Germans back
+while we built up our own front. Our men were now coming back from their
+trip and our batteries put up one of the fiercest barrages I have ever
+witnessed to protect them on their return.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br />
+
+A BATH UNDER DIFFICULTIES</h4>
+
+
+<p>Over near Hooge was a large naval gun of high velocity and long range,
+mounted on an armored train. The particular purpose of this nautical
+monster was to shoot up objects at short notice, such as a body of
+moving troops, a battery on the road, a train of ammunition wagons. It
+was concealed in a tunnel made for its specific use, and when it would
+discharge its missives of destruction it would first project itself from
+the tunnel, send the message, and then shoot back inside.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this time paying particular attention to the Square in
+Poperinghe,&mdash;the little station and the hospital there,&mdash;and it had
+become such a diabolical nuisance that it was determined to resort to
+heroic measures to "get it." A monster balloon was enlisted in the work
+and the mission of the floating bag was to direct the correspondence of
+one of our 9.2 naval guns, which was operating on a short railroad built
+by the Canadian Pacific Railway. This railroad, I may add, has been
+doing mostly all the track laying and railroad operating for the
+Canadian forces in Flanders. It was a matter of amazement for the
+natives to see how quickly a railroad could be placed and operated, and
+even the soldiers who were all more or less familiar with the workings
+of this magnificent system in Canada, were astonished at the speed with
+which the new machine, especially built by the Company for army
+purposes, would throw down the rails, fasten them&mdash;presto! a railroad to
+order.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus06.jpg" alt="victorious"  />
+</p>
+<p class="center"> Victorious, But Dead Tired</p>
+
+<p>It was resolved that the first work of the balloon should be devoted to
+putting this German naval gun out of action. In this section at this
+time the German balloons were thick in the air, and this gave them good
+control of the Ypres salient. We dared not attempt the experiment there
+for a long time, but it was finally determined to launch this one, and
+it was brought up one evening, with its volunteers, inflated during the
+night, and launched in the morning. Promptly at 10:00 o'clock, when it
+was ready for raising, the German planes hummed busily overhead. Despite
+their activities, the balloon got well up and was doing good observation
+work on its way over to the naval nuisance; there it reached its
+objective, making the necessary notations and records. Then&mdash;Kr-kr-kr-p!
+Kr-kr-kr-p! And the shells commenced to scatter around it. Then it was a
+case of getting the bag down, which was not so easy. These observation
+balloons are operated from a large armored truck, to which they are
+fastened, and the truck runs along carrying the air-bag with it,
+attached with a long cable; it is handled just as a toy balloon would be
+carried by a boy,&mdash;when the boy runs along, the balloon runs with him.
+Attached to the bottom of the gas bag is a basket, usually holding four
+observers, with a parachute for each man, and while in the air they have
+to work as fast as possible, because their stay in the azure is as short
+as the energies of Fritz can make it. If the wind is up and the sky
+cloudy, it is one chance in a dozen that they will escape before the
+planes get them, as the swing of the basket makes it difficult in the
+extreme for them to notice the danger until it is upon them.</p>
+
+<p>On this morning the first indication that they had that their time was
+up was the swooping down of a cluster of birds of death on all sides.
+The weather was foggy, a stiff wind blowing and the basket swinging
+from side to side. This was the first time an attempt had been made to
+float a balloon in the Ypres salient, as the danger was too obvious to
+take the risk. However, as I say, the chance was taken. It so happened
+that our guns were taking a breathing spell, and we stood on the top of
+our gun pit eagerly watching the fall of the balloon and its escape. The
+road along which the armored truck had run ran at one point quite close
+to the German lines, and the airplanes were now coming thicker every
+moment and bombing it from every quarter. Telephone and telegraph wires
+running from trenches to headquarters and all parts of the lines
+intervened between the balloon and safety, and there was nothing for
+them but to cut the wires to let the bag get through. Each minute the
+danger increased, but the men in the truck scrambled up the poles,
+nipped the wire with their nippers, and the balloon passed through. This
+was done repeatedly before it reached its haven. Bets were freely made
+by every man in my gun crew, with the odds of 5 to 1, that the Huns
+would get it. Somehow I had an inspiration that she would navigate the
+storm, and I took up all the offers in my battery against the bag&mdash;and
+lost. Her mission of observation had been accomplished, but when she
+got through the wires she floated to the wagon line, and the result of
+her arrival here was disastrous in the extreme, as the German shells
+followed the bag as assiduously as any bunch of schoolboys snowballing a
+foe, and hundreds of splendid horses were mangled to a jelly by the
+explosion amongst them.</p>
+
+<p>When it got to the wagon line the crew on the truck commenced to pull it
+down as rapidly as they could, but when half-way to the ground a flying
+shell split the cable in twain as neatly as it could have been done with
+a razor blade, and the bag floated away with the remaining two men out
+over the German lines. When the descent had commenced two of the crew
+had taken to their parachutes and got away safely.</p>
+
+<p>Anti-aircraft guns now opened up on it from our lines in an endeavor to
+destroy it and prevent it getting into the hands of the enemy, and
+German airplanes and anti-aircraft guns were also firing at it, so that
+it was a target for all concerned. This, perhaps, is about the only
+incident in the entire war to date where both the British and the
+Germans were equally bent upon the destruction of a common object.</p>
+
+<p>The wind suddenly changed and a steady current of air in the other
+direction brought it back over our own lines; then the two remaining men
+seized the opportunity to leave the floater in their parachutes,
+dropping to safety. A bevy of our planes then went after it, riddled it
+with rifle bullets, causing the gas to escape, and it finally sank
+majestically to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>After the battle, I resumed my place at the gun and the usual day's
+work. Two days later I was detailed to watch for airplanes and was
+sitting crouched under a culvert, when the familiar humming struck my
+ear. I could not at first locate it, and crawled out to have a better
+look skyward, but still failed to place it. Presently the humming
+stopped, and I thought it had departed, and seized the chance to go to
+the cookhouse for a cup of tea. When almost there&mdash;Kr-kr-kr-p!
+Kr-kr-kr-p! a slather of German guns had opened upon ours and the
+fellows fled pell-mell from the gun pit and made for the culvert, taking
+shelter underneath. They were there about a minute when a shell landed
+straight on the culvert, going through eight feet of cement and brick,
+blowing everything in all directions and killing 15 out of the 16 men
+who had taken refuge there. Less than sixty seconds had elapsed since I
+left the spot.</p>
+
+<p>When the battle was at its greatest height a wonderful discovery was
+made. Complaint had been made about the horses dropping on the road on
+the way up. Some thought it was cramps, others, colic; the veterinary
+officers were quite puzzled. One night 18 loads of ammunition, three
+horses to a load, were on their way to the guns and ten of the horses
+dropped. The vets then took it for granted there must have been poison
+in the feed, and an examination disclosed that little steel oats were in
+the grain. The oats had come from the United States and they had been
+deposited in the grain there.</p>
+
+<p>The discovery was so important that the O.C. offered a prize of five
+francs to every man discovering these death-dealing pellets in a bag of
+oats. The bellies of the horses were secure forevermore, as far as these
+pills of Kaiser Bill were concerned; those five francs did the trick;
+every grain of the feed that went down the animals' throats first passed
+an individual examination through the hands of every money-hungry Tommy
+in the bunch.</p>
+
+<p>After the third battle of Ypres had cooled down, we were permitted to go
+to the rear as far as Poperinghe, for the purpose of giving ourselves a
+scouring, as we were filthy with dirt and lousy with lice. My particular
+chum on this journey was the little telephonist, Fox, who had been
+through every big battle up to that time, including the Sanctuary Woods
+carnage. We got to the wagon lines, eight miles off, by stealing rides
+on any passing vehicle upon which we could fasten a tooth or a finger
+nail,&mdash;ammunition wagon lorries, ambulances, supply wagons,&mdash;as we were
+thoroughly tired out.</p>
+
+<p>At the wagon lines we persuaded the Q-M to loan us horses for the
+balance of the journey, which he cheerfully consented to do. But the
+horses, unfortunately, were mules, practically ready for the bone-yard;
+the Quartermaster had put them to one side, as they were useless for any
+further work, and they were awaiting the arrival of the veterinary
+officer to receive capital punishment. Every time I dug my spurs in my
+mount, in a mad endeavor to make it go, the only result was a kick in
+the air with its hind feet.</p>
+
+<p>There was another transportation service in vogue there,&mdash;a large
+number of donkeys, and each time a donkey passed my charger, it would
+stop dead and wag its ears much after the fashion of a Hebrew
+gesticulating with his hands in selling a suit of clothes. This was
+repeated every time we met one of the little donkeys, and each time I
+had to get off and back the brute for some distance, until it again took
+the notion to go forward; it was a case of one step forward and two back
+before I reached my destination.</p>
+
+<p>The most ridiculously funny instance connected with the meeting of the
+mule and the donkey was the manner in which each indulged in its muleism
+and donkeyism; the little donkey would shoot its head straight forward,
+stick its ears out sidewise, at right angles, and commence its song of
+greeting, which sounded exactly like a man sawing wood, and the mule
+would warble its well-known lyric of sweetness,&mdash;"Hee-Haw! Hee-Haw!
+Hee-Haw!" keeping time with the flapping of its long lugs.</p>
+
+<p>When I got to Poperinghe Square the mule and myself were all in; save
+for the ride on the Parson's charger to the wagon lines, I had not been
+riding for the space of a month, and my legs were so chafed I was
+compelled to walk like an aged rheumatic for three or four days; but I
+had company,&mdash;the other fellows were similarly affected.</p>
+
+<p>We made our way to the bath in a rush, as every man wanted to be in
+first. The bath contained 200 men at a time, and 200 tubs; there was no
+pool in which to bathe; every man had to do his swimming and slopping
+and washing in a tub; and the sight of the women and girl attendants was
+a welcome one, as it had been a couple of months before anything
+feminine had come within the range of our vision. We had to take our
+turn in going through the routine of the bath.</p>
+
+<p>When I was next, the woman attendant handed me a shirt; a little further
+along I got a pair of socks, then drawers. Thus equipped, I entered the
+bathroom; there were about 100 men in there, splashing each other like
+mad in their wild joy. In stepping along the water-soaked boards, I
+happened to slip and fall in the wet, and my dry garments were soaked
+with the water slopped on the boards, assisted by the splashing showers
+the men were throwing around.</p>
+
+<p>It so happened that one of the fellows had been particularly well
+splashed by a chum and he was watching for a chance to get even; he
+determined to wait until his chum had put on his clothes, so that he
+could execute his vengeance with all the more fullness of perfection.
+The avenger stood just inside an alley leading to the dressing room,
+with a pail of water in hand for his intended victim; the water had been
+scooped out of a tub that had just been used, and it was as dirty as
+water could be.</p>
+
+<p>As I came even with the alley opening, thinking I was the victim, he let
+me have it full in the face. I was blinded for a moment with the greasy,
+soapy, dirty water, and, when my eyes were sufficiently open, it was
+impossible for me to learn who it was. However, like all things of that
+kind, I took it in good part and hastened to undress. I filled my tub
+with pails of water from the tap and started my bath. Oh, how refreshing
+it was! I don't think I ever appreciated the luxury of a bath until that
+moment. When through with my ablution it was necessary, before I could
+dress, to grease my body with a vermin-killer that is supplied the men.
+This done, I commenced dressing, and had donned my underwear and pants
+when,&mdash;Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p!&mdash;and a shell landed right in the middle
+of the bathroom, and the bunch of merry-hearted fellows was transformed
+into a panic-stricken crowd, leaping and jumping out of the tubs in
+every direction in a pell-mell rush, helter-skelter, of men, some half
+dressed, others absolutely naked, intermingled with the women
+attendants, in the scramble for safety. Civilians, coming from their
+houses in a mad rush, added to the confusion.</p>
+
+<p>When the smoke of the explosion cleared, thirty of the bathers lay dead
+in, on and around the tubs, and forty were wounded, all more or less
+badly. Inside of three minutes, more shells were planted, some of them
+landing plumb in the square, and, to my intense sorrow, I learned later
+that Fox, my little chum, there had paid the supreme price. These shells
+were totally unexpected, coming from the Hooge district, 11 miles
+distant.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody sought shelter in the cellars, or any other hole they could
+crawl into, until night. I searched out my mule, and was thankful to
+find it where I had left it, tied to a tree, gave it a feed of oats,
+waited until it munched, unperturbed by the crashing explosions breaking
+in the immediate neighborhood, and utterly oblivious of the fact that I
+was counting the seconds until it had finished.</p>
+
+<p>Under cover of the night, I returned to the wagon lines, and in much
+better time than coming down, for which I had to thank the feed of oats.
+The bath gave me a new hold on life; I felt ten years younger and
+several pounds lighter.</p>
+
+<p>I learned next day that the station master at Poperinghe had been
+arrested, tried as a spy and shot. It transpired that he had a wire
+running from the station depot straight to the German lines, together
+with some other signaling apparatus, and there was no doubt in the minds
+of the trial board that it was due to this man's espionage that the
+bathers lost their lives while in the tubs.</p>
+
+<p>The spy system had so thoroughly impregnated every hole and corner of
+the district around Ypres that it became the sorest thorn in the sides
+of the Command, but we finally managed to root it out hip and thigh, and
+that sector is now as immune from their activities as any other sector
+in the front lines.</p>
+
+<p>Going up to take my position with the gun next day I met a bomber of the
+21st Canadian Infantry, carrying a bag of his wares&mdash;hand grenades. We
+walked together for some distance, and just as I was on the point of
+leaving him to turn off over to my battery I was appalled by one of the
+most horrifying sights I have seen at the front. One of the pins of a
+grenade worked loose in the bag and exploded, blowing his right hand and
+leg completely off. I have seen scores of happenings, each of which in
+its entirety was a thousand times more terrible, but there was something
+about the suddenness, the total unexpectedness, and the fearful spurting
+of his life's blood, that filled me more full of horror than anything
+before or since.</p>
+
+<p>In this conflagration that is shaking the world, death stalks on every
+hand in a hundred different forms, entirely apart from the destruction
+that the enemy can bestow. I was standing but three feet behind him. As
+quick as I could I gave him first aid and yelled for a stretcher, but
+there was nothing that could be done; he lived until sundown.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br />
+
+HAMBONE DAVIS</h4>
+
+
+<p>One evening we were sitting outside of our bivouac watching some German
+balloons being downed by one of our airplanes; our flier had good luck
+that evening, accounting for three of the floating sausages; and as we
+were awaiting the finish of the last sausage, and speculating on how
+long it would take our air bird to get it, or whether he would get it at
+all, the gambling spirit ran rife, and fast and furiously the bets were
+placed.</p>
+
+<p>Open-mouthed and eager we watched and, while watching, a strange-looking
+figure of a soldier ambled, or shuffled, up the path toward our place.
+He was a man about 45, though looking more like 55, quite grizzled,
+furrowed face, and a stubby mustache, thickly stained with tobacco
+juice, decorated his upper lip. He was chewing tobacco as if his life
+depended on the quantity of juice he could extract from each mouthful,
+and dried tricklings of the liquid ornamented his chin. As he came
+toward us his face was turned upward, taking in the scrimmage in the
+sky. "What's them bloody things?" he asked, indicating the air sausages.
+He had evidently just come up the line fresh from England. I told him
+and he jerked out an indelible pencil and made a note, sucking the lead
+of the pencil two or three times before he finished, and this habit,
+continuous with him, kept his lip constantly stained with the indelible
+lead.</p>
+
+<p>Just then a mighty roar of delight went up from the entire crowd, as our
+bird gobbled the last remaining sausage, but our indelible friend paid
+no attention to the uproar,&mdash;he simply took out his little book and made
+another note.</p>
+
+<p>The "Fall-in!" whistle was blown and we were a bit surprised as well as
+amazed to see our strange friend fall in in front, still chewing
+vigorously; he evidently didn't know or didn't care a damn whether it
+was against the rules to chew tobacco when parading. The Sergeant-Major
+eyed him curiously and then stepping to his side whispered something; we
+knew he was explaining to him that he was infringing orders, but a
+non-commissioned officer is not permitted to bawl out another non-com in
+the presence of the men. Hastily bestowing the quid in his hand he
+stood to attention. Roll call finished and we retired to our bunks.</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning when we emerged from our quarters the first person we
+saw was the odd-appearing individual that had joined up with us the
+night before, with his inevitable note book in his hand. He was still
+busily sucking his indelible pencil in the corner of his mouth, and, in
+the light of the morning sun, there was nothing about his mug that was
+any more prepossessing than appeared in the twilight of the previous
+night. He also had on the sleeve of his coat a crown, indicating that he
+was to be our acting Sergeant-Major in the absence of the regular
+officer, and when not so acting, he was to be the First Sergeant of the
+section.</p>
+
+<p>The official activity of our new friend commenced to be evidenced in a
+number of ways; he lost no time in making us understand that he was
+First Sergeant. "Sergeant Grant, detail two men for the cookhouse!" Then
+to the gunners, "Here, you, clean up your wagons and take off all that
+mud; it's filthy"; this was absolutely unnecessary and the fellows swore
+vehemently under their breath; to the drivers,&mdash;"Clean up that 'ere
+'arness and get that mud hoff it"; he also compelled us to burnish the
+steel and made the gunners scrub the paint off the brass and sandpaper
+it up. This necessitated the men going to a shop and purchasing the
+sandpaper themselves, as disobedience of the order meant a sojourn in
+the clink and the excuse that he had no sandpaper would not go.</p>
+
+<p>By the time old Sol had reached the meridian, the First Sergeant had
+succeeded in getting himself thoroughly hated, and many and earnest and
+unique were the resolutions to "get even." This feeling was intensified
+by his order to gather up some scantlings of hard wood and bring them to
+his quarters; he was a sort of a one-horse carpenter by trade and had
+started manufacturing for his own especial use and benefit a wooden
+structure large enough to house himself.</p>
+
+<p>The idiosyncrasies of our newfound friend manifested themselves
+variously, the first and chief characteristic by which he came to
+acquire the <i>sobriquet</i> of "Hambone Davis," was his habit of heading for
+the cookhouse each morning before the men were dismissed from the horse
+lines&mdash;which was necessary before we could appease our always ravenous
+appetites&mdash;so that he could garner for himself an edible that was longed
+for and looked for by every man who could get it, i.e., the ham bone,
+because there were always more or less pickings on it and he was a lucky
+fellow indeed who was successful in capturing the prize. But, in his
+official capacity, Davis was able to get out and get over there ahead of
+us every morning and during his entire stay in our crowd, he was the
+only man who each morning got the ham bone. Hence his cognomen.</p>
+
+<p>Long, earnest and secret conferences were had as to the way we had best
+settle our grievances. Among the conspirators were Dynamite Pete,
+so-called because of his habit of taking shells, fuses and bombs apart
+and examining and prying into their contents. One time his curiosity
+came nearly getting him a quick passage West. He was examining a bomb
+and, taking out the pin, was holding it in his hand, looking at it for a
+brief instant. Providentially an officer was standing beside him who saw
+his mad act and, grabbing the bomb from his hand, flung it into the
+field&mdash;and just in time! It exploded before it had well gotten on its
+way.</p>
+
+<p>Pete's answers to the officer, while respectful, were tantalizing to a
+degree:</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do that for?"</p>
+
+<p>"What are they here for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you take the pin out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because it is made to come out."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you want to kill yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I did it would have been my own funeral."</p>
+
+<p>"How about the others?"</p>
+
+<p>"They had no business here."</p>
+
+<p>"Think it over in the clink&mdash;ten days."</p>
+
+<p>I could think of nothing else but the fellow who was passing a private
+residence one day with a pitchfork on his shoulder, and a big dog came
+rushing out at him, and he jammed the dog through with his pitchfork,
+killing him. The owner came out in a great rage.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you do that for?"</p>
+
+<p>"What did your dog run at me for?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you hit him with the other end?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't he come at me with his other end?"</p>
+
+<p>Gunboat Stevens was another of the plotters; his suggestions were so
+unique and uncommon that each of them sent us into an uncontrollable
+roar of laughter. Unfortunately, as we thought, they were usually as
+impracticable as they were strange. This member of our gang derived his
+alias from his warm adherence to the navy as against the army. Never was
+there an argument started about the navy that it did not have a burning
+advocate in Stevens; he would even go to the length of challenging any
+man in the crowd to fight him then and there who had the temerity to
+claim that the Empire had as good a defender in the military as in the
+naval arm of the government.</p>
+
+<p>We also had a Jesse James; his surname was really James and it was easy
+fitting on the handle.</p>
+
+<p>The conference finally resolved itself into a determination to burn his
+new-made bivouac, but I dissuaded them and convinced them that it would
+be much better for them to lug it over to the incinerator and throw it
+into the pit. To complete the plot and give it an artistic finish, it
+was necessary to have a ham bone, and Gunboat volunteered to get it.
+"I'm on picket tonight," he said, "and I'll go to the cookhouse when the
+cook is asleep and fix it." He did so; when the cook was dreaming of
+everything but the front line, Gunboat quietly slipped in, unearthed
+the ham that was in readiness for our breakfast, and with his knife he
+quickly extracted the bone, taking care of the pickings with his teeth
+while finishing his sentry go.</p>
+
+<p>The next night everything was in readiness and when the opportune moment
+arrived, with Hambone leaving with ammunition for the guns, I passed the
+word. When he was well on his way we hurried over to his shack, rooted
+it out and carried it bodily over to the incinerator, setting it
+completely over the hole. Now for the artistic touch. We took the ham
+bone, fastened it with wire to the end of a stick that we nailed across
+the top of the shack, with the end protruding well out to the side, and
+on the end of the ham bone we hung a placard, so that all could see,
+reading, "Here lies the remains of Hambone Davis. Gone but not
+forgotten." Then we scampered over to one side and with the glee of
+mischievous schoolboys watched developments. Nearly every passing
+soldier, noticing the odd sight, strolled over and read the sign, going
+off snickering.</p>
+
+<p>The following evening Hambone arrived back from the guns; he had with
+him some of the conspirators carrying wood that he wanted; it was the
+first time they experienced real pleasure in that work because they
+foresaw the d&eacute;nouement in store.</p>
+
+<p>When they reached the spot where his home had been, Hambone looked
+around in a dazed sort of fashion, almost swallowing a mouthful of
+tobacco juice as he blurted out, "Where the bloody 'ell is my 'ouse?
+What bloody well nonsense is this? Hi'll make someone pay for this!" The
+rest of us were loitering in the immediate vicinity, listening with
+sheer chucklings to his burning vows, and it was all we could do to
+stifle our laughter. Then Hambone ran around like a looney, looking here
+and there for his house, and when he found it and saw the bone and read
+the placard, his feelings were so intense that he actually spat out his
+mouthful of tobacco, juice and all.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ere, you lobsters! You, Grant, who has done this?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know; how should I know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hi bet you do know!"</p>
+
+<p>"Aw, what the hell are you getting at? Don't try any of that on me or
+I'll have you up for office," I threatened.</p>
+
+<p>He didn't seem to be getting anywhere in his efforts to find out the
+guilty ones, so he did the next best thing.</p>
+
+<p>"Sergeant Grant, take six of your men and put that 'ouse back." There
+was nothing for it but to obey, but I made a mental resolve he would
+never sleep in that shack that night at least. We took hold all together
+and lifted it up, and on the way over I purposely stumbled in such a way
+that the mansion of Hambone fell on one corner and with the fall it came
+tumbling to pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Our arch-enemy composed himself to sleep that night in the guard room,
+as none of us would give him room in our quarters, and it so happened
+that Gunboat Stevens was in the clink at the time for having called him
+"Hambone." They occupied the same room, his bed immediately opposite the
+First Sergeant's, with just a foot or two of space between the bottom of
+each bed. As may be imagined, no kindly good nights passed between the
+two.</p>
+
+<p>Now Davis had just been over from England but a short time and was
+comparatively clean in his person, while Stevens was lousy, and to
+complete the diabolism of the revenge, Gunboat, instead of throwing his
+shirt on the floor as he usually did, watched his opportunity and when
+he heard a snore from Hambone that had no camouflage in it, he slipped
+his shirt in at the head of the bed where our official tormentor
+reposed.</p>
+
+<p>Our glee was positively fiendish next day when watching Hambone
+wriggling uneasily in his clothes at parade. Gunboat had sent us an
+underground message telling us what he did, and we did not fail to
+recognize the symptoms at once; every moment he got a chance he was
+scratching himself; and as soon as he had the opportunity he made for
+the nearest tree and, rubbing his back violently against it, almost wore
+a hole in his coat. Miserable were his moments throughout that day. "'Ow
+in 'ell can a man fight an' scratch at the same time!" he would snort.</p>
+
+<p>There was no let up to his officiousness, however; his damnable orders
+were as numerous as before; so we concluded to hatch a scheme that would
+most effectively put him on the blink, and the opportunity occurred the
+very next night. Hambone was detailed to proceed to the guns, to relieve
+the Sergeant-Major there, and it was his duty to take charge of the
+supply wagon that carried the supplies for the men there, and by chance
+there was among the rations this time a jar of rum. Accompanying Hambone
+were Snow and Reynolds of our section, they sitting in the back end of
+the wagon. They had barely started when Snow discovered the rum jar, and
+he and Reynolds at once got their wits working as to how they could get
+away with it. When about half-way there, Hambone, to stretch his legs,
+got off the wagon and walked alongside, and Snow instantly whispered to
+Reynolds, "get off and walk with him and tell him you hear a shell
+coming." Reynolds did as directed and Hambone ducked for cover and the
+wagon stood stock still. No sooner was the First Sergeant's back turned
+than Reynolds threw the jar into the ditch.</p>
+
+<p>A minute or two elapsed and no explosion taking place, Hambone rejoined
+the wagon and the party proceeded. Then Snow slipped off the back and
+went back for the jar, but instead of going up the road, he took the
+railroad track, beating the wagon by some minutes and hiding his jar of
+joy in my gun pit, immediately got back and was standing beside the
+wagon when it arrived. Hambone seeing him there hadn't the remotest idea
+that he had hopped off at any time, and supposed that he had ridden the
+entire way with them. Snow gave Reynolds the wink and he knew the prize
+was safe.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing Hambone did was to go to the back of the wagon for the
+jar. It was gone! He searched wildly about for a moment, asking first
+one and then the other what had become of it, and Snow volunteered the
+opinion that probably it had dropped off when the wagon lurched that
+time he thought the shell was coming. There was nothing for it but to
+report his loss, and the only excuse he could give was that the rum had
+probably rolled off when they trotted at a coming shell, and what the
+officer didn't say to Hambone for trotting, which was a violation of
+orders, would not be worth repeating. He bellowed at him to go and
+search for it, and with wicked delight we watched the duffer going back
+over the route, peering from side to side of the road in his vain
+search.</p>
+
+<p>The journey was a nine-mile trot and he covered more than half the
+distance, endeavoring to find the precious container, and when he came
+back in a couple of hours without it, the poor devil thought he was
+going to be licked, such was the anger of the men at missing their rum
+rations, because they sorely needed it; none but those who have been
+there can and do appreciate how sorely it is needed in that region of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>I make no apology or attempt to excuse myself as an accessory after the
+fact. It is an unwritten law among the men that the only crime involved
+in stealing liquor is&mdash;using an Irishism&mdash;not to steal it.</p>
+
+<p>The only men in the section that night who had a ration of the treasured
+fluid were Dick Snow, Reynolds and myself, and in the midst of our
+conviviality we prophesied that if Hambone survived this disaster, he
+was immortal.</p>
+
+<p>Toasting the health of the King, the army, the navy and our loved ones
+at home, we retired in blissful consciousness of a good job well done.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, black looks and cursing threats in low voices greeted
+Hambone on all sides, and his work that day was so fidgety, and he made
+so many mistakes in getting the ranges on the sights, that the Major
+performed the <i>coup d'&eacute;tat</i> for which we were all anxiously waiting by
+transmitting as quickly as he could to headquarters his recommendation
+that he be retired, and Hambone, to our immense relief, was shipped back
+to England.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br />
+
+BEES, HONEY AND HELL</h4>
+
+
+<p>On Tuesday, August 29, 1916, my battery pulled into Martinsaart, in the
+Somme district, which lies three miles immediately west of Thiepval. The
+Battle of the Somme had been raging since July 1. We took up our
+position in a beautiful orchard, its trees laden down with apples, and
+along the hedge on one side of the orchard were ten beehives, humming
+and throbbing with busy bee life. Underneath some large apple trees we
+placed our guns and the thickly woven hedge right in front of us gave us
+a splendidly concealed nook; through the hedge we cut a hole for our
+beauty's nozzle.</p>
+
+<p>At 5:15 in the afternoon we started registering our "love letters," in
+preparation for another phase of the big bombardment which had been more
+or less continuously in operation since the commencement of the battle,
+and after accomplishing our purpose we got a "stand down." The apples
+clustering on the trees looked as tempting to us as did the apple of
+our first father and before we started registering, every man in the
+battery had mentally made his tree selection as the one he would climb
+as soon as he got a minute to himself. It was unnecessary to climb,
+however; with the advent of the explosion of our guns, the concussion
+shook the trees as with a strong wind and the luscious fruit showered
+upon our heads in abundance.</p>
+
+<p>Then we cleaned up our guns, munching the red apples, and the enemy
+planes were humming like bees over our heads, darting here and there
+like bats, trying to find our place of concealment, but we were too well
+hidden. When night fell, McLean and I started for the rear, passing the
+hives on our way. "By, Golly, Grant, here's a chance for a mouthful; I
+know how to handle this proposition," and he made for the hives. He
+lifted off the top, with the bees flying all around, and handed me the
+top to hold while he inserted his hand and took out a comb, which he
+passed over to me, saying, "Take this till I get another, the damned
+bees are stinging me." Thousands were around him. I took it and started
+on the dead run for my billet, about 400 yards away, and in a minute or
+two Mac followed with another comb. The fellows greeted us with
+exclamations of delight and surprise; many of us had been two years in
+the battle line without ever having seen, let alone tasted, such a
+delicious morsel. Every man in the billet fell to, munching the honey
+with expressions of sheer joy; every fellow in the bunch had his face
+and hands littered with the sticky joy like so many kids munching taffy.
+In the midst of our feasting, visitors called; the robbed bees came
+flying into the room after their treasure. McLean, by this time, had
+been stung about twenty times, and I had about a dozen nips on my hands
+and face, and in the very heat of our argument with our visitors, "Stand
+to!" was sounded, and honey, bees and everything else was dropped as we
+raced for the guns. But the bees did not drop us; they chased us every
+bit of the way; they attacked our hands, our mouths, our
+necks,&mdash;wherever there was a particle of our anatomy exposed we were
+stung.</p>
+
+<p>On our way to the guns McLean brought a comb with him, leaving the other
+alongside his bed. We had to pass the Major on our way, whose dugout was
+close to the hives, and by that time he had an inkling of what was
+going on and he yelled, "Grant, throw that honey down; you too, McLean."
+As he yelled his orders I was passing the telephonist's hut and I threw
+it in to him,&mdash;"Here, Graham, here's some honey for you, it's great,"
+and continued my run down to the guns, the bees still following us up.</p>
+
+<p>McLean laid his comb on a pile of shells beside the gun, and the heat of
+the August day caused the honey to trickle over the shells. I commenced
+pointing the gun while Mac worked the range drum; the angles were passed
+to us and inside of a minute we were firing, and inside of another
+minute we had the sternest kind of a battle on our hands, for thicker
+than ever the bees came swarming around the gun.</p>
+
+<p>"Who in hell broke into those hives?" yelled the Major.</p>
+
+<p>No reply; we were busily working and "hadn't time" to answer. The honey
+on our hands, coupled with the dust, made a grit that in opening and
+closing the breech caused the mechanism to stick, and the honey clinging
+to the shells caused the breech chamber to stick, making the shell cases
+jam in the gun after being discharged, forcing us to pry open with a
+sharp pick the breech each time to extract the empty cartridge. All
+during the operation the Major was cursing like a madman at the men,
+whoever they were, that brought the bees into the business.</p>
+
+<p>It was my duty to set the sight, and as I did so, each time, the bees
+would attack my hands and head, and in trying to attend to the sight and
+wipe the bees off at the same time, my work was harder than can well be
+imagined; but poor Billy's case was even harder, he had to keep a steady
+hold of his range drum with both hands and he couldn't budge to brush
+off his attackers, as it was absolutely necessary to hold dead steady to
+enable us to do our shooting accurately.</p>
+
+<p>"Grant, for God's sake knock this bee off my neck," he pleaded; "it's
+stinging hell out of me"; but every time I made a move to help him, the
+Major roared, "Get that angle on, Grant; get your range on, McLean." And
+we had to take our medicine. Parker, who was passing shells, was in the
+same plight as the rest of us; his hands were covered with the sugary
+fluid that had settled between the copper splinters of the driving bands
+on the shells and the slivers were slitting his hands. This is a
+necessary accompaniment that the men passing the shells into the gun
+have to contend with, and ordinarily it is a sore and painful piece of
+business, but in conjunction with the swarm of the bees it was simply
+hellish.</p>
+
+<p>A change of angle was momentarily expected from the observer; we had
+been looking for it for some minutes, and the Major was beginning to
+rave and rant, very much like a theater manager when the star has not
+yet put in her appearance and the impatient audience on the outside are
+giving vent to catcalls. He could stand it no longer and ran as fast as
+his legs would carry him over to the telephonist's hut; there he found
+Graham crouching alongside of his telephone in the folds of a blanket
+over his head and face. It was the usual field telephone that we used,
+in conjunction with a telegraph buzzer, and Graham was endeavoring to
+deliver his messages and fight off the bees at the same time, while
+bringing to his aid the smoke of a fag that he was endeavoring to puff
+into the faces of his antagonists in the hope that it would help some.</p>
+
+<p>The Major bellowed, "You damned jackass! take off that blanket. What do
+you mean?" Graham threw off the blanket and started working his buzzer,
+but the bees had as little regard for the rank of the Major as they did
+for that of Sergeant Graham, and three or four of them kept pinging away
+at him, but as long as the Major was there his splendid discipline
+enabled him to do his work. He got into communication at once with the
+trenches, gave us our new targets and we kept on with our work until
+darkness prevented further registering that night, although the twilight
+still prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand down!" came the order. "Clean up guns and lay on S.O.S. lines for
+the night," meaning to load the gun with a fuse shell timed for a
+certain range, or to burst on percussion, just as the target requires,
+safety catch down, sight set, range on range drum and the gun laid on a
+predetermined point to be covered, in both cases being the front line
+trench, although it might be a machine-gun emplacement, barbed-wire,
+bombing post, crossroads or observation station. For a front-line trench
+and an attack started by the enemy, the S.O.S. signal is passed from the
+trench, either through the telephonist in the trenches, or by means of
+colored star shells. Immediately upon receipt of this signal by our
+S.O.S. sentry or the telephonist at the battery, we get the order
+"S.O.S. stand to the battery," and in the space of four seconds from
+the time we receive that order, our first shell must be exploded in the
+German lines under pain of the severest penalty. If a man were taking a
+wash, he would have to jump out of the water and get to the guns as
+quickly as God and nature would permit him.</p>
+
+<p>Before retiring for our billets, Mac and I decided that we might as well
+get some more honey, as we felt that the bees had done about all that
+they could to us and we were deserving of a little further reward for
+what we had endured, and arming ourselves with smoke helmets, we made a
+further sortie on the camp of our winged enemies. As fast as if I were
+ramming home a shell, I lifted off the hive while Mac pulled out a
+couple of combs swarming with bees. We thought we were making a good job
+of it this time and getting away scot free, when suddenly I felt a stab
+under my coat sleeve and almost at the same moment Mac had the same
+experience and we broke into a run for the billet. By the time we got
+there we were being stung frightfully on our bodies, as the bees had
+made their way up under our shirt sleeves and we ripped off our coats
+and shirts, fighting the common enemy at the same time. The boys in the
+billet beat it outside while we "carried on."</p>
+
+<p>After a vigorous battle we seemed to have the foe beaten into submission
+and the fellows returned; then we had a feed of honey, hung up the
+remainder on the wall and retired for the night. Mac retired to his bunk
+first and had scarcely settled down when he emitted another snort, then
+a yell; the bees had settled in between the blankets of his bed and were
+renewing their onslaught on his helpless body.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody started laughing at McLean's plight, but no sooner were the
+rest of us settled down till we too had a battle on our hands; and in
+the middle of the fray, Fritz started shelling our billets with gas
+shells, one of the missiles going clean through the tile roof and
+knocking the tiles down on our heads. Then came a salvo&mdash;six
+shells&mdash;followed by several others. "S.O.S." was signaled and "Stand
+to," and out we raced for the guns, sans shirt, sans everything, bumping
+into the trees on our way and falling in shell holes in the orchard.</p>
+
+<p>The gas they were putting over at this time was more dangerous than any
+I had yet experienced, it having a more direct effect on the lungs than
+any they had yet given us. It had started to rain and the darkness was
+black, but we reached the guns within scheduled time, and under great
+difficulty we exploded our shells; but most of our work in that
+discharge was guesswork.</p>
+
+<p>It soon cooled down and we again sought our billets after laying the
+guns on "S.O.S." and even the pain from the stings of the bees did not
+prevent us getting into dreamland in short order.</p>
+
+<p>At 3:30 in the morning I went out to visit the last guard shift, as was
+my duty. Then, dawn breaking over the land, I went out to see what
+damage the shells had done, and on the way I stumbled into a crop of the
+most delicious mushrooms. Off came my helmet and I filled it to the brim
+and hastened to the cookhouse with them; he had just got his fire
+started and I asked him if he would oblige me by cooking them for me, as
+I wanted them for my gun crew, and he gladly complied with my request.</p>
+
+<p>Then cookhouse was called and the crew came to breakfast and when each
+man got his portion of the mushrooms served him, his astonishment was as
+great as when he got the honey. So that between the honey and the dewy
+dainties I had gathered, together with a couple of jars of pickled pork
+and two small jars of rolled butter found in one of the vacated cellars
+by an industrious member of our crew, you can imagine the excited
+condition of our minds that morning at breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>During the course of the feasting the Sergeant-Major arrived on the
+scene. "Well, for Heaven's sake! Who was the guy that got the
+mushrooms?" He was informed that I was the lucky individual and he asked
+me if I would show him the way, and I was just directing him when "Stand
+to the battery!" intervened, and we bolted for the guns and opened up.
+"Fifty rounds gunfire" was ordered; then "Second fire ten seconds," then
+"Second fire five seconds," then "Gunfire steady"; next, "Independent
+fire ten seconds"; then came the order for a sweeping fire to enable our
+infantry to dig in in a trench they had just taken, and to prevent Fritz
+getting it back. Our work was accomplished and "Stand down and lay on
+day lines!" was ordered and I was cleaning the sight of my gun and
+wiping off the effects of the gas fumes when the Sergeant-Major came
+along and asked me to indicate where I had gathered the mushrooms; I
+pointed the spot out to him, and he made a bee line. In a couple of
+minutes I heard him calling and I looked up, "Here's a beauty you
+missed, Grant; you must have been blind," and he held up a mushroom as
+large as a breakfast plate. I laughed and replied, "Yes, you are lucky,
+Sergeant-Major." Then Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! and Fritz started getting
+busy again as an airplane hovered about, and the pace getting too
+deucedly hot, we started for the trenches; it was a ditch-trench half
+full of water which came to our waists, and in it we paddled our way
+until we got to a fairly good trench, and on the journey down
+imprecations of all kinds were hurled on the head of the offending
+Sergeant-Major. "Where is that damned fool of a Sergeant-Major?" asked
+one; "It was his gathering those mushrooms in the open that started
+Fritz." Just at that moment down the ditch came the Sergeant-Major
+limping; he had been slightly wounded in the leg by a bit of shrapnel,
+but he was hanging onto his mushrooms.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ere, Grant, take this, will you, till I fix me leg," and he handed me
+the mushrooms and started undoing his puttee where the blood was soaking
+through. When he had bound up his wound I handed him his dainties and
+he held them up admiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a bit dangerous, doncher know, but, blow me tight, if I wouldn't
+do it again to get a beauty like that," holding up the large one he had
+shown me when he was gathering them.</p>
+
+<p>"You bleedin' idiot," I said, "don't you know a mushroom when you see
+it? That's a toadstool! I passed it up."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br />
+
+SCOTTY COMES BACK AT THE SOMME</h4>
+
+
+<p>The German lines were on the hills; every time we took a position it was
+always uphill, until we got over Pozi&egrave;res Ridge and then our work was
+downhill for the time. We arrived at the firing line on the 29th of
+August, 1916. The accompanying map will convey a general idea of the
+object intended to be attained by the great drive. The German
+organization in this district was fed by railroads having terminals at
+Bapaume and it was clearly evident that with this city in our possession
+the supply organization of the enemy would be largely demoralized. Hence
+the plan. Bapaume lay southwest from our trenches a matter of 15 miles;
+intervening were the towns of Labazell, Pozi&egrave;res, Courcelette and
+Martinpuieh,&mdash;all on the Albert-Bapaume road.</p>
+
+<p>We arrived just in time to save Pozi&egrave;res. The Australian boys had driven
+their way clean through to this place, but had not sufficient
+re&euml;nforcements to hold it, and were being exterminated when we reached
+the point and saved them with our guns and the wonderful work of our
+infantry in driving the Boches half-a-mile over the ridge. The
+opportunity for Canada to assist her sister dominion was a matter of
+profound thankfulness to every man of us; to lend a helping hand under
+such circumstances was indeed cheery work.</p>
+
+<p>The Imperial troops and Australians, under great difficulties, had
+blasted their way into Labazell, the crater of the mine blown up being
+one of the largest I have seen on the Western front. This was the
+commencement of the Somme offensive and happened on the 1st of July,
+1916. When I reached this crater two battalions of Canadian troops were
+stationed in its depths in holes burrowed all around the sides, and it
+was used as an assembling point for re&euml;nforcements. This will convey an
+idea of the extent of the mining operations.</p>
+
+<p>The distance from the mine to our new position was three-quarters of a
+mile and the ground was billeted with corpses all the way to our
+battery; in the crater itself it was impossible to step without walking
+on bits of human bodies, and the dugouts surrounding were filled with
+German dead; there were thousands of them. It was so manifestly
+impossible to give them any sort of a burial that the order was issued
+to fill in the dugouts where they lay and this was done by heaving the
+ground in on top of them. Never to my dying day can I forget the sight
+of those German dead! Dead everywhere! In whatever direction the eye
+turned there were the rigid warriors of the Kaiser cold in death. It was
+many nights before I could get a straight sleep without seeing
+mortifying Huns. But I have long since ceased to have any pity for them.
+Although they are the victims of a system over which they have no
+apparent control, yet they are supposed to be human beings with human,
+red blood in their veins, and the numberless deeds of which they have
+been guilty have branded them as nothing better than brute beasts in the
+eyes of all humanity.</p>
+
+<p>With the help of the Pozi&egrave;res Ridge we could observe Fritz quite clearly
+now, and every time he attempted any digging-in work our guns would
+speak to him in terms so convincing that he fain would desist. My
+battery then moved up to within a thousand yards of the foe, one and a
+half miles northwest of Labazell, where we had to dig right in the
+open. At this point the dead were also strewn so thickly that it was
+practically impossible to walk without stepping on a corpse, or part of
+one, every other step, among them being many of our own fellows who here
+paid the supreme price, and each time we came across a laddie in khaki
+it was a signal for an outburst of swearing. Had we not sworn we would
+have wept, and, naturally, as men we preferred to do the other thing.</p>
+
+<p>While here our rations ran short; our prisoners numbered over 20,000 and
+the policy of the British Government being to treat a prisoner as well,
+if not better, than her own soldiers (their wants are always attended to
+first), we were practically without food, and were compelled to resort
+to the heroic method of taking the rations from the bodies of our poor
+comrades who were lying cold on the ground and who would need them no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>Three-quarters of a mile north of Labazell we were in our gun pit one
+night and "Ammunition up!" was the order. This meant that everybody,
+including officers and down to cook, the telephonist on duty alone being
+excepted, had to get out and help unload the life-saving material. I
+remember thinking of the anomaly at the time,&mdash;how strange it was that
+we should regard the ammunition as life saving, when it was in reality
+so destructive of life. While working like Turks unloading the shells,
+some of the drivers were talking about a strange sight they had seen
+down the road near Albert (pronounced Albare), when loading up at the
+ammunition dump. They told us that huge contraptions covered with
+tarpaulin were lying on the side of the road, with six-pounder guns
+protruding from their sides; in conversation the drivers referred to
+them as land boats, and some, as land dreadnaughts. Speculation ran rife
+as to their purpose. We were soon to see. Next morning as dawn was
+breaking, "Stand to!" rang out. Waiting in our gun pits for the next
+command, I heard the sound of an engine put-put-ing along the road,
+something akin to that of a machine gun, but yet different.</p>
+
+<p>I looked in the direction of the sound and presently there hove in sight
+a colossal something of behemoth proportions;&mdash;something the like of
+which I had never seen or heard of in all my life, and I was stricken
+dumb with amazement. A monstrous monstrosity climbed its way without let
+or hindrance, up, over, along and across every obstacle in its path.
+Presently it reached the top of Pozi&egrave;res Ridge; every man who could see
+had his eyes glued on it. It came down the ridge at about five miles an
+hour with two small guns peering out of each side. It was the first
+tank! We all thought at first it was an armored car of some kind. Then
+it swung off the road, crossing a ditch 8 feet wide and 17 deep and when
+we saw it perform this stunt our faculties were for the moment
+spellbound, and then we burst into uncontrollable cheering.</p>
+
+<p>From all quarters of the valley soldiers were running to see the
+absurdly strange sight; it was as if a general fire alarm had been
+sounded, with everybody hastening to the scene of the conflagration.
+Passing close by our battery, it paused for a while, and I had the
+opportunity of giving it the once-over, and then it waddled on its way
+again. In a few minutes two companion land boats made their d&eacute;but
+amongst us; up they went over the ridge, rolling down the German
+barbed-wire entanglement as if it were so much thread and forcing huge
+gaps for the Infantry to pass through, continuing their way placidly on
+through the trenches of the Hun, flattening scores of German soldiers
+under their bulk who were too awe-stricken to move.</p>
+
+<p>Our Infantry then took up the beaten path, charging the enemy trenches,
+and Fritz was an easy prey that morning.</p>
+
+<p>Inside of half an hour after our tanks reached the lines of Fritz, the
+prisoners in gray commenced to stream toward our lines; for a distance
+of seven miles the road was jammed with captured Huns. Some of them
+passing by our battery spoke to me in English, as good as, if not
+better, than my own, and asked me what in hell was the meaning of waging
+war in such fashion; they referred to the tank as Landfuerchtenichts. I
+told them that was nothing to what was in store for them. "Why," I said,
+"I've got reserved seats on one of them for Berlin."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll never get that far," he retorted.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The action on the Somme was well under way when one morning at daybreak,
+making my way to the cookhouse, I was greeted, "Hello, Grant, hoos awa'
+wi' ye, laddie? Ma sontes, but you're lookin' fine! An' damned if he
+isn't a Sergeant!" It was Scotty, reinstated in our unit in his former
+capacity of cook, and he had brought with him his nerve, his twinkle,
+his bow legs and all. I must confess I was glad to see him, and when we
+had a few minutes together he told me, with all the gusto imaginable, of
+his exploits in London.</p>
+
+<p>With his little eyes twinkling like pin points, he related how England
+needing every available man, he was reinstated, and having observed
+strict military discipline while in the camp he was, under the rule,
+entitled to back pay, so that he had a year's wages coming. He obtained
+leave of absence, hastened to London and procured in some manner a
+British Major's uniform, in which he disported himself in first-class
+hotels, restaurants and the like, receiving the homage that became a
+returned fighting man, in the shape of dinner engagements, theater
+invitations and drinks galore. The deception was discovered and he was
+clinked for thirty days, at the end of which he was packed off to the
+front lines.</p>
+
+<p>He wound up by telling me that, he expected to get into the game
+shortly, as he wanted to be in it when the Germans got what was coming
+to them.</p>
+
+<p>We were occupying at this time some splendid dugouts and trenches that
+we had taken from Fritz; they were made of chalk as was also the
+cookhouse. Of our battery of sixteen guns at this point my gun was
+nearest to the cookhouse, and I was mightily tickled at the prospect of
+having an opportunity now and again to slip in and have a drink of hot
+tea, or something of the kind, with my old friend.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus07.jpg" alt="pill box"  />
+</p>
+<p class="center"> Ex-German "Pill Box" That Is Now a British Dugout</p>
+
+<p>That night I dropped in on Scotty and casually remarked that our guns
+would speak shortly and I expected we would bring the German fire upon
+us, as was the usual result. Scotty's voice quavered I thought, as he
+asked me when we would begin. "Oh, in an hour, maybe. Have you got a sup
+of hot tea, Scotty?" "No, I hae na tea, Grant; you'll get your tea at
+the proper time and not before." "Well, of all the&mdash;&mdash;." I couldn't find
+words, and then I remembered his old-time habit of thriftiness, and I
+made up my mind to keep a sharp lookout, and if I caught him
+profiteering in rations he had saved from the men, I mentally resolved I
+would show him no mercy.</p>
+
+<p>Exactly at 2 o'clock that morning we started sending our messages to
+Fritzie, and inside of a minute&mdash;Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p!
+Kr-kr-kr-p! And his shells were flying all around us. The cookhouse was
+only about 20 yards off and I wondered if Scotty would now loosen up a
+bit, and I stepped over leaving Lawrence in charge of the gun. The cook
+had crawled under his bunk, which was merely a slight wire mattress
+raised a couple of feet off the floor. There was a dixie of hot tea
+standing near and I started to help myself to a drink. He saw what I was
+doing and with chattering teeth told me he would report me in the
+morning. He had scarcely spoken when a shell tore through the cookhouse,
+going clean through the wall over his bed, and as the roar of it passed
+by, I heard Scotty again offering up supplications in a manner that
+would arouse the admiration of the most earnest camp-meeting devotee.
+The shells were commencing to pop all around and I knew instantly that
+Fritz had located the cookhouse instead of the battery, and I roared to
+Scotty to come out, but he wouldn't budge. I reached under and grabbed
+him by the leg, dragging him to the door and leading him by the hand,
+for he was shaking like a leaf, made my way to the battery. By that time
+Fritz had got a better line on the guns and it was getting so hot that
+we got orders to retire to our dugouts. I pushed the cook ahead of me
+and when we got to the path leading to our quarters, about 200 yards
+off, no sprinter ever lived that could equal the pace of the bow-legged
+chef. I doubt if a moving picture machine could have caught the flash of
+his legs.</p>
+
+<p>The following day we got the welcome order of billets. When there the
+O.C. made an announcement that he would give a prize of 20 francs to the
+driver of the best pair of mules on inspection day, which was two weeks
+hence. This was done for the purpose of encouraging the well-being of
+the animals,&mdash;a most important factor in our own well-being. Scotty's
+eye to thrift ever open, he entered into an engagement with one of the
+drivers that he would feed his mules potato peelings if he would split
+fifty-fifty with him on the prize. The driver agreed and a few days
+later he and his helper appeared at the door of the cookhouse with one
+of the mules to get his feed. In order to prevent spilling the peelings
+at the entrance to the cookhouse, he backed the mule up against the
+door. In France, as is well known, every farmhouse has a cesspool in
+which all manner of refuse is distilled by means of a pump and straw,
+and used to fertilize the soil. These pools are all the way from 8 to
+10 feet deep. Immediately in front of the cookhouse and the mule was one
+of these cesspools, our billets here being on a farm. It happened that
+when Scotty was peeling his potatoes that day, he had thrown them so
+close to the fire that they got thoroughly heated. He hastily gathered
+them up and threw them in a pan which he handed to Tompkins, the man who
+had charge of the mules and who had entered into the agreement with him;
+the driver was still on the animal's back. When the mule stuck his nose
+into the hot peelings he jerked backwards into the door of the
+cookhouse, the driver's back struck the wall over the entrance and he
+was shot clean off the mule's back head-foremost into the cesspool 10
+feet away. When I say that the bone-grinding department of a stockyard's
+plant is pleasant compared to the odor of the mixture contained in the
+cesspool, some idea will be had of the driver's condition when he was
+pulled out by Tompkins. In the meantime, Scotty was standing in the
+cookhouse, laughing his sides out at the driver's plight, and he had
+forgotten to notice that the mule was backing further and further into
+the room. Just then Mr. Mule got his foot tangled up in one of the
+dixies that were lying on the floor, and in attempting to kick it off,
+his foot missed Scotty's head by about six inches. Scotty backed up and
+so did the mule, still kicking, each kick bringing his hoof nearer
+Scotty's mug.</p>
+
+<p>"Take your damn mule out," he roared, but they returned the laugh on him
+and made no move. The next kick brought the hoof and dixie within an
+inch of the cook's skull and in desperation and fear for his life he
+slid sidewise under the mule's belly and just escaped a vicious bite as
+he was getting out of the door.</p>
+
+<p>What the mule did not do in that room to the dinner preparations was not
+worth doing and Scotty was peremptorily demoted for the loss of the
+men's dinner and put to tending mules instead. He had no more idea of
+caring for a mule than he had for performing a delicate operation on the
+brain and, as a consequence, when inspection day came around, the hip
+bones of the animals he had cared for could be used as a hat rack and
+the officer ordered them shot and buried. The cook's thrift again came
+to the front. "Grant, I'll tell ye what I'll do, if ye'll help me take
+the carcasses to an abattoir we'll sell them for forty francs, and then
+we can dig a grave and let on we've buried them, and I'll go half wi'
+ye. What do you say?" The scheme looked plausible enough to me and I
+consented, and I was the richer by 20 francs.</p>
+
+<p>Owing to his misfortune with the mules the O.C. ordered him to report
+for duty on my gun and Scotty came into the lines with us the following
+week. I was in charge of a trench mortar and our duty was to send over 8
+or 10 shells, instantly take the gun to pieces and remove it to another
+position for the purpose of getting away from the return fire that Fritz
+was sure to send. When the first 10 messages were sent across, I ordered
+all hands to take their respective parts and carry them to the point
+designated, I superintending the dismemberment of the gun. When the last
+man, who happened to be Scotty, had taken away his respective part of
+the gun, I picked up the range-finder and started for the spot about a
+hundred yards off down the trench. I had scarcely gone 10 yards when an
+ear-splitting roar came hurtling through the air and an explosion
+followed that made the very earth tremble. I knew it was somewhere in
+the neighborhood of our selected spot and I anxiously hastened my
+steps. I got there to find every man of my gun crew with one exception
+blown to atoms, the exception being Scotty, but he too had paid the
+supreme price. With the help of another soldier, we carried him to the
+rear of the cookhouse and covered him with a blanket. When daylight
+broke I went over there with a party to give him as decent a burial as
+possible, and the new cook, who was a Scotchman, came out to have a look
+at the dead pal.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if it isn't Jock Henderson!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you know him?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Know him! Why, mon, we were bakers taegither in Glascae. I could tell
+him anywhere by his bow-legs, an' he's got a scar on one o' them as big
+as your face."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know he has, where the shell grazed him at Mons."</p>
+
+<p>"Shell grazed him at Mons? Shell hell! It was a pan o' hot dough that
+fell on his leg in the bake-shop, and I'll never forget his yell tae my
+dyin' day."</p>
+
+<p>Like the last star of dawn the only remaining shred of poor Scotty's
+valor faded away and was gone.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br />
+
+BEHEMOTH</h4>
+
+
+<p>The Somme district is composed of chalk pits; wherever the ground was
+dug up it showed white. This afforded an excellent opportunity for the
+enemy birds to spot any work we were doing. While in this section every
+man in the ranks looked very much like a white-wash artist&mdash;white dust
+everywhere, filling our eyes, ears, noses, mouths. Lord! when I think of
+that chalk dust!</p>
+
+<p>For five days after the first advance of the tanks they were lying, six
+of them, immediately at the right of our battery on the edge of the
+road; no one seemed to know what they were doing there or what was
+contemplated. Then they moved up four miles to the edge of Pozi&egrave;res
+Woods, where they believed they would be safer from view, and for the
+further reason that they would not have so far to travel when the next
+drive was pulled off. They waddled in there at night, but the following
+morning Fritz's keen eye searched them out, wirelessed the necessary
+directions to their heaviest battery, and in almost less time than it
+takes to write it tremendous shells came smashing around, damaging one
+of them pretty severely, and the other five immediately waddled back to
+a safer place in the rear.</p>
+
+<p>That same night canvas dummies were drawn up by mules and set up in the
+same place. Again the keen-eyed birds of the air spotted them, flashed
+their range back to their heaviest mouthpieces, and for the better part
+of the day the entire batteries of their heaviest caliber, expended
+their energies and their shells on the dummies; there was no kind or
+character of explosive shell that did not land on the frauds.</p>
+
+<p>Late in the afternoon two of the air birds wanted to get down a little
+closer, undoubtedly to satisfy themselves as to how the work of
+destruction had progressed, and one of our little observation planes
+gave battle to the visitors, engaging the nearest one first. His
+companion bird made for ours, but before he could get underneath to do
+anything, the first German bird had been winged and downed. Our
+anti-aircraft guns now made it so warm for the other bird that he beat
+it. The visit, however, must have had beneficial results for Fritz, for
+immediately after the plane returned to their lines, he ceased paying
+any attention whatever to the dummies. That night we put the real tanks
+behind the dummies and the day following not a single shell broke over
+or near them, and that same night they crept down into Pozi&egrave;res Valley
+under shelter of a bombardment made to prevent the keen ear of Fritz
+detecting the throbbing of their engines.</p>
+
+<p>By this time batteries had been and were being installed everywhere at
+Pozi&egrave;res where there was room to place a gun: like beavers the men were
+working as busily as men could work, although they were constantly
+subjected to the severest strafing; but on the Somme it seemed that
+nobody minded. For my part I had the firm conviction that death would
+come when it would come and not till then, and I went about my work
+absolutely careless of any possible hurt. And I can positively testify
+to the same state of mind in each one of my comrades,&mdash;not one of whom
+seemed to think of his personal safety in any way whatsoever when there
+was work to be done.</p>
+
+<p>Here the British soldier's fatalism was exemplified in the superbest
+manner!</p>
+
+<p>On that same night that the tanks went forward again, I was detailed to
+go to the trenches to assist the telephonist, who was hard pressed for
+help, and in the morning I was in the front-line trench assisting the
+Captain with his observation work. All the time on the Somme all hands
+were busy doing something. Immediately after dawn, at five o'clock, the
+guns belched forth with an ear-splitting, deafening roar and
+simultaneously over the top appeared the five behemoths, one of them
+passing within a few feet of me.</p>
+
+<p>The gunfire from our pieces at this time was immensely superior to the
+enemy's and his trenches had been flattened, but the wires still stood,
+and here it was the tanks did the work. On they came! Rolling through
+and making gaps 10 to 15 feet wide the Infantry plunging along in their
+wake. Forgetting my orders to stay where I was, I hopped in with the
+Infantry and reached Fritz' second-line trench.</p>
+
+<p>"Gawd!" yelled a Tommy. "Wot the bloody 'ell will Fritz think of these
+beauties? 'E'll think its Satan's advance guard!"</p>
+
+<p>On and yet on they reeled and rolled, one of them dipping nose first
+into a crater, and when I saw it going over the top of this huge hole my
+heart gave a bound of fear, as I surely thought its usefulness was now
+over. In this crater there were about 300 German soldiers when the tank
+plunged into it, and under its huge bulk 75 of them had their lives
+mashed out.</p>
+
+<p>A spirit of wonderful fervor filled me as I saw that our behemoth was
+not disturbed in the slightest by the fact that he had gone into a
+crater; he continued to waddle all around the huge hole, his machine
+guns playing on the balance of the men that were jumping this way and
+that, and swarming like ants up, over and on top of it, to escape and
+save their lives in some manner. In sheer mad desperation they climbed
+over every part of the mammoth, discharging their revolvers at any seam
+in the metal or place where they thought it might be effective, breaking
+their bayonets on its iron coat&mdash;in vain! They could not overcome the
+unknown! One man thrust a hand grenade into the muzzle of one of the
+guns, but was blown to bits in the try. Still, over and over it they
+swarmed, like bees searching for a nook in a flower, the difference
+being that instead of getting honey they got hell. Then the poor
+desperate devils, in the frenzy of despair, flung themselves from the
+top and sides of the titan down into the crater and tried to scamper up
+the sides to the top, only to be met with a hail of bullets when they
+reached the edge and fall backwards into the crater depths, upsetting in
+their fall their companions who were behind them, and also trying vainly
+to get out of that hole of hell.</p>
+
+<p>Language is futile to give anything like an adequate description of the
+scene in the crater. A few of the Huns, more long-headed than the rest,
+still clung to the tank, remaining there until it reached the top, when
+they held up their arms, yelling Kamerad at the top of their lungs, and
+these were all that were left of that 300&mdash;just 20.</p>
+
+<p>The titanic ducks were each of them doing similar work on every part of
+the line, but the particular one whose work I was able to follow then
+made a call on a whiz-bang battery, smashing one of the guns when it
+first stepped upon it, and mowing the gunners down, the rest fleeing as
+though from the wrath to come. Many batteries and crews were similarly
+smashed, and then their work being done for the day, they all returned
+with the exception of one which lay in the German lines for about five
+hours, due to engine trouble. While lying there, Fritz did his damndest
+to place a mine underneath the helpless hulk, but the earnestness and
+the energy with which our boys at the guns worked for the preservation
+of their beloved behemoth, prevented him carrying out his purpose; and
+while the concert was in full swing all around us, the preserving
+messages from our guns whizzing past it in one direction, and the
+destructive messages from the German guns coming at it from the other
+direction, the tank crew quietly and industriously went about their
+work, repaired the engine trouble, said "ta-ta" to Fritz and waddled
+back home.</p>
+
+<p>No returning hero from the scene of his glory ever received such a
+greeting as did the crews of the mighty monsters when they stepped out
+of the sheltering internals of their huge bowels. Clad in pants and
+boots, littered with grease, dirt and oil, scarred with bruises incurred
+as they were thrown from side to side of their armored shelter by the
+swaying of the thing, when they stepped from the door to the ground, the
+shouts and roaring cheers of ten thousand times ten thousand men
+thrilled them with such a thrill, that they felt fully repaid for
+everything that they had done that day.</p>
+
+<p>The Tommies grabbed them in their arms, hugged them, slapped them on the
+backs and chests until the wind was fairly knocked out of them, and if
+we had been Frenchmen instead of Britishers, our mouths would have been
+covered with black grease from kisses imprinted on their cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>All night long, long lines of men in gray were passing through our
+sector, in some places as many as 50 of them being escorted by one
+soldier; German Red Cross men were carrying out our wounded, eagerly
+volunteering for this work in the thought that they would find favor by
+so doing.</p>
+
+<p>After taking Pozi&egrave;res and driving over the ridge and on down into the
+Courcelette Valley, we took up a position about 500 yards from the
+German front lines. Here occurred another of those remarkable escapes
+from the Grim Reaper's toll that won for me throughout the unit the
+pseudonym, "Horseshoe Grant."</p>
+
+<p>Eighteen loads of ammunition were being hauled to the guns and when
+being unloaded, enemy fire opened up on the position, several horses
+were hit, the doors of the wagons were flung open and the horses,
+stricken with fright, galloped madly about, the shells being strewn over
+the ground all the way to the bridge several hundred yards off,&mdash;a
+bridge that was a vitally important structure to us, because over it
+every pound of supplies and ammunition had to cross in order to get to
+us. I have often thought what a disaster it would have meant to us had
+Fritz ever got to this passageway. The drivers finally managed to close
+the wagon doors and get most of them back over the bridge, but the shell
+fire had then become so heavy that "Take cover!" was ordered.</p>
+
+<p>The Hun kept up the bombardment for some time and the O.C. thought it
+better to let the ammunition lie where it was until daylight, when he
+intended to have it gathered up. He did not wait for daylight; in the
+middle of the night we were called out to manhandle the ammunition from
+an improvised sled that had been built and loaded with it and hauled
+over the mud to the bridge. There was no slacking on that job, every man
+carrying two of the shells&mdash;18 pounders&mdash;and when we finally got them
+to the guns we were allowed to turn in.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus08.jpg" alt="behemoth"  />
+</p>
+<p class="center"> Behemoth in Battle</p>
+
+<p>Just before daylight a counter attack started and we were ordered to
+repel it, which we did with all the ammunition that was capable of being
+used; lots of it we could not use as the mud and dirt prevented; it had
+to be thoroughly cleaned and oiled before being fired. The battle lasted
+well until noon, and having accomplished our work we got a "Stand down!"
+after which came the usual hurry and scurry to clean and oil our pet and
+get her all in readiness for the next act. There was still some
+ammunition left lying on the ground that had been spilled, and we were
+instructed to gather it in at once, clean and oil it and put it in the
+gun pit. While busy at this job I glanced overhead and noticed an
+airplane: "I believe that's a German," calling attention to it. The
+fellows didn't agree with me, they holding it was a British bird, and we
+all went on with our work. I kept my eye on it, however, for some
+reason, and saw it finally go over the ridge and turn, and as it
+turned&mdash;Kr-kr-kr-p! and a shell lit on the ridge 25 yards in our front;
+it was about an 8-incher and showered the dirt in all directions. We
+scurried like rabbits into our pit, emerging in a few minutes when the
+dirt and dust had blown away. Glancing up again I noticed the air bird
+turn again, and instantly another one came, this time landing near the
+gun pit, throwing a shower of mud and dirt on it, and causing
+considerable profanity for the extra work given us by Fritz. Instant
+orders were given us to take cover as a strafing was in sight, and we
+shot out of the gun pit, jumped into the trench and ran along. Two of
+the fellows were immediately ahead of me, Dinghy and Graham, and
+Graham's footwork was so slow that I jumped up on the parapet of the
+trench to get past him, and over the top I skedaddled toward our 30-foot
+dugout, which had formerly been the home of the Germans; like most of
+their quarters it was large, roomy and comfortable. To get to the dugout
+we had to go through a German gun pit which was then being used by us as
+a cookhouse. Just before I reached my destination a shell had landed
+squarely in this gun pit, where a number of the men were lined up
+waiting for supper. The effect of this shell was not only deadly in the
+extreme, but very peculiar in its action. At the right hand side corner
+of the gun pit was the dugout for the left section, and the right
+section occupied the dugout on the left hand side corner. The shell
+struck the edge of the right section dugout in which four men at the
+bottom were having a card game; the fuse tore its way down the steps,
+knocking large chunks of the steps off in its course, and down into the
+center of the card game, scattering the money in every direction and not
+injuring a single member of the party. The back lash of the deadly
+visitor, however, ripped the life out of the men waiting for supper at
+the cookhouse and the side lash of its stroke caught the men in the
+right hand side dugout in which were two soldiers sitting on a box,
+munching biscuits. One of them had the upper half of his head blown off,
+scattering the blood and brains over his chum, who escaped without a
+scratch.</p>
+
+<p>I reached the gun pit about one minute after the explosion. God in
+Heaven! What a sight met my eyes! The floor of the pit was strewn with
+the men in all directions, six of them dead and the balance fearfully
+wounded. I dashed out for stretcher bearers and Fritz just then started
+increasing his fire; he had kept an eye on the men running through the
+trench to the gun pit. He therefore knew that there must be a nest of us
+there.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the gain in the enemy's gunfire, we started our wounded pals
+to the officers' dugouts; most of the lads had been so severely
+shell-shocked that we had a most trying time to keep them in their
+stretchers. Men who have been shell-shocked most usually exhibit it by
+wanting to run off in all directions; I have seen them with wounds that
+ordinarily would cause them to collapse, but under the influence of the
+shock exert themselves with such strength and violence that it would
+take a couple of sturdy men to hold them. There is a trite saying that
+every disadvantage has a corresponding advantage and I wondered that
+night when I got back to the gun pit if nature intended that the
+advantage from this disaster was the increase in our supper ration due
+to the death and wounding of my soldier pals!</p>
+
+<p>A few days after, we were notified we were going to drive forward
+another stage, and I went to the trench with the telephonist party for
+the purpose of making our communication as clear as possible; I was
+detailed especially to assist the Captain in this work.</p>
+
+<p>The attack was launched at daybreak, with a ten-minute bombardment
+preceding, and then our fellows were up and over. As before, the tanks
+blazed the way, one of them passing about 30 feet to my right just
+before I went over the top. As I lay in the trench, the darling old
+titan passed me, leveling the wire in front, and I had then an even
+keener realization of what it meant for Fritz to have these monsters
+piling over and smashing him under foot just about as a man would tread
+on a worm and mash it. And if there ever was one time during my entire
+three years of campaigning, when I felt an atom of sympathy for the
+gray-clad devils, it was at that moment.</p>
+
+<p>But how can sympathy obtain for devils in human form?</p>
+
+<p>My immediate family was strongly represented in this attack. To my right
+among the men who went over, were the Canadian Grenadier Guards, of
+which my young brother Billy was a member. This regiment had made an
+undying place in the annals of Canadian history in the advance on
+Courcelette, having out of its 950 men but 66 men left intact when the
+roll was called after the battle, the balance being either killed or
+wounded. But they achieved their objective, Courcelette!</p>
+
+<p>Billy and his regiment, which had been mustered up to strength, passed
+over the top within four hundred yards of me to the right. On my left,
+my older brother, Gordon, who was supporting a trench mortar battery in
+the front-line trench, was working away within 500 yards of me. I was
+not aware of the presence of either until a comparison of notes later on
+apprised me of their presence. To my right hand was Hughey and his
+brother Archie and to my left Jim, three brothers, all of them my first
+cousins.</p>
+
+<p>Jim had enlisted in New Zealand, Archie in Australia and Hughey in
+Canada. The only relative of whose presence in the battle I was aware,
+was Hughey. Through a rule obtaining in the army, these three brothers
+took the opportunity when they got to France, to get a transfer to the
+Canadian army, all in the same unit. Later, however, the casualties
+necessitated changing them around somewhat. All three had been wounded
+and gassed, but were back again as full of fight as ever. We went over
+under the shelter of such a terrific barrage that the German front line
+and its occupants were practically annihilated; the work of our
+artillery was nothing short of wonderful. Staying there ten minutes we
+went on and took the second line, meeting a little more stubborn
+resistance as we went forward, but finally taking it. In going over
+between the first and second lines it was necessary to jump into shell
+holes from time to time. The men ahead of us were mostly Brandenburgers,
+Bavarians and Prussians. At one place I had leapt with my pal into a
+small shell hole, and over to my right was a kiltie engaged in a
+hand-to-hand struggle with a Hun. The kiltie was an undersized chap and
+Fritz was about twice his size, and with a much longer bayonet, and Jock
+seemed to be getting a bit tired. I didn't think it wise to wait, even
+though I felt very certain that Jock could hold his own, and taking
+careful aim with my revolver I tumbled the Fritzie over. Looking then to
+the left I saw another kiltie in an argument with a Prussian; they were
+fencing with their bayonets, and a second Hun was coming up behind and
+again I took aim, but before I was able to get my pill started, my mate
+robbed me of the honor and sent his pill crashing through Fritzie's
+head. So I turned my attention to the immediate opponent, but before I
+could shoot, the kiltie's body interposed in my line of vision, and when
+I got a glimpse of the Prussian a second later, he was in the throes of
+death with a bayonet in his bowels. Further over to my right, two Huns
+were trying to bayonet a soldier, but our man was an expert and seemed
+to be easily holding his own, in fact, getting the better of it a
+little, and I noticed a Prussian jump out of a hole, aim his rifle at
+our fellow, and I yelled, "Get that one, Walter!" But Walter had already
+seen him and started blazing at him and winged him in the shoulder; he
+was later gathered in among the prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>Then we turned to the duel and blazed at one of the Prussians, being
+lucky enough to land him, and at the same time Sandy got in his work
+with the cold steel on the other Hun. Then, wiping the perspiration from
+his face with a swipe of his hand, he looked toward us and hollered
+"Gude work, laddies," and dashed on ahead.</p>
+
+<p>All these scrimmages took place in less time than it takes to tell about
+them; everywhere, as far as the eye could reach, the cleaning-up process
+was going on. This was as far as I could go at this time, because I had
+strict orders to remain with my party there for observation purposes,
+the Infantry going on ahead and taking the third line.</p>
+
+<p>Resistance was growing more stubborn with the advent of each successive
+line, but they cleaned up and started for the fourth, and it fell. It
+was on that day that I understood the expression "Seeing red"; there was
+only one thought in my mind, kill! kill! kill! kill! The wave forged
+ahead for the fifth German line, taking it and smashing down all
+resistance in their way. They were in the middle of the cleaning-up
+process of the fifth line when the welcome sight of friend tank again
+hove in view, arousing cheers. They were needed just then.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br />
+
+THE FAMILY LUCK</h4>
+
+
+<p>At the fifth line the men stayed awhile, waiting for the word to take
+the sixth line, and our barrage was directed on this trench line so
+heavily, the Germans could not hold it. They left and our wave crossed
+over, but could not reach the much sought-for ditch, as a massed
+counter-attack drove them back. Our barrage again drove Fritz back, thus
+converting the sixth-line trench into a No Man's Land.</p>
+
+<p>The Boche made a determined effort to retain it and counter-attacked
+time and time again, but each try met our machine guns, rifles and
+grenades, together with the barrage, and a distorted heap of dead
+Kaiserites was added to those already in this ditch of death.</p>
+
+<p>Their ranks were getting woefully thin and pale; wave after wave came up
+in a bull-headed effort to keep the line, and, finally, to assist the
+fainting Prussians, a regiment of Brandenburgers jumped to their help,
+and again they came. By this time the trench was literally filled with
+dead, dying and wounded men. Over the Brandenburgers came, one thousand
+strong, right in the teeth of our barrage; in mass formation they
+charged, and it was impossible for a bullet to miss its billet in that
+line. They fell like flies on a tanglefoot sheet, and back they wavered
+into the trench. But there was no shelter for them there, as it had
+ceased to be an abiding place, because their dead and wounded comrades
+were piled in it clear up to the brink, and there was no place for them
+to stoop or crouch to escape the rain of death.</p>
+
+<p>Our O.C. paused awhile to see what Fritz would do further, but&mdash;nothing
+stirring! So, over our fellows went. The corpse-filled trench offering
+no attraction for shelter, the wave rolled on to the seventh line,
+taking it and putting up there for the night.</p>
+
+<p>A few hours later Fritz made a most determined attack on the seventh
+line, and sorry am I to tell that they made a little headway, taking
+some prisoners, among them being my cousin Jim; roll call the following
+morning also disclosed Archie as missing. For my dear Auntie's sake it
+is my sincere prayer that he may yet be alive and well.</p>
+
+<p>When the wave reached the first line in this drive, the trenches were
+filled with prisoners and orders were given to corral them in the
+different dugouts and rush them into the holes, but there was no need
+for hurrying them,&mdash;they were diving for them as fast as their legs
+would carry them. My brother Billy and a party was put in charge of a
+number of dugouts, Billy having one under his control. He did not know
+how many were in the dugout he guarded, but outside was a captured
+Prussian officer. The boys had now gone on ahead, leaving the prisoners'
+escorts posted here and there along the trench to guard them. This
+Prussian officer was standing a few feet away from Billy, on his right,
+and something diverting Bill's attention from him, the Prussian officer,
+in strict accordance with the Prussian code of honor, seized the
+opportunity, grabbed a rifle, and was about to plunge the bayonet into
+Billy, but he turned just in time to catch him in the act and avoid him.
+He lunged with his bayonet, catching the dastard in the left shoulder,
+and while tugging to get it out, the prisoners started rushing up the
+steps of the dugout, and Bill was forced to let go of the rifle; as he
+did so, the weight of the gun pulled the bayonet downward, ripping
+through the Prussian's black heart. Bill then took a bomb&mdash;he had eight
+of them&mdash;and let them go one after another into the dugout. Although
+fighting for his life, he knew if he faltered for a moment he would be
+lost, and he did not lose his head for a second; he realized that if he
+let any of these bombs leave his hand and reach the dugout in sufficient
+length of time before it exploded, they would seize them and hurl them
+back at him, or else escape this particular bunch who were trying to get
+him and who were strung on the steps leading down into the dugout. So,
+in the midst of the scrap he kept his nerve and his head, not letting a
+single bomb leave his hand until he was dead certain the time had
+expired and that the moment it struck the top step of the dugout, their
+mission of destruction would have been accomplished. This done, he
+yanked his rifle out of the officer's shoulder and jumped to the
+entrance of the pit for any others that might have escaped his fusillade
+of grenades. None came.</p>
+
+<p>"Billy, take those prisoners out of the dugout," sang out the
+Sergeant-Major, "and get them to the rear, and tell the rest of the boys
+to do the same."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how many are there, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take a look and see," and the Sergeant-Major jumped into the
+dugout. In a moment he reappeared. "There are nine killed and three
+wounded. Round up these three and get them to the rear and get over the
+top as fast as you can."</p>
+
+<p>Billy did so, catching up with his pals at the third line trench. When
+he got to the sixth line, a shell exploded in front of him, hitting him
+in the thigh and dislocating his hip bone, besides giving him a painful
+flesh wound. He was knocked unconscious and thrown into a shell hole.
+The hole was almost filled with water, but the horseshoe luck of the
+Grant family was with him; when he fell in his head was just out of the
+water.</p>
+
+<p>There he lay for eight hours, when the moaning of a wounded pal, three
+or four feet away, roused him and he pulled himself over to him; his
+pal's leg had been shattered from the knee down and Billy, in spite of
+his own condition, managed to drag him for some distance toward the
+dressing station, hopping on his left foot as he went and then resting a
+bit. Finally the pain became too great and he could go no further;
+every nerve and fiber of his aching body was at the breaking point of
+utter exhaustion, and the pain of the gangrene in his wound, inspired by
+the mud and dirt, gave him his finishing touch and he dropped. Bill's
+pal then took up the struggle; he tottered to his sound foot and dragged
+him to the dressing station, where he dropped beside him.</p>
+
+<p>The tremendous rush of wounded men waiting for treatment made it
+necessary for them to take their turn, and it was three-quarters of an
+hour before they could either of them get attention; the German wounded
+were treated in turn along with our own men, no favors being shown. This
+is in marked contradistinction to the untold and unspeakable brutality
+exercised upon our wounded prisoners in the German lines.</p>
+
+<p>In due time they were carried to the rear by German prisoners, and then
+to England through the medium of the base hospitals and casualty
+clearing stations.</p>
+
+<p>It is with pardonable pride I can say that they were not long in the
+hospital before they got word they were to receive a medal for their
+magnificent work.</p>
+
+<p>Billy's splendid physical condition rapidly brought him through,
+although it was five months before he was really himself again, and he
+has since then gone back to the lines, where he was again wounded and in
+the hospital, and has again gone back and is still doing his bit.</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning, I returned to the battery.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br />
+
+THE DEAD SHELL<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h4>
+
+
+<p>A late September mist, more hazy than foggy in its character, enveloped
+the line following a heavy deluge of nearly two days that had poured
+almost a foot of water in our trenches, and in some spots where holes
+had formed in the trench-bed the water came gurgling over the knee. On
+the whole, however, conditions were very much less worse than wading in
+the water up to one's waist, which was our common lot in the earlier
+days of the war. As one of our wags had it, "Mud under me, water around
+me and hell above me."</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>A dead shell is one that explodes at a predetermined time
+after it strikes&mdash;from one minute to several hours.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>For nearly a month Fritz had been inordinately busy with his "dead"
+shells; we had no rest from his activities. If there was an interval of
+time when we were not being served with the "dead" messages, the hiatus
+was filled with whiz-bangs and gas. Whichever his fancy dictated, for us
+it was the Devil's choice.</p>
+
+<p>Following orders, under the friendly shelter of night's curtain, I was
+leading my squad to our gun positions in the front line, about three
+miles distant, and in slipping and sliding over the muddy ground, pitted
+with holes in such a manner as to suggest to one's mind that the earth's
+surface had been scourged with an attack of elephantine smallpox, we
+could not help chuckling, in spite of the discomforts of our journey, at
+the ejaculation of a Cockney Tommy: "Strike me pink, Sergeant, but Fritz
+would think we was his pals if he only saw this goose-step work." This
+was an allusion to the fashion we had to employ in picking our steps on
+the lookout for holes. In this region the fair face of nature is
+distorted in every conceivable way with holes and ditches, some of the
+holes big enough to engulf a house, and it is no mere desire to avoid
+the water in these holes that compels us to pick our steps in this
+hell-swept part of the world; it is the first law of nature, self
+preservation, for many a poor lad has been done to death in them by
+drowning.</p>
+
+<p>On this night my squad, including myself, was composed of 13 men, and
+although none of the men, if they did notice it, mentioned the
+coincidence, I must confess, although I myself studiously refrained
+from making any comment about it, the thought of the fateful number kept
+recurring to my mind as we made our way to the spot where the visits of
+the Grim Reaper were so frequent that death had ceased to be anything
+but an every-day occurrence. It was only when some friend or chum paid
+the supreme price that we gave the matter any particular attention, and
+then it would be for but a short time. The necessity of every man's
+looking out for his own life gave him but little time to think of much
+else, unless, indeed, killing the Huns. Next to saving our own lives
+that is the heartfelt desire of each man&mdash;get Fritz. And yet, although
+the first thought of everyone is, naturally, for his own life, there is
+no history in this war that can be written that can recount the number
+of occasions when the seeming first thought of men was to do for their
+pals, utterly regardless of their own safety. For sheer toying with
+death and taking chances in situations that did not seem to offer the
+slightest hope or chance of getting through, the Great War discloses
+feats of valor with which nothing can compare that comes out of the mist
+of "Days of old when knights were bold."</p>
+
+<p>After goose-stepping for over an hour, and almost completely winded, we
+flopped on the ground for a few minutes to catch our breath. We were
+within about half-a-mile of the ridge over which we had to go in order
+to get down into our dugouts, and Fritz' calling cards were commencing
+to come in our direction; star shells were shooting up at short
+intervals, the gleam of a flare every now and then plainly revealing
+ourselves to each other. As we sat there the conversation seemed to lag
+and a silence that struck me as somewhat ominous pervaded our little
+group. I wondered if the rest were thinking of our number. One of my
+best chums, Corporal Lawrence, was sitting next me, and I thought I
+heard him sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Corporal, winded?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, Sergeant, I was just thinking."</p>
+
+<p>"Thinking? Thinking of what? The cookhouse? I'll bet we are all thinking
+about that."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Sergeant, it was not the cookhouse."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if it wasn't the cookhouse, is it that letter that is coming for
+you tonight?" said I.</p>
+
+<p>"No, you are wrong, Sergeant; it wasn't either of those things, much as
+I would enjoy both the letter and the grub."</p>
+
+<p>I felt that the gloom would become infectious if it were not immediately
+dissipated, and I blurted out, "Well, for God's sake, don't keep us all
+in suspense; how in hell are we going to go on until we know what you
+are thinking about?"</p>
+
+<p>His answer made me sorry I spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"I was just thinking," said he, "that my number is up."</p>
+
+<p>This is an expression of the men on the Western Front when they have a
+premonition that their time on earth is short. A sudden fear smote me,
+but I banished the thought and started jollying him profanely.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Corporal, you know what damn nonsense it is to talk that way! Do
+you want to wish it on yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Grant, I should say not, but I can't help thinking it, all the
+same."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Lawrence," said McLean. "For God's sake don't wish any trouble on
+us more than we have got."</p>
+
+<p>Billy McLean was my dearest pal; we had enlisted together and had formed
+one of those attachments that men sometimes make and is only severed by
+death, and we shared each other's most intimate thoughts. The words had
+scarcely died on McLean's lips when&mdash;Woo-o-f! Bang! Bang! and shells
+commenced to land all about us.</p>
+
+<p>The spot we had selected to rest on was under observation; Fritz had
+evidently become aware of the fact that it was our usual course in
+coming to the trench and had registered the place for a target, just as
+he registered battery roads, ammunition depots, railway heads, sleeping
+quarters,&mdash;everywhere and anywhere that exhibited a trace of life
+immediately became an observation target and was subject to a hail of
+shell and shrapnel any hour of the day or night.</p>
+
+<p>We were all slightly stunned by the dose, but recovered our senses in a
+minute or so.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, fellows, let's be going," I said, and up we jumped, all
+except Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Corporal, finish your dream in the dugout." He made no reply.
+With a sickening at my heart I went over and put my hand on his face; it
+was wet with his life's blood; he was shot through the head. As
+hurriedly and as gently as possible we laid him in a hollow place and
+started for the ridge; we had no time for even a prayer, as we were
+being treated to a fair-sized fusillade, and ducking and dodging, this
+way and that, we made our way to the top as quickly as every ounce of
+energy left in our legs would permit, and rolled, tumbled, scrambled and
+fell&mdash;any old way&mdash;down the front side of the ridge into the ditch at
+the bottom, that was dignified by the high-sounding title of trench. It
+was as much a trench at that spot as any bog-hole. Its only virtue lay
+in the fact that if we crouched low enough into the water and mud we
+could escape the watchful eye of the enemy. We stumbled along through
+the inky blackness toward our gun positions, shrinking our anatomy to
+its smallest dimensions each time a flare shot up, and I was commencing
+to congratulate myself that we would reach our destination without any
+further hurt than the elimination of the thirteenth man;&mdash;I took a sort
+of sad comfort in the superstitious thought;&mdash;but we had still another
+target to pass. The Germans had made an observation point of a part of
+our ditch just a little bit farther along, and when we got to the spot
+we received a blast of shell fire that knocked us out of even our power
+to swear; we hadn't the strength; as a matter of fact, we were suffering
+with a slight shell shock. The dose consisted of about 200 shells,
+administered in quantities, first, of six at a time, then ten, then
+twenty-five.</p>
+
+<p>One of the fellows nearest me again ventured the remark that he thought
+our number was up, and I just had enough vocal power left to curse him
+roundly for a damn fool. "You know what happened Lawrence, don't you?
+Cheer up, you mutt! They will never get my number."</p>
+
+<p>Throughout my three years' campaigning I persisted in repeating that
+"they would never get my number," until it almost became second nature
+with me, and the hairbreadth escapes I have had almost convinced me
+"there is something in it." Be that as it may, hundreds of men all
+around have "gone West" while I have been permitted to go through three
+years of it comparatively unscathed.</p>
+
+<p>We finally got past the observed spot. The trench now commenced to run
+into a valley, and although there was water in it to a depth of fully
+two and a half feet, through which we had to wade, we were glad we were
+alive to paddle through it. But there was more trouble ahead. Fritz was
+turning gas into the valley, and I, being in front, got the first
+whiff.</p>
+
+<p>"Masks, on with your masks," I roared, jamming on my own at the same
+moment. In addition to the gas, our friends had succeeded in shooting up
+a large ammunition dump, four hundred yards farther on, and the smoke
+and fumes from the exploding bombs, shells and other ammunition, to say
+nothing of the ear-splitting din, got me speculating as to whether our
+13-squad was to go the way of so many reported thirteens. But my native
+optimism came to the rescue, and, with a curse, I drove the thought from
+me.</p>
+
+<p>By this time our eyes were so blinded and stinging from the smoke of the
+ammunition fire that we were making our way almost by instinct, as we
+were half blinded, but the time-old provision of all things,&mdash;"Never a
+disadvantage without a corresponding advantage,"&mdash;came to our help.
+Under cover of the smoke we were practically secure from the shells and
+snipers, and stumbling and staggering round the fire, giving it a wide
+berth, we at last got to our gun position.</p>
+
+<p>But, no rest! We had barely arrived when a delayed action shell battery
+opened up on us with a steadily-increasing fire, and, as the pace grew
+hotter every moment, I felt as if my nerves couldn't hold out longer;
+but the knowledge that these men were in my care helped me again to take
+hold of myself. But the rest of the fellows were commencing to show
+signs of giving way to the shock effect. My best pal, Billy McLean,
+staggered toward me. "They've got my number, they've got my number," he
+shouted in my ear, and, beginning to give way to the shock, he fell at
+my feet, in the mud. I grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. "Cheer
+up, Billy, cheer up, old pal, how in hell are we going to pull through
+if you give way like this?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's no use, Reg, they've got my number," and he moaned half
+hysterically as he leaned on me with an arm around my neck. Almost
+desperate, I shouted in his ear, "Billy, old pal, think of your mother
+and father; what would the old man say if he saw you acting like this?
+You know those hounds haven't a shell for either of us."</p>
+
+<p>He roused himself: "I guess I haven't got the guts, Sergeant; I must be
+a damned coward."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, nothing of the kind, old fellow," I shouted, "but these boys
+are in my charge and I want you to help me play the game." He braced
+himself. "You're right, Sergeant, they haven't got our number and never
+will have." "Of course they won't," I answered reassuringly.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Billy! His was a nature that was never intended for the business of
+killing; he was in constant dread and his nerves were always on edge
+when he was within shelling distance of the enemy, and he couldn't seem
+to shake off the terrible fear that was ever present except when in the
+top-notch excitement of going over; that was the only moment that he was
+able to throw off the blighting shadow that haunted him. Then indeed
+have I seen him throw the very first instincts of prudence to the winds
+and hurl himself into places where "angels fear to tread." But after the
+mad frenzy of the charge, with its accompaniment of shooting, stabbing,
+killing and maiming, he would collapse, and it would be some hours
+before he could regain his wonted composure.</p>
+
+<p>The fire gradually slackened, our spirits began to revive, nature
+commenced to reassert herself, and we made our way to the cookhouse. We
+got our mess-tins filled with bread, cheese and jam, puddled our way to
+the dugout and fell to with the relish of healthy, hungry, tired men who
+had fasted several hours. We gathered in the dugout occupied by Billy
+and myself. Feeling thoroughly rejuvenated, someone suggested a game to
+pass the time until mail arrived, and the well-worn deck was produced.
+Billy was sitting on my right hand and held cards that ought to have
+cleaned up, but he seemed to have lost the first instinct of a poker
+player, and I couldn't refrain from telling him he ought to confine
+himself to checkers. He whispered to me, "Reg, I can't get that out of
+my head." "What's that?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Fritz has my number; my time's nearly up and I know it." "Oh, hell!" I
+exclaimed, with a good-natured impatience, and giving him a poke in the
+ribs, "Forget it!"</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the fellows chimed in with recollections of several fellows
+who persisted in saying that their number was up, and who were now
+pushing poppies, and the little Cockney murmured, "The poor beggars, and
+if they had kept their mouths shut they'd 'ave been with us yet."</p>
+
+<p>It is a strange philosophy, but it is prevalent up and down the line.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the mail arrived, and Billy forgot his premonition for
+the time, for along with letters from his mother and sister, there was a
+photograph from his sweetheart that he showed me with suppressed joy.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, fellows, what do you think of that for good time," said one, "my
+letters were both mailed on the 13th and this is only the 29th."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a rum go," says the Cockney, "mine, too, was mailed on the
+13th."</p>
+
+<p>An examination of the mailing dates of our letters revealed the somewhat
+startling coincidence that every single letter we got that night had
+been mailed on the 13th. I mentally cursed the fateful number, but the
+news from home overshadowed the thought, as it did everything else, and
+I was careful to do everything I could to prevent its recurrence in the
+conversation. And, besides, the British soldier's fatalism, that death
+will come when it will come, prevented for long any gloom or
+oppressiveness in the atmosphere that might have been engendered by the
+time-old superstition. It was only in the exceptional cases when a
+soldier got into his head the premonition that his number was up that
+his spirits took a drop. I wish it were possible to convey in exact
+language the wonderful spirit of the men under circumstances and
+conditions endured by no soldiers in any other war since primeval man
+enforced his claims with his club.</p>
+
+<p>Every man in the squad got letters and parcels that evening, and, all
+things considered, it was a happy bunch that left us to seek their bunks
+in their own dugouts. Billy and I remained up awhile after the others
+had gone, chatting about the home folks and, particularly, about his
+sweetheart, for at every opportunity he would turn the talk in her
+direction; he was positive there was no other girl quite so sweet as
+Aileen, for that was her name, and there was nothing for me to do but
+affirm everything he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Reg, I want you to promise me one thing," said Billy, after we had been
+talking for an hour or more.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it, Billy? You know I'll do it, old scout, if I can."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know you will. Well, it is this: I've told you how I came to
+correspond with Aileen, and, altho' I've never seen her yet, I really
+think she is one real girl. But here's the rub," he continued; "I don't
+really love the girl; I'm not such an idiot as to fall in love with a
+girl I have never seen; and you know lots of these photos are fifty per
+cent camouflage, ain't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're dead right, old chap," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, now, this one may be in the other fifty, and I'm thinking she is;
+and if you should get home before I do, will you look her up and let me
+know just exactly what you think of her?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course I will."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I wanted, Reg. You see, God only knows when I may get home,
+if I ever do, but I don't want to be nursing ideas about Aileen, and
+perhaps causing thoughts to arise in her mind, that may never be
+realized. You get me, Reg, don't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Surest thing, Billy, and you're damned right and sensible to look at it
+that way."</p>
+
+<p>So that when we finally tumbled in, it was long after the witching hour
+of night.</p>
+
+<p>The dugout we occupied we had built ourselves, and we took great pains
+to make it as roomy and comfortable as possible; hence the tendency of
+the fellows to make it their rendezvous. Our bunks consisted of sandbags
+spread out on the floor, and the ceremony of retiring occupied about one
+minute or less.</p>
+
+<p>A half-muffled shriek woke me from a sound sleep and brought me bolt
+upright in the bunk. In the blackness I could just discern the outline
+of a man standing in the middle of the dugout and gulping as if trying
+to catch his breath. I jumped up and went to him. It was Billy. "What is
+it, Billy? What's the trouble?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Reg," he gasped, "I have had the most horrible dream!" He was
+shaking like an aspen. I put my arm around him and drew him over to my
+bunk. "Come, lie down with me, old man, and you will be as right as the
+rain in a minute." He laid down alongside of me and, still shivering, he
+recounted his dream to me.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember that night I was telling you about when I was out
+observing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Where we lost Thompson and the others when the flare went up? Well, you
+know that big Prussian I told you about, that came so near getting me?
+Do you know that fellow's face has never been out of my thoughts since I
+killed him, and I dreamed we were out there on that same spot again, and
+again the flare went up and we were rushed, and who should come at me
+but this man I had killed. I shrieked: 'You're dead! I killed you once.
+Get to hell out of here!' But he only gave a ghoulish grin and came at
+me. I dodged his blow and ran my bayonet through him, as I thought, but
+there he was coming at me again. Again I dodged and plunged into him,
+and again he was coming. Suddenly all power left me; my hands, arms and
+legs became nerveless, and I stood rooted; he clubbed his rifle, and as
+it crashed on my skull I awoke, and that must have been the time I cried
+out. And, Reg, just as sure as I am lying here, my number is up. I am as
+good as dead, I tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"Now, don't talk such utter damn nonsense, Billy," I said, doing my
+utmost to comfort him.</p>
+
+<p>"No damn nonsense about it. You know yourself we started out yesterday
+with thirteen men and Lawrence got it, and here tonight every letter we
+got was postmarked the thirteenth, and I just can't get it out of my
+nut, and I am not going to try any further."</p>
+
+<p>"Billy, don't you want to live to get back home? Don't you know what it
+will mean to your mother and your father if anything happens to you?
+Well, what's the use of tempting fate? If it will come, it will come,
+and nothing you or I can do will prevent it; but there is something
+that helps a man&mdash;call it luck, or fate, or providence, or what you
+will&mdash;by keeping the idea firmly fixed in your mind that nothing can
+harm you."</p>
+
+<p>I knew in my heart that nothing could prevent the dread messenger's
+visit when it was actually headed for one, still my philosophy had
+taught me that so far as I myself was concerned my determination to
+think positively about the matter had sustained me through many a trying
+moment when the fires of hell had surged about me, and up to that time I
+was as much alive as any man could wish to be, and I determined to stick
+to the philosophy, no matter how foolish it might seem when the cold
+light of logic played upon it.</p>
+
+<p>A deep sigh was his answer. I continued for half an hour to encourage
+and jolly him, telling him that dreams always went by the contrary, and
+my efforts were rewarded by his growing calm and promising he would
+fight tooth and nail against the thought, and we finally dropped off to
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>"Show a leg, Grant, show a leg, cookhouse up," was yelled at me as
+daylight broke, and up we tumbled. I was much relieved that Billy was
+looking and acting as if nothing whatever disturbed him, except the
+possibility of being a second behind anybody else in getting to the
+cookhouse.</p>
+
+<p>Although we were bosom friends and companions, there was just a shade of
+the big-brother idea on my part of the fellowship, and I kept track of
+him whenever and wherever I could. This was not alone because of the
+congenial soul that was within him, but, also, because I had learned
+through him to know his mother. And such a mother! It is a forward
+impetus on life's journey to know such a woman, and I knew instinctively
+she would expect me to keep an eye on him. And so, while I was
+fulfilling my duty, I had the double satisfaction of having combined
+with it the pleasure of association with a fellow whose tastes and
+ideals were absolutely akin to my own. There was no confidence we did
+not share; we laid bare our hearts to each other; in short, we were
+chums in every sense that the word implies.</p>
+
+<p>Billy was ready for breakfast a second or two ahead of me, and he
+started up the steps, out through the door of the dugout. "I'm coming,"
+I called, and grabbed my mess-tin and went up the steps two at a time.
+I reached the top and the door of the dugout, and, simultaneously, a
+roar and rush of air struck me, and I was thrown to the floor, stunned
+for the moment. My senses quickly recovered themselves, and I found my
+face and clothes dripping with blood. I commenced looking for my wound,
+but failed to find any. The discovery momentarily mystified me. It was
+blood, but whose? There was no report or explosion. A dead shell! A
+terrible fear took possession of me, and I shot up the steps into the
+trench. The Thing that met my eyes stilled my heart with a chill. The
+headless body of Billy lay at my feet. It was his life's blood that
+covered my face and clothes. A mist shrouded my brain for a moment, as I
+leaned against the side of the trench, utterly unable to speak or think.
+Then as the truth of the Thing worked its way into my brain, I glanced
+around for the cause. A large, jagged hole had been torn through in our
+front trench wall by a 300-pound shell, had snuffed out my pal's life in
+its course, and buried itself in the parados of the trench. There it
+was, the rear end of it just inside the outside edge of the hind trench
+wall, and when it exploded it meant death for any living thing within a
+radius of several yards.</p>
+
+<p>Nature's primal law asserted itself and I dragged the remains of my
+best-loved friend several yards away and took from his pockets all his
+belongings and trinkets, and when I came to the photograph, partly
+stained with his heart's blood, hot, scalding tears blinded my eyes, and
+in deference to my dead friend's desire, I retained the photo, intending
+to get the news and picture back to her&mdash;in person, if possible. The
+O.C. took charge of the balance of his effects.</p>
+
+<p>Disregarding all thought of my own peril from the unexploded shell which
+lay at the mouth of our dugout, I ran down the steps and got a blanket,
+in which I wrapped the poor headless body, and then reported to the O.C.
+and received orders to keep my men away from the spot for twelve hours.
+I hastened to the cookhouse and imparted the news to the men, as well as
+the orders. Heartfelt expressions of regret came from all, for in spite
+of his constitutional nervousness, Billy was a prime favorite. But I
+knew that I was the only one with whom the pain and sting would live;
+the men were so calloused by such happenings that they no longer made a
+lasting impression.</p>
+
+<p>That was the longest and dreariest day I ever remember throughout my
+three years of campaigning. No thought of my turn coming entered my
+head, as I had so schooled myself into the belief that Fritz could not
+make a shell for me that I had long since ceased to give the matter any
+consideration whatsoever.</p>
+
+<p>The day's work kept me from giving way to grief, and at nine o'clock
+that night, when in the cookhouse, I heard a whistle and someone shouted
+my name. It was our O.C., Major Wright. I hastened to his dugout.</p>
+
+<p>"Sergeant Grant, I want you to take a party of six and make a grave and
+bury poor McLean. I know something of the relationship that existed
+between you, and I know that you will spare no effort to see that he is
+properly buried. While you are working I will try and fashion a cross
+for him. Report as soon as you are finished."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," and I saluted and went to the dugout occupied by my squad.
+The men were either reading or writing letters, and not only the six,
+but the ten of them responded, dropping their letters and books, and
+asked to take part in the burial. So we paddled through the darkness
+and the mud to where the body lay, and as we approached we noticed
+several huge rats scurrying away from it. A hatred for the vermin almost
+as intense as for the Hun has possessed me ever since. Of course, the
+bestiality of the latter has descended to such depths of infamy that it
+is impossible quite to class them with any other breed of vermin; it
+would be an insult even to the rat.</p>
+
+<p>We dug the grave as well as we could, assisted by such light as we got
+from the intermittent flashes of the guns and the edge of the flare
+gleams sent up by the enemy every little while. When the melancholy work
+was almost complete, I hurried over to the O.C. and he handed me the
+simple cross he had made,&mdash;just two pieces of wood with the inscription,
+"William McLean, C.E.F., September 30th, 1916, R.I.P."</p>
+
+<p>"When you have finished, Grant, take the party and build up the part of
+your trench that was shot away this morning."</p>
+
+<p>I saluted and returned to the grave. The boys had finished; there was
+nothing more on earth we could do for Billy.</p>
+
+<p>"O.C. says to build up the hole in the trench that was shot away this
+morning; you can go, fellows; get busy and I will be with you in a
+minute." They started and I was alone. Bitter tears again half blinded
+me as I placed the sign of the Christ at the grave's head; I couldn't
+place it at Billy's, because the shell had obliterated all traces of his
+head. With a short but very earnest prayer that God would help his
+mother and dear ones to sustain their loss and soften their grief, I
+hurriedly rejoined my men. On the way over I could not help thinking how
+lonely it would be that night in the dugout without Billy, and memories
+of the hundred and one incidents connected with our toil and trouble and
+joy in fixing up our nest flocked through my tired mind.</p>
+
+<p>They were hard at work mending the damage done at daybreak by that
+messenger of hell. As I reached the spot, one of the boys remarked, "If
+that shell explodes before we get through, there will be no need of a
+grave for us." Very nearly fifteen hours had passed, however, since it
+had struck, and none of us felt there was any danger from that
+direction, as it was quite uncommon for any of them to burst if they had
+not done so within at least twelve hours, and I answered, "Oh, no,
+fellows, there is nothing to fear from it." I stepped to the back of the
+trench where the shell was imbedded in the parados and examined the
+spot. "I guess it is there for keeps," I said, and returned to work. In
+a few minutes one or two of the boys complained of thirst, and I
+volunteered to get water. I ran down the steps into my dugout, got
+Billy's water bottle and my own, and doubled down to the cook's dugout,
+filled them with drinking water, and was just starting back when the
+ground under me shook with an explosion, splinters coming from all
+directions, and one of them slightly wounding the cook. I thought at
+first Fritz had struck an ammunition depot, so tremendous was the roar.
+I grabbed the bottles and shot back to my party.</p>
+
+<p>They did not need the water; they had been swept into eternity by the
+dead shell, and I was the sole surviving man of the thirteen-squad that
+I had taken into the line the night before.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br />
+
+SATAN'S SHELLS AND SCENTED GAS</h4>
+
+
+<p>Prior to an attack in the morning, we cleaned up the gun and ammunition,
+getting everything in shape and retiring at 11:30. "Stand to!" was
+called at four o'clock, firing commenced at 4:30, and we worked our guns
+for two hours, during which time the boys went over, took three lines of
+trenches from Fritz and in a remarkably short time, hundreds of
+prisoners were turning into our lines without escort.</p>
+
+<p>That night the prisoners were employed going up and down our lines
+carrying out wounded. I shall never forget the contented look on the
+faces of these captives as they worked inside our lines; they did
+everything required of them with a willingness and cheerfulness that at
+first seemed to be amazing. Most of them were young Bavarians and
+presented a very shabby appearance.</p>
+
+<p>We then decreased our rate of fire, letting go one round every two
+minutes, giving us time to sit around and chat about the big surprise
+we had given Fritz and the success of our attack. Before giving the word
+to fire I would first warn the men, so they could look out for their
+eardrums, besides getting out of the way; we never fire unknowingly to
+any of the men as the concussion works a severe hardship on the ears.
+One of the boys was sitting on an ammunition box, leaning against the
+gun wheel, with his feet on a little fireplace that we had taken a
+chance on installing, thinking the fog was so thick Fritz would not
+notice the smoke. As usual, our ammunition was stationed in our rear.
+One fellow was squatting on the sand bags and leaning against the
+shells; I was sitting in seat three, between the gun wheel and the left
+side, while another was on seat four, also between the gun wheel and the
+gun on the right; another man was standing ready to put a shell in the
+muzzle.</p>
+
+<p>"Fellows, are you ready?" I asked.</p>
+
+<p>"All right."</p>
+
+<p>"Fire!"</p>
+
+<p>The next instant I felt my feet giving way from under me. The gun had
+blown off at the shield, the muzzle being blown to pieces, gas and fumes
+filled the air, the spokes were blown out of the wheels, splinters
+striking me on the feet and legs. I started to the front of the gun and
+fell on top of Graham.</p>
+
+<p>"What happened?" he asked. "I don't know," I said. There were several
+pieces of tube lying about that looked like parts of a German shell.
+Graham yelled to know what had happened. "A German shell hit the gun," I
+said. He was then seized with shell shock and became uncontrollable.
+Park, who was leaning against the ammunition, was blown up, the shell
+having driven clean through his spine; the man loading the shell had a
+fragment driven clear through his stomach. The man leaning against the
+gun wheel was beheaded as cleanly as any king's executioner with his ax
+could do it, his head lying in the fireplace! The cartridge had exploded
+but the shell did not.</p>
+
+<p>The trouble was caused by what is known as a "defective" shell.</p>
+
+<p>I left the gun pit to help Graham over to the dressing station and I had
+a job on my hands; he was suffering from a bad attack of brain
+concussion. After attention a couple of Fritzies carried him to the
+rear.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the gun pit I found a state of wild confusion among the
+fellows as to what had really happened. On examination I found it was
+this defective shell; over to the right of the gun I picked up a chunk
+of it over a foot long.</p>
+
+<p>Those who remained of our gun crew went that night to the wagon lines,
+spending a few days there while waiting for our gun to be replaced.</p>
+
+<p>When our gun was replaced I started back from the wagon lines, carrying
+a piston rod of the buffer, with Downey assisting me. We were on
+horseback and getting into Labazell Valley, when a shell passed over our
+head so close that we felt the wind of it; it was accompanied by a great
+flare over to our right. The shell struck one of our ammunition dumps
+containing about 50,000 rounds of shells and other explosives, such as
+rifle grenades, Mills bombs, French mortar bombs, aerial torpedoes, high
+explosive shells, shrapnel shells, star and gas shells. The disaster
+resulting from this one single shell was almost inconceivable. It
+started a fire that gathered strength each second, for all the world
+like a prairie fire, and the scenic effect was that of a titanic
+fireworks exhibition. The moon was brightly shining in a clear sky, but
+the star shells shooting in the air and exploding with a constantly
+increasing rapidity, the blaze of artificial light quickly obtained
+ascendency over the mistress of the night; and the shrapnel shells,
+throwing their contents of danger in all directions, together with the
+hissing and roaring of all the other exploding missiles of death, formed
+a diapason of sound that makes one of those wonder-moments that come so
+seldom in a lifetime.</p>
+
+<p>The reflection of the fire from the explosion was quickly observed by
+Fritz, and in short order he had his airplanes hovering overhead, and
+they too were dropping their bombs wherever human activities were noted.
+We hastily dismounted, tying our horses to the barbed-wire iron pickets
+in the side of the road, and rushed with a body of men, mostly wagon
+drivers whose wagons were stalled on the road in the congestion, over to
+do what we could to save the ammunition which is so badly needed at all
+times.</p>
+
+<p>In the first rush toward the pile an explosion snuffed out the lives of
+thirty or forty of the men, knocking the rest of us off our feet like so
+many nine-pins, besides killing several of the horses on the road, and
+to add to the already indescribable chaos, several of the horses
+stampeded, racing blindly into barbed-wire entanglements and adding to
+the general destruction.</p>
+
+<p>What with Fritz dropping bombs from his airplanes, our horses stampeding
+and screaming like wild things, and our own explosives bursting in every
+conceivable direction with a thousand different roars, the scene can be
+better imagined than described. We saved about 10,000 rounds out of that
+entire dump. For a distance of twenty miles the reflection of the fire
+extended, the rockets themselves being visible for a space of ten miles.
+I don't suppose since the world began was there ever a scene of such
+awful beauty; it was a bursting Vesuvius with the co-mingled radiant
+beauties of a thousand rainbows.</p>
+
+<p>When there was nothing further that we could do, we regained our
+frightened mounts and resumed our journey. Such a road of confusion! The
+ground being wet, turning the chalky earth into white, the moving,
+wriggling vehicles of every kind and description afforded a magnificent
+target for the marksmen of the air and casualties here, there and
+everywhere along the road was the order of the night.</p>
+
+<p>A short distance along, the sounds of battle in the air reached our
+ears, and looking up I saw two shadows passing between our eyes and
+moon, then two more. Suddenly our searchlights opened up, and there, in
+full view, were four planes, two British and two German, engaged in one
+of those struggles which practically forms the only feature in this war
+around which is thrown any of the elements of romance that appeals to
+all the instinct of a vivid imagination. It was a fair field and no
+favor. The battle had been on about three or four minutes when one of
+the British birds landed on Fritz, driving him down nose first. He could
+not regain control and he dashed headlong into the earth to destruction.
+Our fellow then rose and went to the assistance of his pal and they made
+short work of the second Taube.</p>
+
+<p>That is the only time I have ever witnessed a scene of that kind under
+those circumstances, and it is a rare occurrence indeed that one has the
+privilege of seeing such a struggle with such a background.</p>
+
+<p>We were now among the batteries; to the right and left of us the guns
+had commenced speaking to the German roads, and the ammunition dumps
+there, in retaliation for the destruction of our gun-food; the
+anti-aircraft guns were also getting into the chorus, together with the
+pom-poms, and the whole swelled into a mighty chorus of sound that
+filled every crack and crevice in the air, making one feel as if he were
+inhaling sound rather than ozone.</p>
+
+<p>As we neared Pozi&egrave;res a 9.02 howitzer gun on our left fired a shell that
+exploded in the gun and blew the gun and crew in all directions. The
+shell also started some ammunition going that was lying about and it was
+under the greatest difficulty that the men, whose lives were not lost in
+the first explosion, managed to get away. The men were trying to
+manhandle the remainder of the guns of the battery and we jumped off our
+horses, fastened them to an old wagon lying in the ditch, and headed
+over to lend a hand. With much tugging and perspiring we saved three of
+the guns.</p>
+
+<p>Explosions of these tremendous projectiles were deafening in the
+extreme, and here there were two or three of them exploding at once in
+our immediate neighborhood.</p>
+
+<p>Again we mounted on our way to Pozi&egrave;res and, when reaching our journey's
+end, Fritzie began pumping in his crying shells; these are the kind
+that draw copious tears, inflame the eyes and make things generally
+disagreeable. We had not brought our goggles and suffered from a
+temporary spell of blindness; we had not had any trouble from this
+particular kind of visitor for some time and had not bothered to keep
+our glasses with us. Groping along, blinking my eyes to get a little
+gleam of light, I stumbled across four or five dead horses and was
+nearly thrown from my horse.</p>
+
+<p>I warned Downey, who was behind me, and he avoided the trouble, but we
+had to keep a tight rein on our thoroughly frightened animals. It was
+impossible to get them past the dead horses until some others went by
+and then, leading them by the bridle, we got by.</p>
+
+<p>Traffic was now fearfully congested on account of some tanks that were
+taking cover in the sunken road for their attack in the morning, and a
+shower of shells dropping here and there along the road did not add to
+our comfort. We passed through Courcelette Valley and came to a small
+bridge crossing a trench; this particular bridge was the subject of hot
+shellfire, as it was the only point where traffic could cross for about
+a mile to the right or left, and Fritz was well aware of the fact. When
+half-way across, a shell exploded, killing my horse, and the animal
+rolled over with me on its back, twisting my leg. For a while I thought
+my number was up; in a few moments I was able to get up behind Downey.</p>
+
+<p>We had reached the end of our journey, got to the gun, delivered the
+piston rod and reported to the Captain. He instructed us to stay there
+for the night and told Downey to tie up his horse in one of the German
+gun pits; then Downey was ordered to go on S.O.S. sentry duty. He had
+our sincere sympathy, for the rest of us were just breaking into the
+little old game for the balance of the night (morning).</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the game Downey came running in. "Say, fellows, there's
+a hell of a smell out here,&mdash;something sweet, never smelt it before,
+don't know what it is." "It's gas," I yelled, "the new kind! Get on your
+masks!"</p>
+
+<p>We adjusted our protectors and made for the entrance. Downey began to be
+overcome by the fumes and I took over sentry; the warning gas horns were
+booming up and down the line like a deep-throated buzzing,&mdash;a most
+unearthly and weird sound.</p>
+
+<p>The gas shells were now dropping plenteously round about and one of my
+pals, Dory, was instructed to assist me in relighting our lamps, as they
+were growing dim; these are our feed lamps that are lit every night with
+candles and placed, one for each gun, about 50 feet in front, and on
+these lights the sights are trained, so that it is vital to keep them
+burning all night long.</p>
+
+<p>We rapidly commenced replacing the burnt-out candles, and just then we
+heard the warning roar of a coming shell, but before it burst I heard a
+splash; it was Dory taking a header into a shell hole full of water; I
+threw myself flat. In adjusting our lamps we had to remove our gas
+helmets, and after waiting some time for the expected explosion and
+hearing none, I looked up; white fumes were rising from the ground at
+about the spot the shell had entered; there had been no explosion of
+splinters.</p>
+
+<p>This particular shell is very thin, is fired with great velocity, and
+when meeting resistance it breaks and cracks and the white gas fumes
+like steam come floating out. "What do you think of that, Grant!" from
+Dory in the shell hole; "I thought the blankety-blank was a Jack
+Johnson." His thought had cost him a soaking and the reflex action of
+his thought was strongly in evidence during the balance of our watch.</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of our lonely duty was not enhanced in pleasure by the
+contemplation of scores of stretcher bearers carrying out men who had
+been caught unprepared by the gas and who were choking and suffocating
+from its effects.</p>
+
+<p>So earnestly pernicious is the gas device as a fighting weapon that it
+is a matter of common talk among the boys that Fritz, when he invented
+his contrivance, must have been in direct communication with his Satanic
+Majesty.</p>
+
+<p>Working tooth and nail to smother the Hun, and he in turn working might
+and main to smother us, was the order of the day continuously throughout
+the campaign on the Somme, and a few nights following the happening
+above, Dory and myself were on S.O.S. sentry.</p>
+
+<p>About 3:00 o'clock A.M. the messages from Germany started coming and our
+replies were mailed back as fast as the postal authorities at the guns
+could handle the matter; in fact, throughout our campaign on the Somme
+we mailed our replies and our additional messages so rapidly and so
+effectively, that nine times out of ten Fritzie's working force was
+swamped.</p>
+
+<p>On this A.M. his shells were gas which glazed the feed lamps and the
+sight of the lenses, as well as accumulating in the inside of the gun
+muzzle, making it necessary to swab out the muzzle of the gun before
+using, as otherwise it would rust badly, which would result in putting
+the gun out of commission in short order. The fire developed into a
+first-class artillery duel, our battery and nine others answering ten
+German batteries. The net result of the duel was two of Fritzie's guns
+put out of business.</p>
+
+<p>Before long our lamps on the sandbags, by which we got our light to see
+to work the guns, were knocked off by an explosion and we were in
+darkness; following that, the springs in the buffer of my gun were
+broken, making it necessary to put it back in place by hand. Each time
+the gun is fired it recoils and is brought back to place by the
+hydraulic buffer containing the spring; but we had to perform this work
+in the darkness by hand. The coals of Hades were now coming in heavier
+each moment, because heavier caliber pieces had opened up on us, and we
+were getting the worst of it; our weightier sisters must take a hand at
+the game, and we kept up our end of the argument until this could be
+done.</p>
+
+<p>It was Dory's duty to reload the gun and push it forward in place for
+position, each time yelling "Ready!" One time the gun was shoved into
+place and the man on the right,&mdash;Dory was on the left&mdash;gave the "Ready!"
+and I fired. The darkness was still thick and I could not see that Dory
+was pushing up on the gun with all his might, to bring it into place
+when I fired, and the recoil drove him back into the corner against a
+pile of ammunition, smashing his arm. We assisted him, and one of the
+fellows volunteered to go with him to the dressing station, but Dory was
+game to the core; he was one of the most happy-go-lucky boys I ever met.
+"Hell! I will make it myself. Stay here while the fun is on. I wish to
+God I could stay too!"</p>
+
+<p>We renewed our duel, but the heavier caliber shells were commencing to
+tell; number 3 gun was struck and part of the crew wiped out. Our
+telephonist 'phoned headquarters for the weightier women to get busy,
+telling them of our plight, and inside six minutes the ladies of larger
+girth, the 9.02 howitzers, started debating the question with Fritzie so
+vigorously that inside of thirty minutes not a single reply was to be
+had from their guns.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand down!"&mdash;and cleaning our guns, gun pits and carrying ammunition,
+busied us. In the midst of our work a dizziness seized my head,
+accompanied with a choking in the throat and lungs, and before I could
+cry out or warn my pals, I dropped. I had unconsciously imbibed the
+potion when I removed my mask to relight the feed lamps, and it is one
+of the peculiar effects of this dose that it is some time after its
+inhalation that the harmfulness becomes apparent;&mdash;so it was with me. I
+was lifted onto a stretcher and carried to the dressing station near
+what is known as the Sunken Road. The ground around the station was
+dotted with men suffering from attacks of a similar nature; there were
+56 of us in all.</p>
+
+<p>The doctor's examination was brief,&mdash;"Gas," and I was laid alongside my
+brothers in misery. We were ordered to keep absolutely quiet and on no
+account to leave our stretchers; but while lying there the unwelcome
+messages from the German guns began coming in our neighborhood; and the
+ever terrifying sound of their explosions brought the nerves of the men,
+already on edge, over the border line of reason, and a number of them
+struggled up from their cots and started running away, forgetting or
+ignoring the doctor's orders. The poor fellows paid dearly for it; some
+of them dropped in their tracks, dying, where they dropped; some died
+after they were brought back to the station, and some gave up the ghost
+when in England they lost the last remaining tissue of their lungs, due
+to the effect of their running. "I mustn't budge!" I kept repeating to
+myself, for my own nerves were at the jumping-off point and I thought
+the veins in my head would burst if I had to endure those
+explosion-roars another minute. Happily they ceased as suddenly as they
+began.</p>
+
+<p>There is no kind of suffering endured in the battle front that has such
+a horror for the men as the gas; it is that fighting for breath that
+takes the life out of a fellow, and, God! how it chokes. Out of that
+bunch of 56 gassed men, only six came out whole.</p>
+
+<p>The following week we were ordered to leave the Somme. Although I felt
+in the mood for sticking it as long as I had the strength to keep
+going, yet I must confess the order filled my soul with a gratitude that
+was unspeakable. I had been in the Somme campaign three months, and when
+our guns swept into position at Martinsaart, my weight was 171; when I
+left, I tipped the scales at 145. The men who had been with the guns
+there and who know what it is to work 24 hours in the day for many days
+in the week, rarely during the three months experiencing the refreshing
+rest of a consecutive two hours' sleep, and working like veritable
+demons during every waking moment, either at the guns or cleaning the
+ammunition, or carrying the ammunition into place,&mdash;they will understand
+what it means to lose 25 pounds in weight on the Somme.</p>
+
+<p>My uniform was in rags and saturated so thickly with grease and dirt
+that for many days it was one of my pet recreations to take a knife and
+scoop it by the bladeful out of the khaki cloth. And my skin! What a
+hide! The combination of cleaning and repairing guns, working them
+constantly, driving horses, observation work, together with the gas, my
+body was saturated with a mixture that took weeks to extract.</p>
+
+<p>The cut-up-ground, pock-marked with shell holes as closely as the cells
+in a honeycomb, was of course carefully noted by Fritzie's aerial
+observers, and they were naturally led to believe that it would be
+physically impossible for our batteries to be relieved,&mdash;that is, to
+retire and another battery take our place. But we camouflaged. Under
+cover of a fog we worked like beavers for a day and a night, filling in
+shell holes, and made fairly decent roads under the conditions, and one
+fine morning, still under the friendly shelter of the fog, leaving our
+ammunition behind, we pulled out the gun; the entire Canadian Division
+retired and were relieved by the English Tommies.</p>
+
+<p>As we were going out we passed their batteries coming in and it was
+heartening indeed to hear the compliments and praises that were showered
+upon us by the lads of England, although we had not done a single thing
+that they could not have done and done just as well as we, and maybe
+better.</p>
+
+<p>In some places where our guns were stationed the ground conditions made
+it absolutely impossible to remove them for the time; in such cases the
+Imperial batteries left their guns at the horse lines and took over the
+Canadian guns, the Canadian gunners taking their pets instead. This
+occasioned a real and heartfelt loss to both Canadian gunners and
+Imperial boys who had to change over their pets, because every gunner
+learns to acquire a real affection for his mistress, as he terms the
+gun, and with many of the men it was like losing a good horse or a dog
+to whom they had become sincerely and warmly attached, the attachment
+being born of weeks and months of the most arduous trial and test.</p>
+
+<p>We reached the wagon lines with our guns still intact and we felt as
+safe as if we were back in our beloved Dominion. We were going back of
+the lines, and the scene of breaking camp in our preparations for
+returning to the rear was picturesque in the extreme. Bonfires made of
+refuse and waste material for which we had no further use were burning
+everywhere; men were hurrying hither and thither; and through it all you
+could hear the steady digging, shoveling and pounding of the German
+prisoners who were repairing the roads their own guns mangled. I felt a
+large measure of satisfaction at seeing them working as hard as they
+could go, restoring at least that much of their destructiveness; they
+will never, they can never replace the wantonness, the frightfulness,
+of which they have been the inspired tool in this the struggle of their
+lords and masters for the earth's control.</p>
+
+<p>Night and day for three days we traveled on our batteries, arriving at a
+place called Camblain-Ch&acirc;tillon, a small town in a mining valley. Here
+we were billeted in barns, but the inhabitants hearing that we were
+Canadians who had been operating on the Somme, came out <i>en masse</i> to
+greet us and give us of their best. We were invited to their homes, and
+their larders were placed at our disposal; a large bath made of
+granite&mdash;a splendid outfit used by the miners of the town, was thrown
+open to us, and it is needless to say we reveled in the luxury of a
+plunge as quickly as we could tumble in. How we needed it! I had not
+known a bath during all the time I was on the Somme and lousiness was
+part and parcel of my make-up. I was so accustomed to it, however, that
+it had long ceased to cause me more than a passing thought; there were
+too many other things to think about during that session. But once
+relieved from the tension of the daily struggle to save life, as well as
+take it, the desire to become normal, decent, cleanly human beings took
+possession of every man of us, and we wallowed in the bath until we
+could once more look other respectable citizens in the face.</p>
+
+<p>In this haven of rest and retirement we luxuriated for two weeks, then
+moved into action on the Lens-Arras road. We placed our guns on the side
+of the road, digging our trails in the edge of the cobble stone pavement
+as a trail block, to hold the guns steady when firing. Chicken wire on
+top, covered with grass and brushwood, completed the scenic protection.</p>
+
+<p>Our work was the well-known ruse of a night raid in preparation for the
+attack on Vimy Ridge, and carried out for the purpose of keeping the
+Germans guessing as to where the next drive would be driven.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving four men and the telephonist with the guns that night, we went
+to Anges, half a mile from the gun position, to our billets; this was an
+old French ch&acirc;teau, and comfortable beyond expression. As the foes of
+our anatomies had again attacked in mass formation, this time we were
+annoyed to a degree. Procuring creolin, we rubbed it on our bodies pure;
+it should have been adulterated. During the night the natural
+perspiration of our bodies caused the vermin grease to work through
+the pores, and excessive stinging and smarting was the outcome. One
+fellow awoke with a grunt of impatience and then a snort of anger, as a
+sense of the stinging brought him to a realization of his discomfort;
+then another, and another, until the entire bunch was in a fine frenzy,
+fanning our bodies and running into the night air for relief. My carcass
+was on fire and I wished to heaven I had left the lice alone; they could
+not at least have prevented my sleeping. I determined for the future, as
+against this cure, I would keep the curse. I felt as if I were suffering
+from a severe sunburn over every inch of my body.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="images/illus09.jpg" alt="hospital"  />
+</p>
+<p class="center"> A First Line Hospital</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of our misery "Stand to!" was sounded, necessitating the
+dropping of all our skin troubles and skedaddling to get to the guns. We
+ran across an open field that had been converted into a graveyard after
+the French drove the Germans over on to Vimy Ridge, but there was no
+thought of sacrilege in our minds as we raced pell-mell over the
+grave-filled land; there never is but one thought in our minds; we are,
+every man of us, souls with but a single thought when "Stand to!"
+sounds. We reached the guns practically in the nude, and fastening the
+sights and scratching my hide at the same time kept me fairly busy.</p>
+
+<p>We worked the guns for an hour; then "Ammunition up!" was the order for
+the rest of the night. We were not allowed to return to our billets as
+another attack was expected. At 5:30 the first snowstorm of the winter
+swept over the land. The ground was fairly firm from the preceding
+frost, and in a short time the country was resting underneath a mantle
+of beautiful purity. With the enthusiastic ardor of a lot of school
+boys, we grabbed up the beautiful element in our hands and an old time
+snowball fight took place. Then the "Stand to!" of the morning was
+given.</p>
+
+<p>Our objective this time was to cut channels through the wire about 15 to
+20 feet wide, to permit the infantry to pass. This work is effected by
+means of shrapnel shells that cut the wire into little strands, then
+high explosives are used to root out the remaining posts. When we had
+accomplished our purpose and made everything ready for the charge,
+"Stand down!" was sounded. The infantry took up the program and dashed
+over and through the gaps we had made. They cleaned up the first line,
+then on to the second, smashing their guns, trench mortars and
+trenches, bombed the dugouts, destroyed their rations and sent back over
+1800 prisoners. What I call a fair morning's work!</p>
+
+<p>Now, as I have heretofore said, the objects most easily seen by an
+airplane are white and black and the surface of the earth being covered
+with a mantle of snow, naturally the things that the keen-sighted
+airbirds would first look for would be dark-colored.</p>
+
+<p>The snow around our battery by this time had been thoroughly melted by
+the heat from our guns&mdash;as a matter of fact, the guns were steaming&mdash;and
+one of our Sergeants, knowing how easily discernible our pieces would be
+to the enemy airbirds, began gathering snow and spreading it all over
+the places where it had melted. He was working hard throwing the snow
+immediately in front of my gun when another "Stand to!" came. Let me
+repeat, if I have not already made it entirely clear, that when this
+most imperative order is sounded, there is only one thought in the mind
+of every man of the battery, to get our message off as quickly as human
+power can send it; and throughout every stage of the world's work that
+we are doing over there, there is no time when the bodies of men are
+entirely free of bruises received in collision with one another in the
+absorbing endeavor of every man to respond. This will account for the
+lamentable accident that occurred at this time.</p>
+
+<p>The Sergeant, unthinkingly, after "Stand to!" was sounded, went on in
+his earnest endeavor to camouflage the battery with the snow. Now it so
+happened that at the identical time that the Sergeant was so engaged, a
+kiltie battalion was making its way to the trenches on a foot path,
+running diagonally across the front of the guns. In obedience to the
+command to fire, the crew speeded to their respective guns, jammed back
+the levers and the missiles started on their journey of destruction. The
+shell from our gun in front of which the Sergeant was working killed him
+before he knew what had happened and, as luck or the devil would have
+it, the shell was a premature; it exploded at the point of the muzzle
+and its 365 shrapnel pellets, each traveling at the rate of 2200 feet
+per second muzzle velocity, and which when exploded assume the shape of
+a gigantic fan, shot death and destruction into the kiltie battalion in
+front. Sixty of the kilties paid with their lives the price of this
+premature shell, including the Sergeant. For a hundred yards in every
+direction the heads, arms and legs of the Scotch fighting men were
+strewn all over the ground. It was one of those terrible things that is
+a matter for the deepest concern and regret, and yet cannot be helped.</p>
+
+<p>We were next ordered back to the wagon lines at Camblain-Ch&acirc;tillon,
+arriving there on the evening of the 23rd of December, and preparations
+for Christmas dinner were uppermost in the mind of every man. We were
+delighted by a visit from the town authorities who asked us if we would
+like to use the schoolhouse for our celebration and that we were most
+heartily welcome to it, which offer we were most heartily glad to
+accept, and the authorities proceeded at once to decorate the
+schoolhouse in true holiday fashion, evergreens and lanterns filling
+every nook and corner of the large room. The tables, of course, we
+supplied ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>For turkey we had a French pig purchased from a farmer for 300 francs,
+each man chipping in three francs; new carrots, Irish potatoes, boiled
+onions, cranberry sauce, the latter supplied by a large-hearted French
+lady in the town, made up the accompaniment of the "Turkey." For dessert
+we had a speech from Major Wright, congratulating us on our work in the
+Somme. In a few well-chosen words he told us how we had lost over 60 per
+cent of our men, counting the reinforcements, and that it was a matter
+of sincere gratitude to every man of us that we were there to enjoy the
+bounteous Christmas cheer.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br />
+
+BEFORE VIMY</h4>
+
+
+<p>In the course of ten days we arrived at Bully-Grenay, situated in the
+very heart of the mining district, three mines being located in the town
+itself. We were still working on the Vimy Ridge proposition. At no time
+in France were our quarters more comfortable than here; each gun of my
+battery was stationed in the cellar of a private house on the outskirts
+of the town from which the civilians had been shelled, and at night in
+the midst of a game of cards, or engaged in our letter writing, or
+reading, when we got the "S.O.S." signal, the lanyard was at my hand and
+I had only to pull the rope. Our quarters were heated by coal purchased
+direct from the mine and furnished to us at ten cents per bag. Every
+mine in this place was worked only at night, the smoke of the industry
+indicating to Fritz where to plant his shells; therefore, the entire
+coal mining was done during the hours of sleep.</p>
+
+<p>The Huns were making a most determined effort to get possession of
+Bully-Grenay and these most valuable coal mines, and they were anxiously
+looking forward to the time when they could attack successfully, and
+knowing how vital to us it was to get out this coal, they concentrated
+their efforts through the daytime on the mine shafts in an effort to
+destroy them; but having no smoke signals to guide their fire, their
+efforts generally were futile.</p>
+
+<p>A notable instance of the spirit controlling our ideas of warfare was
+splendidly illustrated in this particular sector. Among the captured
+French mines that the Germans were working was one in close proximity to
+a church, of whose existence they took particular pains to let us know;
+and the church, in addition to being used as a protection for the mine,
+was also used as a camouflage for one of their batteries, the guns being
+placed immediately in front of it. It is repugnant to the very soul of a
+British soldier to level his gun at a church, so Fritz was able to get
+away with his camouflage.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the third day of our visit here we were treated to
+another superb example of <i>kultur</i>. The school children were playing in
+the school yard and Fritz dropped a shell in their midst, killing and
+wounding several, following it up by two others that smashed the
+schoolhouse. A panic followed among the teachers and children, and the
+only thing we could do at the time was to stand there and watch the
+devilishness. Some of the men of an infantry battalion who were billeted
+on the outskirts of the town, rushed to the school and carried out the
+wounded and dead. If Fritz could have seen and heard the maddened fury
+of those rescuers as they carried out the maimed and bleeding little
+ones, his first thought would have been to have given them as wide a
+berth as possible; but when they did meet,&mdash;God help them!</p>
+
+<p>At 1:00 o'clock in the morning Fritz opened up with gas shells,
+smothering the civilian population, and the people who were running out
+of the town, choking and suffocating, brought to my mind a most vivid
+recollection of the city of Ypres. How can I describe the agony, the
+despair on the faces of the inoffending citizens who were having their
+homes blasted to bits, their lungs choked with suffocation, separated
+from their loved ones in the wild scramble of the night for shelter and
+safety! Any place, anywhere but there!</p>
+
+<p>Donning our helmets we got to our guns and waited for orders, which we
+presently received. I never worked with more love and energy than I did
+that night, and never did I spit more liberally on each individual shell
+as it was shoved into place for departure. Inside of twenty minutes
+Fritzie decided that the pastime of shelling Bully-Grenay with gas
+shells was not as funny as it was cracked up to be; he broke off short
+and quick.</p>
+
+<p>In the two weeks following we were at Estari Chic, another Vimy Ridge
+position. Here we were stationed at the horse lines. While there, an
+order was issued that we could not buy bread from the civilian
+population for the reason that our military authorities considered the
+rations we were getting were sufficient for all our needs. The
+shop-keepers were quite willing to sell any soldier, however, and we
+were more than anxious to get his bread if we could safely do so. The
+manner in which we disobeyed orders was as follows: The bake-shop was
+about half-a-mile from our billet and we had to pass several policemen
+on the way down; two fellows would stand outside the building while I
+went inside and purchased the bread, and if policemen were seen coming,
+the man nearest to the officer would give the signal and I would duck
+off into an alley-way and up the back streets into the billet, and it
+would not be long before my outpost would join me; then the jam would be
+produced and in short order the delicious French bread and jam would be
+winding its way down into our voracious stomachs.</p>
+
+<p>We left this point for Camblain-le-Abbeau for another nip at the ridge
+from that angle, pulled into the wagon lines for two days and then got
+into action on the Lens-Arras road. We laid the guns on the side of the
+road, camouflaging them in the usual fashion. We were the first
+battalion to arrive, but within four days 100 or more batteries were
+there. Our work here was to cut the wire in preparation for one of the
+usual raids, to blind Fritz and keep him guessing where the drive was to
+be launched. We performed our work flawlessly, the boys of the infantry
+going over through the gaps we had made and capturing several machine
+guns and prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>On the second day following, the Captain asked me to go into the
+trenches to assist him in observation work. We found after inspection
+that the point we wanted to get our data upon could not be obtained
+from the low-lying trenches, and the Captain, wondering where we had
+best go, happened to get his fancy settled on a mine shaft. "We will go
+up there, Grant," he said, and together we made our way to the spot. The
+climb to the top was no easy matter, and when we got there we set about
+making ourselves as comfortable as possible. As soon as we had our
+apparatus working, the Captain commenced registering the cemetery, the
+tombstones of which were being carried away by Fritz to place around his
+dugouts. The Captain flashed the necessary information and in ten
+minutes they were pretty thoroughly shot up.</p>
+
+<p>The Captain then directed his attention to a trench digging party, sent
+his compliments to the guns&mdash;would they kindly take care of the trench
+digging party, which they did. Then we were spotted; in a few seconds we
+were the recipients of a blast of machine-gun fire; a <i>minenwerfer</i>
+dropped at the foot of the mine shaft, blowing the entire corner away,
+and it became very evident the place was ours no longer, and we started
+for the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>In going down it was necessary for me to execute a sort of slide, as I
+had to hang on with my hands while my feet were going down, and the
+Captain, in his naturally human haste to get to a place of safety,
+inadvertently trod on my fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"For God's sake, Captain," I yelled, "get off my fingers!"</p>
+
+<p>"Take your damned fingers out of my way!" replied the Captain.</p>
+
+<p>"How can I? Your foot is on them!" He eased up a bit and I was able to
+release my mangled fingers, but Lord! he weighed about 200 pounds.</p>
+
+<p>Now Captain Black was a man who was absolutely afraid of nothing in
+human shape; his fighting spirit is unbeatable; every man in the battery
+can testify to his absolute fearlessness, and I am glad to lend my
+humble testament to his unquestionable bravery. However, in going down
+the shaft the shots were coming thick and fast, and it was the most
+natural thing in the world for him to tread on my fingers in his desire
+to avoid the sniping shell or machine-gun bullet, but my fingers were
+sadly in need of repair by the time we got to the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached the foot we got into the shell hole blasted out by the
+<i>minenwerfer</i> that had torn the corner of the shaft away. We had not yet
+completed our observations and Cap decided he would try the top of the
+slag heap. To the top we crawled, placing our periscope and telephone in
+position, and were nicely settled and doing good work, the Captain
+congratulating himself audibly on his bright thought in selecting this
+spot, when his congratulations were cut short by a shell smashing the
+periscope glass, followed by a <i>minenwerfer</i> striking the bottom of the
+slag heap, making another huge excavation and causing the slag at the
+top to roll down from under us, taking us with it. But the Cap was not
+to be driven away so easily. "Come on, Grant, let's try it again," and
+up we went again, and again another large shell at the bottom of the
+pile caused a cave-in, and down we rolled. Still the Captain had not
+enough, and up we went a third time. The same thing happened again, the
+shells tearing away a large hole at the bottom of the slag heap, causing
+the slag on which we were standing to give way and carrying us to the
+bottom. By this time the shells were showering the entire place and
+Captain Black reluctantly decided that it was no go, and we gave it up.</p>
+
+<p>It was during the stay of my battery on the Lens-Arras road, during the
+Vimy Ridge preparation, that I again personally encountered Fritz in
+the form of his spy system. One night after the guns had been oiled and
+prepared for their next job, and we were all busy cleaning up the
+ammunition for the work in hand, I was accosted by a couple of British
+officers, a Captain and a Major.</p>
+
+<p>"Sergeant, would you kindly help us to a drink of water?" said the
+Major. "Certainly, sir," I answered, saluting; "if you will wait here a
+moment I will get it for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," they replied, and I went for the water. Returning I found
+the Major with one of our shells in his hand and the Captain examining
+the gun.</p>
+
+<p>"She's a beauty, Sergeant," said the Captain.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," I smilingly answered, "and she is just as good as she is
+beautiful,&mdash;never kicks or falters."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove!" laughed the Major, "that's a good one. How many messages did
+you send them last night, Sergeant?"</p>
+
+<p>"None, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say! Why I thought I heard you firing. Where is your battery
+operating?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we just sent off a few rounds at the crossroads."</p>
+
+<p>"She seems to have been doing her bit today all right."</p>
+
+<p>While conversing with the Major, I noticed the Captain talking with one
+of my men about the gun sight and, hastily excusing myself to the Major,
+I went over to him. "Pardon me for interrupting. Billy, you had better
+go over to the Major and tell him the gun is ready at once for
+inspection."</p>
+
+<p>Billy excused himself to the Captain and started off. The officers then
+prepared to leave.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you wait a moment, sir, and see the Major? He will be right
+over."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, we will see him on our way back. We're in a kind of a hurry,
+Sergeant." And they bade me good night and left.</p>
+
+<p>There was something told me that all was not well with these men, but
+the suspicion had not become sufficiently rooted in my head to find
+expression, and, consequently, I said nothing at the time.</p>
+
+<p>The very next morning after inspection, orders were read and in the
+instructions were explicit descriptions of two British officers who were
+German agents and who were making the rounds of the lines, picking up
+information wherever they could, and commanding all ranks to be on the
+lookout and arrest them on sight, shooting them if they resisted, and
+offering a prize of ten pounds to the man who succeeded in effecting
+their arrest. "Good Lord!" I thought. "What a miss!" If my wits had been
+properly working, I would have been ten pounds the richer, together with
+a four-weeks' leave of absence.</p>
+
+<p>These audacious agents had visited all sections and doubtless had
+acquired a store of general information, and headquarters urged a most
+rigorous search for them. The following night they were spotted in a
+French <i>estaminet</i>, by a bunch of sharp-eyed Tommies, and, as luck would
+have it, the men were chatting about the ten-pound prize for capturing
+these same fellows, and their mouths were watering at the picture that
+each one of them was painting of what he would do if he only had the
+prize.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell 'e what it is," said one, "if my blinkers falls on them chaps
+I'll wet the whole damned outfit!"</p>
+
+<p>As they entered, the soldier's eye went over the room and lit on the
+very men in question, seated by themselves in a little side room of the
+inn. In a low tone he communicated his thought to his companions.
+"Blime me, I'll eat your mother-in-law if there ain't our meat!" There
+was about 20 in the bunch, and they did not waste time in consultation.
+At once they were in the anteroom, confronting these men.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?" gruffly asked the Major.</p>
+
+<p>"We have to come to tell you, sir, that the O.C. wants to see you and
+the Captain at once."</p>
+
+<p>"All right, tell your O.C. we will be over directly."</p>
+
+<p>"'E wants you now, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, didn't you hear me say we'd be over there shortly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, damn you, tell him so, and I'll see that you are taken care of
+for your impertinence."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't mean to be impertinent, sir, but I'm here to see that you come
+and come now."</p>
+
+<p>Like a flash both men drew their revolvers, but before they had a chance
+to use them, the entire bunch was on top of them, and it was a somewhat
+mussed up Major and Captain that appeared before the O.C. at the
+headquarters of the Tommies who sleuthed them. The intuition of the
+soldier proved correct; with absolute certainty he had falconed his prey
+and the prize was his.</p>
+
+<p>And he was as good as his word. What that bunch didn't have to eat and
+drink while the money lasted wasn't purchaseable at the front.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br />
+
+VIMY</h4>
+
+
+<p>With Vimy Ridge in the possession of the Germans, their access for
+observation placed us at a decided disadvantage; the Lens-Arras, the
+Mont St. Eloi road&mdash;all vital feeding routes for our system&mdash;were
+absolutely open to his inspection at all hours of the day or night;
+there was no movement along these channels of communication of either
+men, guns, ammunition, supplies of any kind, of which they were not
+fully cognizant. So it will be seen that the possession of this
+elevation was of wonderful advantage to the side holding it.</p>
+
+<p>One of the chief gains to be derived from its possession was the control
+of the vast coal mines of Lens, one of the richest coal producing
+sections in France, and the benefit of which has been in German hands
+since the gray rush first went through. And the possession of the output
+of these mines gave Fritz a priceless advantage over us. His overlooking
+position also made it impossible for us to work in the daytime the few
+coal mines that we had; neither could we supply our guns with the
+necessary ammunition during the hours of daylight; and further, the
+possession of this vantage point would release for duty elsewhere a
+tremendous number of men whose presence there was unavoidable, because
+of the control he had over the valley and the surrounding country. So,
+when the chief command decided to take the ridge, they went about the
+job in a manner thoroughly characteristic of the Scotch commander, Sir
+Douglas Haig, and his thoroughness was well borne out by the results.</p>
+
+<p>For the space of a month prior to the drive, every hour of the darkness
+was used to get guns, ammunition and supplies into place; all night long
+the traffic on the roads was so congested that going faster than a walk
+with any conveyance, over any part of the channels of communication, was
+simply out of the question; but when day broke it was imperative that
+not a single conveyance of any kind be in sight on any road.</p>
+
+<p>Do not imagine, however, that we were free to work as long as the
+shelter of night lasted; in the artificial light furnished by the
+flares, Fritz did a lot of damage. On one single night during this work
+of preparation on the Mont St. Eloi road alone, 156 horses were killed;
+and on all through roads, each night that the stage was being set for
+the production of the first scene, casualties were had with deadly
+regularity.</p>
+
+<p>When everything was in place and the curtain ready to be drawn up, 1400
+batteries were in a position along the Lens-Arras road and valley,
+standing wheel to wheel, many of them brought to bear over roads that
+had been specially constructed for their conveyance, as regular routes
+were not usable for them and a road one-and-a-half-miles long, made out
+of three-inch thick planking, was placed ready for use in three days'
+time, together with a narrow-gauge railroad, for rushing up ammunition
+and taking back wounded men. This road and narrow-gauge railway took a
+short cut across the valley and proved a godsend in relieving the
+congestion on the regular road, and was of inestimable value in
+achieving our end.</p>
+
+<p>On the 2nd day of April, 1917, stage manager Haig ordered the curtain
+raised and, with its raising, vengeance was let loose. Gaps 20 to 30
+feet wide were blasted in the barbed wire; some of the mine shafts
+about Lens were flattened and destroyed; Fritzie's supply roads were
+rained upon with a steady hail of hell night and day, preventing the
+entrance to his trenches not only of ammunition, but also of food, and
+prevented the withdrawal of any men from his lines; his ammunition dumps
+were set ablaze, the fires from them lighting up the whole country-side
+for miles around. In the air the efficiency of our preparatory work was
+equally demonstrated. A new type of flier winged his way back and forth
+over the sausage-fed warriors, and the ability of our birds to hold the
+line in the Heavens was amply demonstrated, one British airman, on the
+28th of March, five days before the battle began, downing three German
+eagles in quick succession. Spellbound I watched the magnificent work of
+this flier.</p>
+
+<p>Far up as the eye could reach, six British planes in battle formation,
+the leader of the squad about three hundred yards in advance, four
+others in a row, the sixth three hundred yards in the rear, winged their
+way. Suddenly, the rear bird shot downward, volplaning and looping the
+loop with as much abandon as if he were in an exhibition park. I
+quickly discerned the object of his lightning-like descent. Hovering
+over our trenches were three German vultures. As he dropped, Fritz
+volleyed at him with his anti-aircraft mouthpieces, but failed to land.
+The bird kept on his downward plunge until he reached his objective, and
+as he dove into the vultures, our anti-aircraft guns, which had been
+endeavoring to wing the German birds, ceased fire and all eyes were
+turned heavenward. With bated breath we watched and waited the outcome.</p>
+
+<p>The Fritzies spread out in circle formation, with a view to surrounding
+it, each a little higher than the other. With a lightning-like swoop the
+British bird, getting right in front of it and turning sharply, let fly
+his machine gun in rapid fire, Fritz answering energetically. In less
+than three minutes' time, a distinct wabbling was noticeable and the
+British sparrow, seeing that his work there was done, turned his
+attention to the others. His work was surely done; Fritz continued to
+wabble and then plunged in a deadly drop until he got to the Lens-Arras
+road, where he made a desperate attempt to alight on the highway; but he
+got tangled up in the trees, his wings being smashed and remaining in
+the branches, the body of the plane shooting down into a deep ditch and
+embedding itself and its two occupants in the mud. They were dead. A
+tremendous cheer greeted this victory over the first opponent. The other
+two airmen followed our bird, volleying at him as they flew. With a
+quick motion he turned upside down, swooping for the bird on his upper
+left, and continued to chase and fight him in this position. The other
+German bird was off to one side, put-put-put-put-ing! for all he was
+worth, but his bullets were wasted by reason of the upside down
+position. In a run of another 500 yards the work of our lad was
+finished, his machine gun having done the trick; and Fritz and his pilot
+being killed, the machine dashed rudderless to the ground, nose first.</p>
+
+<p>There remained but one. Our bird again got on top, but there was no
+fight left in Fritz; he scooted for a hundred yards in the direction of
+home, but was winged while running, part of his left wing dropping off.
+The rest was easy; his machine became unmanageable, an explosive bullet
+smashed into his petrol tank and he dropped in flames.</p>
+
+<p>The entire ceremony of sending the three German chickens to their
+eternal hen-coop did not take ten minutes. As each bird fell to its
+death, the entire valley resounded with wild cheering; and when the last
+foe fell, the cheering wave of sound was followed by a tiger in the
+shape of a volley from every rifle&mdash;in fact, everything that would
+shoot, except the big guns.</p>
+
+<p>Our bird then executed his stunt of victory, looping the loop several
+times over Fritzie's trenches, and the spirit of Fritz was amply
+exemplified by the thousand times ten thousand shots which were leveled
+at the air king to bring him down. He bore a charmed life; although his
+plane was perforated with machine-gun bullets, none touched a vital
+spot.</p>
+
+<p>But, suddenly, from out the clouds swooped a German swallow in a
+frenzied attack to retrieve the disgrace. He had all the advantage of
+position, and a great fear filled my heart that our champion might not
+long enjoy the fruits of his victory. However, when about 400 yards
+above our bird, our watchful boys at the Archee guns (the anti-aircraft
+guns, so nicknamed because of their peculiar explosive sound) opened on
+him, and with the third shot, off flopped his fish tail. He dove in a
+wabble to the ground and, in his descent, his petrol tank was struck by
+one of our explosive bullets. When it reached the ground in No Man's
+Land, it was a mass of flames.</p>
+
+<p>For seven days, every hour of the night and day, the mighty chorus of
+1400 batteries rose and swelled unceasingly in a vast concourse of
+sound.</p>
+
+<p>Promptly at ten minutes past five, on the morning of the seventh day,
+the word having passed from end to end of the lines, the men were up and
+over. A mine that had been prepared in the Ridge by our engineers was
+exploded, the shock rocking every German trench in the valley, killing
+several thousand men and wounding twice as many more. The first and
+second lines were taken without any trouble, and over we went into the
+third. Some opposition was here met, but quickly overcome. The program
+was repeated until the entire six lines of German trenches were in
+Canadian hands, and late in the afternoon we were masters of the Ridge.</p>
+
+<p>The personal comfort to the men taking a stroll through the streets of
+Arras, after the Ridge was in our possession, had to be seen to be
+appreciated. Heretofore such a thing as a pleasure walk or shopping tour
+was out of the question, as the sniping was continuous, and the only way
+now for Fritz to snipe the town was with his heavy naval pieces, six or
+seven miles off, and as these visitors are a hundred times scarcer than
+the callers from the short range boys, the peace and quiet of our
+fellows were correspondingly increased one hundred fold.</p>
+
+<p>No need now was there to hide our work in and around the coal mines, the
+precious element being taken out of the bowels of bountiful nature in as
+large abundance as was required; our hungry guns can now be supplied
+with all the grub they require in any hour of the twenty-four; our wagon
+lines moved forward behind the Ridge to a place of perfect security;
+several army corps were released for service in other parts of the
+lines, and the city of Lens, honeycombed with German soldiers, is
+practically bottled up, they not daring to retreat, and it being
+impossible for them to advance. But the over-weaning advantage of this
+movement and the reduction of this obstacle is the tremendous impetus
+that will be given our forces when the waves of the great drive that is
+in contemplation sweep the gray-clad hordes of Huns from the land of
+Sunny France. From a military point of view, it can be stated that our
+success here was of far-reaching importance.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br />
+
+BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY</h4>
+
+
+<p>I spent the two nights following at the wagon lines, taking a
+much-needed rest, and after my first night's sleep there I sought out a
+spot in a grassy nook, as far away from the road and bustle of the lines
+as I could safely go, and lay at full length on the green sward; I felt
+as if I wanted to lie there forever, without even exerting myself to
+think. As the sun was setting, I awoke from my day dream, and my stomach
+felt the call of the cookhouse.</p>
+
+<p>On the day following, one of my chums, Mulhall and myself were ordered
+to go to the line, gathering up the horses that were wounded or had
+fallen out through exhaustion. Our errand of mercy to the dumb animals
+had to be done on horseback, and, with the roads still under
+observation, it was dangerous for more than two men to go together.</p>
+
+<p>We corralled several of the poor beasts, and their condition of
+suffering in many instances smote me with a kind of remorse; I couldn't
+help feeling that we humans were responsible for the pain and misery of
+these most useful animals that bounteous nature had put upon earth for
+our comfort and help. We placed them in the ruins of a barn, made them
+as comfortable as we could, and left them with a supply of water; for
+feed they had to wait.</p>
+
+<p>It is with much pleasure that I can commend the splendid work in
+connection with caring for these wounded and sick horses that is being
+done at the front by the societies organized for that purpose. The
+amount of suffering alleviated in this, the noblest animal of all, would
+be ample justification for the work done; but the economic advantage
+derived in addition makes the object of the societies most worthy in
+character. Two of the horses that were only slightly wounded I pulled to
+the line, and as they were inclined to lie down at every step of the
+way, the condition of my arms when I reached my destination may be
+imagined; every nerve and muscle from the shoulder down was aching.</p>
+
+<p>When we got to the line, Fritz was retaliating on the Ridge and a heavy
+bombardment was in progress; our guns were vigorously answering, and
+over we ran to the gun pit, getting into the game with both feet. After
+an hour's hard drubbing, I took occasion to step over and see a man
+whose friendship I had never ceased to curry&mdash;the cook, and I was just
+swallowing the first mouthful of the fruits of my friendship when my joy
+was rudely interrupted by an orderly.&mdash;"The Major wants to see you,
+Grant." Over I went, wondering what was up, and ransacking my noodle for
+some breach of discipline of which I might have been guilty.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you want to see me, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Grant," smiled the Major; two officers were standing by and they
+beamed on me in a fashion that made me think my future mother-in-law had
+gone on a long journey. "Listen carefully, Grant," said the Major, as he
+started to read something. I paid strict attention and I could scarcely
+believe my ears as the true import of the communication commenced to
+dawn upon me;&mdash;the G.O.C. had granted me a furlough and I was instructed
+to return to Canada immediately on a three-months' leave of absence. I
+was walking on air for a few minutes, and it was quite some little time
+before I could make myself really believe I wasn't dreaming.</p>
+
+<p>I lost no time in bidding my pals good-bye, and when I had convinced
+them that it was an actual fact, the gun Sergeant said, "Fellows,
+Grant's going; we'll give him the best we've got; ten rounds of gun
+fire. Ready! Fire!" and ten ear-drum splitters clove the air. I had no
+cotton in my ears and the effects of that farewell stayed with me
+several minutes after I left. I then went to say good-bye to the man
+whose friendship I had always nursed, my good friend the cook. He urged
+me to wait while he fixed me up the feed of my life, as he expressed it,
+and you can understand the state of my feelings when I tell you that I
+refused his bounty. I never did such a thing in my life!</p>
+
+<p>I turned to go and found myself face to face with the Major. "What the
+hell are you hanging around here for? Didn't I tell you to beat it to
+the wagon lines before you got hit? Do you think your horseshoe luck is
+going to stay with you forever? While you have got your furlough in your
+hand, beat it!"</p>
+
+<p>I hastened my steps. On the way I passed the burial party who were
+laying to their last rest the men who had fallen the night before, and
+as I glanced at the faces of the boys who would never again see their
+beloved Canadian homes, tears, for the first time in many long months,
+welled up into my eyes.</p>
+
+<p>I doubled from there to a battery in the rear to say farewell to my
+cousin Hughie, and while going from pit to pit in his battery, looking
+for him, the guns were speaking as fast as they could, and retaliation
+from Germany was blasting its way through the air. Right at this moment
+the Major's warning was most beautifully exemplified; a splinter struck
+me in the cheek, flooring me and knocking out two teeth in the upper
+left jaw. When I recovered my balance, the diligence I exercised in
+getting away from the scene of activity would have satisfied even the
+Major; besides, I was doubly anxious that he should not know of my
+mishap, as he would be bound to twit me unmercifully.</p>
+
+<p>Holding my jaw, I made my way carefully to one of the horses I had
+brought up, mounted, and kicked the poor brute in the ribs every step of
+the way back to the wagon line. My feelings of sympathy for the animal
+were completely submerged in the feeling in my jaw, my haste to get to a
+dressing station, and home. For fear it would reach the Major's ears, I
+told the doctor at the dressing station that the horse had kicked me. He
+washed and dressed it with a bandage, but just before getting to the
+wagon lines I removed it.</p>
+
+<p>Here I had another hard time convincing the fellows that I was off for
+home, but when they saw me go to the paymaster and draw 50 francs, they
+were constrained to believe that there must be something in it, and I
+was the recipient of hearty congratulations and well wishes. Forty of
+the francs went for champagne and eats; I felt that this might be the
+last time I would have the opportunity to enjoy the company of many of
+them.</p>
+
+<p>I departed next morning in the mess cart, and just before leaving I had
+another send-off;&mdash;the entire wagon lines paraded and gave me a parting
+cheer. Again the tears!</p>
+
+<p>I arrived at B&eacute;thune, boarded a French civilian train and traveled for
+five hours, reaching a junction point where, in company with a number of
+wounded men who were able to walk, I boarded a box car.</p>
+
+<p>The train was traveling at a funereal pace and the weather turned
+sharply cold; neither the wounded nor the well men, with one exception,
+had any blankets; the exception had seven blankets that he monopolized,
+refusing to share an inch of them with anyone. Such unparalleled
+hoggishness and meanness never went unpunished at the front, and I
+resolved that he would be no exception to the rule. In order to take the
+chill off ourselves, we jumped off the train every chance we got,
+gathering up some coal, until we had accumulated enough to make a
+fair-sized fire, which we kindled on the floor of the car; it was
+necessary to shove the burning coals here and there over the surface to
+avoid burning a hole through it. At one point I noticed a horse-car
+filled with straw bedding for the animals, and the train going here at a
+snail's pace enabled me to jump off and chuck an armful of the straw
+into our car; I did this with my friend of the blankets in mind. I threw
+the damp straw on top of the live coals and in a few minutes or less the
+car was filled with rank, reeking smoke that fairly made the eyes water.
+Up jumped the blanket monopolist, rushed to the window for a breath of
+air, and while inhaling the ozone I chucked his blankets out of the car
+door. When he returned to his nest, which was a nest no longer, he swore
+several swears, both large and small, but he was forced to fare like the
+rest of us,&mdash;on the bare boards.</p>
+
+<p>All this time the pain in my jaw was gradually getting worse. A
+swelling had started and I was feeling a little the worse for wear.</p>
+
+<p>It was morning when we reached Abbeville Station, where we were to wait
+until night before being able to resume our journey. Here there was a
+horrible mass of dead horses&mdash;about 500 in all&mdash;lying in the railroad
+yards; they had died in the cars on the way back for treatment. It was a
+fearsome sight.</p>
+
+<p>In an hour or so my face was commencing to throb violently, and I hunted
+up the nearest dressing station, which was a casualty clearing station,
+and addressed myself to the nurse.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Canada?" she asked, looking at my jaw.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I got hit, nurse."</p>
+
+<p>"I can plainly see that, but what makes it that color? It looks like
+gangrene! Come in and see the doctor."</p>
+
+<p>He examined me and found there was a piece left sticking there; I would
+have to be operated on at once, he said, and there was no time lost
+getting down to business. He extracted a small splinter.</p>
+
+<p>"See that this man is put to bed at once; gangrene has just started."</p>
+
+<p>When I got off the table my face was so bound up in bandages that only
+my nose and one eye were visible.</p>
+
+<p>"Go to bed, now," said the nurse. "Oh, no, I can't," I said; "I have got
+to leave at once."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, you mustn't do anything of the kind; you must go to bed at once
+and have the closest care for some weeks." She fixed up a cot for me in
+the station and I went to bed. After lying there for three hours I asked
+her if I might go up to the station and get my kit, that I had some
+valuable souvenirs I didn't want to lose, and that I would like to
+present her with some of them. She let me go, and at the station I saw
+some box cars going through. Grabbing my kit, I slung myself aboard and
+reached a station by nightfall, where I got off and waited for the
+through train, which finally came along. The fellows on board with whom
+I had become acquainted on the way down, told me the hospital orderly
+was searching for me high and low.</p>
+
+<p>After another wearisome day aboard those unspeakable box-cars, I reached
+the base. My jaw, although not throbbing so fiercely, was still
+painfully troublesome, and I sought out one of the hospitals and had to
+swallow the unwelcome news that the condition of my face was such that
+it would be necessary to luxuriate in a hospital bed for a week or ten
+days, which I did.</p>
+
+<p>The kindness of the nurses was beyond praise, and the efforts for the
+wounded men left nothing to be desired; there was absolutely every
+provision for the health and well-being of the men. The wonderful
+organization of the British Red Cross and its workings in this war will
+go down through the pages of history as the one spot in the nation's
+management of the campaign that is absolutely flawless.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of ten days I was permitted to leave the hospital, with the
+understanding that I would take good care of myself and report daily for
+dressing. I then went to the Y.M.C.A., making my home there for three or
+four days, and here, also the treatment accorded me was most
+praiseworthy; the provision made for the men's recreation will remain a
+lasting tribute to this most beneficial organization.</p>
+
+<p>I left the boys for England, embarking on board ship at 5:00 o'clock in
+the evening, leaving about an hour later. On the way over submarines
+were reported in the channel, but my horseshoe luck was still with me,
+and I made the tight little isle in safety next morning. I arrived at
+Southampton the latter part of May. My first errand in England was to
+report to the O.C. at Camp Shorncliffe. Then I made haste to look up my
+brother Billy, who was in the hospital 200 miles away. On my way to the
+camp I happened to meet a pal of Billy's, and was delighted to learn
+that he was well and out of hospital, fully recovered from his wound in
+the thigh, and in a few minutes' time we were gripping hands.</p>
+
+<p>I never before realized the large measure of affection in our hearts for
+each other as I did on that morning. It seemed as if we had both been
+through the Valley of the Shadow and had been led safely through by an
+all-wise and bountiful Father.</p>
+
+<p>In due time I embarked at Liverpool, on board the Mistress of the Seas,
+the S.S. <i>Olympic</i>, the largest passenger boat afloat. For three days we
+lay in the channel, awaiting our escort, four torpedo boat destroyers,
+and, finally, as the wheel of the mighty leviathan commenced churning
+the waters, I knew we were really off for home!</p>
+
+<p>In starting, we followed the course mapped out for us by three or four
+of the little channel pilot boats that threaded their way through the
+maize of mines placed in the water there, and by night time we were on
+the bosom of the Atlantic.</p>
+
+<p>The following day was quiet, nothing happened to interrupt the usual
+monotony of an ocean voyage, but that night at 9:15 the ship from stem
+to stern was thrown into a turmoil of excitement by the firing of a gun
+and the terrifying word&mdash;"Submarine!" The boat was darkened, not a light
+showing, and everyone was rushing from their cabins in a mad state for
+life belts, utterly ignoring the rigid command not to leave their
+portholes open and expose the lights of the vessel. It was worse than
+confusion confounded!</p>
+
+<p>I had been appointed one of provo N.C.O.'s, and my duty was to see that
+everybody was supplied with a lifebelt, wear it at all times except when
+going to bed, and then they were ordered to have them at hand in case of
+emergency. Although some of the people obeyed the instructions to the
+letter, even going so far as to sleep in them, many others neglected the
+order.</p>
+
+<p>Some idea of the sense of responsibility on the Captain and his crew can
+be had when I state that 1400 women and children on board were in his
+absolute care and keeping. Everything possible was done to calm the
+frantic people; nothing could convince them that that single shot had
+sunk the sub. But so indeed it was! The steady nerve and unfailing aim
+of the gunner had done the trick, and there was no more danger to be
+feared from that particular snake of the sea. The gunner was an old
+man-o'-war's man and was completely overwhelmed by the grateful and
+heartfelt thanks of the passengers, he, in his native modesty,
+apparently thinking he hadn't done any more than he ought to have
+done,&mdash;which indeed was very true. But if he had missed!</p>
+
+<p>There was only one sad mishap throughout the entire excitement. A woman,
+losing her head and trying to climb into a lifeboat, before she was
+ordered to do so, and carrying her baby in her arms at the time, as she
+was clambering up the rail of the vessel to get into the boat, let her
+baby slip from her arms into the dark waters below. With a frenzied
+scream, she seemed as if about to throw herself after her little one,
+but strong hands caught her and prevented.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the watchful eyes of the four escorts plowing along at each
+corner of the vessel, and signaling constantly, never for a moment
+during the time we were in the submarine zone did the ship cease its
+zigzagging course, and lookouts were stationed on every point of the
+boat from which observations could be had.</p>
+
+<p>The trip was made in perfect safety and I arrived in Halifax, Nova
+Scotia, five and a half days from the time I left Liverpool.</p>
+
+<p>At last I was on the train for home! I commenced to count the minutes on
+the last lap of my journey, and no blushing young girl, making her
+d&eacute;but, was any more excited than I was when the iron horse choo-chooed
+into the station at Ottawa two days later. As fast as a taxi could make
+the trip without violating the rigors of the law against speeding, I
+dashed homeward. I had sent no word ahead to my people, as I wanted to
+give them a complete surprise and I succeeded most admirably, my
+favorite sister fainting as I entered the door.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of S.O.S. Stand to!, by Reginald Grant
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,6441 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of S.O.S. Stand to!, by Reginald Grant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: S.O.S. Stand to!
+
+Author: Reginald Grant
+
+Release Date: May 1, 2006 [EBook #18292]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK S.O.S. STAND TO! ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Geetu Melwani, Graeme Mackreth, David Clarke
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
+generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian
+Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+S.O.S.
+
+STAND TO!
+
+[Illustration: Patching up the "Pipped"]
+
+S.O.S. STAND TO!
+
+BY
+
+SERGEANT REGINALD GRANT 1ST FIELD ARTILLERY BRIGADE, 1ST CANADIAN
+DIVISION
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK LONDON 1918
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
+
+Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION
+
+IN HUMBLE, REVERENT SPIRIT I DEDICATE THESE PAGES TO THE MEMORY OF THE
+LADS WHO SERVED WITH ME IN THE "SACRIFICE BATTERY," AND WHO GAVE THEIR
+LIVES THAT THOSE BEHIND MIGHT LIVE, AND, ALSO, IN BROTHERLY AFFECTION
+AND ESTEEM TO MY BROTHERS, GORDON AND BILLY, WHO ARE STILL FIGHTING THE
+GOOD FIGHT AND KEEPING THE FAITH.
+
+
+
+
+REMARK PREFATORY
+
+The general purpose and scope of the rehearsal of my three years'
+personal experience while in the artillery arm of the First Division of
+Canada's overseas forces is to lay before the reader an outline of the
+movement of our Division as it may be gathered from the performance of
+my own specific duties, with especial reference to the battles of Ypres
+(the 2nd), Givenchy, Sanctuary Woods (Ypres 3rd), the Somme and Vimy
+Ridge.
+
+Very little attention or space has been devoted to the detail of
+initiatory camp life, drill, rations and the like; even had I the space
+to do so, those features have been liberally covered by a number of
+earlier writers; besides, I am of the opinion that the average reader is
+more concerned with the desire to be imaginably transported as nearly as
+possible to the heart of the struggle,--to live in his own mind the
+strain and turmoil of the individual soldier in the desperate conflict
+which now rages, the decision of which will determine whether democracy
+or military autocracy shall be the predominating factor in the
+governments of the peoples of the earth.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY
+
+
+The devastating rush of the gray-clad hordes of Huns into the
+peace-loving lands of Belgium and France has demonstrated conclusively
+that to win this or any other war the one thing necessary is superiority
+in artillery. Without this, an enemy sufficiently strong in numbers and
+other equipment, can drive ahead, overcoming and crushing all obstacles.
+
+The average lay reader is too apt to lose sight of the supreme
+importance of this arm of the service, to which all other movements are
+subsidiary; the dash of the charge by the infantry over the top,
+magnificent in its appeal, submerges to a degree the real factor upon
+which success or failure of the charge depends, i.e., the blazing of the
+trail by the guns. Little thought is devoted to the man who, with hell
+bursting on and around him, has to get his shell home in a certain
+number of seconds so that the charge can be made.
+
+Neither is it generally known that the percentage of loss in units is
+greater in the unit known as the sacrifice battery than in any other
+branch of the fighting machine.
+
+Therefore, I may be pardoned if I feel a certain human pride in the fact
+that it was my honorable lot to serve in this unit nearly a score of
+times during my work over there, and I can account for my failure to be
+seriously injured (a dislocation or a little gassing is comparatively
+trivial) to nothing other than, as my Major emphatically expressed it,
+"Damned horseshoe luck!"
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                   PAGE
+
+I. CAN'T KILL ME                           1
+
+II. THE FIRST NIGHT                       17
+
+III. YPRES                                30
+
+IV. MY HORSE SHOE WORKING                 48
+
+V. HUN HELPERS                            58
+
+VI. BITS OF BATTLE                        87
+
+VII. SANCTUARY WOODS                     101
+
+VIII. A BATH UNDER DIFFICULTIES          129
+
+IX. HAM BONE DAVIS                       143
+
+X. BEES, HONEY AND HELL                  157
+
+XI. SCOTTY COMES BACK AT THE SOMME       170
+
+XII. BEHEMOTH                            185
+
+XIII. THE FAMILY LUCK                    203
+
+XIV. THE DEAD SHELL                      210
+
+XV. SATAN'S SHELLS AND SCENTED GAS       235
+
+XVI. BEFORE VIMY                         262
+
+XVII. VIMY                               275
+
+XVIII. BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY             284
+
+
+
+S.O.S. STAND TO!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+CAN'T KILL ME
+
+
+"Hello, Central, give me Queen 4000. Is that you, Burt? You are going,
+aren't you?"
+
+Burt Young was one of my pals and I had just learned from the morning
+paper that enlistments for Canada's first overseas contingent were being
+taken that day and I had called up to inquire if he were going.
+
+"Sure, I am going. Where will I meet you?"
+
+We arranged to meet at the exhibition ground and, taking French leave of
+the office, I hastened to the camp where the recruiting was going on,
+picking up Burt on the way.
+
+It was as if a baseball championship series were on; the crowd
+good-naturedly swayed and jammed as each man struggled to get to the
+door and signed up before the quota was full. With only the loss of a
+hat and some slight disarrangement of my collar and tie, I was one of
+the lucky ones.
+
+And we were lucky! Although visions of lands to be seen and adventures
+to be had flitted rapidly through my mind, and although I believe none
+of us on that day dreamed of what we were getting into, yet, looking
+back over it all, I would not have missed my place in Canada's First
+Division for anything I ever hope to have on earth.
+
+In two hours I was in khaki and in another hour I had bade the folks
+farewell and was standing on the station platform waiting for the train
+that would take us to Valcartier, the greatest gathering place of
+soldiers that Canada has ever known.
+
+Some idea of my knowledge of things military may be gleaned from the
+following:--chatting with Burt, he suddenly espied a large car, with two
+girls, shooting up the street to the station, and called my attention to
+it. One of the girls was my sister. I immediately scented trouble. I
+skipped across to the other side of the depot, intending to board the
+train from the other side when it came in; I was not going to have my
+soldiering interfered with if I could help it. Standing in the shelter
+of a pillar, I did not notice two husky recruits in khaki behind me.
+"Is your name Grant?" they asked. "Yes." "The Colonel wants to see you
+at once," they informed me, and they marched me back.
+
+As I approached, my sister was talking earnestly and energetically to
+the Colonel and I could plainly see I was the object of the
+conversation. I waited.
+
+"How is this, Grant, this lady says you are not of age. Is that so?"
+asked the Colonel.
+
+"I am of age and--"
+
+"Stand to attention!" snapped the Colonel. I straightened up and folded
+my arms respectfully across my chest.
+
+"Stand to attention, damn you! Don't you know how to stand to
+attention?" I shifted my feet a little uneasily, wondering how he wanted
+me to stand.
+
+"Put those heels together," he snorted. I did so. "Keep your toes
+apart," he half hissed and half shouted. I spread my toes apart. I still
+had my arms folded. Almost purple in the face with his violence, he
+roared, "Put those damned hands of yours down!" and he grabbed my wrists
+and flopped them down. "Young lady, you'll have to take this matter up
+at Valcartier; there is no time to do anything now. You can go," this
+to me. I turned on my heel.
+
+"Here," he roared. "Don't you know enough to salute your superior
+officer? Salute!" I gingerly raised my hand to my forehead and held it
+there, much after the fashion, I think, of a man shading his eyes from
+the sun, or a nautical chap gazing intently seaward.
+
+"You idiot!" he bellowed, as he grabbed my hand and fiercely flung it
+down. "Don't you know how to salute? Here, do this"--and he saluted. I
+followed as well as I was able, but the utter disgust that was plastered
+all over his visage as he turned on his heel would not have left much
+hope for soldierly qualifications in one any less hopeful and
+enthusiastic than I was.
+
+My sister, in spite of her tears, could not keep back the smile as I
+again kissed her good-by.
+
+It was about noon next day when I reached Valcartier and after a month
+of solid work, the like of which I had never before experienced, I was
+as hard as a nail, and as tough, as indeed was every man in that honor
+division of Canada's expeditionary forces.
+
+We received orders to leave for England on the 14th day of September,
+1914. I was detailed on a gun limber of my subsection of the First
+Battery, the artillery being the arm of the service to which I was
+assigned. Starting about 4:30 in the afternoon, in torrents of rain, we
+headed for the city of Quebec. Along the way the people had thoughtfully
+built large bonfires on either side of the road, serving the double
+purpose of lighting our way during the night and enabling us to jump off
+and warm ourselves, as we were thoroughly chilled.
+
+The road was in a horribly bad condition and the rain did not improve it
+any, and while the limber was lurching from side to side, like a ship
+staggering in a storm, it was the better part of wisdom for me to keep
+my eyes open to save myself from being thrown off and having my precious
+neck broken.
+
+To prevent in some measure the rain trickling down my neck, I took a
+rubber sheet, used to cover the horses, tied the two corners together,
+making a sort of cape of it, and put it round my neck.
+
+Then I settled myself down to hold on to the limber and think at the
+same time of the great game of which I had become an infinitesimal
+part. I was sitting on the right hand side of the limber close to the
+wheel and, before long, the effort to think and hold on at the same time
+was too much for me, and I fell into a fairly sound sleep, Sergeant
+Johnson, my companion, doing likewise.
+
+While dozing, the string from the end of the cape engaged itself with
+the axle, wound itself round and round and started pulling me down. When
+I awoke it had a grip on me and every moment I was being drawn closer to
+the wheel. I yelled to the driver to stop the horse, but the rattling
+and rumble of the limber and the gun carriage drowned my call; neither
+he nor the Sergeant heard me. Numb with cold, absolutely helpless, my
+head almost down to the wheel, I gave one more yell for dear life. The
+Sergeant suddenly and providentially woke up; he thought he had a
+nightmare. I was almost choked and could hardly breathe, but managed to
+make him understand, and he whipped out his knife, cut the string and
+released me from what in a couple of seconds more would have been
+instant death, as I would have been pulled from my seat and crushed to a
+jelly between the wheels. This was my first close shave from death. I
+had no horseshoe or four-leaf clover with me, and I can account for my
+escape in no other way than that it was my lucky star that has
+accompanied me throughout the long months of times that try men's souls
+and that has never deserted me.
+
+No further mishaps befell until I was safely aboard ship. I was in
+charge of a fatigue party, bringing hay from the bulkheads of the ship
+up on to the different decks for the horses; there was a pulley leading
+to the bottom of the boat by means of which the hay was hoisted up, and
+in going down each man gripped it and was slowly lowered. On the trip
+down the men would cling to the rope, two or three at a time, with about
+ten to twenty feet of space between them. In making a downward trip I
+was second; the man ahead of me going down was over twenty feet from me;
+and the rope suddenly slipping off the pulley and out of the hands of
+the men running it, I dropped fifty feet. The man below on the rope
+broke his leg and on top of him I fell. Although my drop was twenty or
+thirty feet longer than his, on account of the space between us being
+that much greater, I was none the worse except for a bad shaking-up.
+Like all the men in Canada's First Division, my pal was in excellent
+physical shape, and it was not long before his leg mended and he was
+himself again. Nothing of further moment happened until we heard the
+welcome call of land!
+
+The different batteries were ordered to remove their guns, limbers and
+horses from the boat, and I had charge of one party unloading guns and
+limbers. A derrick and cable was used to lift our pets from the vessel's
+hold, swing them up across the side of the boat and over on to the dock.
+In my duty I was stationed on the dock, catching hold of the guns and
+wagons as they were swung out and over by the derrick, and pulling them
+across on to the dock. While pulling over a gun, the cable skidded and
+the gun, coming on top of me, caught me partly under it, knocking me
+unconscious. Luckily the weight of the gun did not fall on me in its
+entirety; if it had, I would not be telling this story; it caught me on
+the hip, dislocating the hip bone. I was removed to the ship's hospital
+and was under the doctor's care till morning, and from there I went to a
+hospital in Plymouth City for six weeks. From there I was removed to the
+field general hospital in Salisbury Plain, where I tarried an
+additional ten days. While here I had a two-fold adventure.
+
+The hospital was in a tent where I reclined with forty other patients,
+and directly opposite our tent was another in which were confined under
+guard a number of patients who were subject to fits, some of a very
+serious nature. Lying in bed, my leg encased in its plaster-of-paris
+cast, about ten o'clock one night, when just dozing off, I was
+frightened into wakefulness by a scream. A man, who turned out to be an
+escaped epileptic, was standing in the doorway screaming, his eyes
+bulging out of his head. He had escaped by striking the sentry over the
+head with the fire brazier, used to keep the sentry warm. Staring wildly
+about the room for a couple of seconds, he made a leap for the nearest
+man and bit him in the arm; he then jumped at the next patient, biting
+him; I was the following recipient of his devotions, getting a bite on
+the wrist. Utterly unable to help or defend myself, as I was bound down
+in my plaster-of-paris cast, I had to content myself with landing a
+couple of punches on his mad mug, but he didn't seem to mind them in the
+least,--rather enjoyed them, I fancy.
+
+By way of diversion he then took hold of the beds and started upsetting
+them, rolling the patients out on to the floor, causing a tremendous
+amount of excitement, as well as pain and suffering to the men upset
+who, some of them, like myself, had casts on their limbs. In the midst
+of his mad capers the guard and orderlies rushed in, but before he was
+subdued he managed to fasten his molars in the arm of a guard.
+
+A bite from a man in his condition is no laughing matter and the doctors
+took no chances; every man who was bitten had the wound immediately and
+thoroughly cauterized and was inoculated.
+
+My other adventure was the honor and pleasure of receiving a handshake
+from their Majesties, the King and Queen of England, who were on a visit
+of inspection to the camp. The visit of their Majesties was concluded by
+a splendid little speech from Queen Alexandra in which she complimented
+us and thanked us for our loyalty.
+
+After my release from the hospital due to the effects of the accident at
+Plymouth, I set to work looking after our horses and performing general
+battery work. After my narrow escape from the gun wheel, the fall into
+the hold of the vessel and the close shave I had had on the dock, I was
+commencing to wonder whether I was destined ever to get to France.
+
+Thus musing, I was riding one of the horses bare-back to a small creek
+to give it a watering, and the rein, which was a long one, I held in my
+right hand. I had to pass the targets where shooting practice was going
+on, and the brute, taking fright, gave a sudden leap and threw me off
+his back. I fell backwards and on the left side, and as I fell the long
+rein wound itself round my right arm, keeping me tied as it were to the
+horse; and my head came dangerously close to the animal's front hoofs
+which he was kicking up every other second; with each jump he took,
+those hoofs, in their upward motion of making a spring, almost struck my
+face. I was dragged helpless for about twenty feet when, providentially,
+the rein broke and I dropped to the ground, the horse dashing on in his
+fright until he was finally captured.
+
+I was picked up for dead and a stretcher was sent for; but, while on the
+way, consciousness returned and in a few minutes I was able to navigate
+without assistance. I then and there decided that I surely was
+preserved for France and was not doomed to die an ignominious or
+untimely death behind the front line trenches.
+
+After supper that night I listened to the remarkable story of a man
+whose lot was destined to be woven with mine to a degree:--"Aye, laddie,
+they came on thick at Mons! There was one time there when there was only
+Sandy MacFarlane and mysel' left out o' the whole company, and for two
+or three hours we lay behind a wee bank, no higher'n your knee, fighting
+them off. Lord how we plugged them! They died like flies! And then puir
+Sandy got his, an' there was naething left for me tae do but tae beat an
+honorable retreat, an' I grabbed Sandy's rifle an' retired on to the
+main body, wi' the bullets buzzin' like bees around me. On my way back I
+loaded both rifles as quick as I could and dropped every noo an' again
+to let them hae it, and I was carefu' not to waste a damn shot; every
+bullet told."
+
+The speaker was Scotty Henderson, late of the Seaforth Highlanders, as
+he informed us, and he was relating his experiences during the world
+memorable retreat at Mons, when Britain's little regular army,
+denominated by His Majesty, Wilhelm II, "The contemptible little English
+army," was practically wiped out.
+
+In the cookhouse we listened, open-mouthed, to the wonderful exploits of
+this Scotch fighting man. "Were you wounded?" asked Lawrence. "Aye,
+laddie, you're damned right I was," and he rolled up his trouser leg and
+exhibited a large, broad scar on the inside of his right leg. "There's
+where I got it."
+
+"That's a funny looking wound,--looks like a burn," said Lawrence.
+
+"You're damned right it's a burn," said Scotty, "it was the shell that
+burned me as it grazed my leg."
+
+The probable reason, I thought, why the shell could graze the inside of
+one of his legs without injury to the other was because the fighter was
+blessed with a pair of bow-legs that couldn't have stopped the
+proverbial pig in the proverbial alley. In addition to this decided
+detraction from his manly beauty, he was short, squatty, thick-necked, a
+nose of the variety commonly known as a stub, and a couple of little
+eyes that had a constant twinkle, half-shrewd and half-humorous, the
+whole surmounted with a shock of shaggy red hair. But these detractions
+from his beauty did not in the least lessen our admiration for his
+personal bravery; he was in our eyes a first-class fighting man; he had
+proven it by his work at Mons and had the scar to show for it.
+
+"But how did you come to get into a Canadian unit?" asked another.
+
+"Well, you see, after I was wounded in the leg and got my honorable
+discharge, as soon as I was well, I wanted to do my bit again, and
+knowing that you laddies get bigger pay than in the British army, I
+thought I would kill two birds wi' the one stone,--get more money and
+get into the game again. So I ups and goes to the Colonel and says I,
+'Colonel, I'd like to get into the game again.' 'Well,' says he, 'I hae
+na room for any more men in my command, but I do want a gude cook,' an'
+it just happened that I was a cook by trade, and a gude one too, and
+told him so, and says he, 'Well, you're just the man I want,' and he
+signed me up there and then, and here I am."
+
+He was a good cook and he was proud of it too; we had no reason to
+complain of the way our meals were prepared. There was only one thing
+about Scotty that caused a shade of dissatisfaction,--he was so
+scrupulously careful to see that no man got more than his just share of
+the grub that many a fellow grumbled about not getting enough to eat
+and, in many cases, that they did not get what was coming to them. But
+Scotty would shut them with the authority of an old soldier and,
+besides, in his cookhouse he was monarch of all he surveyed. In a
+half-humorous, half-scolding voice he would say, "Mon, what do you want
+to be a hog for? Do you want to let someone else gang hungry? Tak'
+what's given ye and thank God you're alive to eat it, because it won't
+be long maybe before you'll be where ye won't need any grub--although
+undoubtedly you'll need water."
+
+This was an allusion to our probable future abode. So we had to be
+content with what he chose to serve us. But there were speculations by
+some as to whether or not Scotty really served us all the grub given him
+by the quartermaster's department, and someone was so unjust, I thought,
+as to venture the suggestion that he believed "the damned Scotch runt is
+selling the grub to men in other units." "How does it happen," said he,
+in support of his suspicion, "that he always has a little change when
+the rest of us are broke?"
+
+"Oh, nonsense," said I, "a good soldier wouldn't do such a thing, and we
+all know he is a good soldier; there is no getting away from that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE FIRST NIGHT
+
+
+I arrived in France early in February, 1915, and for three weeks we were
+put into the hands of an Imperial battery, the Warwicks. They had taken
+part in the battle of Mons, and the tales of the veterans of this
+world's memorable retreat, told in their own modest way, gave me my
+first clear impression as to what the boys of the Imperial Army really
+had endured for civilization in that campaign.
+
+At first I thought they were trying to bluff us Colonials, but the first
+night I was in the lines I realized in the largest degree of human
+intensity the fearful truth of their experiences.
+
+The tuition given us by these warriors could not be excelled. They took
+us to Fleurbaix, where their batteries were located on the outskirts of
+the town, in cellars in the back part of a building destroyed by German
+fire. There they had skillfully transformed the cellar into a gun pit,
+with a loophole four feet in diameter overlooking an orchard at the
+rear. Each time the gun spoke it would first be shoved into the hole and
+the brush and sandbags removed, and as quickly as the message was sent,
+the camouflage was replaced.
+
+The color of the sandbags was a rusty gray and this, in conjunction with
+the brushwood, prevented the spot taking on a dark appearance, which,
+next to white, is the most easily distinguishable to an airplane; the
+air birds are always on the lookout for these dark spots, watching them
+intently to discover if any signs of activity are there, and immediately
+anything smacking of life appears, the exact location is wired to their
+trenches and the place is whirlwinded with showers of death and
+destruction.
+
+When the Warwicks had completed our educational course, there was no
+detail of handling the guns with which we were not acquainted, and
+thoroughly so, and I had the honor of being in charge of my gun, due to
+the accuracy in my work. I think my chest expansion increased a trifle,
+but my cap did not get any smaller.
+
+At the end of ten days we left Meteren, arriving there February 28. It
+was on the way from Meteren that I received my battle christening; the
+ceremony was performed by a bevy of six airplanes, two of them flying
+low and doing the sprinkling honors with a fusillade of bombs, dropped
+on the road round about us. They left twenty or twenty-five of these
+calling cards, but two of the batteries of anti-aircraft guns handled by
+the Warwicks greeted them so warmly that they quickly decided they had
+overstaid their welcome and made a hurried departure.
+
+When the battery arrived at its designated point, we proceeded to
+camouflage the guns with the artistry we had derived from our
+instruction, covering them securely with grass and brushwood.
+
+It was at this time that I lost not only my increased chest expansion,
+but also a trifle more, because I was ordered to take my gun to a
+position known as the sacrifice gun position, three hundred yards back
+of the front line trench. It derives its name, "sacrifice gun," from the
+fact that rarely, if ever, in case of a heavy enemy raid, does the gun
+or any of its crew escape. This "honor" I was destined to receive many
+times throughout my career in the Great Adventure.
+
+I was in charge of the gun and I installed it in a hedge. The only time
+we were to fire was when the enemy broke through and when our men in
+retreating were on a line even with us; and we could not fire until we
+got orders from the officer commanding or from headquarters.
+
+The idea of a sacrifice gun is this: if the enemy broke through on
+either or both flanks, pushing our men back, we had to wait for orders
+from the commanding officer or from headquarters before firing; All the
+ammunition carried was fifty shells; it was all we could get in those
+days. In daytime the gun was covered with brush and other means of
+concealment to keep it from the ever watchful eye of the Hun. At night
+the crew consisted of two men, one on each side of the gun, and three
+more in a ruined building a hundred yards in the rear of the gun. Our
+shifts were two hours on and four off. The purpose pursued by the
+sacrifice gun is to surprise the enemy when in full view and exposed,
+killing as many of them as possible, blasting gaps through their line
+and enabling our men to dig in in the position to which they have
+retired, we knowing all the while that there is not one chance in a
+thousand that the men connected with the sacrifice gun will escape
+either death or capture. Our orders were under no circumstances to leave
+the gun as long as a shell remained and a man lived. Deuced pleasant!
+The ground in front of us was well drilled with concealed holes all the
+way from four to six feet deep, in each of which strands of barbed wire
+had been placed and the opening carefully concealed with clumps of
+grass, brush and the like.
+
+Blaisdell and I volunteered to take first shift on the gun on the first
+night, about 10 o'clock. We had to take a narrow path on the way, with
+Fritz sniping us every step; he had registered the path and it was a
+constant target for his machine guns and snipers. Our pet was well
+hidden in the hedge, with its nose poking through a hole in the leafage
+and so cunningly camouflaged that it was absolutely impossible to be
+noticed.
+
+While lying stretched on each side of the gun between the muzzle and
+wheel, any talking we did was to whisper cautiously to each other, as
+the very grass beneath our feet contained spies in those days; the
+country-side round about was as thickly infested with them as cells in
+a honeycomb; and thus we waited.
+
+Presently we heard the crackle of a piece of brushwood immediately out
+in our front. The intruder had gotten into our entanglement. "Halt! Who
+goes there?" No answer. I repeated the challenge; still no answer. We
+made our way cautiously through the hedge, unclicked our safety catches
+and were just about to fire in the direction of the sound when someone
+yelled, "Where's the Durham Light Infantry lying?" We ordered them to
+advance until within ten feet.
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"Durham Light Infantry."
+
+In the darkness we could not tell who they were but they spoke English
+like natives.
+
+"What are you doing out here wandering around in this fashion?"
+
+"Well," one of them answered, "we were taking a stroll and got lost and
+we want to find our way back."
+
+We directed them and when they were lost sight of in the darkness, we
+resumed our places on each side of the gun and thought no more of the
+incident for the time. We again installed ourselves comfortably and
+were comparatively safe from the sniping in front, which was going on
+more or less all the time we were there, and about thirty minutes had
+elapsed when, in the silence of the night, I thought I again heard the
+crackling of a twig. Blaisdell heard it too. "Hist! Did you hear that,
+Grant?"
+
+"Yes," I whispered.
+
+We listened intently and heard it again, this time a little closer. We
+jumped up.
+
+"Halt! Who goes there?"
+
+No answer. Bang! Blaisdell fired, and these same fellows called, "Don't
+shoot! We're looking for the Durhams." We emerged through the hedge.
+
+"What in hell are you fellows doing around here again?" I asked.
+
+"Well, we can't find the Durham Light Infantry."
+
+"Well, you find some place away from here if you want to live to eat
+your breakfast. If I find you around here again I'll shoot without
+warning."
+
+Again they asked us the way and again we directed them, and saw them
+started on their way to the rear.
+
+Once more we took our places on the gun between the wheels and were
+hardly settled down when a sniper opened up on us from the rear, taking
+a chip out of the wheel to my right. Ping! Ping! Ping! and the tree
+standing ten feet in our rear was nipped. Ping! Ping! and the shield of
+the gun got it this time. We were concealed behind the gun shield, which
+protected us pretty thoroughly from the front fire and were
+congratulating ourselves on our haven of safety when Ping! Ping! again
+from our rear came the messages from a sniper hidden there. In glancing
+back over my shoulder I noticed in the pitchy blackness the flash of a
+rifle simultaneously with the report, and it seemed to come from a
+haystack about 200 yards to our right.
+
+"Blais, look back for a minute and tell me what you see."
+
+Black darkness again for a few minutes, then another flare; we both
+watched intently.
+
+"By God!" exclaimed Blaisdell simultaneously with another report. "Right
+out of the stack!" There was nothing for us to do but to lie there and
+watch, and we absolutely confirmed our convictions that we were being
+sniped at from this particular haystack.
+
+When our watch was up I made my way to the ruin occupied by our relief,
+woke them and told them to keep their eyes open for the haystack and
+make themselves as small as midgets. Shortly after they started,
+Blaisdell came in. He told me that the relief party had been sniped at
+every step of the way to the gun. As Blaisdell entered, the open door
+threw out a fitful glare of light from our flickering candle, and a
+report from this particular haystack was followed by a bullet that
+knocked off a chip of brick just above the doorway. Our friend was
+certainly industrious, but I hoped to go him one better in the morning.
+I grabbed the phone and called up headquarters, informing them of what I
+had seen from the stock. The O.C. said the matter would be looked into
+immediately.
+
+There was no sleeping that night; we were too excited and chattered away
+like school girls over our experiences, and to pass the time the
+inevitable card game started. During the game the sniping was active and
+continuous, the bullets chipping the building in all quarters. Our light
+was from a candle jammed into a jam tin and set between a couple of sand
+bags that we used for a table. Our mate, who had not yet taken his turn
+on the gun-watch, was inclined to be rather skeptical about our story
+of the sniper, declaring it couldn't be possible that Fritzie could be
+carrying on such work in the very midst of our lines, and that our
+imaginations had been running riot with us. We had been playing about
+three-quarters of an hour when a gust of wind blew the door open,
+throwing the faint gleam of the candle out in front. I jumped to close
+the door, the light blowing out as I did so, and at the same instant I
+heard a report from the same direction as before. I closed the door,
+telling Blaisdell to light the candle. He fumbled for his matches and
+lit it, and we were both stricken dumb for the moment; our chum was
+lying stone dead with a hole squarely in his forehead. The gentleman in
+the haystack was surely doing good work for his Kaiser.
+
+Just before daylight we had a call from the O.C., accompanied by three
+or four men; he had phoned us he was coming. He wanted all particulars
+regarding my previous message. Under cover of the hedge we got to within
+fifty yards of the stack and everybody was convinced of the certainty of
+the information I had given, for, as we watched, two more flashes came
+from the stack. Not a particle of doubt was left and the officer ordered
+a bomb thrown into the haystack. Inside of a minute the red flames
+began shooting out from all sides, in another minute it was ablaze, and
+in five minutes we had the joy and satisfaction of hearing the muffled
+shriek of the soldier who had so well served his Kaiser.
+
+This ended for me a busy first night in the front line.
+
+When the ashes of the fire were searched we found the charred body of a
+man, the remains of a rifle and a complete set of telephone apparatus,
+which was traced to our trenches, and from there to the German lines.
+
+Wilhelm for a certainty lost an ace in the haystack. Besides our chum
+and heavens knows what others, he had sniped the road along which relief
+parties were passing up and down; and that same night one of the
+soldiers of an infantry battalion of the Warwicks, winding its way to
+the front trenches, got his death from a bullet squarely in the neck;
+and the Germans having through him gotten an absolutely accurate range,
+our gun was wiped out by a single shell, together with two members of
+the crew.
+
+Next afternoon, while resting in billets to where I had been ordered, a
+shell struck the building, a splinter knocking out the eye of Ed.
+Jackson, who was sitting beside me. He was not killed, but his wound was
+a blighty, taking him out of the game for good. The unwelcome visitors
+continuing to come, we were rushed to our battery of three guns in an
+orchard near by; a curtain of sandbags was placed in front to prevent
+the flash being seen. As soon as we started firing, rifle shots from our
+left scattered the mud on all sides, coming at intervals of five or ten
+minutes. Speculation was aroused and we set a man to watch, and
+suspicion fastened on a farmer who was working his plow. Nothing was
+found on him. Next day the same thing happened and again the watch was
+set. This time our efforts were rewarded; the scout saw the farmer shoot
+and throw the rifle down. He reported to the officer and we went over.
+The horny-handed son of toil was very busy at the plow as he saw us
+coming. He couldn't speak English. The officer sent to the nearest
+French battery and presently a French soldier came who interpreted the
+officer's questions and the man's replies. He knew nothing, whatever, he
+said, about the rifle shots coming from his direction.
+
+A search was then made for the rifle where the scout had seen him throw
+it and not only one rifle, but several, including English, French and
+German makes, were found in various parts of the field, partly buried in
+the soil. When the guns were discovered the farmer threw up his hands,
+wildly gesticulating and vehemently protesting that he knew nothing
+whatever as to how they came there. His was a short shrift. He was tried
+on the spot, tied to the pump of his own farm and shot.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+YPRES
+
+
+I remained in this spot with the guns until March, when the costly
+victory of Neuve Chapelle was fought. My battery was playing on their
+northern flank. The objective of the British Tommies was the city, which
+they took, but at a terrible toll; 6,000 Indian troops, mostly Ghurkas,
+were slain. The fearful mortality exacted from these troops was due to
+their impetuosity; they do not know fear; it was impossible to hold
+them; they rushed out before their time and some of them suffered from
+the fire of our own guns. It was in this fight that our own famous and
+gallant regiment, the "Princess Pats," was decimated, sustaining a loss
+of over 700 men. This magnificent body of fellows went into the war
+1,150 strong and at the last roll call but 22 of the original men
+answered. The price paid was too much for what was accomplished.
+
+We were then ordered to billets and stayed there until April 20th, when
+we were ordered to Ypres, arriving there April 21. My battery was
+stationed at St. Julien, one and a half miles northwest of the city.
+Here I was detailed as observer, my duty being to get into the
+front-line trench and from the most advantageous nook that I could find,
+try to discover whatever I could about the movement of the enemy,
+communicate my knowledge to the telephonist who would in turn send it to
+headquarters.
+
+Late in the afternoon I reported to the telephonist that a big fire was
+in progress somewhere on our left, as an immense smoke cloud was rising
+there and coming toward us. As shells had burst his wire, rendering it
+useless, he started out to deliver the message by word of mouth, running
+on top of the parapet as he started. That was the last I ever saw of
+him; he did not come back; Fritz was coming and ahead of him rolled the
+sinister-looking cloud on our left. Then happened the strangest thing!
+The line trembled from one end to the other, as the Algerian troops
+immediately on our left, jumped out of their trenches, falling as they
+ran. The whole thing seemed absolutely incomprehensible--until I got a
+whiff of the gas. They ran like men possessed, gasping, choking, blinded
+and dropping with suffocation. They could hardly be blamed. It was a
+new device in warfare and thoroughly illustrative of the Prussian idea
+of playing the game.
+
+When the great yellow clouds came rolling toward us, orders were roared
+to wet our handkerchiefs and stuff them in our mouths, and half choked
+and blinded we held for a day and a half. The buttons on our uniforms
+were tinged yellow and green from the gas, so virulent was the poison.
+
+Cooks and everybody else had been ordered into the line, as the giving
+way of the Algerians necessitated our lengthening out so as to take over
+their ground. Scotty of Mons fame was in the trench bay a few yards away
+from me, and when the cloud had passed by I saw him rolling on the
+ground, apparently blinded, tears streaming from his eyes. I helped him
+to his feet and when he got his voice back his courage returned and,
+yelling, "Let the barbarians come," he seized his rifle, rushed to the
+parapet and fired point blank every cartridge in his rifle in the
+direction of Fritz.
+
+At the end of the second day another wave of hell's atmosphere came
+across, more deadly than any of the others, followed by a smothering
+fire from the German batteries, and the Germans broke in upon us on
+our right and left. Yard by yard we retreated, fighting as we went, and
+they occupied some of our front trenches--for a time.
+
+[Illustration: A Chlorine Gas Attack from the Trenches]
+
+That night Scotty and I received orders to report to a French dressing
+station for treatment. I half-dragged and half-walked him to the doctor;
+I had a feeling that he ought to have been able to make the trip without
+my help as I was certain he wasn't suffering any more than I was. After
+we left the doctor and got outside the dressing station, Scotty swayed
+from side to side, groaning like a man who had lost his last hope on
+earth, and the doctor told him to get away as quickly as he could as he
+was playing the devil with the nerves of the men who were lying around
+there half-dead from the poison fumes. He staggered over and sat down
+beside me on the side of the road, still wringing his hands. I
+remonstrated with him and told him that bad as it was it could not be
+anything like Mons, and to my amazement he stopped his moaning all at
+once and said with a twinkle in his eye, "Let's beat it to the dugout;
+the doc won't see us." We took the chance and started. On the way Fritz
+shot up the road and with a spring like an india-rubber man, Scotty
+jumped behind a tree. We finally reached our destination and Scotty
+proceeded to get something to eat. He lit a fire while I brought the
+water. The cookhouse here was in the house of a farmer who had vacated,
+and as the smoke coming from the chimney got thicker every moment, I was
+apprehensive lest Fritz would see it and send over a shell message, but
+Scotty pooh-poohed the idea.
+
+Dinner was almost ready when--Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Bang! and a shell
+shot clean through the joint. The concussion threw me to the floor,
+covering me with lime and plaster-of-paris from the walls and ceiling. I
+got up and looked around for the cook. The hero of Mons had been knocked
+down, with the stove on top of him, and he was lying in the corner
+praying like a good fellow. "Oh, Lord! look down in pity and save me!
+Thou knowest, Lord, I am unworthy o' thy mercy, but please control the
+shells o' those barbarians and send them in anither direction, and Thine
+shall be a' the glory." Then he saw me standing there and he yelled, "Do
+you think there'll be any more?" "No, that was merely a stray shell.
+Let's get this grub, I'm starving." "Stray shell be damned," said he,
+"they've seen the smoke and they'll be putting more over."
+
+No sooner said than Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! and three or
+four more shells banged about the place, one of them blowing the pump
+from outside through the shack past Scotty, out through the other wall,
+and Scotty, ducking and dodging like a man trying to buck the line in a
+football game, shot through the door and vanished in the night.
+
+The pan of bacon he had been cooking was still intact except that it had
+a coating of plaster-of-paris from the walls and ceiling of the room,
+and I proceeded to put it under my belt as fast as my jaws would work,
+and then made for my dugout. I was just settling down to a quiet smoke
+when I heard the Major calling for Scotty at the top of his voice.
+Getting no response, he called for me and I hastened to his quarters.
+
+"Grant, go down and see if that Scotch cook has fallen in the soup; find
+out if cookhouse is ready." "Yes, sir." I said nothing about what had
+happened and returned to the cookhouse to find six Algerians devouring
+the officers' rations in such fashion as to make one think of the man in
+the side show who was advertised in letters twenty feet deep as the
+original snake-eater of South America; there wasn't enough left for a
+one-man meal. I reported to the O.C. that there were no signs of Scotty
+but that the cookhouse had been hit by a shell.
+
+"Go and see if he is at the dressing station." I went back to the
+station. For nearly a mile the wounded and gassed men were lying on each
+side of the road waiting for conveyances to remove them. I spoke to a
+Tommy who had met with a peculiar accident; he had two plates in his
+mouth and the concussion of a shell explosion in his immediate vicinity
+had broken the plates into four pieces, leaving him practically
+toothless.
+
+Strongly suspecting by that time that if Scotty were anywhere on earth
+he was at the rear in the wagon line, I waited around the station just
+long enough to lend plausibility to my search before reporting to the
+O.C. The Major was in a towering rage over our losses, and, damning the
+cook, he dismissed me. The officers that night had to look to another
+cookhouse for their evening meal.
+
+Next morning I was sent for by the Major and dispatched to the wagon
+lines on an errand;--at that time I was fulfilling the duties of a
+runner for our unit;--he also told me to have a lookout for the cook
+while there and make some inquiries about him. I saluted and left. The
+first place I went to in the wagon lines was the cookhouse and as I got
+there I thought I noticed the swish of someone quickly disappearing
+round the corner and the cockney-cook there informed me that Scotty had
+spent the previous evening with them and had only left a minute ago.
+
+"'E's no slouch, that cook of yours," he said, "'e's a fighter, 'e is."
+
+"That so?"
+
+"You're right, 'e is. Wy, where 'e was stationed, when the Germans
+rushed 'em in the trench, 'e 'eld 'em back, killin' two of 'em
+single-handed until the others had retreated. 'E ought to get the
+D.C.M., 'e ought; that's what hi say. By Gawd! when it comes to the real
+thing, give me the Scotch! An' honly last night 'e was in his cookhouse
+with some blighter by the name of Grant when the shells came along, and
+this fellow must have 'ad a streak of yellow for he promised to 'elp
+Scotty with the meal, but bolted like a bullet at the first shell."
+
+"How did he come to be down here?" I asked.
+
+"Wy, he got relieved."
+
+"Where is he now?"
+
+"Hover in the dugout."
+
+I learned that the hero of Mons had regaled them with accounts of his
+feats of valor in the trenches, very similar to the tales he had
+recounted to us at Salisbury Plain of his achievements in the Great
+Retreat, and the cook had given him a meal befitting a hero of his
+caliber, which Scotty had devoured with the relish and avidity of four
+heroes, while the others had shown him the due and necessary deference
+becoming a man of action.
+
+For the benefit of the cook I informed him that Scotty was a damned
+liar; that it was I who had been with him; that he ran like a
+white-livered cur under fire from his cookhouse and didn't stop until he
+had reached the wagon lines; that he was there without being relieved
+and that he would shortly have another tale to tell.
+
+I hastened to the dugout he had indicated as Scotty's retreat and found
+him in the innermost corner, pretending to be asleep; he didn't answer
+until I called him three or four times.
+
+"Scotty, the O.C. wants to know why you left the cookhouse without guard
+permitting some Algerians to eat up his bacon and stuff, and, further,
+why you ran away under fire. You are in for hell as sure as there is
+heather in your hair." His countenance took on a greenish hue and he
+mumbled something about being shell-shocked and refused to come. I
+persuaded him, however, to come over to the Quartermaster of the wagon
+line, and that officer asked him what he was doing there.
+
+"Weel,--I was wounded and couldna' fight anither stroke; I was jeest
+tired oot wi' killin' Boches and hadna' the strength to stand anither
+minute; I jeest had to get away."
+
+"Well, you've had a damned good rest now and you can get back to the
+O.C. and tell him what you have told me and he will see that you get a
+fitting decoration." This latter was spoken very grimly, and I could see
+the great fighter's face fall. "You will see to it, Grant," said the
+Q.M. "that Henderson doesn't hide his heroism from the O.C.; that he
+gives it to him in detail, just as he has to me." "Yes, sir," and I left
+with my prisoner.
+
+We hurried along as night was falling and the German flares were
+commencing to fly. On the way back we met two Algerian troopers and in
+the gleam of a star shell and the fading twilight they looked more like
+two escaped denizens of the chamber of horrors than anything I could
+well imagine. Indeed, their appearance was so ghastly under the weird
+light of the flares and the fading day, that I involuntarily shivered,
+hardened though I was by that time to grim sights. Each of them carried
+on his shoulder the hind-quarter of a cow that had been killed by a
+shell at a nearby farm, and the dripping blood from the beast had
+slopped all over their uniforms; under each arm was tucked a ham they
+had "swiped" from the farmhouse and each had a young suckling pig
+running ahead, squealing and grunting, tied by a string on the hind leg
+and held by the left hand, while in the right hand each man carried a
+sharply pointed stick to prod the pig when it veered from a straight
+line, which was about every other step or so.
+
+Just as we got immediately opposite the looters a burst of shell fire
+from the German guns, followed by a hail of shrapnel, blazed all about
+us, and the hero-cook jumped like a bullfrog, bumping plumb into one of
+the Algerians, and he and the cook and the pig tumbled over and over,
+the pig squealing like mad, the Algerian rolling out deep-throated oaths
+in his native tongue, and Scotty cursing as only a redheaded gabby
+Scotchman can, all amid an ear-splitting din of shrieking shells and
+flare-gleams completing a _mise en scene_ as striking as anything ever
+created by a master artist of stagecraft.
+
+When Scotty extricated himself from the tangle his face and clothes were
+smeared from the blood of the dripping beast, so that he could indeed
+have passed for the blood-stained hero he had proclaimed himself in the
+cookhouse, and in spite of his plight Scotty grinned as I suggested the
+thought to him and the twinkle returned to his eye, and his spirits took
+a decidedly upward turn until we reached the Major's quarters.
+
+The Major was still cursing mad over the loss of the trenches in the gas
+attack and I felt the moment he spoke that Scotty's fate looked black.
+
+"Where have you been, Henderson?"
+
+"I was in the cookhouse, sir, when a shell struck it, smashing
+everything in sight, and I lost complete control o' my nerves and
+started for the wagon lines wi'out knowing what I was doing or where I
+was going, and didna' come to mysel' until Grant ran across me in the
+dugout."
+
+"That won't go, Henderson. Orderly room at ten-thirty in the morning.
+It's the first case of cowardice in this unit and I'll take damned good
+care that it will be the last. Grant, escort the prisoner back to the
+wagon lines."
+
+I could not help feeling sorry for the poor devil because, coward though
+he was, his was one of those personalities that carried with it a sort
+of likeableness, somewhat after the fashion of our time-honored
+Falstaff, and his funk under fire made him liable to the extreme
+penalty,--a firing squad. His teeth chattered like the keys of a
+typewriter as he asked me, "What do you think will come o' it, Grant? Do
+you think he really means it?"
+
+I hadn't the heart to tell him what I really thought and strove to jolly
+him by saying that the Major would feel in a better humor in the
+morning, "and besides," said I, "when we take back those trenches
+tomorrow, he will get over his flurry."
+
+I turned my prisoner over to the guard of the wagon lines, first
+informing the Quartermaster, and when he asked me what the trouble was,
+I had to tell him of the variance of the prisoner's story told him and
+that he told the Major, and that the Major directed that he be up for
+orderly room in the morning. Without any further ceremony Scotty was
+jammed in the clink.
+
+It was now almost daybreak of the morning of the third day following our
+first gas attack and, almost ready to drop with fatigue, I went over to
+the wagon lines, gathered some straw and bags together under an
+ammunition wagon, and was in a dead sleep in less time than it takes to
+tell it.
+
+At ten-thirty I reported to the orderly room to attend Scotty's trial.
+The Major was in his appointed place and in due course the guard marched
+in with the prisoner. His ammunition pouches and cap had been removed
+and he stood to attention as well as the contour of his legs and the
+thickness of his yellow streak permitted. Still I could not help
+remembering what he had done at Mons; there was no doubt about that
+because I had seen his scar and I knew that the ranks of the Seaforth
+Highlanders had never held a coward; and I mentally concluded that he
+must really have been suffering from shell shock or he would never have
+left his post as he did, and I sincerely hoped that he would in some way
+get through. The evidence was short and conclusive and the verdict was
+curt and decisive:--"held in close confinement for general field court
+martial at Steenwercke, May 12." And Scotty was led out looking as if he
+hadn't a friend in the world; there was very little sympathy for him
+from anyone.
+
+The same evidence was repeated at the field court martial trial, but the
+twinkle in Scotty's eye must have reached the heart of the commanding
+officer for he was ordered deported to England, pending dishonorable
+discharge. There he was sent to the military camp at Shorncliffe, put
+under open arrest and utilized around the camp in a number of ways for
+over a year.
+
+That afternoon Colonel Morrison sent for me. "Grant, run to Colonel
+Curry and find out how strong the Forty-eighth Highlanders and the Third
+Brigade are, and how soon he can get the men together for attack."
+"Yes, sir," and I started. I was running along the top of the canal bank
+in broad daylight and in the open, expecting every second that one of
+the missiles from the shower that was pattering the ground everywhere
+would get me. In that race through that bullet-swept zone I felt a
+common bond of kinship with the Irish soldier who was running as fast as
+his legs could carry him from the Battle of the Wilderness in the
+American Civil War and General Sherman, noticing him, turned his horse
+in the direction of the fleeing soldier and halted him up.
+
+"Here, you soldier, what are you running away for?"
+
+"Because, Gineral--because I can't fly."
+
+How I longed for wings! The Colonel later recommended me for a
+commission and many times since have I wondered how he would feel about
+that recommendation if he ever learned the real state of my feelings at
+that moment. He did me the honor of requesting Colonel Morrison to
+permit me to enter his unit and Colonel Morrison did me the additional
+honor of refusing to let me go. I had gotten a somewhat painful scalp
+wound on the way over, and I made my way to the French dressing station
+in a half-unconscious condition. The French doctor nearly completed
+matters by spilling the iodine in my eye and nearly blinding me. Some
+dope was then administered that brought me to my full senses shortly
+after.
+
+When I was getting fixed up at the dressing station--I had a hard time
+as the wounded men were swarming everywhere--I saw two women in the
+station carrying baskets and speaking to the soldiers. They seemed to be
+peasant women, but spoke very good English. They left after some little
+time and wended their way up the road; but something in their appearance
+directed attention to them and they were watched! After they had gone a
+little bit up the road one of them was seen to open her basket and let a
+pigeon go. They were at once arrested, handed over to the French police
+and taken to Ypres.
+
+The work of the gendarmerie was unexcelled; they were everywhere they
+were needed; had it not been for their lightning-like acumen and prompt
+service, the Lord only knows what would have become of us poor
+Britishers in that country, as we were practically at the mercy of the
+spies, not knowing who was who.
+
+The two women were taken to Ypres and were treated to their deserved
+fate--shot. But the pigeon did its work. Within an hour after their
+arrest the hospital was shelled; it was packed with patients and in one
+of the wards one of those flying ministers of death exploded, leaving
+not a single living man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+MY HORSESHOE WORKING
+
+
+It was the fourth day of the second battle of Ypres. I was in charge of
+my subsection at the guns and the men wanted water. I volunteered and
+went to a farmhouse 150 yards off, got the water and had started back
+for the guns. I had just stepped outside the door of the farmhouse when
+Kr-kr-kr-p! a huge shell came over and blew the gun and gun crew into
+kingdom come. A French captain was standing twenty feet from the door
+and, following the report, I started for our gun. I had just taken a
+step or two when another monster of death came hurtling through the air,
+straight for me, as I thought, but, instead, it was a message for the
+French soldier; it got him squarely, leaving not a fragment of his body
+to be seen.
+
+Immediately after the death of our gun crew and the French captain our
+gun position was moved, and that same evening after supper, consisting
+of the usual bread, jam and tea, Walter Hope and I were on our way to
+the dugout. When half-way there a sudden emptiness entered into my life
+and the next thing I knew I was being lifted on to a stretcher. I
+rebelled and got to my feet. What had happened was this, as told me by
+one of the boys who was standing a short distance off,--a shell had come
+and exploded almost at my feet, throwing me in the air for a distance,
+as he said, of fully twenty feet. It is impossible for me to personally
+make an estimate of the distance, as I was unconscious when I went up
+and when I came down.
+
+When I recovered my senses, Hope was hopping around holding his right
+hand with his left and exclaiming like a madman. His hand had been
+almost severed by a fragment from the shell and was hanging to the wrist
+by a shred. He ran to the cookhouse and the cook advised him to go at
+once to the dressing station, as he couldn't do anything for him;
+instead, in his frenzy, he ran to the gun pits, going from one to the
+other, looking for help. Every man there wanted to help him, but he
+wouldn't and couldn't stand still; the concussion of the shell had
+affected his brain and this accounted for his ungovernableness. Then a
+few of us grabbed him and I bandaged it as best I could, walked over to
+the road with him and started him on his way to the dressing station; I
+could go no further, as we had commenced firing, and he made his way
+alone. When nearing the station his senses completely left him for the
+time and he plucked off his hanging hand and threw it from him. The poor
+lad was then taken into the station, properly attended to and sent to
+England.
+
+Thankful am I to tell that he came through all right and is now working
+in Toronto earning his living by writing with his left hand, which he
+has learned to manipulate with practically the same agility the lost
+member possessed. We were deeply regretful at the loss of Hope from the
+crowd--fearless Hope, as he was known, and, sometimes, hopeless
+Hope--because never in all my experience have I seen a man who was so
+utterly regardless of danger; he would expose himself to what seemed
+certain death, and, as luck would have it, he got his blighty at a place
+that ordinarily would be considered about as safe from harm as could be
+found.
+
+On the fifth day of the second battle of Ypres, April 25, 1915, McKay,
+an orderly, came up the line with ammunition for the guns as our supply
+was exhausted. As soon as the shells were delivered it was his duty to
+report at once to the Captain for further orders. The poor fellow was
+starving for something to eat and he thought he would steal the time to
+slip up to the cookhouse and get a bite of grub. He rode his horse
+across and was in the act of leaning over to get a couple of hardtacks
+the cook was handing him, when a splinter of a shell that had exploded
+at his horse's feet, struck him in the neck, killing him instantly,
+slightly wounding his horse and destroying the rations and vessels in
+the cookhouse. The Captain yelled, "Ammunition orderly wanted," and I
+volunteered. I jumped on the horse, galloped him as well as his limping
+leg would permit, and weathered the storm of shells through the fire
+zone, making my way to the wagon lines, where I gave the Quartermaster
+the order.
+
+Then I had the pleasure of witnessing for the first time the admirable
+celerity and effectiveness with which an order of this kind is carried
+out.
+
+"Ten loads of ammunition wanted at once, sir; ammunition pretty nearly
+exhausted at the guns," was the message I delivered. The Quartermaster
+blew his whistle--"Stand to! ammunition up!" he yelled. The Sergeant
+then carried on; the men were standing easy by their horses waiting for
+the word. In these days, when a battle is on, the men are always ready
+for the word at a moment's notice, with their horses fully harnessed,
+nothing being removed from the animals except the bit to enable them to
+take their feed from the bag, and in no case is an ammunition wagon left
+without its guard; at night when the guard would lie down to snatch an
+hour's sleep, another one was there ready to carry on. "Prepare to
+mount! Mount! Walk--march! Trot!" yelled the Sergeant in quick
+succession, each command being executed with clock-like exactness, and
+they trotted from under cover of the trees where they were concealed
+from the airplanes and proceeded rapidly up the road under shell fire,
+bumping and stumbling along.
+
+I was guide for the party. We passed through Breeland, but could not
+make the best kind of speed as the traffic was terribly congested. On
+the left hand side of the road long lines of ambulances bearing wounded
+men were going down, stretcher bearers were carrying their suffering
+burdens and wounded men who were able to walk were making their way
+around and through the wagons as best they could, among them being men
+from every branch of the Imperial service, together with French and
+Algerians; on the other side of the road supply wagons of all
+descriptions were going forward. In the course of our journey the
+harness of one of the horses rubbed the animal until he was lame,
+stopping up the wagon. Immediately the Sergeant who was riding alongside
+ordered the wagon to one side, removed the horse, installed his own,
+jumped on the wagon and caught up with the others. The speed with which
+he did the trick almost made me gasp with astonishment; in all my life I
+never saw work of the kind handled so smoothly and swiftly. A dash of
+the picturesque was added to the scene by the Algerian ration-bearers
+winding their way in and out of the wagons, carrying trays of hot food
+on their heads and shoulders. It was nothing short of marvelous, the
+skillful manner in which they carried their precious burden of food, for
+never did they have a spill unless killed or wounded.
+
+One of the funniest sights a man can see was the way my chums of the
+ammunition wagons defied the explicit and peremptory order, "No smoking
+on the road at or around Ypres." There is something in the rise and
+fall of the lighted cigarette when being smoked that attracts the
+attention at long distances and many a man has had to pay the penalty,
+which was most severe,--28 days field punishment, which means 28 days
+without pay and breaking your back at fatigue duty around the camp, the
+cookhouse and the wagon lines, in addition to four hours extra drill
+each day. The temptation to smoke is so compelling that the punishment
+does not deter most men and they take the chance. By taking the collar
+of their coat and tucking it around their faces, lighting the match
+under their coat next to their ribs, burying their faces in their coat,
+they get a light without much danger of detection. In puffing it a man
+will hold the fag in his closed fist to his mouth, take the inhale, and,
+if there should happen to be a provo or other suspicious guardian of the
+rules in sight, down into his stomach would go the smoke. I don't know
+why it is but it has always seemed to me that the more stringent the
+rules are against the forbidden luxury, the more chances men will take
+to get their smoke.
+
+We made the run to Ypres Square in an hour and a half. As soon as we
+entered I noticed a woman clinging tightly to a little girl and hugging
+the wall of the Nunshouse, a building standing immediately opposite the
+town hall in the square. The square itself was a large open place in the
+city about 350 feet long by 150 wide. I jumped off my horse, gave it to
+the driver and went over. In broken English I learned they wanted to
+cross, but on account of the fire continually bursting the woman would
+not, so I picked up the child and carried her across to a cellar about
+five doors out of the square. A chunk had been blown out of the building
+and there was no difficulty in getting into the cellar, and as soon as I
+got to this place the child murmured, "_Bon! bon!_" and indicated she
+would go in there. I set her down and she turned her pretty little face
+to me for a kiss. She then caught my arm as I was about to go and
+slipping off a tiny locket from her little neck, handed it to me,
+indicating that she wanted me to keep it. I have it to this day and I
+prize it tenderly. It has a small picture of the patron saint of France,
+Joan of Arc.
+
+I ran back to her mother, pointed out where the child was, but she still
+seemed afraid to venture across. Although my little adventure did not
+occupy over three minutes, I could wait no longer, and jumped on my
+horse and the train of wagons trotted sharply out of the square. As the
+last wagon was leaving, I heard a sound like a train leaving a
+depot--choo! choo! choo! choo! growing louder each instant, and as the
+tail-end of the last wagon was trotting out of the square a shell, the
+largest ever employed by the German command and called the Ypres
+Express, landed full in the square, killing every living thing there and
+destroying ambulances and wagons of every kind, catching our rear wagon
+and blowing it up, wounding the driver and destroying the magnificent
+Cloth Hall, the last vestige of this most beautiful piece of
+architecture being destroyed by the resulting fire. That shell was from
+one of two guns that were expressly manufactured for the purpose of
+destroying the city of Ypres, a couple of months being taken to build
+cement platforms in which to set the ordnance, and the death-dealing
+monsters started on their mission of destruction from Dixmude, about 22
+miles distant.
+
+[Illustration: British Battery in Action]
+
+Not long after, an airplane located these monsters and succeeded in
+destroying one by a downpour of explosives he dropped on it, and the
+other one, a couple of days following, when being fired by its crew,
+the shell exploded in the gun itself, tearing it from its cement
+foundation and destroying itself and crew. These were the only guns of
+that caliber that have ever been used, so far as is known. The passage
+through the air of those missiles of death, heralded by their choo!
+choo! sent a shiver of dread up and down the lines as far as the sound
+would reach, and deep and lasting was the satisfaction of all ranks when
+the last of these mammoths of destruction wended its final flight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+HUN HELPERS
+
+
+On the sixth day after the first gas attack on the Canadians at Ypres,
+we took up a new position in a hedge about three-quarters of a mile
+north and a quarter of a mile east of Ypres, and about a thousand yards
+from the German trenches. We galloped like mad over the shell-swept
+road, taking just exactly an hour and a half to get the guns placed and
+blazing. We had four guns when we pulled into this position, but were
+latterly reinforced by two more from another battery, their sisters
+having been smashed and the crews bayoneted, including their commanding
+officers, and like friendless children they came to us looking for a
+home and were gladly taken in, thus increasing our battery to six guns.
+
+The hedge of the thickly growing thorn bushes ranged to the height of
+four feet, making it incumbent upon us to continually assume a stooping
+position when walking, involving a crick in the back for a good part of
+the time while there, but the bush was as thick as could be and formed
+an admirable shelter.
+
+The beauty of these hedges in blossoming time is charming and the buds
+were now coming out, their fragrance filling the air with sweet nectar.
+To our right was a large farmhouse, of two stories and a gable roof, and
+the nearest gun to the house was not over 30 feet off. The house was
+occupied by a farmer, his wife and two young children, a boy and a girl.
+
+The farmer's demeanor toward us was that of a systematic grouch and his
+appearance did not belie his disposition--as surly and sulky looking as
+a whipped criminal. He would stand in the doorway, watching us
+continually, as if he feared we were going to steal his house from over
+his head, and about the only thing he would say was to warn us not to
+destroy the hedge. But our love for the shelter, to say nothing of our
+love for the fragrant blossoms, made this injunction needless.
+
+Over on the other side of the house, 40 feet to the right of it, was
+another hedge behind which was a French battery of .75's. This battery
+had been through the Marne and they were veterans of the finest order,
+the very cream of the French artillery service, and their Captain was an
+educated gentleman, speaking English as fluently as his native tongue.
+They had come up from the Champagne district to reinforce the position
+at Ypres and their battery also consisted of six guns, each gun capable
+of 24 shells a minute.
+
+In appearance these guns are the last in the world to give one the
+impression of supreme efficiency; when we saw them coming down the road
+we wondered what they could be and were amazed when informed that they
+were the famous .75's that had made the work of the French guns ring
+throughout the world; we couldn't at first bring ourselves to believe
+that these were the famous guns until we saw them at work, because there
+is nothing in the general aspect of the piece to make one think that
+they are any better, if as good, as our old field pieces.
+
+The secret of these magnificent guns lies in the buffer and in the
+ability of the muzzle of the gun to cool off; after discharging 24
+rounds they are just as ready to discharge another 24 as when they
+started, while in the case of our pieces we have to let them cool, and
+15 or 18 per minute is the limit of our effort, because any more would
+cause them to jam from the heat. There is no gun on earth that can
+compare with the .75's.
+
+Our ammunition was supplied to us at this spot over a road running
+between our wagon lines, half way between Flamingad and Breevland, about
+a thousand yards away, but they had to go in a roundabout way, traveling
+fully 800 yards out of the direct route on account of the ditches. It
+was a physical impossibility for the horses to bring up sufficient
+ammunition for the guns during the night, and they had to make the
+perilous trip many times during the day, and with the German shells
+pounding the road every foot of the way, their fire being guided by the
+wireless directions from their planes, the number of horses that had
+their lives smashed out on this road was something enormous. At one spot
+is the famous Hell's Corner, so named because of the fierce fire that
+continually rained upon it, and here I counted 40 dead horses, as fine
+looking animals as ever were harnessed. Such is the toll of war.
+
+On the day that we arrived, our attention was drawn to an Algerian who
+seemed to be an inmate of the house. He could speak some English and
+seemed to spend most of his time cleaning his revolver. On the first
+afternoon I asked him why he was there and to what regiment he belonged.
+
+"The Algerian-African troop."
+
+"I understood they were in the trenches," I said. "Are you with the
+infantry?"
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I am."
+
+"Are you wounded?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Then why are you not with your men?" I insisted.
+
+"I was lost in the retreat," he answered.
+
+"Why don't you go and look them up?"
+
+"I did, but I can't find them."
+
+Then he asked me if we were getting ammunition up.
+
+"Oh, yes, lots of it," I said.
+
+"When are you going to fire?"
+
+"Oh, pretty soon," I said.
+
+"What are you going to shoot at?" he asked.
+
+I told him we were going to plug the German trenches and the buildings
+around there, that we had orders to blow them up as they were filled
+with machine guns. He grinned from ear to ear, saying, "Good! Good!
+Shoot them all! Which ones you shoot first? I want to see them fall."
+
+I pointed out the ones my battery was going to demolish and his big
+white teeth were exposed in another grin, as he nodded approvingly, and
+walked off.
+
+That same afternoon my gun leveled the buildings assigned to me for
+demolishment and knowing beyond all shadow of a doubt that they were
+filled with men and machine guns, I watched through the glasses to see
+the gray-clad inmates popping out of the doors and windows. Judge of my
+astonishment! Not a solitary soul left the building my gun had
+destroyed. I watched each one of them in turn and in turn was awarded
+nothing for my pains. From others, however, hundreds of men rushed and
+as they scurried away our guns shrapneled them, dropping them by the
+score.
+
+A sort of a subconscious connection between my conversation with the
+Algerian and the effect of my gun fire found lodging in the back of my
+head, but it was not until later that it became a direct consciousness.
+Another thing that set me thinking was what seemed to me to be an undue
+familiarity between this Algerian trooper and our farmer; he had the
+entree of the house, apparently could go and come as he pleased,
+drinking coffee with the inmates, sleeping there nights and making
+himself generally at home. I didn't think much of it at the time, but
+later events made these trivialities very significant indeed.
+
+The bombardment was now commencing to have its effect on me, and McLean
+and I were both tired out; we were dead beat and looked around for a
+quiet spot where we could rest. Billy McLean was my especial pal ever
+since I had set foot in France.
+
+"Here is what the doctor ordered," he said, as we went off down the
+hedge a bit and came to a little opening in the bush into which we both
+crawled. It requires no effort for a man who has been sustaining the
+sound, shock and work of a bombardment, to fall asleep anywhere, any
+time, and we were soon Murphyized, as Mac expressed it.
+
+The rain now commenced falling heavily and in the midst of our slumbers,
+an orderly happened along and woke me up. I gave Mac a shove and he too
+woke up. We were drenched and made for the barn. We found the Old Man
+there with a lantern and told him we were going up in the loft, but he
+scowled and said we were not to go. "To hell with you!"--and up we went,
+finding five or six of the boys there taking advantage of the lull to
+snatch an hour's sleep. We quickly followed suit, getting hold of some
+straw and grain bags for a bed, and resumed our interrupted slumbers.
+
+In the midst of our dreams "S.O.S. Stand to!" was ordered, but we did
+not hear. One of our fellows, as we later learned, came running up to
+the farmhouse and asked the farmer if he had seen any of our men.
+
+"No," he scowled, "there are none here."
+
+When we had our sleep out we made for the guns. It did not take us long
+to see that a pretty thorough strafing had been going on, yet so dead
+beat to the utter exhaustion point were we, that we had failed to hear
+them.
+
+"Where the hell were you fellows?" asked one.
+
+"Asleep up there in the barn," said I; "why didn't you call us?"
+
+"I did, I asked that old blankety-blank and he told me he hadn't seen
+any of you fellows around there."
+
+"Well," said I, "he knew that Mac and I were up there, because we told
+him we were going, although he didn't want to let us go."
+
+Here the incident dropped and was forgotten for the time. That afternoon
+Fritz attempted to come over our way and on a "Stand to" we jumped to
+the guns and drove him back, sending across 200 expressions of our good
+will in record time. Then we "stood down." Following this we went
+through the usual routine of cleaning up our pet and making her ready
+for the next visitation, and while working away, friend farmer came
+along with one of his cows, a large white animal, leading it with a rope
+and permitting her to graze. He walked along in front of my gun where it
+stopped and grazed awhile; going in like manner in front of each of the
+guns. Then he led the animal over to the other side of the house, where
+it grazed in front of the French .75's.
+
+In the meantime we were working hard, getting our pets in shape, and
+someone asked who would volunteer for water. We were all dirty, thirsty,
+greasy and tired, and I offered to go. I ambled over to the farmhouse,
+stopping to speak to the Captain for a moment on the way, when I heard
+a shell explode; it had demolished No. 2 gun.
+
+"Stand to!" yelled the Captain; then to the farmer, "Take that damned
+cow away." He hurried the cow off and put it in the barn, but he had no
+sooner gone than Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! and the Captain and I were
+knocked off our feet. The water bottle was broken and I did not take
+time to get another but made for the guns. They were hammering our
+batteries thoroughly now and I was told to take shelter. I ran over to
+the farmhouse and asked the farmer's wife for a cup of coffee,--to sell
+me a cup, which she refused; in fact, her husband would not permit any
+of us to enter the house again. Then a smothering fire smashed the
+French battery, the destruction being so accurate and complete that it
+was done while I was asking and being refused the coffee! Just leaving
+the house, I met one of the French captains. "Did you notice anything
+peculiar in the farmer's actions?" he asked me; "I mean, with his white
+cow?"
+
+"I told him I hadn't noticed anything peculiar, that I had noticed he
+had taken his white cow out in front of our battery, grazing her there
+just before the battery was shot up.
+
+"Did the cow stop in front of your gun?"
+
+"Yes, it stopped before each one of them."
+
+"So it did at ours," he said.
+
+"_Merci_ Monsieur, you will hear from this." And he left in a hurry. He
+phoned the gendarmes in the city of Ypres and in less than half-an-hour
+they came. They entered the farmhouse and searched it thoroughly.
+Upstairs they found parts of a heliograph lamp and a complete telephone
+apparatus; there was also in his stove a system that had been
+inaugurated for forcing up a shower of sparks; this apparatus had been
+found in the houses of a number of spies who had paid the penalty for
+their work. Then they made a search of the cellar in which were found
+hundreds of tins of beef and jam, all of which had come from our
+rations, and then was explained the mysterious disappearance of our
+grub. There was no trace to be found of our Algerian trooper; he had
+made a hasty exit.
+
+Friend farmer and his wife were arrested, taken away with the children
+and placed in the coop, and there the traitorous couple got their
+deserts--they were taken to the square and shot.
+
+After they had gone we made ourselves at home in the building, and the
+comforts that awaited us there made us feel almost glad that they had
+turned out to be spies. Among the rations we found that they had taken
+stuff that had been purloined from other units as far back as three
+months before. After a thorough ransacking and a feed that filled us to
+our heart's content, we made for the battery, being greeted with a fresh
+outburst on our arrival, and under the fire we pulled our remaining guns
+away to another hedge 200 yards off, and waited for the storm to settle.
+
+While lying there the brains of one of our geniuses got to working and
+his ideas were quickly resolved into action. We went down to the barn,
+took a couple of wagons, taking off the wheels and the poles, and made
+up three dummy guns and placed them in the spot we had left, and in a
+few minutes' time we had the satisfaction of seeing Fritz spend three or
+four hundred good shells on our dummy battery.
+
+A consuming thirst was parching my mouth and I took a chance and ran
+along the open to the house for a drink. Then it was that the
+disadvantageous side of our good work with the dummy guns was
+exemplified; just as I was stepping out of the door, a shell tore a hole
+in one corner of the building, knocking it out as clean as if it had
+been drilled.
+
+The customary methods employed by the Germans to get information as to
+our guns, our troops, our supplies around Ypres, was to send a disguised
+soldier to the different farmhouses and threaten them with instant
+demolition by their guns if they did not furnish the information sought
+for, and thus did Fritz make good his promise to the farmer. By reason
+of our dummy guns and the strafing they got, and the fact that our guns
+still were firing, he believed that the farmer had given him a bunco
+steer, and he lost no time in making good his word.
+
+Remaining in the hedge for a few hours, we dug holes for the guns,
+covered them with tarpaulins and grass on top, giving them the usual
+scenic shelter. We did this work in the open but only one man at a time
+exposed; it was as much as life was worth for more than one to be seen
+working. That evening, in the midst of our meal at cookhouse,--"Stand
+to!" and we raced for our pets. When the concert was well under way,
+Munsey noticed a light three or four hundred yards off that was acting
+somewhat peculiarly; it would flare up and down oddly and seemed to be
+in a farmhouse straight at our rear, but not much attention was paid to
+it at the time. Next morning Munsey and I were in the cookhouse, trying
+to moisten a couple of hardtack biscuits with what juice we could
+extract from a piece of bacon rind, when an airplane hummed overhead and
+the attention of one of our anti-aircraft guns was immediately diverted
+to the bird. The cookhouse had formerly been a French dressing station,
+dismantled by the fire of those devils that know no law of God or man,
+composed of three huts in a row made of half-inch board. While eating,
+one of our own shells, a shrapnel, that had been sent up at a German
+stork and did not explode, dropped squarely into the middle of the
+cookhouse, frightened the cook out of his wits and hit the dixies,
+scattering them around our feet. "Stand to!" and we made our way
+carefully, keeping out of sight as much as possible from the watching
+bird overhead.
+
+When I got to the gun the shell fire was commencing to get dangerously
+close. "By God, there must be somebody giving our battery away," said
+Munsey. A number of our men had been wounded at this time and the
+airplane still buzzing above, made it impossible for us to fire, and we
+got a "Stand down!"
+
+"Come on over," Munsey proposed, "and we'll see what's in that building
+where I saw the light." We found a family of civilians living there and
+they were at once very solicitous about giving us coffee. "Never mind
+the coffee," said Munsey; "we have come to examine the house." The old
+man seemed quite willing to have us do so and pointed the way upstairs,
+starting himself to go out the door. Munsey grabbed him by the
+arm,--"Come along and show us the way." He indicated that we could find
+the way ourselves, but my mate was insistent and he forced the old man
+along and upstairs we went.
+
+At first nothing resulted from our thorough search, but Munsey's eye
+lighted on an Algerian serge lying in the corner of the room, and almost
+at the same time I noticed some bricks in the chimney that seemed to be
+loose. An old table in the middle of the room I pulled over to the
+chimney, tugged at some of the brick that I had noticed, and the whole
+thing caved in, part of a heliograph outfit falling out. The old fellow
+made a dart for the door, but was peremptorily intercepted. "Damn you,
+stay where you are!" I pulled out the rest of the stuff; there was a
+complete heliograph apparatus, and a little red cap, such as the
+Algerians wear, satisfying us both that the man doing the work used the
+uniform of an Algerian.
+
+On leaving the room, carrying the stuff with us and going down stairs,
+we saw a box against the wall and I heard a funny noise from it as if it
+contained something alive. I pulled it out and found it full of pigeons.
+"Who owns these?" I asked.
+
+"An Algerian soldier left them there," he answered.
+
+We then examined the cellar and entire basement, but found nothing
+further. We took the old fellow over to the gendarme who immediately
+took charge of him, and returned to the battery where we imparted the
+news of our find. It was the consensus of opinion that the spy was the
+farmer himself, and that the Algerian uniform was a blind. We were
+chatting away, discussing the matter, when the shells commenced flying
+as thick as peas in a pod; so swift and smashing was the fusillade that
+for awhile I thought hell's gate had opened wide. In less than no time
+one of our guns was knocked out and, getting a "Stand to!" we replied as
+fast as our legs and arms and heads would work.
+
+The excellent quality of the work that Fritz did here made the fellows
+unanimous that his information came from the farmer. Presently the duel
+cooled down and we resumed our chat.
+
+About a hundred yards off from the farmhouse where we had found the
+heliograph and Algerian uniform, was a windmill of the kind commonly
+seen in the farmhouses of the country, with large wings, and it happened
+that while firing, one of the boys, Boxer, noticed that the mill was
+going around in an irregular fashion,--going first one way and then
+another, and then stopping, and he called our attention to it and we all
+noticed it, and almost simultaneously with our observation of the mill,
+four shells came over, knocking another of our guns into uselessness and
+wiping out the crew, and after we got "Stand down!" and had cleaned up,
+Boxer suggested that we go over and see what was in the windmill.
+
+Together we went, going first to the house, and found the children
+crying with fright; some of them tried to tell us something, but we
+couldn't make out what they were saying. We crossed over to the windmill
+and a phenomenon indeed met our eyes,--the wheel was turning in the
+opposite direction from that in which the wind was blowing. We started
+up the steps and--Ping! Ping! and Boxer fell with an oath and a bullet
+in his leg. I assisted him to the farmhouse and then scooted over and
+communicated with the O.C. I also informed a French battery that had
+been terrifically shelled.
+
+In the meantime a stretcher had been sent for, and Boxer was brought
+back to the dressing station, where he had his wound dressed, which
+luckily turned out to be slight.
+
+That night I was filled full of the spirit of adventure and I wanted to
+visit the windmill again. I got a pal to go with me and endeavored to
+make it, but the flares were steadily burning and the snipers were so
+busy we had to lie low. Again I went to the French battery and told the
+officer commanding of my suspicions about the windmill. A smile of
+intelligence and gratefulness lighted up his fine face. "Monsieur, we
+shall see what we shall see," and he ordered a shell into the heart of
+the structure, bringing it down in splinters. Then we made for the ruins
+and found the body of a man dressed in an Algerian uniform; I looked him
+over carefully; he was the artist I had met in the farmhouse at our
+former station.
+
+There remained still the case of the old man in whose house we had
+discovered the heliograph and the pigeons. And the gendarmes were again
+sent for and the Belgian farmer was haled before the officer. With white
+face and streaming eyes he told the French Captain of the gendarmes that
+this man had come to him and told him that if he didn't permit him to go
+into his home, he would instantly signal for the shells and he and his
+family and buildings would be blown to eternity. The old man was
+permitted to go, as the French officer was satisfied he was sincere, but
+that he was utterly powerless to prevent the spy carrying out his plans.
+
+In conversation with us later, the farmer told us that the Algerian had
+brought pigeons with him; that he had written notes, put them in the
+little cup fastened to the bird's foot and sent some of them off, the
+others remaining in the box when the Algerian went upstairs. "I could
+hear the bricks falling, but he called to us not to come upstairs," went
+on the old man. "Shortly afterwards a man dressed in the uniform of a
+British soldier came, and he too went upstairs; he was carrying a bag.
+When he came in he asked if I wanted coffee and I answered 'No.' When he
+came in the Algerian called down to send him up, and he too went up.
+Presently the British soldier left and a few minutes afterwards your
+battery started firing. Then out ran the Algerian, saying he was going
+to the windmill and warned all of us on pain of losing our lives, not to
+come near the mill. That is the last I saw of him, Messieurs, until this
+evening when I see his dead body.
+
+"I am heart and soul with you, Messieurs; I know what you are doing for
+us and for Belgium; but you can see that I had no chance whatever to
+communicate with you; my life would have been the price, and what would
+have become of my family? If there had been anything I could have done,
+Messieurs, I would most gladly have done it, but I couldn't do
+anything, and the spy would have accomplished his purpose just the same
+had I made an attempt."
+
+It was now about 6:30 and on our way back to the gun pit we met a woman
+who seemed to be in the depths of despair, accompanied by a little girl.
+The woman was weeping bitterly. Our nerves were on edge and we were
+suspicious of everybody; trickery, deceit, traitor-work seemed to be in
+the very air itself, and we made a resolve that we would shoot anybody,
+man, woman or child, whom we saw loitering around our guns who had no
+business there; that very day the O.C. had sworn that he would ask no
+questions, but would shoot on sight. The woman's story was pitiful in
+the extreme.
+
+"Oh, what shall I do, what shall I do! My home is gone! My husband is
+gone! My children are gone! And for what?"--wringing her hands and
+gesticulating wildly. "For what, Messieurs? For being quiet,
+inoffensive, loyal people!"
+
+In my clumsy fashion I succeeded in somewhat calming the poor creature,
+and she proceeded a little more coherently.
+
+"Well, Messieurs, a man in Algerian uniform came to our house this
+morning. He asked permission of my husband, who was a loyal Belgian, to
+use our house--for what? To do spy work. My husband ran for a gun and
+warned him off. He said, 'You had better think it over; if you don't let
+me use your house you have not another day to live!' In spite of this,
+my husband presented the gun at him and he made off, but as he was
+leaving he called back, 'Do not on any account leave the house today,
+any of you, or you will be killed.'
+
+"We watched him and saw him go towards the hedge, and two or three men
+with bags met him, and they made off in the direction of your battery.
+Then, then--_Mon Dieu!_ How can I tell it!--a shell came and destroyed
+our home, killing my dear husband and my two babies."
+
+And again the poor woman burst into a paroxysm of weeping and sank to
+the ground in an utterly exhausted condition, moaning aloud in the
+despair of her misery. Her little daughter was screaming in terror at
+the plight of her mother, and we all set about to comfort them as best
+we could, but ah! God! how comfortless our words.
+
+The thought that perhaps the child would be quieted if she had
+something to eat suggested itself to me, but I had nothing except my
+iron rations, and our orders are very stern that under no circumstances
+must these be consumed except at the time designated, namely, when our
+supply wagons are destroyed and cannot reach us, and the order is issued
+from headquarters that we may use them. These rations are 16 ounces of
+bully beef, two hardtack biscuits, some tea and sugar in small wax
+envelopes. Each man must carry his own iron rations at all times and the
+penalty for eating them without orders is 28 to 90 days, first field
+punishment; therefore, I was taking a chance, but I hadn't the heart to
+resist the pitiful wail of that kiddie, and I felt that the risk I took
+was amply repaid by the cessation of her childish grief. The mother also
+had had nothing to eat all day, and she partook of some of the
+nourishment and was the better for it.
+
+There was nothing more for them that we could do and they departed, the
+poor creature with an expression in her eyes that plainly said, she
+didn't know where on earth she was going, and cared less.
+
+This was only an individual instance of the tens of thousands of blasted
+and stricken homes and families, resulting from the rule or ruin policy
+of the German "man of God."
+
+Half an hour after they had departed a train of ammunition wagons came
+galloping up, the driver telling us that in passing Hell's Corner they
+were given an exceptionally heavy dose by Fritz. "His aim the nicht was
+damn puir, however," said one of the Scotch drivers; "he never gave us a
+scratch; but I noticed on the road a woman wi' a little bairn, a wee
+thing, hardly higher than your knee, and as we were racing by them, a
+shell exploded on the side of the road, right alongside o' them, blawin'
+the puir things to their doom."
+
+From the description furnished by the driver, I was convinced it was the
+poor woman and child for whom I had taken the risk of punishment, and I
+could not help thinking what a blessing it was that death had come to
+them in the way it did, so soon after her inextinguishable sorrow.
+
+Another evidence testamentary of the industry of the German agents came
+to us that very night from the driver. After the wagons were loaded up
+at the wagon lines, someone undid the locks of the wagons and on the way
+to the guns the shells dropped out from time to time, scattering over
+the cobble stones, causing them to lose more than half of their precious
+loads.
+
+"Aye," said the Scotch driver who had told us about the woman and her
+child, "and a French battery coming up behind us, the horse kicked one
+shell that we dropped, and I'm damned if it did na' explode and blaw the
+puir beggars to the deil. By the Lord! They're doing gude work!" Good
+work, indeed, Fritz, but your day is coming!
+
+Next morning about ten o'clock we got a "Stand to!" as a bombardment had
+begun and Fritz had started coming over. We stopped him, but no sooner
+had we ceased firing than Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Bang! Bang! coming
+down so fast that we made off for shelter at the cookhouse. While there,
+Munsey thought he would like to have a look at the situation generally
+in the surrounding country, through the medium of a hole in the side of
+the cookhouse up near the roof and he hopped on top of a box and looked
+out in the direction of Ypres. The most notable object there was the
+town clock, and he had not been looking long before he noticed the hands
+moving this way and that; he watched closely and then called, "Come
+here, fellows, quick. Come and watch the clock!" We all jumped to a
+point of vantage and watched, and in few minutes we were satisfied that
+the shell fire that was raining upon us was being directed by the hands
+of the clock. We observed that when the long hand moved right, the rain
+of fire would increase; when it moved left, it decreased; each jump of
+the hand five minutes meant 25 yards increase or decrease, as the case
+might be. Every time the small hand moved one minute right, it meant
+three yards right; two minutes, six yards, and so on; and the same if it
+veered to the left. And when both hands turned at once to 12:00 o'clock
+we deduced from their fire that some object was registered and when that
+was done the large hand would go all the way around and the fire would
+increase to a regular hurricane; if it went half way round, it would
+decrease. The small hand going all the way round, the fire ceased.
+
+We watched intently for some time, keeping our eyes glued on the
+movement of the hands in conjunction with the fire, and then the matter
+was phoned to headquarters. A result of their combination guns and
+clockwork was the destruction of one of our pieces and two of the
+French battery. Another battery observer had noticed the clockwork at
+the same time that we were watching it, and the gendarmes were notified;
+they made a trip to the top of the tower in double quick time, finding
+there a man in a British uniform and one in French uniform; the man with
+the British uniform wore a French cap and he in the French had a British
+cap. They were taken and confined in the basement of a ruined building
+and a guard set.
+
+That night I was sent to the trench headquarters to do guard duty and
+next day, about 11:00 o'clock in the morning, I was standing in the
+doorway of the farmhouse where the pump had blown in on Scotty, and I
+was accosted by two men who were walking rapidly. They asked me where a
+certain Algerian Regiment was lying and I directed them, after giving
+them a drink of water and a biscuit. They also asked me what those
+headquarters were, and a number of other questions. However, no
+suspicion of there being anything wrong entered my mind, as they spoke
+perfect English. They left and had just turned the corner to cross a
+pontoon bridge over Yser Canal, going toward the front-line trenches,
+when three French guards came running like mad. They asked me some
+questions excitedly, but it was some time before I could make out what
+they wanted.
+
+Finally I got it through my head and told them and they raced off. The
+men who had accosted me were the two prisoners who had been taken in the
+clock tower at Ypres, as I heard subsequently, but they did not get away
+with their nervy trick; they were taken and paid the price.
+
+That same night a bunch of the 48th Highlanders, of Toronto, were on our
+right, and dug in in the bank, but there was considerable water in the
+bottom of their holes, while ours, compared to theirs, were beautifully
+dry. The Kilties came along, searching for blankets and whatever they
+could get, and we spared them whatever we could. Then one of them
+spotted a farmhouse, the occupants of which had been shelled out because
+they would not comply with the orders of a German agent, and had lost
+their home in consequence. They went in and helped themselves to straw
+and came out loaded down with armfuls of it. I decided to follow suit
+and went over, just reaching the barn, when Kr-kr-kr-p!--the first shell
+that came going right amongst them, setting the barn on fire and
+wounding several of the 48th. Their presence had been made known by a
+secret service agent, as it is one chance in a hundred thousand for a
+shell to hit so desirable a target at the first shot. The aim was
+excellent and the work accomplished by the shell was splendid--from a
+German point of view.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BITS OF BATTLE
+
+
+On the way over to the barn, where the shell hit the 48th, a piece of a
+tree limb smashed into the ground at my feet, following the familiar
+whiz just overhead of a large gun missive, with its accompanying wind
+gust, and at the same moment something struck with a thud the tree from
+which the splinter had come. Glancing up, I noticed a shell lodged in a
+fork of the two main branches, that had stuck there without exploding.
+For a shell to explode, it is necessary that the nose of the fuse,
+containing the detonator, shall come in contact with a solid substance,
+in order to make ignition and cause the explosion. This had not been
+done; owing to the intervention of kind nature in the shape of the
+crotch in that tree catching and holding the shell fast in a firm
+embrace, we were saved from that additional disaster and death.
+
+A dried-up creek that was being used by us for a trench on the Ypres
+sector was crossed by a wooden bridge about thirty feet long. This
+bridge was used as a means of transport at night and by Red Cross men in
+the daytime, and was very useful; it was most important that it be kept
+in constant repair. I was detailed in charge of the repair party. One
+day during the great Ypres battle, about ten o'clock in the morning, the
+bridge was smashed and I took my party up and made the necessary
+repairs. We had hardly returned to cover when the bridge was smashed
+again, and again we rushed out and fixed it up. As we ran, three men
+forged ahead of me and got to the middle of the thirty-foot structure; I
+was about twenty feet behind them, the rest of the party immediately
+behind me. I was shouting an order to them, when a shell exploded in the
+middle of the bridge, killing all three. I was saved by twenty feet.
+
+In the late afternoon one day of the battle, I was resting in a hole I
+had burrowed under a sand-bank; about 200 men were burrowed in the same
+bank in the same way. A monster shell struck the bank immediately above
+me, upheaving the ground and completely burying me and half a dozen
+others. I was dug out in a half smothered condition, but soon was able
+to assist in the work of resurrecting the rest. The only casualty that
+occurred in that incident was innocently caused by myself; as I was
+digging, my shovel struck the leg of an officer, inflicting such a gash
+that when resuscitated he had to go to hospital.
+
+A cunning device of the Germans to misuse the Red Cross came to light
+during the next few days. It was in the vicinity of the woods where the
+Imperial Batteries had lost their guns. In a counter attack to retake
+these guns our men went over, accompanied by the engineers, to destroy
+the guns, as it was thought it would be impossible to bring them back.
+This turned out to be true, as the enemy advanced in such strong mass
+formation that our fellows had their hands full fighting them off until
+the engineers made good their work, which they did by smashing the
+hydraulic buffers with picks, destroying the sights, blowing the guns
+up, and taking the breech-blocks back with them.
+
+In going over the ground that our barrage had covered a few minutes
+before, we found lying there German soldiers who had acted as stretcher
+bearers, wearing the red cross of Geneva on their arms, for the purpose
+of running wires from trench to trench, from battery to battery, and to
+headquarters, and the way they did the trick was to take a roll of wire
+on a stretcher covered with a blanket, to represent a wounded comrade,
+start the roll unwinding and running the wire between their legs as they
+walked. The blankets on the stretchers were used to deceive our
+observers and make them believe they were doing honest hospital work in
+the field. This was only one of their many unprincipled practices, for
+the Germans ignored all usages of war as practiced by civilization.
+
+During the busiest days of May, 1915, between the second and third
+battle of Ypres, I was on guard duty at field headquarters in the
+trenches. The Staff was located in an old two-story building that was
+much the worse for wear from German calling cards. My "go" was from
+eight to ten P.M. Promptly at ten o'clock a rap came to the door and,
+blowing out the light, I inquired who it was. It was my relief, Dave
+Evans, one of the best pals whom it has ever been my lot to soldier
+with. Dave was a heavy-set man, strong as an ox; I think he could have
+almost felled a bull with his fist, so powerful was he. I re-lit the
+candle after closing the door. This was Dave's first "go" at this
+particular spot, and I cautioned him to be careful not to show himself
+in the open doorway with the light behind him, as the building was under
+observation and the splinters that were being continually chipped from
+it demonstrated how keenly active and alert they were, and made it
+necessary for a man to be on the lookout every second of the time. He
+said he would take no chances. Dave had just obtained an Enfield rifle,
+for which he had been very glad to exchange his Ross, as the Enfield is
+better suited for trench purposes, and, not being thoroughly familiar
+with its workings, he asked me to explain it to him, which I did. Then I
+blew out the light, opened the door, whispered "good-night," and started
+down the path. About a hundred feet away I heard Dave calling me back; I
+turned; he was standing in the doorway, with the candle light gleaming
+behind him. He called out, "Grant, I don't quite get this safety catch
+and bolt; would you mind showing it to me again?"
+
+"Blow out the light, you damn fool," I called.
+
+"All right," and he did so and I started back. As he answered me I heard
+simultaneously the report of a rifle and the whiz of a bullet passing
+me. When I got to the door I stumbled over the body of my friend Dave;
+he had received the summons through the head.
+
+While standing guard at the open door, before Dave came, with the light
+out, however, I suddenly got a start that frightened me more than
+anything else that has happened me in France: In the gleam of a distant
+flare, the white faces of two women peered around the corner of the
+building, looking at me through the open door. There was something so
+damnably uncanny in their appearance, and so startling, that a cold
+sweat broke out over me, and I snapped my rifle to the present. Had they
+not been women they would not have lived; a loiterer around headquarters
+takes his life in his hands.
+
+They had been there that same afternoon, saying they were the owners of
+the place, and that they had stopped to take away some supplies. They
+were permitted to take their goods with them, but were warned against
+coming there again. They did not heed the warning. I reported their
+presence to the O.C. and they were promptly arrested and handed over to
+the French police. What their lot was I cannot tell, but to this day I
+can't help thinking that in some way poor Dave owes his fate to those
+women.
+
+After two days' hard marching we reached Givenchy June 9, 1915, a little
+town in France lying thirty miles south of Ypres. Our battery of two
+guns took up its position immediately outside, on the southwest side of
+the town. A few civilians were scattered through the town, living in the
+cellars, the rest having fled at the German approach. We were ordered to
+put our guns in the very front-line trench for the reason that the
+opposing trenches being so close together, it was impossible for the
+guns to do justice to themselves without inflicting serious casualties
+on our own men. To make our work as noiseless as possible, we took a
+number of old rubber tires, cut them in strips and wrapped them around
+the gun wheels with hay wire; this facilitated both the movement of the
+guns and the preservation of silence.
+
+We again had the honor of being the sacrifice battery for the
+division--in other words, having the profound pleasure of going
+heavenward, or in the other direction, before any of the others, for the
+purpose of working out the plan of action by the Command. We got the
+guns into position under cover of night, and thoroughly camouflaged
+them with grass and tree branches. We did the job so artistically that
+the birds would come and chatter and sing immediately over the guns when
+they were not telling their tale of love to Fritz.
+
+Out in front of our guns was a small ridge or embankment, gradually
+sloping up to a height of twenty feet and extending east and west for a
+distance of three or four hundred yards. This rising piece of ground was
+a decided obstacle to our progress and it was ordered mined for the
+purpose of leveling it. The engineers attended to the task. It turned
+out that Fritz also had mined the ridge in order to blow our sector
+skyward.
+
+The stage was set and the play started at 5:30 in the afternoon. Our
+orders were to blow holes in the parapet wire which ran in a zigzag
+direction every way out in front, for the purpose of enabling the
+infantry to get through when they got over. Our ammunition was of the
+best; we now took no chance on any defective goods. We had 20 rounds of
+shell for each gun. When we got the order--"Fire!" gaps were torn in the
+wire by my gun, and the other gun had blown away some small ridges. We
+were going strong when a shell--the very first one--took our other gun,
+blowing it and the crew into nothingness. We went on firing until we had
+exploded 18 shells and had made several gaps in the wire, when, without
+a moment's warning, our trench mine exploded. The trenches were packed
+with troops ready for the word. A mountain of debris was shot in the air
+and back over us, burying a number of soldiers in the trench, where they
+died miserably from suffocation. The concussion was so powerful that it
+blew the shield of my gun off downwards, cleaving Corporal King's skull
+in twain and blowing Gunner MacDonald, who was sitting on the handspike
+of the gun, 20 feet away. When we found him next day, every bone in his
+body was broken. I was sitting on the gun alongside of Corporal King at
+the time of his death, and how I escaped is more than I can tell. Again
+I couldn't help speculating that my life must have been spared for some
+good purpose; I sincerely hope so.
+
+It was impossible to do any further firing, as the muzzle of the gun was
+choked completely with the dirt that had been shot backward by the
+explosion of our own mine. Our misfortune, however, did not prevent or
+deter for a moment the intended movement. Unable to do anything further
+as a gunner, I hopped into the charge with the 48th Highlanders of
+Toronto, who had just started with one of their old-time yells to go out
+and over. When we reached the German front lines,--or what was left of
+them, for the explosion had blown from them all semblance of a
+trench,--it was jammed full of German troops--dead. On we went,
+inclining to the right and reaching an orchard in which was a nest of
+them concealed in the trees. Those on mother earth were speedily driven
+to hell or made good their escape, and we then attended to the case of
+the squirrels in the branches. This was somewhat difficult, as the night
+was excessively dark, but our snipers, circling everywhere underneath
+them, finally got them; not a single baby-killer escaped; it was a case
+of getting limburgers in an apple tree.
+
+No sooner had we cleaned up the job than the Fritzies returned _en
+masse_ formation, compelling us to beat a discretionary retreat to their
+front-line trenches, where we held and are still holding, and then some.
+Here we remained until the middle of the following month.
+
+Some minor engagements took up my duties after Givenchy, until about
+September 1, when my battery was instructed to proceed to Ploegsteert.
+
+Ploegsteert sets in ruins about two miles northwest of Armentieres;
+there were no buildings that Fritz failed to level with the exception of
+the tower, which they used for registry purposes,--a reference point in
+artillery technology. We were stationed on this sector for eight months,
+and our stay here was more or less of a recreation; battle firing was
+only intermittent; and on the days that we did speak to Fritz, we rarely
+sent over more than 10 to 12 messages.
+
+Our battery was in a hedge here and we were having our wires cut several
+times, causing us considerable trouble and annoyance.
+
+Butler, one of my pals, was started out to make the necessary repairs.
+He left on his dangerous mission, crouching along and taking advantage
+of every bit of shelter on the way, but several ping! pings! warned him
+that he was treading on danger ground. He kept at his work, busily
+hunting for the break in the wire, with the sniping pills passing his
+ears continually.
+
+Crawling along on his hands and knees, with the wire running through his
+hand, he came to a little bush, where it slipped away from him, denoting
+that there was the break. At that moment the sniper got him in the leg,
+but he held to until he repaired it, and was in touch with headquarters,
+reporting that he had mended the break, when the wire was again cut. The
+bleeding from his wound now made it necessary for him to mend that break
+first, and he bandaged it as quickly as his nervous fingers would work.
+Again he took hold of the wire, crawling and stumbling along until he
+again came to the break, and again mended it. He was being closely
+watched now, as the bullets were whistling about him ceaselessly. Again
+he turned his attention to his wound, adjusting the bandage, and he
+noticed a British soldier crawling toward him on his hands and knees.
+
+"Hello, matey, what you doing out here?" he asked.
+
+"I'm mendin' me bloomin' leg now," Butler answered.
+
+"Well, if you hadn't been out here you wouldn't have got it. Why didn't
+you stay in your trenches?"
+
+"Someone's got to repair the wire," said Butler. He was growing
+perceptibly weaker from the loss of blood.
+
+"Oh, repairing the wire, were you? Well, don't repair any more"--and
+Butler had just time to see him level his revolver and then he dropped
+unconscious. The bullet had hit him in the thigh. But his communication
+had reached headquarters that he was wounded and it was not long before
+the stretcher bearers came out and found him. They took him to the
+dressing station, where it was found necessary to amputate his leg, but
+he parted gladly with his dented member when the O.C. told him that his
+grit and endurance were a splendid example for the entire unit,--"Aye,"
+he added, "and for the whole Empire."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Service was being held here in the field one Sunday morning and an
+incident occurred that makes me shake every time I think of it,--not so
+much at the incident itself as in the surrounding circumstances. In the
+midst of the service, a buzzing overhead announced the presence of
+German hawks and a dropping of bombs further announced that they had
+seen us and intended paying their respects.
+
+A face turned upward is one of the most easily detected objects by an
+airplane, and although we had strict orders on no account to look up,
+the temptation for some was too strong. Meantime, the minister continued
+to read the service, but the responses were not as hearty as they had
+been, and he himself was standing with shoulders hunched up to the back
+of his neck, the book pulled up to his nose, and furtively trying to see
+through his eyebrows the danger-birds in the blue. In the midst of the
+solemn moment an officer, glimpsing some of the men turning their faces
+skyward, bellowed, "Damn you, keep those mugs down."
+
+It was our good fortune that none of the messages reached their intended
+destination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+SANCTUARY WOODS
+
+(_3rd Battle of Ypres_)
+
+
+The third battle of Ypres commenced June 2, lasting until June 15, 1916.
+Sanctuary Woods was a cluster of trees, comprising about one thousand in
+number, and they were the very finest and noblest specimens of their
+various types,--oak, elm, ash and beech. They were located just one mile
+outside the city in a northwesterly direction. One of our trenches ran
+northeast and southwest through the middle of the woods.
+
+The line had been exceptionally quiet for the space of a week. My
+battery of six guns was located at a chateau known as the Belgian
+Garden, about 600 yards in the rear of the wood. Two guns were ordered
+into the wood as a sacrifice battery, and my usual luck attached me to
+one of them. We were located in a dry ditch, 300 yards back from the
+front line. Our orders, as usual in the case of the sacrifice battery,
+were to wait until the Germans, when they broke through, if they did,
+were almost in line with our guns.
+
+The morning of the 2nd was a beautiful summer's day; nature was in
+perfect repose; the birds sang gayly, the humming of bees and fragrance
+of flowers filled the air. We were busily engaged making our morning
+ablutions in some shell holes when, like a bolt from the blue, hell
+broke loose in the form of the most violent bombardment I had
+experienced up to that time, lasting twenty minutes, missiles of every
+kind raining down on us on all sides. "Stand to!"--and we waited.
+
+At the end of twenty minutes our men started jumping out of their
+trenches ahead of us and charging across. They were met by the enemy in
+mass formation and overwhelmed. They died to a man. The Germans pressed
+the attack home and came on, yelling like fiends incarnate, drunk with
+the joy of their apparent success and promised victory. On they came,
+apparently irresistible. We commenced firing, and I had the satisfaction
+of seeing gaps blown in their ranks and many of them biting the dust.
+Our poor little battery, however, feazed them but little.
+
+And I want to say right at this time that the idea that seems to be
+prevalent in the minds of many that the German is not a good fighting
+man is a lamentable mistake; he is a good fighter. He has not perhaps
+the initiative of the British, or the avalanche-like ardor in a charge
+of the French soldier, but with his officers pressing him behind and in
+mass formation, he is as formidable a foe as can be imagined.
+
+Our ammunition was exhausted, not a shell remaining, and we grabbed our
+rifles, retreating with the rest, and sniping and dropping as we fell
+back. We took parts of the guns with us to prevent Fritz making use of
+it, and threw them into a shell hole filled with water, as they were too
+heavy to carry and manipulate our rifles at the same time, and that
+ability was much more precious to us at that particular time than the
+gun-parts. One of my chums had been wounded in the pit before we
+retired, and was later taken prisoner, and two of my other chums were
+killed in the general retreat. My pals with the other guns, forty feet
+to our right, did not get all of their ammunition off before the Boches
+were upon them, and they, too, died there; they were incinerated alive
+in their little pit by smoke shells that started everything ablaze as
+they exploded.
+
+The retreat ended in Maple Copse Woods, where we established ourselves
+and held the Germans, they resting at the edge of Sanctuary Woods. Under
+orders, I and my partner started for Zillebeke, about 400 yards back
+from Maple Copse, where we established an observation station, with the
+necessary telephonic communication to headquarters, which, when done,
+was taken in charge by a relief party from another battery, and I
+returned to Belgian Gardens at 11:30 A.M., where I was put in charge of
+another gun crew.
+
+I thought I had done a fairly good morning's work and was hoping Fritz
+would behave himself for the balance of the day, but my hope was a
+delusion, for inside of half an hour Fritzie thought he would like to
+see the scenery in Maple Copse, and came on for another try. Heavy
+firing began, lasting about five minutes, and over they came again. We
+opened up heavily with our battery of four guns, throwing a barrage in
+his front as best we could; mine was the only battery left working on
+this particular sector. Our fellows went out and met Fritz in a
+hand-to-hand argument, backing up their contention so thoroughly with
+the cold steel that they sent him flying back to the line he had
+established at Sanctuary Woods.
+
+But it was necessary, in order to keep him quiet, to keep up a barrage.
+Our ammunition had run down to a point where we had only fourteen shells
+left, and we received orders to hold two high explosive shells, one for
+the muzzle and another for the breech of the gun, to put it out of
+business in case they broke through.
+
+If it became necessary to resort to the expedient of blowing up the gun,
+it would be done by placing a shell in the breech of the chamber, the
+breech closed, another shell inside the muzzle, the lanyard fastened to
+the firing lever and strung out of the front pit door for a distance of
+25 or 30 feet to a large tree standing at our rear, fastened to the
+tree, and when retreating pull it from there, blowing the gun and the
+gun pit into as many pieces.
+
+We took all precautions when it became likely that we were going to be
+overpowered and there was a chance of Fritz taking our gun. It is rarely
+necessary to take this precaution nowadays, nor has it been for the last
+two years; the shoe is on the other foot now and the returns showing
+the number of heavy German guns that we have captured within the last
+two years and a half, together with the fact that not a single British
+gun has been lost, shows how well the work is in hand on the Western
+Front.
+
+[Illustration: Over the Top]
+
+With their unexcelled means of observation, they soon discovered where
+our little battery was hidden, and decided to end the argument with our
+troublemaker there and then.
+
+A smothering fire burst upon us, and one of the shells clipped a large
+tree as easily as if it had been done with a giant razor, and it crashed
+down directly in front of our gun, putting it out of business for the
+time being.
+
+In a few minutes more another shell landed on the gun forty feet to our
+left, ending its usefulness, killing the crew to a man and leaving but
+two guns working; a few moments more and another lit in the
+telephonists' pit fifteen feet to our rear, wiping out three or four of
+the fellows on duty there. Lord! it was getting hot!
+
+We were then ordered to "Stand Down" (take cover), as the fire was
+getting hotter each second and it had all the appearance of being a
+wipe-out. I ordered my crew to beat it for the dugout, staying behind a
+moment or two to set the sight and fasten the lanyard to blow up the gun
+if needed. They started out of the gun pit, taking the turn to the
+right, along the path to the dugout, which was fairly well sheltered by
+big trees. I finished my work in a minute or two and took the turn to
+the left. When I reached the dugout the O.C. inquired where the men
+were.
+
+"They ought to be here, sir; they left ahead of me. I will go at once
+and find them."
+
+"I'll go with you." And we started through the trees. The dugout was
+only about forty yards in the rear of the gun pit and half way there we
+came across my crew lying underneath a huge tree, dead. It had been
+rooted from the ground, hurled in the air with the same ease as a toy
+balloon and dropped on the men. The hole torn in the ground at the root
+was big enough to swallow a horse and cart. Of the five members of my
+crew four were dead; the remaining man, Bill Clark, had fourteen wounds
+in one side of his body from splinters of the tree.
+
+I took him to the dressing station, where his wounds were dressed. As
+soon as he recovered consciousness he asked what had happened, and when
+I told him that his pals, including his bosom chum, Jim Chandler, had
+all been killed, he again lapsed into unconsciousness. He was later
+taken to the hospital, where, after a nine-months' battle with the Grim
+Reaper hovering constantly over his bed, he at last regained some of his
+old-time health. But he will never again be on the firing line.
+
+Every man was now weary, sore and thirsty, and my only grateful
+recollection of that day's work was the O.C.'s command that we be given
+an extra ration of rum. I am not a constitutional advocate of the brew
+that glistens like gold, but that was one time when I thanked the good
+Lord for that drink.
+
+Information was conveyed to the wagon lines of the terrible toll that
+had been exacted that day and the number of men that were needed to
+replace the casualties. Our parson, hearing what was going on in front,
+volunteered to come and officiate at the burial of the men that night,
+and mounting his horse he started in company with Archie Meehan and a
+small relief party.
+
+In the meantime I had made my way back to the cellar of the chateau,
+which we were using for a dugout, and the battery to our rear, an
+Imperial battery, was firing when it received an "S.O.S." Suddenly a
+German airplane hovered over the chateau, describing a half circle
+behind the Imperial battery, spotting its flash, and immediately
+wirelessing the location. Our observers, who were stationed at points on
+either side, did not notice the manipulation of the airplane at the rear
+of the battery. The "S.O.S." was accompanied by a burst of stars from
+the Imperial British Infantry, the signal working its way down right
+into the Canadian lines, where the ammunition was rapidly becoming
+exhausted.
+
+On account of the trees partially obscuring the flash of the guns of the
+Imperial battery, the airship that the battery in the chateau saw did
+not convey the exact information to the German batteries, and when they
+opened up on the chateau, chunks out of the building and trees and a
+general ripping up ensued, but their fire did not reach the battery. In
+all my experience at the front, in three years, I have never known at
+one time in one spot such a devastating fire as they put over at that
+particular time. There were over seven batteries--forty guns--ranging
+from 3 inch to 8 inch, constantly trip-hammering on the building, and
+the earth trembled and quivered as though in the throes of an
+earthquake.
+
+Another gun of our Canadian battery of four guns was here put out of
+action, leaving two guns out of the six. From off my gun we had removed
+the fallen tree, enabling us to get it into action again. At this time
+we were receiving the fire from the German batteries on the left rear,
+left, front and right, leaving only our right rear free from the
+destruction which was being waged on every other outlet.
+
+Then we gathered up every shell on which we could lay hands,--shells
+that had been discarded as defective, and rammed them in the guns as
+fast as our arms and hands would work. At that moment the German
+airplane returned, flying low and turning his machine gun upon us. We
+sniped at him with our rifles, but failed to get him.
+
+The Germans had been trying all day to reach Maple Copse, but we held
+there. Our artillery observer at Zillebeke now phoned that the Huns were
+massing in Sanctuary Woods--"Fire must come from somewhere." We pulled
+the last two guns of the Imperial battery and shoved them out in the
+open; the crews of the remaining guns of this battery were gone; these
+guns were 4.05's. On they came, and we let them have it beautifully for
+a good five minutes, and they faltered and fell back. In another ten
+minutes they came again, when suddenly hell broke loose from our
+lines,--the Empire batteries had opened up on them. These batteries
+derived their name from the fact that they were comprised of Australian
+guns, South African guns, guns from New Zealand, Canada, Scotland,
+England, in fact every part of the Empire was represented. For a time
+they smothered the German batteries in Sanctuary Woods. Then a flock of
+German airplanes flew over these guns and smothered them partially for a
+few minutes with their machine guns. This entire action had lasted an
+hour, and at this moment the little relief party, accompanied by our
+parson, arrived from the wagon lines. Again we were out of ammunition,
+and the O.C. asked me if I would volunteer to go to the wagon lines
+after it. "Yes, sir,"--and I mounted the parson's horse and started.
+
+Although it had now started raining, I left the dugout with nothing on
+but pants, shirt and boots; I had no gas helmet, no coat, no cap, no
+puttees,--there was no time to be lost--and I was covered with grease
+and dirt, and must easily have looked like an African.
+
+I had scarcely started when a shell lifted a tree out of its roots and
+threw it on the road right in front of me, but the horse cleared it with
+a jump. I passed a dressing station and the sight was unspeakably sad;
+laid in rows as thickly as they could be placed, the wounded men in all
+stages of agony were patiently waiting their turn,--ah, God! how patient
+those men were,--and scattered here and there on both sides of the road
+were groups of men who had just begun their last sleep, and at sight of
+them the horse would shy and balk every few yards. I had no spurs with
+which to control the animal, and my work was cut out for me! he was an
+ideal parson's horse, for the brute would hardly go faster than a walk.
+Getting through the gas barrage, I came to a camouflage hedge, used to
+screen and protect the traffic on the road, which sheltered me for four
+or five hundred yards further, and then I emerged again into the open,
+and again I was spotted. At this point a set of new dressing stations
+had been established, and they were as busy as bees looking after
+wounded men, and every moment of the time they were engaged in their
+work the machine guns of the enemy planes were hammering the stretcher
+bearers and the wounded men as industriously as though they were
+attacking fighting men. It was quite evident they knew I was a dispatch
+rider, and I was a target every step of the way, shells being planted
+before me, behind me and on each side of me. But I knew the Major's
+thought was with me every foot of the way; I knew he was counting the
+seconds until I would reach the wagon lines and deliver the message--and
+the only message--that would save the position; I knew he was praying
+for me that very moment and I knew that every man in the battery was
+doing the same thing. If I failed! It was not with me a question of my
+life; I didn't care a damn for that, and every man of us, on that day
+anyway, felt the same. But I must hasten with all the speed that was in
+me, and I must keep my life, and my head as well, that the others might
+live.
+
+Finally, I got the horse started on a straight run, came to a bridge
+crossing the Rampart Canal, but they were shelling the bridge so
+violently it would have been certain destruction to have attempted
+getting across. Jumping off, I pulled the horse into a ruined building,
+and there in the twilight I had a splendid opportunity to view the
+efficiency of the German observation work. They were making the most
+determined effort to prevent any communication being sent to the wagon
+lines for ammunition, and one continual stream of shells was following
+me down the road; they were dropping as thickly as hailstones for the
+entire distance up and down the road as far as I could see. I waited
+there ten minutes and then led the horse out, walking a hundred yards
+towards the bridge. Then came another burst of shells; again I stopped
+for a few minutes, made another hundred yards, and another bursting
+storm of shells. I was walking the horse all this time, but I made up my
+mind the time had come to make a dash for it. I jumped on his back, lay
+flat as a pancake, and with a good stout stick I lammed that poor brute
+as few horses ever were lammed, made a dash for the bridge and got
+safely across.
+
+About 100 yards over and down came a burst of concussion shells, flying
+and blowing everything around to smithereens. I was now very close to
+the square and could see it was being strafed for fair. My experience in
+watching and timing shell fire now stood me in good stead. I was able
+by the action of the shells to instantly determine whether the German
+guns were jumping, rendering their aim uncertain, and, also, to know
+when the next burst would come, where it would strike, and about how it
+would operate,--whether gas, shrapnel, or what not. Men were clinging to
+the walls, trying to take shelter, and it was clearly impossible to get
+through with the horse. I retraced my steps half way to the ruined
+building I had just left ten minutes before; I was looking longingly at
+it, wishing for its friendly shelter, when a shell struck it, blowing it
+to dust. I then led the horse, hugging the walls as closely as I could,
+until I got to the edge of the square, then made a run for it across,
+and had just cleared it when another cluster burst, wounding the horse
+in the leg. Notwithstanding his wound, he managed to bear me up until I
+got to the railroad crossing, lying southwesterly from the square about
+500 yards distant. Here the airplane spotted me again and directed a
+barrage to stop me crossing, but I took the chance and got through it.
+Every step of the way to the bridge crossing the Yser Canal, shells were
+being planted at my heels. I can only liken my state of mind to that of
+the tenderfoot in the saloon of the Wild and Woolly, when Halfbreed
+Harvey, just for the fun of it, took a revolver in each hand and
+commenced sending the nuggets of lead into the floor at the unoffending
+feet of the "Lady from the East," just to see him dance. When I came to
+within 50 yards of it I saw it was clearly impossible to cross on
+account of the heavy shell clusters that were raining down.
+
+I waited for a lull in the storm, then slipped on the animal's back, dug
+my heels in its ribs and rushed for it. I was spattered with mud from
+head to foot from the exploding shells, but not a single splinter
+reached me.
+
+As I left the bridge of the canal a hole was blown into it, and a
+working party, that was kept there all the time for the especial purpose
+of keeping it in repair, crawled out of their hiding places to engage in
+their perilous task. It was vitally necessary to keep this bridge intact
+to facilitate the supplies crossing and recrossing every minute of the
+night.
+
+The friendly cover of a hedge sheltered me for another hundred yards,
+and here followed a row of buildings that I hugged until I came to a
+narrow-gauge trench railroad. Clinging to the walls around were
+hundreds of wounded men waiting for a conveyance. There was an open
+stretch from this point and the fliers found me again; their machine-gun
+fire was directed at once fairly into the middle of the road before me
+and behind me; their range message was again flashed to their heavies
+and cobblestones were uprooted and flying everywhere; but the good Lord
+was with me and I pulled through it. A couple of large trees that had
+been blown down across the road next intervened, but the horse, lame as
+he was, cleared them.
+
+I reached the Belgian Chateau; strafing was going on fearfully in an
+endeavor to smash the headquarters; men were running hither and thither,
+stringing telephone wires as quickly as they were shot away; battalions
+of infantry, fresh troops who had not yet been up the line, were working
+their way to their destination; chaos seemed to reign on every hand. And
+yet, there was order. Leaving the Belgian Chateau, there was a hedge for
+two or three hundred yards which afforded me cover until I got to the
+road; there I saw a group of enemy airplanes gradually lowering until
+they got down to within a few hundred yards of the railroad; they
+dropped their bombs on the batteries here, starting monster ammunition
+fires and killing and wounding the gunners.
+
+Although pandemonium reigned everywhere, the guns never hesitated to go
+on with their work as steadfastly as though they were digging drains in
+peace time. The fierceness of the fire caused the horse to balk
+continually, and I again had to get off its back and lead it. This fire
+was from guns from practically every quarter of the Empire. It was
+impossible to make any speed now, even with the horse, as the road was
+black with holes everywhere, and I started to go around what is known as
+Snake Road. Shells were dropping everywhere; dead horses were piled one
+on top of the other; huge lorries were lying in the ditches and men were
+emptying them of their contents and carrying the ammunition on their
+backs up to the batteries. Here and there were small hills of empty
+shell cases; there was also considerable danger from the loaded shells
+that were scattered about that had been spilled from the ammunition
+wagon, as a kick from the horse on the fuse would have exploded any one
+of them.
+
+As the lorries advanced up the Snake Road and delivered their
+ammunition, they left by another road running straight south; this
+latter was packed with ambulances waiting to take wounded out, and
+civilians were running madly here and there endeavoring to get out of
+the fire zone.
+
+I reached Ouderham, which was at that time out of the range of the fire;
+estaminets were getting ready to close for the night, the hour of ten
+having struck. The ammunition drivers were lying around taking things
+easy and not expecting an ammunition call, but the moment I hove in
+sight they raced out to the wagon line. Many and eager were the
+inquiries fired at me as to what was happening up the line. They knew
+the parson had gone up and they were burning to know what was doing. I
+told them as well as I could.
+
+"Stand to!" from the Q.M. and they came running from their tents, not
+waiting to take even a blanket, throwing in their equipment as fast as
+they could, trotting their horses over to the ammunition trucks and
+hitching them up.
+
+"Stand to your horses! Prepare to mount! Mount!" came the three distinct
+orders roared out by the Quartermaster, with scarcely a second's time
+between each and its fulfillment. With a gunner in each wagon we
+started in less than eight minutes from the time the order was given,
+trotting as hard as horses could trot over the cobblestones.
+
+It was not long before we came in contact with the fire, but luck was
+with us and we escaped until we got to the ammunition dump, where we
+loaded up with ammunition as fast as men ever worked; it was a joy
+forever to see those boys work. We had to load up in chain fashion, as
+it was impossible for the wagons to get to a dump more than four at a
+time, and the loading was done by the men passing the shells from hand
+to hand until each wagon was loaded. Then not a second was lost in
+starting. The crossroads were reached, but the traffic was so congested
+we could not pass for a while.
+
+Shells were raining down when we finally started, one of them blowing
+the body off one of our wagons, leaving the limber, but no further
+damage beyond the driver, Luther, breaking his leg. A gunner took his
+place and Luther was laid in the gutter until such time as he could be
+picked up. We galloped past the Empire battery, got to the Belgian
+Garden at last, taking cover under a clump of trees until the firing had
+cooled somewhat, and then we took the chance--it was one in ten--to get
+by. Starting on a dead gallop, shells commenced to chase us all the way
+up the road. Keeping as well under cover of the hedge as we could, we
+crossed the railroad bridge, and as we neared the entrance to Ypres
+square the fire again cooled down; but on getting into the square 25
+shells, exploding one after the other as quickly as so many seconds,
+followed by thunderclaps of brain-splitting noise, ripped up the paving
+stones, flinging them in all directions, and taking chunks out of the
+eight wagons and wheels. Trotting sharply through the square, we got to
+Rampart Bridge, which they were showering with shells to prevent our
+engineers repairing it; it was badly smashed and we had to go a long way
+around by Ypres Rampart.
+
+Here we left the road and took a chance of getting across the open
+country, picking our way in the fields among the shell holes, eventually
+getting in back of the Garden, where we strung our wagons in the rear
+until the order "Ammunition up!" was given, and out from the dugouts
+rushed the men to unload the precious cargo. Here the captain and
+lieutenant were wounded, but they refused to go to hospital, saying
+their wounds were too slight; and, indeed, I can honestly say that
+every man that night who was wounded and could manage to hold out, did
+so; each one seemed to be imbued with the idea that his presence was
+absolutely necessary for the success of the plan in hand.
+
+"You did not need to come back, Grant," said the Major, upon my return.
+"I intended you should stay at the wagon lines tonight."
+
+"Thank you, sir, but I'd rather be back."
+
+"That's right, that's how we all feel."
+
+That I was more than pleased at this mark of approval from my O.C. goes
+without saying.
+
+Chains of men formed from the ammunition wagons into the gun pit, shells
+were passed from hand to hand to the guns where the men were waiting
+them, and I thought I saw tears of joy in the eyes of the Tommy as he
+caressed the first shell handed him. "That's for luck," he cried, as he
+spat on it. The gunners exploded them as fast as they were given them.
+The work was proceeding nicely when an airplane, flying low over the
+Garden, spotted our ammunition wagons; he signaled the place back to his
+batteries and shells from the guns behind hill 60 opened up on us; it
+became exceedingly violent; many of the horses and wagons were smashed.
+
+This was the order all night long,--wagons arriving with shells, shells
+passing from hand to hand to the guns, discharged by the gunners as fast
+as they were received, and enemy shells rained at us without let-up. We
+were at our posts all night long. Before daybreak the storm slackened
+and we got a breathing spell for a few hours.
+
+Immediately after breakfast, at daybreak, the concert opened up afresh,
+and for full seven days, June 2, to June 9, no man got a full hour's
+sleep at a time. When not being shelled by the German batteries, the
+machine gun bullets were raining around; if neither of these agencies of
+hell were busy, airplanes were flying, many times so low that they
+seemed to be even with the tops of the trees and singing us their
+humming hymn of hate. An idea of the deadly nature of the conflict may
+be had from the first day's casualties, that covered several thousand of
+our men.
+
+On the seventh day the German fire was so heavy it was impossible to get
+ammunition up to the guns, and we pulled the backs out of the gun pit as
+fast as we could smash them, man-handled the guns out of the Garden
+down on to a little unused road in the rear of the railroad,
+three-quarters of a mile southwest of the Garden; here the grass was a
+foot or two in length, and we covered the guns with it and some brush,
+dug out some large shell holes for them, then the wagons pulled up
+there, unloading the ammunition, eight hundred to a thousand rounds
+apiece, and we got orders to open up as an "S.O.S." came from the
+trenches.
+
+Fritz was not aware of our new position, for his fire was wild, and in
+the darkness we were safe from the airplanes, although their humming was
+distinctly audible as they flew here and there vainly looking for our
+new spot. We worked the guns until 2 o'clock, cleaned them up and got a
+couple of hours' badly-needed sleep.
+
+At 4:45 A.M. next day another "S.O.S." came from the trenches, and, as
+fast as we could do so, we let them have it,--this time in Sanctuary
+Woods. Fritz replied, but his fire was wild. Again the planes came, in
+an effort to find us, and we got the "keep-firing" whistle. The planes
+still hovered over us and, under the urgency of a new demand from our
+trenches, we again had to open up, and this time the plane found us, and
+the result was quickly seen by a group of visitors breaking directly
+over us. To register our battery was the work of but a few minutes. The
+first blast was too far to the right; the next fell short, and again the
+correction was made; with just three corrections they had our number;
+the fourth shell got its mark. The lighter German batteries then passed
+the range back to the heavies, 5.09 Howitzer batteries, and inside of a
+minute we were the object of their earnest attention. Their first shell
+smashed No. 2 gun and crew, leaving us with two guns. We held up our end
+for half an hour, each moment expecting to get the dose they gave No. 2.
+
+The efficiency of our work was disclosed during the day by the efforts
+Fritz made to smother us; his fire became so intense we were ordered to
+leave the battery and take refuge in the basement of a French
+schoolhouse near by, and from there we had to watch the destruction of
+our remaining two guns from the concentrated fire of five German
+batteries of all calibers poured upon them. Our ammunition was
+completely destroyed, and they struck No. 2 gun repeatedly, but the two
+other guns were left intact.
+
+It was now about 11 o'clock A.M. and orders were flashed for more guns
+and more ammunition; then the fire cooled down. During the day two more
+new guns were brought up, together with one thousand shells, and
+everything was ready for the retaking of Sanctuary Woods the following
+morning. Between three and five o'clock the next A.M. the 13th, 15th and
+16th Scotch-Canadian Battalion, some of Canada's finest regiments, along
+with several others, streamed up the road. Wherever the sweep of the
+kiltie went, there was going to be something doing.
+
+Daylight. "Stand to the battery! Targets, front-line trenches!" We
+opened up for thirty minutes; our telephonist reported there was such a
+smoke from the barrage that they could not see the infantry, but the
+woods were on fire. The Empire battery, together with heavy naval guns
+that had been brought up, and armored trains, were all concentrating
+their trip-hammers on the place. It was now evident that every living
+thing in the woods must be dead, as nothing could live under the
+hurricane of fire.
+
+We next attacked the road, stopping the German reserves and ammunition
+from getting near. Then--"Over!"
+
+The net result of the day's work was--the woods, the German front-line
+trenches, three thousand prisoners, German dead and wounded piled in
+heaps; wherever the eye turned, the shell holes, trenches and ditches
+were packed with wounded, dead and dying Huns.
+
+Our captain asked for volunteer observers, and I offered. We went into
+the place where once was Maple Copse Woods, but it was no more; here and
+there was a standing tree, but not a leaf or limb left of it, and the
+trunks were littered with pieces of steel and iron. Before the battle
+commenced, this spot was one of the loveliest places in the country
+round about that one could well imagine. Flowers, shrubbery and the
+rarest of plants of all kinds were there in abundance. This day it was a
+scarred ruin; the savagery of destruction was so terrible it is
+indescribable.
+
+We wound our way amongst the dead and the wounded to the top of Mont
+Soreul, first stopping to take a peep at our old guns; they were still
+there, but badly battered up; Fritz evidently thought it was barely
+possible we might have a chance to use them again. We reached our old
+telephonist's hut on the hill, looked around for Lieutenant Matthews,
+but he wasn't there; he had been wounded and taken prisoner.
+
+We established lines of communication at once, to hold the Germans back
+while we built up our own front. Our men were now coming back from their
+trip and our batteries put up one of the fiercest barrages I have ever
+witnessed to protect them on their return.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A BATH UNDER DIFFICULTIES
+
+
+Over near Hooge was a large naval gun of high velocity and long range,
+mounted on an armored train. The particular purpose of this nautical
+monster was to shoot up objects at short notice, such as a body of
+moving troops, a battery on the road, a train of ammunition wagons. It
+was concealed in a tunnel made for its specific use, and when it would
+discharge its missives of destruction it would first project itself from
+the tunnel, send the message, and then shoot back inside.
+
+It was at this time paying particular attention to the Square in
+Poperinghe,--the little station and the hospital there,--and it had
+become such a diabolical nuisance that it was determined to resort to
+heroic measures to "get it." A monster balloon was enlisted in the work
+and the mission of the floating bag was to direct the correspondence of
+one of our 9.2 naval guns, which was operating on a short railroad built
+by the Canadian Pacific Railway. This railroad, I may add, has been
+doing mostly all the track laying and railroad operating for the
+Canadian forces in Flanders. It was a matter of amazement for the
+natives to see how quickly a railroad could be placed and operated, and
+even the soldiers who were all more or less familiar with the workings
+of this magnificent system in Canada, were astonished at the speed with
+which the new machine, especially built by the Company for army
+purposes, would throw down the rails, fasten them--presto! a railroad to
+order.
+
+[Illustration: Victorious, But Dead Tired]
+
+It was resolved that the first work of the balloon should be devoted to
+putting this German naval gun out of action. In this section at this
+time the German balloons were thick in the air, and this gave them good
+control of the Ypres salient. We dared not attempt the experiment there
+for a long time, but it was finally determined to launch this one, and
+it was brought up one evening, with its volunteers, inflated during the
+night, and launched in the morning. Promptly at 10:00 o'clock, when it
+was ready for raising, the German planes hummed busily overhead. Despite
+their activities, the balloon got well up and was doing good observation
+work on its way over to the naval nuisance; there it reached its
+objective, making the necessary notations and records. Then--Kr-kr-kr-p!
+Kr-kr-kr-p! And the shells commenced to scatter around it. Then it was a
+case of getting the bag down, which was not so easy. These observation
+balloons are operated from a large armored truck, to which they are
+fastened, and the truck runs along carrying the air-bag with it,
+attached with a long cable; it is handled just as a toy balloon would be
+carried by a boy,--when the boy runs along, the balloon runs with him.
+Attached to the bottom of the gas bag is a basket, usually holding four
+observers, with a parachute for each man, and while in the air they have
+to work as fast as possible, because their stay in the azure is as short
+as the energies of Fritz can make it. If the wind is up and the sky
+cloudy, it is one chance in a dozen that they will escape before the
+planes get them, as the swing of the basket makes it difficult in the
+extreme for them to notice the danger until it is upon them.
+
+On this morning the first indication that they had that their time was
+up was the swooping down of a cluster of birds of death on all sides.
+The weather was foggy, a stiff wind blowing and the basket swinging
+from side to side. This was the first time an attempt had been made to
+float a balloon in the Ypres salient, as the danger was too obvious to
+take the risk. However, as I say, the chance was taken. It so happened
+that our guns were taking a breathing spell, and we stood on the top of
+our gun pit eagerly watching the fall of the balloon and its escape. The
+road along which the armored truck had run ran at one point quite close
+to the German lines, and the airplanes were now coming thicker every
+moment and bombing it from every quarter. Telephone and telegraph wires
+running from trenches to headquarters and all parts of the lines
+intervened between the balloon and safety, and there was nothing for
+them but to cut the wires to let the bag get through. Each minute the
+danger increased, but the men in the truck scrambled up the poles,
+nipped the wire with their nippers, and the balloon passed through. This
+was done repeatedly before it reached its haven. Bets were freely made
+by every man in my gun crew, with the odds of 5 to 1, that the Huns
+would get it. Somehow I had an inspiration that she would navigate the
+storm, and I took up all the offers in my battery against the bag--and
+lost. Her mission of observation had been accomplished, but when she
+got through the wires she floated to the wagon line, and the result of
+her arrival here was disastrous in the extreme, as the German shells
+followed the bag as assiduously as any bunch of schoolboys snowballing a
+foe, and hundreds of splendid horses were mangled to a jelly by the
+explosion amongst them.
+
+When it got to the wagon line the crew on the truck commenced to pull it
+down as rapidly as they could, but when half-way to the ground a flying
+shell split the cable in twain as neatly as it could have been done with
+a razor blade, and the bag floated away with the remaining two men out
+over the German lines. When the descent had commenced two of the crew
+had taken to their parachutes and got away safely.
+
+Anti-aircraft guns now opened up on it from our lines in an endeavor to
+destroy it and prevent it getting into the hands of the enemy, and
+German airplanes and anti-aircraft guns were also firing at it, so that
+it was a target for all concerned. This, perhaps, is about the only
+incident in the entire war to date where both the British and the
+Germans were equally bent upon the destruction of a common object.
+
+The wind suddenly changed and a steady current of air in the other
+direction brought it back over our own lines; then the two remaining men
+seized the opportunity to leave the floater in their parachutes,
+dropping to safety. A bevy of our planes then went after it, riddled it
+with rifle bullets, causing the gas to escape, and it finally sank
+majestically to the ground.
+
+After the battle, I resumed my place at the gun and the usual day's
+work. Two days later I was detailed to watch for airplanes and was
+sitting crouched under a culvert, when the familiar humming struck my
+ear. I could not at first locate it, and crawled out to have a better
+look skyward, but still failed to place it. Presently the humming
+stopped, and I thought it had departed, and seized the chance to go to
+the cookhouse for a cup of tea. When almost there--Kr-kr-kr-p!
+Kr-kr-kr-p! a slather of German guns had opened upon ours and the
+fellows fled pell-mell from the gun pit and made for the culvert, taking
+shelter underneath. They were there about a minute when a shell landed
+straight on the culvert, going through eight feet of cement and brick,
+blowing everything in all directions and killing 15 out of the 16 men
+who had taken refuge there. Less than sixty seconds had elapsed since I
+left the spot.
+
+When the battle was at its greatest height a wonderful discovery was
+made. Complaint had been made about the horses dropping on the road on
+the way up. Some thought it was cramps, others, colic; the veterinary
+officers were quite puzzled. One night 18 loads of ammunition, three
+horses to a load, were on their way to the guns and ten of the horses
+dropped. The vets then took it for granted there must have been poison
+in the feed, and an examination disclosed that little steel oats were in
+the grain. The oats had come from the United States and they had been
+deposited in the grain there.
+
+The discovery was so important that the O.C. offered a prize of five
+francs to every man discovering these death-dealing pellets in a bag of
+oats. The bellies of the horses were secure forevermore, as far as these
+pills of Kaiser Bill were concerned; those five francs did the trick;
+every grain of the feed that went down the animals' throats first passed
+an individual examination through the hands of every money-hungry Tommy
+in the bunch.
+
+After the third battle of Ypres had cooled down, we were permitted to go
+to the rear as far as Poperinghe, for the purpose of giving ourselves a
+scouring, as we were filthy with dirt and lousy with lice. My particular
+chum on this journey was the little telephonist, Fox, who had been
+through every big battle up to that time, including the Sanctuary Woods
+carnage. We got to the wagon lines, eight miles off, by stealing rides
+on any passing vehicle upon which we could fasten a tooth or a finger
+nail,--ammunition wagon lorries, ambulances, supply wagons,--as we were
+thoroughly tired out.
+
+At the wagon lines we persuaded the Q-M to loan us horses for the
+balance of the journey, which he cheerfully consented to do. But the
+horses, unfortunately, were mules, practically ready for the bone-yard;
+the Quartermaster had put them to one side, as they were useless for any
+further work, and they were awaiting the arrival of the veterinary
+officer to receive capital punishment. Every time I dug my spurs in my
+mount, in a mad endeavor to make it go, the only result was a kick in
+the air with its hind feet.
+
+There was another transportation service in vogue there,--a large
+number of donkeys, and each time a donkey passed my charger, it would
+stop dead and wag its ears much after the fashion of a Hebrew
+gesticulating with his hands in selling a suit of clothes. This was
+repeated every time we met one of the little donkeys, and each time I
+had to get off and back the brute for some distance, until it again took
+the notion to go forward; it was a case of one step forward and two back
+before I reached my destination.
+
+The most ridiculously funny instance connected with the meeting of the
+mule and the donkey was the manner in which each indulged in its muleism
+and donkeyism; the little donkey would shoot its head straight forward,
+stick its ears out sidewise, at right angles, and commence its song of
+greeting, which sounded exactly like a man sawing wood, and the mule
+would warble its well-known lyric of sweetness,--"Hee-Haw! Hee-Haw!
+Hee-Haw!" keeping time with the flapping of its long lugs.
+
+When I got to Poperinghe Square the mule and myself were all in; save
+for the ride on the Parson's charger to the wagon lines, I had not been
+riding for the space of a month, and my legs were so chafed I was
+compelled to walk like an aged rheumatic for three or four days; but I
+had company,--the other fellows were similarly affected.
+
+We made our way to the bath in a rush, as every man wanted to be in
+first. The bath contained 200 men at a time, and 200 tubs; there was no
+pool in which to bathe; every man had to do his swimming and slopping
+and washing in a tub; and the sight of the women and girl attendants was
+a welcome one, as it had been a couple of months before anything
+feminine had come within the range of our vision. We had to take our
+turn in going through the routine of the bath.
+
+When I was next, the woman attendant handed me a shirt; a little further
+along I got a pair of socks, then drawers. Thus equipped, I entered the
+bathroom; there were about 100 men in there, splashing each other like
+mad in their wild joy. In stepping along the water-soaked boards, I
+happened to slip and fall in the wet, and my dry garments were soaked
+with the water slopped on the boards, assisted by the splashing showers
+the men were throwing around.
+
+It so happened that one of the fellows had been particularly well
+splashed by a chum and he was watching for a chance to get even; he
+determined to wait until his chum had put on his clothes, so that he
+could execute his vengeance with all the more fullness of perfection.
+The avenger stood just inside an alley leading to the dressing room,
+with a pail of water in hand for his intended victim; the water had been
+scooped out of a tub that had just been used, and it was as dirty as
+water could be.
+
+As I came even with the alley opening, thinking I was the victim, he let
+me have it full in the face. I was blinded for a moment with the greasy,
+soapy, dirty water, and, when my eyes were sufficiently open, it was
+impossible for me to learn who it was. However, like all things of that
+kind, I took it in good part and hastened to undress. I filled my tub
+with pails of water from the tap and started my bath. Oh, how refreshing
+it was! I don't think I ever appreciated the luxury of a bath until that
+moment. When through with my ablution it was necessary, before I could
+dress, to grease my body with a vermin-killer that is supplied the men.
+This done, I commenced dressing, and had donned my underwear and pants
+when,--Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p!--and a shell landed right in the middle
+of the bathroom, and the bunch of merry-hearted fellows was transformed
+into a panic-stricken crowd, leaping and jumping out of the tubs in
+every direction in a pell-mell rush, helter-skelter, of men, some half
+dressed, others absolutely naked, intermingled with the women
+attendants, in the scramble for safety. Civilians, coming from their
+houses in a mad rush, added to the confusion.
+
+When the smoke of the explosion cleared, thirty of the bathers lay dead
+in, on and around the tubs, and forty were wounded, all more or less
+badly. Inside of three minutes, more shells were planted, some of them
+landing plumb in the square, and, to my intense sorrow, I learned later
+that Fox, my little chum, there had paid the supreme price. These shells
+were totally unexpected, coming from the Hooge district, 11 miles
+distant.
+
+Everybody sought shelter in the cellars, or any other hole they could
+crawl into, until night. I searched out my mule, and was thankful to
+find it where I had left it, tied to a tree, gave it a feed of oats,
+waited until it munched, unperturbed by the crashing explosions breaking
+in the immediate neighborhood, and utterly oblivious of the fact that I
+was counting the seconds until it had finished.
+
+Under cover of the night, I returned to the wagon lines, and in much
+better time than coming down, for which I had to thank the feed of oats.
+The bath gave me a new hold on life; I felt ten years younger and
+several pounds lighter.
+
+I learned next day that the station master at Poperinghe had been
+arrested, tried as a spy and shot. It transpired that he had a wire
+running from the station depot straight to the German lines, together
+with some other signaling apparatus, and there was no doubt in the minds
+of the trial board that it was due to this man's espionage that the
+bathers lost their lives while in the tubs.
+
+The spy system had so thoroughly impregnated every hole and corner of
+the district around Ypres that it became the sorest thorn in the sides
+of the Command, but we finally managed to root it out hip and thigh, and
+that sector is now as immune from their activities as any other sector
+in the front lines.
+
+Going up to take my position with the gun next day I met a bomber of the
+21st Canadian Infantry, carrying a bag of his wares--hand grenades. We
+walked together for some distance, and just as I was on the point of
+leaving him to turn off over to my battery I was appalled by one of the
+most horrifying sights I have seen at the front. One of the pins of a
+grenade worked loose in the bag and exploded, blowing his right hand and
+leg completely off. I have seen scores of happenings, each of which in
+its entirety was a thousand times more terrible, but there was something
+about the suddenness, the total unexpectedness, and the fearful spurting
+of his life's blood, that filled me more full of horror than anything
+before or since.
+
+In this conflagration that is shaking the world, death stalks on every
+hand in a hundred different forms, entirely apart from the destruction
+that the enemy can bestow. I was standing but three feet behind him. As
+quick as I could I gave him first aid and yelled for a stretcher, but
+there was nothing that could be done; he lived until sundown.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+HAMBONE DAVIS
+
+
+One evening we were sitting outside of our bivouac watching some German
+balloons being downed by one of our airplanes; our flier had good luck
+that evening, accounting for three of the floating sausages; and as we
+were awaiting the finish of the last sausage, and speculating on how
+long it would take our air bird to get it, or whether he would get it at
+all, the gambling spirit ran rife, and fast and furiously the bets were
+placed.
+
+Open-mouthed and eager we watched and, while watching, a strange-looking
+figure of a soldier ambled, or shuffled, up the path toward our place.
+He was a man about 45, though looking more like 55, quite grizzled,
+furrowed face, and a stubby mustache, thickly stained with tobacco
+juice, decorated his upper lip. He was chewing tobacco as if his life
+depended on the quantity of juice he could extract from each mouthful,
+and dried tricklings of the liquid ornamented his chin. As he came
+toward us his face was turned upward, taking in the scrimmage in the
+sky. "What's them bloody things?" he asked, indicating the air sausages.
+He had evidently just come up the line fresh from England. I told him
+and he jerked out an indelible pencil and made a note, sucking the lead
+of the pencil two or three times before he finished, and this habit,
+continuous with him, kept his lip constantly stained with the indelible
+lead.
+
+Just then a mighty roar of delight went up from the entire crowd, as our
+bird gobbled the last remaining sausage, but our indelible friend paid
+no attention to the uproar,--he simply took out his little book and made
+another note.
+
+The "Fall-in!" whistle was blown and we were a bit surprised as well as
+amazed to see our strange friend fall in in front, still chewing
+vigorously; he evidently didn't know or didn't care a damn whether it
+was against the rules to chew tobacco when parading. The Sergeant-Major
+eyed him curiously and then stepping to his side whispered something; we
+knew he was explaining to him that he was infringing orders, but a
+non-commissioned officer is not permitted to bawl out another non-com in
+the presence of the men. Hastily bestowing the quid in his hand he
+stood to attention. Roll call finished and we retired to our bunks.
+
+Early next morning when we emerged from our quarters the first person we
+saw was the odd-appearing individual that had joined up with us the
+night before, with his inevitable note book in his hand. He was still
+busily sucking his indelible pencil in the corner of his mouth, and, in
+the light of the morning sun, there was nothing about his mug that was
+any more prepossessing than appeared in the twilight of the previous
+night. He also had on the sleeve of his coat a crown, indicating that he
+was to be our acting Sergeant-Major in the absence of the regular
+officer, and when not so acting, he was to be the First Sergeant of the
+section.
+
+The official activity of our new friend commenced to be evidenced in a
+number of ways; he lost no time in making us understand that he was
+First Sergeant. "Sergeant Grant, detail two men for the cookhouse!" Then
+to the gunners, "Here, you, clean up your wagons and take off all that
+mud; it's filthy"; this was absolutely unnecessary and the fellows swore
+vehemently under their breath; to the drivers,--"Clean up that 'ere
+'arness and get that mud hoff it"; he also compelled us to burnish the
+steel and made the gunners scrub the paint off the brass and sandpaper
+it up. This necessitated the men going to a shop and purchasing the
+sandpaper themselves, as disobedience of the order meant a sojourn in
+the clink and the excuse that he had no sandpaper would not go.
+
+By the time old Sol had reached the meridian, the First Sergeant had
+succeeded in getting himself thoroughly hated, and many and earnest and
+unique were the resolutions to "get even." This feeling was intensified
+by his order to gather up some scantlings of hard wood and bring them to
+his quarters; he was a sort of a one-horse carpenter by trade and had
+started manufacturing for his own especial use and benefit a wooden
+structure large enough to house himself.
+
+The idiosyncrasies of our newfound friend manifested themselves
+variously, the first and chief characteristic by which he came to
+acquire the _sobriquet_ of "Hambone Davis," was his habit of heading for
+the cookhouse each morning before the men were dismissed from the horse
+lines--which was necessary before we could appease our always ravenous
+appetites--so that he could garner for himself an edible that was longed
+for and looked for by every man who could get it, i.e., the ham bone,
+because there were always more or less pickings on it and he was a lucky
+fellow indeed who was successful in capturing the prize. But, in his
+official capacity, Davis was able to get out and get over there ahead of
+us every morning and during his entire stay in our crowd, he was the
+only man who each morning got the ham bone. Hence his cognomen.
+
+Long, earnest and secret conferences were had as to the way we had best
+settle our grievances. Among the conspirators were Dynamite Pete,
+so-called because of his habit of taking shells, fuses and bombs apart
+and examining and prying into their contents. One time his curiosity
+came nearly getting him a quick passage West. He was examining a bomb
+and, taking out the pin, was holding it in his hand, looking at it for a
+brief instant. Providentially an officer was standing beside him who saw
+his mad act and, grabbing the bomb from his hand, flung it into the
+field--and just in time! It exploded before it had well gotten on its
+way.
+
+Pete's answers to the officer, while respectful, were tantalizing to a
+degree:
+
+"What did you do that for?"
+
+"What are they here for?"
+
+"Why did you take the pin out?"
+
+"Because it is made to come out."
+
+"Did you want to kill yourself?"
+
+"If I did it would have been my own funeral."
+
+"How about the others?"
+
+"They had no business here."
+
+"Think it over in the clink--ten days."
+
+I could think of nothing else but the fellow who was passing a private
+residence one day with a pitchfork on his shoulder, and a big dog came
+rushing out at him, and he jammed the dog through with his pitchfork,
+killing him. The owner came out in a great rage.
+
+"What did you do that for?"
+
+"What did your dog run at me for?"
+
+"Why didn't you hit him with the other end?"
+
+"Why didn't he come at me with his other end?"
+
+Gunboat Stevens was another of the plotters; his suggestions were so
+unique and uncommon that each of them sent us into an uncontrollable
+roar of laughter. Unfortunately, as we thought, they were usually as
+impracticable as they were strange. This member of our gang derived his
+alias from his warm adherence to the navy as against the army. Never was
+there an argument started about the navy that it did not have a burning
+advocate in Stevens; he would even go to the length of challenging any
+man in the crowd to fight him then and there who had the temerity to
+claim that the Empire had as good a defender in the military as in the
+naval arm of the government.
+
+We also had a Jesse James; his surname was really James and it was easy
+fitting on the handle.
+
+The conference finally resolved itself into a determination to burn his
+new-made bivouac, but I dissuaded them and convinced them that it would
+be much better for them to lug it over to the incinerator and throw it
+into the pit. To complete the plot and give it an artistic finish, it
+was necessary to have a ham bone, and Gunboat volunteered to get it.
+"I'm on picket tonight," he said, "and I'll go to the cookhouse when the
+cook is asleep and fix it." He did so; when the cook was dreaming of
+everything but the front line, Gunboat quietly slipped in, unearthed
+the ham that was in readiness for our breakfast, and with his knife he
+quickly extracted the bone, taking care of the pickings with his teeth
+while finishing his sentry go.
+
+The next night everything was in readiness and when the opportune moment
+arrived, with Hambone leaving with ammunition for the guns, I passed the
+word. When he was well on his way we hurried over to his shack, rooted
+it out and carried it bodily over to the incinerator, setting it
+completely over the hole. Now for the artistic touch. We took the ham
+bone, fastened it with wire to the end of a stick that we nailed across
+the top of the shack, with the end protruding well out to the side, and
+on the end of the ham bone we hung a placard, so that all could see,
+reading, "Here lies the remains of Hambone Davis. Gone but not
+forgotten." Then we scampered over to one side and with the glee of
+mischievous schoolboys watched developments. Nearly every passing
+soldier, noticing the odd sight, strolled over and read the sign, going
+off snickering.
+
+The following evening Hambone arrived back from the guns; he had with
+him some of the conspirators carrying wood that he wanted; it was the
+first time they experienced real pleasure in that work because they
+foresaw the denouement in store.
+
+When they reached the spot where his home had been, Hambone looked
+around in a dazed sort of fashion, almost swallowing a mouthful of
+tobacco juice as he blurted out, "Where the bloody 'ell is my 'ouse?
+What bloody well nonsense is this? Hi'll make someone pay for this!" The
+rest of us were loitering in the immediate vicinity, listening with
+sheer chucklings to his burning vows, and it was all we could do to
+stifle our laughter. Then Hambone ran around like a looney, looking here
+and there for his house, and when he found it and saw the bone and read
+the placard, his feelings were so intense that he actually spat out his
+mouthful of tobacco, juice and all.
+
+"'Ere, you lobsters! You, Grant, who has done this?"
+
+"I don't know; how should I know?"
+
+"Hi bet you do know!"
+
+"Aw, what the hell are you getting at? Don't try any of that on me or
+I'll have you up for office," I threatened.
+
+He didn't seem to be getting anywhere in his efforts to find out the
+guilty ones, so he did the next best thing.
+
+"Sergeant Grant, take six of your men and put that 'ouse back." There
+was nothing for it but to obey, but I made a mental resolve he would
+never sleep in that shack that night at least. We took hold all together
+and lifted it up, and on the way over I purposely stumbled in such a way
+that the mansion of Hambone fell on one corner and with the fall it came
+tumbling to pieces.
+
+Our arch-enemy composed himself to sleep that night in the guard room,
+as none of us would give him room in our quarters, and it so happened
+that Gunboat Stevens was in the clink at the time for having called him
+"Hambone." They occupied the same room, his bed immediately opposite the
+First Sergeant's, with just a foot or two of space between the bottom of
+each bed. As may be imagined, no kindly good nights passed between the
+two.
+
+Now Davis had just been over from England but a short time and was
+comparatively clean in his person, while Stevens was lousy, and to
+complete the diabolism of the revenge, Gunboat, instead of throwing his
+shirt on the floor as he usually did, watched his opportunity and when
+he heard a snore from Hambone that had no camouflage in it, he slipped
+his shirt in at the head of the bed where our official tormentor
+reposed.
+
+Our glee was positively fiendish next day when watching Hambone
+wriggling uneasily in his clothes at parade. Gunboat had sent us an
+underground message telling us what he did, and we did not fail to
+recognize the symptoms at once; every moment he got a chance he was
+scratching himself; and as soon as he had the opportunity he made for
+the nearest tree and, rubbing his back violently against it, almost wore
+a hole in his coat. Miserable were his moments throughout that day. "'Ow
+in 'ell can a man fight an' scratch at the same time!" he would snort.
+
+There was no let up to his officiousness, however; his damnable orders
+were as numerous as before; so we concluded to hatch a scheme that would
+most effectively put him on the blink, and the opportunity occurred the
+very next night. Hambone was detailed to proceed to the guns, to relieve
+the Sergeant-Major there, and it was his duty to take charge of the
+supply wagon that carried the supplies for the men there, and by chance
+there was among the rations this time a jar of rum. Accompanying Hambone
+were Snow and Reynolds of our section, they sitting in the back end of
+the wagon. They had barely started when Snow discovered the rum jar, and
+he and Reynolds at once got their wits working as to how they could get
+away with it. When about half-way there, Hambone, to stretch his legs,
+got off the wagon and walked alongside, and Snow instantly whispered to
+Reynolds, "get off and walk with him and tell him you hear a shell
+coming." Reynolds did as directed and Hambone ducked for cover and the
+wagon stood stock still. No sooner was the First Sergeant's back turned
+than Reynolds threw the jar into the ditch.
+
+A minute or two elapsed and no explosion taking place, Hambone rejoined
+the wagon and the party proceeded. Then Snow slipped off the back and
+went back for the jar, but instead of going up the road, he took the
+railroad track, beating the wagon by some minutes and hiding his jar of
+joy in my gun pit, immediately got back and was standing beside the
+wagon when it arrived. Hambone seeing him there hadn't the remotest idea
+that he had hopped off at any time, and supposed that he had ridden the
+entire way with them. Snow gave Reynolds the wink and he knew the prize
+was safe.
+
+The first thing Hambone did was to go to the back of the wagon for the
+jar. It was gone! He searched wildly about for a moment, asking first
+one and then the other what had become of it, and Snow volunteered the
+opinion that probably it had dropped off when the wagon lurched that
+time he thought the shell was coming. There was nothing for it but to
+report his loss, and the only excuse he could give was that the rum had
+probably rolled off when they trotted at a coming shell, and what the
+officer didn't say to Hambone for trotting, which was a violation of
+orders, would not be worth repeating. He bellowed at him to go and
+search for it, and with wicked delight we watched the duffer going back
+over the route, peering from side to side of the road in his vain
+search.
+
+The journey was a nine-mile trot and he covered more than half the
+distance, endeavoring to find the precious container, and when he came
+back in a couple of hours without it, the poor devil thought he was
+going to be licked, such was the anger of the men at missing their rum
+rations, because they sorely needed it; none but those who have been
+there can and do appreciate how sorely it is needed in that region of
+the world.
+
+I make no apology or attempt to excuse myself as an accessory after the
+fact. It is an unwritten law among the men that the only crime involved
+in stealing liquor is--using an Irishism--not to steal it.
+
+The only men in the section that night who had a ration of the treasured
+fluid were Dick Snow, Reynolds and myself, and in the midst of our
+conviviality we prophesied that if Hambone survived this disaster, he
+was immortal.
+
+Toasting the health of the King, the army, the navy and our loved ones
+at home, we retired in blissful consciousness of a good job well done.
+
+Next morning, black looks and cursing threats in low voices greeted
+Hambone on all sides, and his work that day was so fidgety, and he made
+so many mistakes in getting the ranges on the sights, that the Major
+performed the _coup d'etat_ for which we were all anxiously waiting by
+transmitting as quickly as he could to headquarters his recommendation
+that he be retired, and Hambone, to our immense relief, was shipped back
+to England.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+BEES, HONEY AND HELL
+
+
+On Tuesday, August 29, 1916, my battery pulled into Martinsaart, in the
+Somme district, which lies three miles immediately west of Thiepval. The
+Battle of the Somme had been raging since July 1. We took up our
+position in a beautiful orchard, its trees laden down with apples, and
+along the hedge on one side of the orchard were ten beehives, humming
+and throbbing with busy bee life. Underneath some large apple trees we
+placed our guns and the thickly woven hedge right in front of us gave us
+a splendidly concealed nook; through the hedge we cut a hole for our
+beauty's nozzle.
+
+At 5:15 in the afternoon we started registering our "love letters," in
+preparation for another phase of the big bombardment which had been more
+or less continuously in operation since the commencement of the battle,
+and after accomplishing our purpose we got a "stand down." The apples
+clustering on the trees looked as tempting to us as did the apple of
+our first father and before we started registering, every man in the
+battery had mentally made his tree selection as the one he would climb
+as soon as he got a minute to himself. It was unnecessary to climb,
+however; with the advent of the explosion of our guns, the concussion
+shook the trees as with a strong wind and the luscious fruit showered
+upon our heads in abundance.
+
+Then we cleaned up our guns, munching the red apples, and the enemy
+planes were humming like bees over our heads, darting here and there
+like bats, trying to find our place of concealment, but we were too well
+hidden. When night fell, McLean and I started for the rear, passing the
+hives on our way. "By, Golly, Grant, here's a chance for a mouthful; I
+know how to handle this proposition," and he made for the hives. He
+lifted off the top, with the bees flying all around, and handed me the
+top to hold while he inserted his hand and took out a comb, which he
+passed over to me, saying, "Take this till I get another, the damned
+bees are stinging me." Thousands were around him. I took it and started
+on the dead run for my billet, about 400 yards away, and in a minute or
+two Mac followed with another comb. The fellows greeted us with
+exclamations of delight and surprise; many of us had been two years in
+the battle line without ever having seen, let alone tasted, such a
+delicious morsel. Every man in the billet fell to, munching the honey
+with expressions of sheer joy; every fellow in the bunch had his face
+and hands littered with the sticky joy like so many kids munching taffy.
+In the midst of our feasting, visitors called; the robbed bees came
+flying into the room after their treasure. McLean, by this time, had
+been stung about twenty times, and I had about a dozen nips on my hands
+and face, and in the very heat of our argument with our visitors, "Stand
+to!" was sounded, and honey, bees and everything else was dropped as we
+raced for the guns. But the bees did not drop us; they chased us every
+bit of the way; they attacked our hands, our mouths, our
+necks,--wherever there was a particle of our anatomy exposed we were
+stung.
+
+On our way to the guns McLean brought a comb with him, leaving the other
+alongside his bed. We had to pass the Major on our way, whose dugout was
+close to the hives, and by that time he had an inkling of what was
+going on and he yelled, "Grant, throw that honey down; you too, McLean."
+As he yelled his orders I was passing the telephonist's hut and I threw
+it in to him,--"Here, Graham, here's some honey for you, it's great,"
+and continued my run down to the guns, the bees still following us up.
+
+McLean laid his comb on a pile of shells beside the gun, and the heat of
+the August day caused the honey to trickle over the shells. I commenced
+pointing the gun while Mac worked the range drum; the angles were passed
+to us and inside of a minute we were firing, and inside of another
+minute we had the sternest kind of a battle on our hands, for thicker
+than ever the bees came swarming around the gun.
+
+"Who in hell broke into those hives?" yelled the Major.
+
+No reply; we were busily working and "hadn't time" to answer. The honey
+on our hands, coupled with the dust, made a grit that in opening and
+closing the breech caused the mechanism to stick, and the honey clinging
+to the shells caused the breech chamber to stick, making the shell cases
+jam in the gun after being discharged, forcing us to pry open with a
+sharp pick the breech each time to extract the empty cartridge. All
+during the operation the Major was cursing like a madman at the men,
+whoever they were, that brought the bees into the business.
+
+It was my duty to set the sight, and as I did so, each time, the bees
+would attack my hands and head, and in trying to attend to the sight and
+wipe the bees off at the same time, my work was harder than can well be
+imagined; but poor Billy's case was even harder, he had to keep a steady
+hold of his range drum with both hands and he couldn't budge to brush
+off his attackers, as it was absolutely necessary to hold dead steady to
+enable us to do our shooting accurately.
+
+"Grant, for God's sake knock this bee off my neck," he pleaded; "it's
+stinging hell out of me"; but every time I made a move to help him, the
+Major roared, "Get that angle on, Grant; get your range on, McLean." And
+we had to take our medicine. Parker, who was passing shells, was in the
+same plight as the rest of us; his hands were covered with the sugary
+fluid that had settled between the copper splinters of the driving bands
+on the shells and the slivers were slitting his hands. This is a
+necessary accompaniment that the men passing the shells into the gun
+have to contend with, and ordinarily it is a sore and painful piece of
+business, but in conjunction with the swarm of the bees it was simply
+hellish.
+
+A change of angle was momentarily expected from the observer; we had
+been looking for it for some minutes, and the Major was beginning to
+rave and rant, very much like a theater manager when the star has not
+yet put in her appearance and the impatient audience on the outside are
+giving vent to catcalls. He could stand it no longer and ran as fast as
+his legs would carry him over to the telephonist's hut; there he found
+Graham crouching alongside of his telephone in the folds of a blanket
+over his head and face. It was the usual field telephone that we used,
+in conjunction with a telegraph buzzer, and Graham was endeavoring to
+deliver his messages and fight off the bees at the same time, while
+bringing to his aid the smoke of a fag that he was endeavoring to puff
+into the faces of his antagonists in the hope that it would help some.
+
+The Major bellowed, "You damned jackass! take off that blanket. What do
+you mean?" Graham threw off the blanket and started working his buzzer,
+but the bees had as little regard for the rank of the Major as they did
+for that of Sergeant Graham, and three or four of them kept pinging away
+at him, but as long as the Major was there his splendid discipline
+enabled him to do his work. He got into communication at once with the
+trenches, gave us our new targets and we kept on with our work until
+darkness prevented further registering that night, although the twilight
+still prevailed.
+
+"Stand down!" came the order. "Clean up guns and lay on S.O.S. lines for
+the night," meaning to load the gun with a fuse shell timed for a
+certain range, or to burst on percussion, just as the target requires,
+safety catch down, sight set, range on range drum and the gun laid on a
+predetermined point to be covered, in both cases being the front line
+trench, although it might be a machine-gun emplacement, barbed-wire,
+bombing post, crossroads or observation station. For a front-line trench
+and an attack started by the enemy, the S.O.S. signal is passed from the
+trench, either through the telephonist in the trenches, or by means of
+colored star shells. Immediately upon receipt of this signal by our
+S.O.S. sentry or the telephonist at the battery, we get the order
+"S.O.S. stand to the battery," and in the space of four seconds from
+the time we receive that order, our first shell must be exploded in the
+German lines under pain of the severest penalty. If a man were taking a
+wash, he would have to jump out of the water and get to the guns as
+quickly as God and nature would permit him.
+
+Before retiring for our billets, Mac and I decided that we might as well
+get some more honey, as we felt that the bees had done about all that
+they could to us and we were deserving of a little further reward for
+what we had endured, and arming ourselves with smoke helmets, we made a
+further sortie on the camp of our winged enemies. As fast as if I were
+ramming home a shell, I lifted off the hive while Mac pulled out a
+couple of combs swarming with bees. We thought we were making a good job
+of it this time and getting away scot free, when suddenly I felt a stab
+under my coat sleeve and almost at the same moment Mac had the same
+experience and we broke into a run for the billet. By the time we got
+there we were being stung frightfully on our bodies, as the bees had
+made their way up under our shirt sleeves and we ripped off our coats
+and shirts, fighting the common enemy at the same time. The boys in the
+billet beat it outside while we "carried on."
+
+After a vigorous battle we seemed to have the foe beaten into submission
+and the fellows returned; then we had a feed of honey, hung up the
+remainder on the wall and retired for the night. Mac retired to his bunk
+first and had scarcely settled down when he emitted another snort, then
+a yell; the bees had settled in between the blankets of his bed and were
+renewing their onslaught on his helpless body.
+
+Everybody started laughing at McLean's plight, but no sooner were the
+rest of us settled down till we too had a battle on our hands; and in
+the middle of the fray, Fritz started shelling our billets with gas
+shells, one of the missiles going clean through the tile roof and
+knocking the tiles down on our heads. Then came a salvo--six
+shells--followed by several others. "S.O.S." was signaled and "Stand
+to," and out we raced for the guns, sans shirt, sans everything, bumping
+into the trees on our way and falling in shell holes in the orchard.
+
+The gas they were putting over at this time was more dangerous than any
+I had yet experienced, it having a more direct effect on the lungs than
+any they had yet given us. It had started to rain and the darkness was
+black, but we reached the guns within scheduled time, and under great
+difficulty we exploded our shells; but most of our work in that
+discharge was guesswork.
+
+It soon cooled down and we again sought our billets after laying the
+guns on "S.O.S." and even the pain from the stings of the bees did not
+prevent us getting into dreamland in short order.
+
+At 3:30 in the morning I went out to visit the last guard shift, as was
+my duty. Then, dawn breaking over the land, I went out to see what
+damage the shells had done, and on the way I stumbled into a crop of the
+most delicious mushrooms. Off came my helmet and I filled it to the brim
+and hastened to the cookhouse with them; he had just got his fire
+started and I asked him if he would oblige me by cooking them for me, as
+I wanted them for my gun crew, and he gladly complied with my request.
+
+Then cookhouse was called and the crew came to breakfast and when each
+man got his portion of the mushrooms served him, his astonishment was as
+great as when he got the honey. So that between the honey and the dewy
+dainties I had gathered, together with a couple of jars of pickled pork
+and two small jars of rolled butter found in one of the vacated cellars
+by an industrious member of our crew, you can imagine the excited
+condition of our minds that morning at breakfast.
+
+During the course of the feasting the Sergeant-Major arrived on the
+scene. "Well, for Heaven's sake! Who was the guy that got the
+mushrooms?" He was informed that I was the lucky individual and he asked
+me if I would show him the way, and I was just directing him when "Stand
+to the battery!" intervened, and we bolted for the guns and opened up.
+"Fifty rounds gunfire" was ordered; then "Second fire ten seconds," then
+"Second fire five seconds," then "Gunfire steady"; next, "Independent
+fire ten seconds"; then came the order for a sweeping fire to enable our
+infantry to dig in in a trench they had just taken, and to prevent Fritz
+getting it back. Our work was accomplished and "Stand down and lay on
+day lines!" was ordered and I was cleaning the sight of my gun and
+wiping off the effects of the gas fumes when the Sergeant-Major came
+along and asked me to indicate where I had gathered the mushrooms; I
+pointed the spot out to him, and he made a bee line. In a couple of
+minutes I heard him calling and I looked up, "Here's a beauty you
+missed, Grant; you must have been blind," and he held up a mushroom as
+large as a breakfast plate. I laughed and replied, "Yes, you are lucky,
+Sergeant-Major." Then Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! and Fritz started getting
+busy again as an airplane hovered about, and the pace getting too
+deucedly hot, we started for the trenches; it was a ditch-trench half
+full of water which came to our waists, and in it we paddled our way
+until we got to a fairly good trench, and on the journey down
+imprecations of all kinds were hurled on the head of the offending
+Sergeant-Major. "Where is that damned fool of a Sergeant-Major?" asked
+one; "It was his gathering those mushrooms in the open that started
+Fritz." Just at that moment down the ditch came the Sergeant-Major
+limping; he had been slightly wounded in the leg by a bit of shrapnel,
+but he was hanging onto his mushrooms.
+
+"'Ere, Grant, take this, will you, till I fix me leg," and he handed me
+the mushrooms and started undoing his puttee where the blood was soaking
+through. When he had bound up his wound I handed him his dainties and
+he held them up admiringly.
+
+"It was a bit dangerous, doncher know, but, blow me tight, if I wouldn't
+do it again to get a beauty like that," holding up the large one he had
+shown me when he was gathering them.
+
+"You bleedin' idiot," I said, "don't you know a mushroom when you see
+it? That's a toadstool! I passed it up."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+SCOTTY COMES BACK AT THE SOMME
+
+
+The German lines were on the hills; every time we took a position it was
+always uphill, until we got over Pozieres Ridge and then our work was
+downhill for the time. We arrived at the firing line on the 29th of
+August, 1916. The accompanying map will convey a general idea of the
+object intended to be attained by the great drive. The German
+organization in this district was fed by railroads having terminals at
+Bapaume and it was clearly evident that with this city in our possession
+the supply organization of the enemy would be largely demoralized. Hence
+the plan. Bapaume lay southwest from our trenches a matter of 15 miles;
+intervening were the towns of Labazell, Pozieres, Courcelette and
+Martinpuieh,--all on the Albert-Bapaume road.
+
+We arrived just in time to save Pozieres. The Australian boys had driven
+their way clean through to this place, but had not sufficient
+reenforcements to hold it, and were being exterminated when we reached
+the point and saved them with our guns and the wonderful work of our
+infantry in driving the Boches half-a-mile over the ridge. The
+opportunity for Canada to assist her sister dominion was a matter of
+profound thankfulness to every man of us; to lend a helping hand under
+such circumstances was indeed cheery work.
+
+The Imperial troops and Australians, under great difficulties, had
+blasted their way into Labazell, the crater of the mine blown up being
+one of the largest I have seen on the Western front. This was the
+commencement of the Somme offensive and happened on the 1st of July,
+1916. When I reached this crater two battalions of Canadian troops were
+stationed in its depths in holes burrowed all around the sides, and it
+was used as an assembling point for reenforcements. This will convey an
+idea of the extent of the mining operations.
+
+The distance from the mine to our new position was three-quarters of a
+mile and the ground was billeted with corpses all the way to our
+battery; in the crater itself it was impossible to step without walking
+on bits of human bodies, and the dugouts surrounding were filled with
+German dead; there were thousands of them. It was so manifestly
+impossible to give them any sort of a burial that the order was issued
+to fill in the dugouts where they lay and this was done by heaving the
+ground in on top of them. Never to my dying day can I forget the sight
+of those German dead! Dead everywhere! In whatever direction the eye
+turned there were the rigid warriors of the Kaiser cold in death. It was
+many nights before I could get a straight sleep without seeing
+mortifying Huns. But I have long since ceased to have any pity for them.
+Although they are the victims of a system over which they have no
+apparent control, yet they are supposed to be human beings with human,
+red blood in their veins, and the numberless deeds of which they have
+been guilty have branded them as nothing better than brute beasts in the
+eyes of all humanity.
+
+With the help of the Pozieres Ridge we could observe Fritz quite clearly
+now, and every time he attempted any digging-in work our guns would
+speak to him in terms so convincing that he fain would desist. My
+battery then moved up to within a thousand yards of the foe, one and a
+half miles northwest of Labazell, where we had to dig right in the
+open. At this point the dead were also strewn so thickly that it was
+practically impossible to walk without stepping on a corpse, or part of
+one, every other step, among them being many of our own fellows who here
+paid the supreme price, and each time we came across a laddie in khaki
+it was a signal for an outburst of swearing. Had we not sworn we would
+have wept, and, naturally, as men we preferred to do the other thing.
+
+While here our rations ran short; our prisoners numbered over 20,000 and
+the policy of the British Government being to treat a prisoner as well,
+if not better, than her own soldiers (their wants are always attended to
+first), we were practically without food, and were compelled to resort
+to the heroic method of taking the rations from the bodies of our poor
+comrades who were lying cold on the ground and who would need them no
+more.
+
+Three-quarters of a mile north of Labazell we were in our gun pit one
+night and "Ammunition up!" was the order. This meant that everybody,
+including officers and down to cook, the telephonist on duty alone being
+excepted, had to get out and help unload the life-saving material. I
+remember thinking of the anomaly at the time,--how strange it was that
+we should regard the ammunition as life saving, when it was in reality
+so destructive of life. While working like Turks unloading the shells,
+some of the drivers were talking about a strange sight they had seen
+down the road near Albert (pronounced Albare), when loading up at the
+ammunition dump. They told us that huge contraptions covered with
+tarpaulin were lying on the side of the road, with six-pounder guns
+protruding from their sides; in conversation the drivers referred to
+them as land boats, and some, as land dreadnaughts. Speculation ran rife
+as to their purpose. We were soon to see. Next morning as dawn was
+breaking, "Stand to!" rang out. Waiting in our gun pits for the next
+command, I heard the sound of an engine put-put-ing along the road,
+something akin to that of a machine gun, but yet different.
+
+I looked in the direction of the sound and presently there hove in sight
+a colossal something of behemoth proportions;--something the like of
+which I had never seen or heard of in all my life, and I was stricken
+dumb with amazement. A monstrous monstrosity climbed its way without let
+or hindrance, up, over, along and across every obstacle in its path.
+Presently it reached the top of Pozieres Ridge; every man who could see
+had his eyes glued on it. It came down the ridge at about five miles an
+hour with two small guns peering out of each side. It was the first
+tank! We all thought at first it was an armored car of some kind. Then
+it swung off the road, crossing a ditch 8 feet wide and 17 deep and when
+we saw it perform this stunt our faculties were for the moment
+spellbound, and then we burst into uncontrollable cheering.
+
+From all quarters of the valley soldiers were running to see the
+absurdly strange sight; it was as if a general fire alarm had been
+sounded, with everybody hastening to the scene of the conflagration.
+Passing close by our battery, it paused for a while, and I had the
+opportunity of giving it the once-over, and then it waddled on its way
+again. In a few minutes two companion land boats made their debut
+amongst us; up they went over the ridge, rolling down the German
+barbed-wire entanglement as if it were so much thread and forcing huge
+gaps for the Infantry to pass through, continuing their way placidly on
+through the trenches of the Hun, flattening scores of German soldiers
+under their bulk who were too awe-stricken to move.
+
+Our Infantry then took up the beaten path, charging the enemy trenches,
+and Fritz was an easy prey that morning.
+
+Inside of half an hour after our tanks reached the lines of Fritz, the
+prisoners in gray commenced to stream toward our lines; for a distance
+of seven miles the road was jammed with captured Huns. Some of them
+passing by our battery spoke to me in English, as good as, if not
+better, than my own, and asked me what in hell was the meaning of waging
+war in such fashion; they referred to the tank as Landfuerchtenichts. I
+told them that was nothing to what was in store for them. "Why," I said,
+"I've got reserved seats on one of them for Berlin."
+
+"You'll never get that far," he retorted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The action on the Somme was well under way when one morning at daybreak,
+making my way to the cookhouse, I was greeted, "Hello, Grant, hoos awa'
+wi' ye, laddie? Ma sontes, but you're lookin' fine! An' damned if he
+isn't a Sergeant!" It was Scotty, reinstated in our unit in his former
+capacity of cook, and he had brought with him his nerve, his twinkle,
+his bow legs and all. I must confess I was glad to see him, and when we
+had a few minutes together he told me, with all the gusto imaginable, of
+his exploits in London.
+
+With his little eyes twinkling like pin points, he related how England
+needing every available man, he was reinstated, and having observed
+strict military discipline while in the camp he was, under the rule,
+entitled to back pay, so that he had a year's wages coming. He obtained
+leave of absence, hastened to London and procured in some manner a
+British Major's uniform, in which he disported himself in first-class
+hotels, restaurants and the like, receiving the homage that became a
+returned fighting man, in the shape of dinner engagements, theater
+invitations and drinks galore. The deception was discovered and he was
+clinked for thirty days, at the end of which he was packed off to the
+front lines.
+
+He wound up by telling me that, he expected to get into the game
+shortly, as he wanted to be in it when the Germans got what was coming
+to them.
+
+We were occupying at this time some splendid dugouts and trenches that
+we had taken from Fritz; they were made of chalk as was also the
+cookhouse. Of our battery of sixteen guns at this point my gun was
+nearest to the cookhouse, and I was mightily tickled at the prospect of
+having an opportunity now and again to slip in and have a drink of hot
+tea, or something of the kind, with my old friend.
+
+[Illustration: Ex-German "Pill Box" That Is Now a British Dugout]
+
+That night I dropped in on Scotty and casually remarked that our guns
+would speak shortly and I expected we would bring the German fire upon
+us, as was the usual result. Scotty's voice quavered I thought, as he
+asked me when we would begin. "Oh, in an hour, maybe. Have you got a sup
+of hot tea, Scotty?" "No, I hae na tea, Grant; you'll get your tea at
+the proper time and not before." "Well, of all the----." I couldn't find
+words, and then I remembered his old-time habit of thriftiness, and I
+made up my mind to keep a sharp lookout, and if I caught him
+profiteering in rations he had saved from the men, I mentally resolved I
+would show him no mercy.
+
+Exactly at 2 o'clock that morning we started sending our messages to
+Fritzie, and inside of a minute--Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p! Kr-kr-kr-p!
+Kr-kr-kr-p! And his shells were flying all around us. The cookhouse was
+only about 20 yards off and I wondered if Scotty would now loosen up a
+bit, and I stepped over leaving Lawrence in charge of the gun. The cook
+had crawled under his bunk, which was merely a slight wire mattress
+raised a couple of feet off the floor. There was a dixie of hot tea
+standing near and I started to help myself to a drink. He saw what I was
+doing and with chattering teeth told me he would report me in the
+morning. He had scarcely spoken when a shell tore through the cookhouse,
+going clean through the wall over his bed, and as the roar of it passed
+by, I heard Scotty again offering up supplications in a manner that
+would arouse the admiration of the most earnest camp-meeting devotee.
+The shells were commencing to pop all around and I knew instantly that
+Fritz had located the cookhouse instead of the battery, and I roared to
+Scotty to come out, but he wouldn't budge. I reached under and grabbed
+him by the leg, dragging him to the door and leading him by the hand,
+for he was shaking like a leaf, made my way to the battery. By that time
+Fritz had got a better line on the guns and it was getting so hot that
+we got orders to retire to our dugouts. I pushed the cook ahead of me
+and when we got to the path leading to our quarters, about 200 yards
+off, no sprinter ever lived that could equal the pace of the bow-legged
+chef. I doubt if a moving picture machine could have caught the flash of
+his legs.
+
+The following day we got the welcome order of billets. When there the
+O.C. made an announcement that he would give a prize of 20 francs to the
+driver of the best pair of mules on inspection day, which was two weeks
+hence. This was done for the purpose of encouraging the well-being of
+the animals,--a most important factor in our own well-being. Scotty's
+eye to thrift ever open, he entered into an engagement with one of the
+drivers that he would feed his mules potato peelings if he would split
+fifty-fifty with him on the prize. The driver agreed and a few days
+later he and his helper appeared at the door of the cookhouse with one
+of the mules to get his feed. In order to prevent spilling the peelings
+at the entrance to the cookhouse, he backed the mule up against the
+door. In France, as is well known, every farmhouse has a cesspool in
+which all manner of refuse is distilled by means of a pump and straw,
+and used to fertilize the soil. These pools are all the way from 8 to
+10 feet deep. Immediately in front of the cookhouse and the mule was one
+of these cesspools, our billets here being on a farm. It happened that
+when Scotty was peeling his potatoes that day, he had thrown them so
+close to the fire that they got thoroughly heated. He hastily gathered
+them up and threw them in a pan which he handed to Tompkins, the man who
+had charge of the mules and who had entered into the agreement with him;
+the driver was still on the animal's back. When the mule stuck his nose
+into the hot peelings he jerked backwards into the door of the
+cookhouse, the driver's back struck the wall over the entrance and he
+was shot clean off the mule's back head-foremost into the cesspool 10
+feet away. When I say that the bone-grinding department of a stockyard's
+plant is pleasant compared to the odor of the mixture contained in the
+cesspool, some idea will be had of the driver's condition when he was
+pulled out by Tompkins. In the meantime, Scotty was standing in the
+cookhouse, laughing his sides out at the driver's plight, and he had
+forgotten to notice that the mule was backing further and further into
+the room. Just then Mr. Mule got his foot tangled up in one of the
+dixies that were lying on the floor, and in attempting to kick it off,
+his foot missed Scotty's head by about six inches. Scotty backed up and
+so did the mule, still kicking, each kick bringing his hoof nearer
+Scotty's mug.
+
+"Take your damn mule out," he roared, but they returned the laugh on him
+and made no move. The next kick brought the hoof and dixie within an
+inch of the cook's skull and in desperation and fear for his life he
+slid sidewise under the mule's belly and just escaped a vicious bite as
+he was getting out of the door.
+
+What the mule did not do in that room to the dinner preparations was not
+worth doing and Scotty was peremptorily demoted for the loss of the
+men's dinner and put to tending mules instead. He had no more idea of
+caring for a mule than he had for performing a delicate operation on the
+brain and, as a consequence, when inspection day came around, the hip
+bones of the animals he had cared for could be used as a hat rack and
+the officer ordered them shot and buried. The cook's thrift again came
+to the front. "Grant, I'll tell ye what I'll do, if ye'll help me take
+the carcasses to an abattoir we'll sell them for forty francs, and then
+we can dig a grave and let on we've buried them, and I'll go half wi'
+ye. What do you say?" The scheme looked plausible enough to me and I
+consented, and I was the richer by 20 francs.
+
+Owing to his misfortune with the mules the O.C. ordered him to report
+for duty on my gun and Scotty came into the lines with us the following
+week. I was in charge of a trench mortar and our duty was to send over 8
+or 10 shells, instantly take the gun to pieces and remove it to another
+position for the purpose of getting away from the return fire that Fritz
+was sure to send. When the first 10 messages were sent across, I ordered
+all hands to take their respective parts and carry them to the point
+designated, I superintending the dismemberment of the gun. When the last
+man, who happened to be Scotty, had taken away his respective part of
+the gun, I picked up the range-finder and started for the spot about a
+hundred yards off down the trench. I had scarcely gone 10 yards when an
+ear-splitting roar came hurtling through the air and an explosion
+followed that made the very earth tremble. I knew it was somewhere in
+the neighborhood of our selected spot and I anxiously hastened my
+steps. I got there to find every man of my gun crew with one exception
+blown to atoms, the exception being Scotty, but he too had paid the
+supreme price. With the help of another soldier, we carried him to the
+rear of the cookhouse and covered him with a blanket. When daylight
+broke I went over there with a party to give him as decent a burial as
+possible, and the new cook, who was a Scotchman, came out to have a look
+at the dead pal.
+
+"Well, if it isn't Jock Henderson!" he exclaimed.
+
+"Did you know him?" I asked.
+
+"Know him! Why, mon, we were bakers taegither in Glascae. I could tell
+him anywhere by his bow-legs, an' he's got a scar on one o' them as big
+as your face."
+
+"Yes, I know he has, where the shell grazed him at Mons."
+
+"Shell grazed him at Mons? Shell hell! It was a pan o' hot dough that
+fell on his leg in the bake-shop, and I'll never forget his yell tae my
+dyin' day."
+
+Like the last star of dawn the only remaining shred of poor Scotty's
+valor faded away and was gone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+BEHEMOTH
+
+
+The Somme district is composed of chalk pits; wherever the ground was
+dug up it showed white. This afforded an excellent opportunity for the
+enemy birds to spot any work we were doing. While in this section every
+man in the ranks looked very much like a white-wash artist--white dust
+everywhere, filling our eyes, ears, noses, mouths. Lord! when I think of
+that chalk dust!
+
+For five days after the first advance of the tanks they were lying, six
+of them, immediately at the right of our battery on the edge of the
+road; no one seemed to know what they were doing there or what was
+contemplated. Then they moved up four miles to the edge of Pozieres
+Woods, where they believed they would be safer from view, and for the
+further reason that they would not have so far to travel when the next
+drive was pulled off. They waddled in there at night, but the following
+morning Fritz's keen eye searched them out, wirelessed the necessary
+directions to their heaviest battery, and in almost less time than it
+takes to write it tremendous shells came smashing around, damaging one
+of them pretty severely, and the other five immediately waddled back to
+a safer place in the rear.
+
+That same night canvas dummies were drawn up by mules and set up in the
+same place. Again the keen-eyed birds of the air spotted them, flashed
+their range back to their heaviest mouthpieces, and for the better part
+of the day the entire batteries of their heaviest caliber, expended
+their energies and their shells on the dummies; there was no kind or
+character of explosive shell that did not land on the frauds.
+
+Late in the afternoon two of the air birds wanted to get down a little
+closer, undoubtedly to satisfy themselves as to how the work of
+destruction had progressed, and one of our little observation planes
+gave battle to the visitors, engaging the nearest one first. His
+companion bird made for ours, but before he could get underneath to do
+anything, the first German bird had been winged and downed. Our
+anti-aircraft guns now made it so warm for the other bird that he beat
+it. The visit, however, must have had beneficial results for Fritz, for
+immediately after the plane returned to their lines, he ceased paying
+any attention whatever to the dummies. That night we put the real tanks
+behind the dummies and the day following not a single shell broke over
+or near them, and that same night they crept down into Pozieres Valley
+under shelter of a bombardment made to prevent the keen ear of Fritz
+detecting the throbbing of their engines.
+
+By this time batteries had been and were being installed everywhere at
+Pozieres where there was room to place a gun: like beavers the men were
+working as busily as men could work, although they were constantly
+subjected to the severest strafing; but on the Somme it seemed that
+nobody minded. For my part I had the firm conviction that death would
+come when it would come and not till then, and I went about my work
+absolutely careless of any possible hurt. And I can positively testify
+to the same state of mind in each one of my comrades,--not one of whom
+seemed to think of his personal safety in any way whatsoever when there
+was work to be done.
+
+Here the British soldier's fatalism was exemplified in the superbest
+manner!
+
+On that same night that the tanks went forward again, I was detailed to
+go to the trenches to assist the telephonist, who was hard pressed for
+help, and in the morning I was in the front-line trench assisting the
+Captain with his observation work. All the time on the Somme all hands
+were busy doing something. Immediately after dawn, at five o'clock, the
+guns belched forth with an ear-splitting, deafening roar and
+simultaneously over the top appeared the five behemoths, one of them
+passing within a few feet of me.
+
+The gunfire from our pieces at this time was immensely superior to the
+enemy's and his trenches had been flattened, but the wires still stood,
+and here it was the tanks did the work. On they came! Rolling through
+and making gaps 10 to 15 feet wide the Infantry plunging along in their
+wake. Forgetting my orders to stay where I was, I hopped in with the
+Infantry and reached Fritz' second-line trench.
+
+"Gawd!" yelled a Tommy. "Wot the bloody 'ell will Fritz think of these
+beauties? 'E'll think its Satan's advance guard!"
+
+On and yet on they reeled and rolled, one of them dipping nose first
+into a crater, and when I saw it going over the top of this huge hole my
+heart gave a bound of fear, as I surely thought its usefulness was now
+over. In this crater there were about 300 German soldiers when the tank
+plunged into it, and under its huge bulk 75 of them had their lives
+mashed out.
+
+A spirit of wonderful fervor filled me as I saw that our behemoth was
+not disturbed in the slightest by the fact that he had gone into a
+crater; he continued to waddle all around the huge hole, his machine
+guns playing on the balance of the men that were jumping this way and
+that, and swarming like ants up, over and on top of it, to escape and
+save their lives in some manner. In sheer mad desperation they climbed
+over every part of the mammoth, discharging their revolvers at any seam
+in the metal or place where they thought it might be effective, breaking
+their bayonets on its iron coat--in vain! They could not overcome the
+unknown! One man thrust a hand grenade into the muzzle of one of the
+guns, but was blown to bits in the try. Still, over and over it they
+swarmed, like bees searching for a nook in a flower, the difference
+being that instead of getting honey they got hell. Then the poor
+desperate devils, in the frenzy of despair, flung themselves from the
+top and sides of the titan down into the crater and tried to scamper up
+the sides to the top, only to be met with a hail of bullets when they
+reached the edge and fall backwards into the crater depths, upsetting in
+their fall their companions who were behind them, and also trying vainly
+to get out of that hole of hell.
+
+Language is futile to give anything like an adequate description of the
+scene in the crater. A few of the Huns, more long-headed than the rest,
+still clung to the tank, remaining there until it reached the top, when
+they held up their arms, yelling Kamerad at the top of their lungs, and
+these were all that were left of that 300--just 20.
+
+The titanic ducks were each of them doing similar work on every part of
+the line, but the particular one whose work I was able to follow then
+made a call on a whiz-bang battery, smashing one of the guns when it
+first stepped upon it, and mowing the gunners down, the rest fleeing as
+though from the wrath to come. Many batteries and crews were similarly
+smashed, and then their work being done for the day, they all returned
+with the exception of one which lay in the German lines for about five
+hours, due to engine trouble. While lying there, Fritz did his damndest
+to place a mine underneath the helpless hulk, but the earnestness and
+the energy with which our boys at the guns worked for the preservation
+of their beloved behemoth, prevented him carrying out his purpose; and
+while the concert was in full swing all around us, the preserving
+messages from our guns whizzing past it in one direction, and the
+destructive messages from the German guns coming at it from the other
+direction, the tank crew quietly and industriously went about their
+work, repaired the engine trouble, said "ta-ta" to Fritz and waddled
+back home.
+
+No returning hero from the scene of his glory ever received such a
+greeting as did the crews of the mighty monsters when they stepped out
+of the sheltering internals of their huge bowels. Clad in pants and
+boots, littered with grease, dirt and oil, scarred with bruises incurred
+as they were thrown from side to side of their armored shelter by the
+swaying of the thing, when they stepped from the door to the ground, the
+shouts and roaring cheers of ten thousand times ten thousand men
+thrilled them with such a thrill, that they felt fully repaid for
+everything that they had done that day.
+
+The Tommies grabbed them in their arms, hugged them, slapped them on the
+backs and chests until the wind was fairly knocked out of them, and if
+we had been Frenchmen instead of Britishers, our mouths would have been
+covered with black grease from kisses imprinted on their cheeks.
+
+All night long, long lines of men in gray were passing through our
+sector, in some places as many as 50 of them being escorted by one
+soldier; German Red Cross men were carrying out our wounded, eagerly
+volunteering for this work in the thought that they would find favor by
+so doing.
+
+After taking Pozieres and driving over the ridge and on down into the
+Courcelette Valley, we took up a position about 500 yards from the
+German front lines. Here occurred another of those remarkable escapes
+from the Grim Reaper's toll that won for me throughout the unit the
+pseudonym, "Horseshoe Grant."
+
+Eighteen loads of ammunition were being hauled to the guns and when
+being unloaded, enemy fire opened up on the position, several horses
+were hit, the doors of the wagons were flung open and the horses,
+stricken with fright, galloped madly about, the shells being strewn over
+the ground all the way to the bridge several hundred yards off,--a
+bridge that was a vitally important structure to us, because over it
+every pound of supplies and ammunition had to cross in order to get to
+us. I have often thought what a disaster it would have meant to us had
+Fritz ever got to this passageway. The drivers finally managed to close
+the wagon doors and get most of them back over the bridge, but the shell
+fire had then become so heavy that "Take cover!" was ordered.
+
+The Hun kept up the bombardment for some time and the O.C. thought it
+better to let the ammunition lie where it was until daylight, when he
+intended to have it gathered up. He did not wait for daylight; in the
+middle of the night we were called out to manhandle the ammunition from
+an improvised sled that had been built and loaded with it and hauled
+over the mud to the bridge. There was no slacking on that job, every man
+carrying two of the shells--18 pounders--and when we finally got them
+to the guns we were allowed to turn in.
+
+[Illustration: Behemoth in Battle]
+
+Just before daylight a counter attack started and we were ordered to
+repel it, which we did with all the ammunition that was capable of being
+used; lots of it we could not use as the mud and dirt prevented; it had
+to be thoroughly cleaned and oiled before being fired. The battle lasted
+well until noon, and having accomplished our work we got a "Stand down!"
+after which came the usual hurry and scurry to clean and oil our pet and
+get her all in readiness for the next act. There was still some
+ammunition left lying on the ground that had been spilled, and we were
+instructed to gather it in at once, clean and oil it and put it in the
+gun pit. While busy at this job I glanced overhead and noticed an
+airplane: "I believe that's a German," calling attention to it. The
+fellows didn't agree with me, they holding it was a British bird, and we
+all went on with our work. I kept my eye on it, however, for some
+reason, and saw it finally go over the ridge and turn, and as it
+turned--Kr-kr-kr-p! and a shell lit on the ridge 25 yards in our front;
+it was about an 8-incher and showered the dirt in all directions. We
+scurried like rabbits into our pit, emerging in a few minutes when the
+dirt and dust had blown away. Glancing up again I noticed the air bird
+turn again, and instantly another one came, this time landing near the
+gun pit, throwing a shower of mud and dirt on it, and causing
+considerable profanity for the extra work given us by Fritz. Instant
+orders were given us to take cover as a strafing was in sight, and we
+shot out of the gun pit, jumped into the trench and ran along. Two of
+the fellows were immediately ahead of me, Dinghy and Graham, and
+Graham's footwork was so slow that I jumped up on the parapet of the
+trench to get past him, and over the top I skedaddled toward our 30-foot
+dugout, which had formerly been the home of the Germans; like most of
+their quarters it was large, roomy and comfortable. To get to the dugout
+we had to go through a German gun pit which was then being used by us as
+a cookhouse. Just before I reached my destination a shell had landed
+squarely in this gun pit, where a number of the men were lined up
+waiting for supper. The effect of this shell was not only deadly in the
+extreme, but very peculiar in its action. At the right hand side corner
+of the gun pit was the dugout for the left section, and the right
+section occupied the dugout on the left hand side corner. The shell
+struck the edge of the right section dugout in which four men at the
+bottom were having a card game; the fuse tore its way down the steps,
+knocking large chunks of the steps off in its course, and down into the
+center of the card game, scattering the money in every direction and not
+injuring a single member of the party. The back lash of the deadly
+visitor, however, ripped the life out of the men waiting for supper at
+the cookhouse and the side lash of its stroke caught the men in the
+right hand side dugout in which were two soldiers sitting on a box,
+munching biscuits. One of them had the upper half of his head blown off,
+scattering the blood and brains over his chum, who escaped without a
+scratch.
+
+I reached the gun pit about one minute after the explosion. God in
+Heaven! What a sight met my eyes! The floor of the pit was strewn with
+the men in all directions, six of them dead and the balance fearfully
+wounded. I dashed out for stretcher bearers and Fritz just then started
+increasing his fire; he had kept an eye on the men running through the
+trench to the gun pit. He therefore knew that there must be a nest of us
+there.
+
+In spite of the gain in the enemy's gunfire, we started our wounded pals
+to the officers' dugouts; most of the lads had been so severely
+shell-shocked that we had a most trying time to keep them in their
+stretchers. Men who have been shell-shocked most usually exhibit it by
+wanting to run off in all directions; I have seen them with wounds that
+ordinarily would cause them to collapse, but under the influence of the
+shock exert themselves with such strength and violence that it would
+take a couple of sturdy men to hold them. There is a trite saying that
+every disadvantage has a corresponding advantage and I wondered that
+night when I got back to the gun pit if nature intended that the
+advantage from this disaster was the increase in our supper ration due
+to the death and wounding of my soldier pals!
+
+A few days after, we were notified we were going to drive forward
+another stage, and I went to the trench with the telephonist party for
+the purpose of making our communication as clear as possible; I was
+detailed especially to assist the Captain in this work.
+
+The attack was launched at daybreak, with a ten-minute bombardment
+preceding, and then our fellows were up and over. As before, the tanks
+blazed the way, one of them passing about 30 feet to my right just
+before I went over the top. As I lay in the trench, the darling old
+titan passed me, leveling the wire in front, and I had then an even
+keener realization of what it meant for Fritz to have these monsters
+piling over and smashing him under foot just about as a man would tread
+on a worm and mash it. And if there ever was one time during my entire
+three years of campaigning, when I felt an atom of sympathy for the
+gray-clad devils, it was at that moment.
+
+But how can sympathy obtain for devils in human form?
+
+My immediate family was strongly represented in this attack. To my right
+among the men who went over, were the Canadian Grenadier Guards, of
+which my young brother Billy was a member. This regiment had made an
+undying place in the annals of Canadian history in the advance on
+Courcelette, having out of its 950 men but 66 men left intact when the
+roll was called after the battle, the balance being either killed or
+wounded. But they achieved their objective, Courcelette!
+
+Billy and his regiment, which had been mustered up to strength, passed
+over the top within four hundred yards of me to the right. On my left,
+my older brother, Gordon, who was supporting a trench mortar battery in
+the front-line trench, was working away within 500 yards of me. I was
+not aware of the presence of either until a comparison of notes later on
+apprised me of their presence. To my right hand was Hughey and his
+brother Archie and to my left Jim, three brothers, all of them my first
+cousins.
+
+Jim had enlisted in New Zealand, Archie in Australia and Hughey in
+Canada. The only relative of whose presence in the battle I was aware,
+was Hughey. Through a rule obtaining in the army, these three brothers
+took the opportunity when they got to France, to get a transfer to the
+Canadian army, all in the same unit. Later, however, the casualties
+necessitated changing them around somewhat. All three had been wounded
+and gassed, but were back again as full of fight as ever. We went over
+under the shelter of such a terrific barrage that the German front line
+and its occupants were practically annihilated; the work of our
+artillery was nothing short of wonderful. Staying there ten minutes we
+went on and took the second line, meeting a little more stubborn
+resistance as we went forward, but finally taking it. In going over
+between the first and second lines it was necessary to jump into shell
+holes from time to time. The men ahead of us were mostly Brandenburgers,
+Bavarians and Prussians. At one place I had leapt with my pal into a
+small shell hole, and over to my right was a kiltie engaged in a
+hand-to-hand struggle with a Hun. The kiltie was an undersized chap and
+Fritz was about twice his size, and with a much longer bayonet, and Jock
+seemed to be getting a bit tired. I didn't think it wise to wait, even
+though I felt very certain that Jock could hold his own, and taking
+careful aim with my revolver I tumbled the Fritzie over. Looking then to
+the left I saw another kiltie in an argument with a Prussian; they were
+fencing with their bayonets, and a second Hun was coming up behind and
+again I took aim, but before I was able to get my pill started, my mate
+robbed me of the honor and sent his pill crashing through Fritzie's
+head. So I turned my attention to the immediate opponent, but before I
+could shoot, the kiltie's body interposed in my line of vision, and when
+I got a glimpse of the Prussian a second later, he was in the throes of
+death with a bayonet in his bowels. Further over to my right, two Huns
+were trying to bayonet a soldier, but our man was an expert and seemed
+to be easily holding his own, in fact, getting the better of it a
+little, and I noticed a Prussian jump out of a hole, aim his rifle at
+our fellow, and I yelled, "Get that one, Walter!" But Walter had already
+seen him and started blazing at him and winged him in the shoulder; he
+was later gathered in among the prisoners.
+
+Then we turned to the duel and blazed at one of the Prussians, being
+lucky enough to land him, and at the same time Sandy got in his work
+with the cold steel on the other Hun. Then, wiping the perspiration from
+his face with a swipe of his hand, he looked toward us and hollered
+"Gude work, laddies," and dashed on ahead.
+
+All these scrimmages took place in less time than it takes to tell about
+them; everywhere, as far as the eye could reach, the cleaning-up process
+was going on. This was as far as I could go at this time, because I had
+strict orders to remain with my party there for observation purposes,
+the Infantry going on ahead and taking the third line.
+
+Resistance was growing more stubborn with the advent of each successive
+line, but they cleaned up and started for the fourth, and it fell. It
+was on that day that I understood the expression "Seeing red"; there was
+only one thought in my mind, kill! kill! kill! kill! The wave forged
+ahead for the fifth German line, taking it and smashing down all
+resistance in their way. They were in the middle of the cleaning-up
+process of the fifth line when the welcome sight of friend tank again
+hove in view, arousing cheers. They were needed just then.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE FAMILY LUCK
+
+
+At the fifth line the men stayed awhile, waiting for the word to take
+the sixth line, and our barrage was directed on this trench line so
+heavily, the Germans could not hold it. They left and our wave crossed
+over, but could not reach the much sought-for ditch, as a massed
+counter-attack drove them back. Our barrage again drove Fritz back, thus
+converting the sixth-line trench into a No Man's Land.
+
+The Boche made a determined effort to retain it and counter-attacked
+time and time again, but each try met our machine guns, rifles and
+grenades, together with the barrage, and a distorted heap of dead
+Kaiserites was added to those already in this ditch of death.
+
+Their ranks were getting woefully thin and pale; wave after wave came up
+in a bull-headed effort to keep the line, and, finally, to assist the
+fainting Prussians, a regiment of Brandenburgers jumped to their help,
+and again they came. By this time the trench was literally filled with
+dead, dying and wounded men. Over the Brandenburgers came, one thousand
+strong, right in the teeth of our barrage; in mass formation they
+charged, and it was impossible for a bullet to miss its billet in that
+line. They fell like flies on a tanglefoot sheet, and back they wavered
+into the trench. But there was no shelter for them there, as it had
+ceased to be an abiding place, because their dead and wounded comrades
+were piled in it clear up to the brink, and there was no place for them
+to stoop or crouch to escape the rain of death.
+
+Our O.C. paused awhile to see what Fritz would do further, but--nothing
+stirring! So, over our fellows went. The corpse-filled trench offering
+no attraction for shelter, the wave rolled on to the seventh line,
+taking it and putting up there for the night.
+
+A few hours later Fritz made a most determined attack on the seventh
+line, and sorry am I to tell that they made a little headway, taking
+some prisoners, among them being my cousin Jim; roll call the following
+morning also disclosed Archie as missing. For my dear Auntie's sake it
+is my sincere prayer that he may yet be alive and well.
+
+When the wave reached the first line in this drive, the trenches were
+filled with prisoners and orders were given to corral them in the
+different dugouts and rush them into the holes, but there was no need
+for hurrying them,--they were diving for them as fast as their legs
+would carry them. My brother Billy and a party was put in charge of a
+number of dugouts, Billy having one under his control. He did not know
+how many were in the dugout he guarded, but outside was a captured
+Prussian officer. The boys had now gone on ahead, leaving the prisoners'
+escorts posted here and there along the trench to guard them. This
+Prussian officer was standing a few feet away from Billy, on his right,
+and something diverting Bill's attention from him, the Prussian officer,
+in strict accordance with the Prussian code of honor, seized the
+opportunity, grabbed a rifle, and was about to plunge the bayonet into
+Billy, but he turned just in time to catch him in the act and avoid him.
+He lunged with his bayonet, catching the dastard in the left shoulder,
+and while tugging to get it out, the prisoners started rushing up the
+steps of the dugout, and Bill was forced to let go of the rifle; as he
+did so, the weight of the gun pulled the bayonet downward, ripping
+through the Prussian's black heart. Bill then took a bomb--he had eight
+of them--and let them go one after another into the dugout. Although
+fighting for his life, he knew if he faltered for a moment he would be
+lost, and he did not lose his head for a second; he realized that if he
+let any of these bombs leave his hand and reach the dugout in sufficient
+length of time before it exploded, they would seize them and hurl them
+back at him, or else escape this particular bunch who were trying to get
+him and who were strung on the steps leading down into the dugout. So,
+in the midst of the scrap he kept his nerve and his head, not letting a
+single bomb leave his hand until he was dead certain the time had
+expired and that the moment it struck the top step of the dugout, their
+mission of destruction would have been accomplished. This done, he
+yanked his rifle out of the officer's shoulder and jumped to the
+entrance of the pit for any others that might have escaped his fusillade
+of grenades. None came.
+
+"Billy, take those prisoners out of the dugout," sang out the
+Sergeant-Major, "and get them to the rear, and tell the rest of the boys
+to do the same."
+
+"I don't know how many are there, sir."
+
+"I'll take a look and see," and the Sergeant-Major jumped into the
+dugout. In a moment he reappeared. "There are nine killed and three
+wounded. Round up these three and get them to the rear and get over the
+top as fast as you can."
+
+Billy did so, catching up with his pals at the third line trench. When
+he got to the sixth line, a shell exploded in front of him, hitting him
+in the thigh and dislocating his hip bone, besides giving him a painful
+flesh wound. He was knocked unconscious and thrown into a shell hole.
+The hole was almost filled with water, but the horseshoe luck of the
+Grant family was with him; when he fell in his head was just out of the
+water.
+
+There he lay for eight hours, when the moaning of a wounded pal, three
+or four feet away, roused him and he pulled himself over to him; his
+pal's leg had been shattered from the knee down and Billy, in spite of
+his own condition, managed to drag him for some distance toward the
+dressing station, hopping on his left foot as he went and then resting a
+bit. Finally the pain became too great and he could go no further;
+every nerve and fiber of his aching body was at the breaking point of
+utter exhaustion, and the pain of the gangrene in his wound, inspired by
+the mud and dirt, gave him his finishing touch and he dropped. Bill's
+pal then took up the struggle; he tottered to his sound foot and dragged
+him to the dressing station, where he dropped beside him.
+
+The tremendous rush of wounded men waiting for treatment made it
+necessary for them to take their turn, and it was three-quarters of an
+hour before they could either of them get attention; the German wounded
+were treated in turn along with our own men, no favors being shown. This
+is in marked contradistinction to the untold and unspeakable brutality
+exercised upon our wounded prisoners in the German lines.
+
+In due time they were carried to the rear by German prisoners, and then
+to England through the medium of the base hospitals and casualty
+clearing stations.
+
+It is with pardonable pride I can say that they were not long in the
+hospital before they got word they were to receive a medal for their
+magnificent work.
+
+Billy's splendid physical condition rapidly brought him through,
+although it was five months before he was really himself again, and he
+has since then gone back to the lines, where he was again wounded and in
+the hospital, and has again gone back and is still doing his bit.
+
+On the following morning, I returned to the battery.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE DEAD SHELL[1]
+
+
+A late September mist, more hazy than foggy in its character, enveloped
+the line following a heavy deluge of nearly two days that had poured
+almost a foot of water in our trenches, and in some spots where holes
+had formed in the trench-bed the water came gurgling over the knee. On
+the whole, however, conditions were very much less worse than wading in
+the water up to one's waist, which was our common lot in the earlier
+days of the war. As one of our wags had it, "Mud under me, water around
+me and hell above me."
+
+[Footnote 1: _A dead shell is one that explodes at a predetermined time
+after it strikes--from one minute to several hours._]
+
+For nearly a month Fritz had been inordinately busy with his "dead"
+shells; we had no rest from his activities. If there was an interval of
+time when we were not being served with the "dead" messages, the hiatus
+was filled with whiz-bangs and gas. Whichever his fancy dictated, for us
+it was the Devil's choice.
+
+Following orders, under the friendly shelter of night's curtain, I was
+leading my squad to our gun positions in the front line, about three
+miles distant, and in slipping and sliding over the muddy ground, pitted
+with holes in such a manner as to suggest to one's mind that the earth's
+surface had been scourged with an attack of elephantine smallpox, we
+could not help chuckling, in spite of the discomforts of our journey, at
+the ejaculation of a Cockney Tommy: "Strike me pink, Sergeant, but Fritz
+would think we was his pals if he only saw this goose-step work." This
+was an allusion to the fashion we had to employ in picking our steps on
+the lookout for holes. In this region the fair face of nature is
+distorted in every conceivable way with holes and ditches, some of the
+holes big enough to engulf a house, and it is no mere desire to avoid
+the water in these holes that compels us to pick our steps in this
+hell-swept part of the world; it is the first law of nature, self
+preservation, for many a poor lad has been done to death in them by
+drowning.
+
+On this night my squad, including myself, was composed of 13 men, and
+although none of the men, if they did notice it, mentioned the
+coincidence, I must confess, although I myself studiously refrained
+from making any comment about it, the thought of the fateful number kept
+recurring to my mind as we made our way to the spot where the visits of
+the Grim Reaper were so frequent that death had ceased to be anything
+but an every-day occurrence. It was only when some friend or chum paid
+the supreme price that we gave the matter any particular attention, and
+then it would be for but a short time. The necessity of every man's
+looking out for his own life gave him but little time to think of much
+else, unless, indeed, killing the Huns. Next to saving our own lives
+that is the heartfelt desire of each man--get Fritz. And yet, although
+the first thought of everyone is, naturally, for his own life, there is
+no history in this war that can be written that can recount the number
+of occasions when the seeming first thought of men was to do for their
+pals, utterly regardless of their own safety. For sheer toying with
+death and taking chances in situations that did not seem to offer the
+slightest hope or chance of getting through, the Great War discloses
+feats of valor with which nothing can compare that comes out of the mist
+of "Days of old when knights were bold."
+
+After goose-stepping for over an hour, and almost completely winded, we
+flopped on the ground for a few minutes to catch our breath. We were
+within about half-a-mile of the ridge over which we had to go in order
+to get down into our dugouts, and Fritz' calling cards were commencing
+to come in our direction; star shells were shooting up at short
+intervals, the gleam of a flare every now and then plainly revealing
+ourselves to each other. As we sat there the conversation seemed to lag
+and a silence that struck me as somewhat ominous pervaded our little
+group. I wondered if the rest were thinking of our number. One of my
+best chums, Corporal Lawrence, was sitting next me, and I thought I
+heard him sigh.
+
+"What's the matter, Corporal, winded?" I asked.
+
+"No, no, Sergeant, I was just thinking."
+
+"Thinking? Thinking of what? The cookhouse? I'll bet we are all thinking
+about that."
+
+"No, Sergeant, it was not the cookhouse."
+
+"Well, if it wasn't the cookhouse, is it that letter that is coming for
+you tonight?" said I.
+
+"No, you are wrong, Sergeant; it wasn't either of those things, much as
+I would enjoy both the letter and the grub."
+
+I felt that the gloom would become infectious if it were not immediately
+dissipated, and I blurted out, "Well, for God's sake, don't keep us all
+in suspense; how in hell are we going to go on until we know what you
+are thinking about?"
+
+His answer made me sorry I spoke.
+
+"I was just thinking," said he, "that my number is up."
+
+This is an expression of the men on the Western Front when they have a
+premonition that their time on earth is short. A sudden fear smote me,
+but I banished the thought and started jollying him profanely.
+
+"Now, Corporal, you know what damn nonsense it is to talk that way! Do
+you want to wish it on yourself?"
+
+"No, Grant, I should say not, but I can't help thinking it, all the
+same."
+
+"Yes, Lawrence," said McLean. "For God's sake don't wish any trouble on
+us more than we have got."
+
+Billy McLean was my dearest pal; we had enlisted together and had formed
+one of those attachments that men sometimes make and is only severed by
+death, and we shared each other's most intimate thoughts. The words had
+scarcely died on McLean's lips when--Woo-o-f! Bang! Bang! and shells
+commenced to land all about us.
+
+The spot we had selected to rest on was under observation; Fritz had
+evidently become aware of the fact that it was our usual course in
+coming to the trench and had registered the place for a target, just as
+he registered battery roads, ammunition depots, railway heads, sleeping
+quarters,--everywhere and anywhere that exhibited a trace of life
+immediately became an observation target and was subject to a hail of
+shell and shrapnel any hour of the day or night.
+
+We were all slightly stunned by the dose, but recovered our senses in a
+minute or so.
+
+"All right, fellows, let's be going," I said, and up we jumped, all
+except Lawrence.
+
+"Come on, Corporal, finish your dream in the dugout." He made no reply.
+With a sickening at my heart I went over and put my hand on his face; it
+was wet with his life's blood; he was shot through the head. As
+hurriedly and as gently as possible we laid him in a hollow place and
+started for the ridge; we had no time for even a prayer, as we were
+being treated to a fair-sized fusillade, and ducking and dodging, this
+way and that, we made our way to the top as quickly as every ounce of
+energy left in our legs would permit, and rolled, tumbled, scrambled and
+fell--any old way--down the front side of the ridge into the ditch at
+the bottom, that was dignified by the high-sounding title of trench. It
+was as much a trench at that spot as any bog-hole. Its only virtue lay
+in the fact that if we crouched low enough into the water and mud we
+could escape the watchful eye of the enemy. We stumbled along through
+the inky blackness toward our gun positions, shrinking our anatomy to
+its smallest dimensions each time a flare shot up, and I was commencing
+to congratulate myself that we would reach our destination without any
+further hurt than the elimination of the thirteenth man;--I took a sort
+of sad comfort in the superstitious thought;--but we had still another
+target to pass. The Germans had made an observation point of a part of
+our ditch just a little bit farther along, and when we got to the spot
+we received a blast of shell fire that knocked us out of even our power
+to swear; we hadn't the strength; as a matter of fact, we were suffering
+with a slight shell shock. The dose consisted of about 200 shells,
+administered in quantities, first, of six at a time, then ten, then
+twenty-five.
+
+One of the fellows nearest me again ventured the remark that he thought
+our number was up, and I just had enough vocal power left to curse him
+roundly for a damn fool. "You know what happened Lawrence, don't you?
+Cheer up, you mutt! They will never get my number."
+
+Throughout my three years' campaigning I persisted in repeating that
+"they would never get my number," until it almost became second nature
+with me, and the hairbreadth escapes I have had almost convinced me
+"there is something in it." Be that as it may, hundreds of men all
+around have "gone West" while I have been permitted to go through three
+years of it comparatively unscathed.
+
+We finally got past the observed spot. The trench now commenced to run
+into a valley, and although there was water in it to a depth of fully
+two and a half feet, through which we had to wade, we were glad we were
+alive to paddle through it. But there was more trouble ahead. Fritz was
+turning gas into the valley, and I, being in front, got the first
+whiff.
+
+"Masks, on with your masks," I roared, jamming on my own at the same
+moment. In addition to the gas, our friends had succeeded in shooting up
+a large ammunition dump, four hundred yards farther on, and the smoke
+and fumes from the exploding bombs, shells and other ammunition, to say
+nothing of the ear-splitting din, got me speculating as to whether our
+13-squad was to go the way of so many reported thirteens. But my native
+optimism came to the rescue, and, with a curse, I drove the thought from
+me.
+
+By this time our eyes were so blinded and stinging from the smoke of the
+ammunition fire that we were making our way almost by instinct, as we
+were half blinded, but the time-old provision of all things,--"Never a
+disadvantage without a corresponding advantage,"--came to our help.
+Under cover of the smoke we were practically secure from the shells and
+snipers, and stumbling and staggering round the fire, giving it a wide
+berth, we at last got to our gun position.
+
+But, no rest! We had barely arrived when a delayed action shell battery
+opened up on us with a steadily-increasing fire, and, as the pace grew
+hotter every moment, I felt as if my nerves couldn't hold out longer;
+but the knowledge that these men were in my care helped me again to take
+hold of myself. But the rest of the fellows were commencing to show
+signs of giving way to the shock effect. My best pal, Billy McLean,
+staggered toward me. "They've got my number, they've got my number," he
+shouted in my ear, and, beginning to give way to the shock, he fell at
+my feet, in the mud. I grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. "Cheer
+up, Billy, cheer up, old pal, how in hell are we going to pull through
+if you give way like this?"
+
+"It's no use, Reg, they've got my number," and he moaned half
+hysterically as he leaned on me with an arm around my neck. Almost
+desperate, I shouted in his ear, "Billy, old pal, think of your mother
+and father; what would the old man say if he saw you acting like this?
+You know those hounds haven't a shell for either of us."
+
+He roused himself: "I guess I haven't got the guts, Sergeant; I must be
+a damned coward."
+
+"No, no, nothing of the kind, old fellow," I shouted, "but these boys
+are in my charge and I want you to help me play the game." He braced
+himself. "You're right, Sergeant, they haven't got our number and never
+will have." "Of course they won't," I answered reassuringly.
+
+Poor Billy! His was a nature that was never intended for the business of
+killing; he was in constant dread and his nerves were always on edge
+when he was within shelling distance of the enemy, and he couldn't seem
+to shake off the terrible fear that was ever present except when in the
+top-notch excitement of going over; that was the only moment that he was
+able to throw off the blighting shadow that haunted him. Then indeed
+have I seen him throw the very first instincts of prudence to the winds
+and hurl himself into places where "angels fear to tread." But after the
+mad frenzy of the charge, with its accompaniment of shooting, stabbing,
+killing and maiming, he would collapse, and it would be some hours
+before he could regain his wonted composure.
+
+The fire gradually slackened, our spirits began to revive, nature
+commenced to reassert herself, and we made our way to the cookhouse. We
+got our mess-tins filled with bread, cheese and jam, puddled our way to
+the dugout and fell to with the relish of healthy, hungry, tired men who
+had fasted several hours. We gathered in the dugout occupied by Billy
+and myself. Feeling thoroughly rejuvenated, someone suggested a game to
+pass the time until mail arrived, and the well-worn deck was produced.
+Billy was sitting on my right hand and held cards that ought to have
+cleaned up, but he seemed to have lost the first instinct of a poker
+player, and I couldn't refrain from telling him he ought to confine
+himself to checkers. He whispered to me, "Reg, I can't get that out of
+my head." "What's that?" I asked.
+
+"Fritz has my number; my time's nearly up and I know it." "Oh, hell!" I
+exclaimed, with a good-natured impatience, and giving him a poke in the
+ribs, "Forget it!"
+
+The rest of the fellows chimed in with recollections of several fellows
+who persisted in saying that their number was up, and who were now
+pushing poppies, and the little Cockney murmured, "The poor beggars, and
+if they had kept their mouths shut they'd 'ave been with us yet."
+
+It is a strange philosophy, but it is prevalent up and down the line.
+
+At that moment the mail arrived, and Billy forgot his premonition for
+the time, for along with letters from his mother and sister, there was a
+photograph from his sweetheart that he showed me with suppressed joy.
+
+"I say, fellows, what do you think of that for good time," said one, "my
+letters were both mailed on the 13th and this is only the 29th."
+
+"That's a rum go," says the Cockney, "mine, too, was mailed on the
+13th."
+
+An examination of the mailing dates of our letters revealed the somewhat
+startling coincidence that every single letter we got that night had
+been mailed on the 13th. I mentally cursed the fateful number, but the
+news from home overshadowed the thought, as it did everything else, and
+I was careful to do everything I could to prevent its recurrence in the
+conversation. And, besides, the British soldier's fatalism, that death
+will come when it will come, prevented for long any gloom or
+oppressiveness in the atmosphere that might have been engendered by the
+time-old superstition. It was only in the exceptional cases when a
+soldier got into his head the premonition that his number was up that
+his spirits took a drop. I wish it were possible to convey in exact
+language the wonderful spirit of the men under circumstances and
+conditions endured by no soldiers in any other war since primeval man
+enforced his claims with his club.
+
+Every man in the squad got letters and parcels that evening, and, all
+things considered, it was a happy bunch that left us to seek their bunks
+in their own dugouts. Billy and I remained up awhile after the others
+had gone, chatting about the home folks and, particularly, about his
+sweetheart, for at every opportunity he would turn the talk in her
+direction; he was positive there was no other girl quite so sweet as
+Aileen, for that was her name, and there was nothing for me to do but
+affirm everything he said.
+
+"Reg, I want you to promise me one thing," said Billy, after we had been
+talking for an hour or more.
+
+"What is it, Billy? You know I'll do it, old scout, if I can."
+
+"Yes, I know you will. Well, it is this: I've told you how I came to
+correspond with Aileen, and, altho' I've never seen her yet, I really
+think she is one real girl. But here's the rub," he continued; "I don't
+really love the girl; I'm not such an idiot as to fall in love with a
+girl I have never seen; and you know lots of these photos are fifty per
+cent camouflage, ain't they?"
+
+"You're dead right, old chap," I replied.
+
+"Well, now, this one may be in the other fifty, and I'm thinking she is;
+and if you should get home before I do, will you look her up and let me
+know just exactly what you think of her?"
+
+"Why, of course I will."
+
+"That's what I wanted, Reg. You see, God only knows when I may get home,
+if I ever do, but I don't want to be nursing ideas about Aileen, and
+perhaps causing thoughts to arise in her mind, that may never be
+realized. You get me, Reg, don't you?"
+
+"Surest thing, Billy, and you're damned right and sensible to look at it
+that way."
+
+So that when we finally tumbled in, it was long after the witching hour
+of night.
+
+The dugout we occupied we had built ourselves, and we took great pains
+to make it as roomy and comfortable as possible; hence the tendency of
+the fellows to make it their rendezvous. Our bunks consisted of sandbags
+spread out on the floor, and the ceremony of retiring occupied about one
+minute or less.
+
+A half-muffled shriek woke me from a sound sleep and brought me bolt
+upright in the bunk. In the blackness I could just discern the outline
+of a man standing in the middle of the dugout and gulping as if trying
+to catch his breath. I jumped up and went to him. It was Billy. "What is
+it, Billy? What's the trouble?"
+
+"Oh, Reg," he gasped, "I have had the most horrible dream!" He was
+shaking like an aspen. I put my arm around him and drew him over to my
+bunk. "Come, lie down with me, old man, and you will be as right as the
+rain in a minute." He laid down alongside of me and, still shivering, he
+recounted his dream to me.
+
+"Do you remember that night I was telling you about when I was out
+observing?"
+
+"Yes," I answered.
+
+"Where we lost Thompson and the others when the flare went up? Well, you
+know that big Prussian I told you about, that came so near getting me?
+Do you know that fellow's face has never been out of my thoughts since I
+killed him, and I dreamed we were out there on that same spot again, and
+again the flare went up and we were rushed, and who should come at me
+but this man I had killed. I shrieked: 'You're dead! I killed you once.
+Get to hell out of here!' But he only gave a ghoulish grin and came at
+me. I dodged his blow and ran my bayonet through him, as I thought, but
+there he was coming at me again. Again I dodged and plunged into him,
+and again he was coming. Suddenly all power left me; my hands, arms and
+legs became nerveless, and I stood rooted; he clubbed his rifle, and as
+it crashed on my skull I awoke, and that must have been the time I cried
+out. And, Reg, just as sure as I am lying here, my number is up. I am as
+good as dead, I tell you."
+
+"Now, don't talk such utter damn nonsense, Billy," I said, doing my
+utmost to comfort him.
+
+"No damn nonsense about it. You know yourself we started out yesterday
+with thirteen men and Lawrence got it, and here tonight every letter we
+got was postmarked the thirteenth, and I just can't get it out of my
+nut, and I am not going to try any further."
+
+"Billy, don't you want to live to get back home? Don't you know what it
+will mean to your mother and your father if anything happens to you?
+Well, what's the use of tempting fate? If it will come, it will come,
+and nothing you or I can do will prevent it; but there is something
+that helps a man--call it luck, or fate, or providence, or what you
+will--by keeping the idea firmly fixed in your mind that nothing can
+harm you."
+
+I knew in my heart that nothing could prevent the dread messenger's
+visit when it was actually headed for one, still my philosophy had
+taught me that so far as I myself was concerned my determination to
+think positively about the matter had sustained me through many a trying
+moment when the fires of hell had surged about me, and up to that time I
+was as much alive as any man could wish to be, and I determined to stick
+to the philosophy, no matter how foolish it might seem when the cold
+light of logic played upon it.
+
+A deep sigh was his answer. I continued for half an hour to encourage
+and jolly him, telling him that dreams always went by the contrary, and
+my efforts were rewarded by his growing calm and promising he would
+fight tooth and nail against the thought, and we finally dropped off to
+sleep.
+
+"Show a leg, Grant, show a leg, cookhouse up," was yelled at me as
+daylight broke, and up we tumbled. I was much relieved that Billy was
+looking and acting as if nothing whatever disturbed him, except the
+possibility of being a second behind anybody else in getting to the
+cookhouse.
+
+Although we were bosom friends and companions, there was just a shade of
+the big-brother idea on my part of the fellowship, and I kept track of
+him whenever and wherever I could. This was not alone because of the
+congenial soul that was within him, but, also, because I had learned
+through him to know his mother. And such a mother! It is a forward
+impetus on life's journey to know such a woman, and I knew instinctively
+she would expect me to keep an eye on him. And so, while I was
+fulfilling my duty, I had the double satisfaction of having combined
+with it the pleasure of association with a fellow whose tastes and
+ideals were absolutely akin to my own. There was no confidence we did
+not share; we laid bare our hearts to each other; in short, we were
+chums in every sense that the word implies.
+
+Billy was ready for breakfast a second or two ahead of me, and he
+started up the steps, out through the door of the dugout. "I'm coming,"
+I called, and grabbed my mess-tin and went up the steps two at a time.
+I reached the top and the door of the dugout, and, simultaneously, a
+roar and rush of air struck me, and I was thrown to the floor, stunned
+for the moment. My senses quickly recovered themselves, and I found my
+face and clothes dripping with blood. I commenced looking for my wound,
+but failed to find any. The discovery momentarily mystified me. It was
+blood, but whose? There was no report or explosion. A dead shell! A
+terrible fear took possession of me, and I shot up the steps into the
+trench. The Thing that met my eyes stilled my heart with a chill. The
+headless body of Billy lay at my feet. It was his life's blood that
+covered my face and clothes. A mist shrouded my brain for a moment, as I
+leaned against the side of the trench, utterly unable to speak or think.
+Then as the truth of the Thing worked its way into my brain, I glanced
+around for the cause. A large, jagged hole had been torn through in our
+front trench wall by a 300-pound shell, had snuffed out my pal's life in
+its course, and buried itself in the parados of the trench. There it
+was, the rear end of it just inside the outside edge of the hind trench
+wall, and when it exploded it meant death for any living thing within a
+radius of several yards.
+
+Nature's primal law asserted itself and I dragged the remains of my
+best-loved friend several yards away and took from his pockets all his
+belongings and trinkets, and when I came to the photograph, partly
+stained with his heart's blood, hot, scalding tears blinded my eyes, and
+in deference to my dead friend's desire, I retained the photo, intending
+to get the news and picture back to her--in person, if possible. The
+O.C. took charge of the balance of his effects.
+
+Disregarding all thought of my own peril from the unexploded shell which
+lay at the mouth of our dugout, I ran down the steps and got a blanket,
+in which I wrapped the poor headless body, and then reported to the O.C.
+and received orders to keep my men away from the spot for twelve hours.
+I hastened to the cookhouse and imparted the news to the men, as well as
+the orders. Heartfelt expressions of regret came from all, for in spite
+of his constitutional nervousness, Billy was a prime favorite. But I
+knew that I was the only one with whom the pain and sting would live;
+the men were so calloused by such happenings that they no longer made a
+lasting impression.
+
+That was the longest and dreariest day I ever remember throughout my
+three years of campaigning. No thought of my turn coming entered my
+head, as I had so schooled myself into the belief that Fritz could not
+make a shell for me that I had long since ceased to give the matter any
+consideration whatsoever.
+
+The day's work kept me from giving way to grief, and at nine o'clock
+that night, when in the cookhouse, I heard a whistle and someone shouted
+my name. It was our O.C., Major Wright. I hastened to his dugout.
+
+"Sergeant Grant, I want you to take a party of six and make a grave and
+bury poor McLean. I know something of the relationship that existed
+between you, and I know that you will spare no effort to see that he is
+properly buried. While you are working I will try and fashion a cross
+for him. Report as soon as you are finished."
+
+"Yes, sir," and I saluted and went to the dugout occupied by my squad.
+The men were either reading or writing letters, and not only the six,
+but the ten of them responded, dropping their letters and books, and
+asked to take part in the burial. So we paddled through the darkness
+and the mud to where the body lay, and as we approached we noticed
+several huge rats scurrying away from it. A hatred for the vermin almost
+as intense as for the Hun has possessed me ever since. Of course, the
+bestiality of the latter has descended to such depths of infamy that it
+is impossible quite to class them with any other breed of vermin; it
+would be an insult even to the rat.
+
+We dug the grave as well as we could, assisted by such light as we got
+from the intermittent flashes of the guns and the edge of the flare
+gleams sent up by the enemy every little while. When the melancholy work
+was almost complete, I hurried over to the O.C. and he handed me the
+simple cross he had made,--just two pieces of wood with the inscription,
+"William McLean, C.E.F., September 30th, 1916, R.I.P."
+
+"When you have finished, Grant, take the party and build up the part of
+your trench that was shot away this morning."
+
+I saluted and returned to the grave. The boys had finished; there was
+nothing more on earth we could do for Billy.
+
+"O.C. says to build up the hole in the trench that was shot away this
+morning; you can go, fellows; get busy and I will be with you in a
+minute." They started and I was alone. Bitter tears again half blinded
+me as I placed the sign of the Christ at the grave's head; I couldn't
+place it at Billy's, because the shell had obliterated all traces of his
+head. With a short but very earnest prayer that God would help his
+mother and dear ones to sustain their loss and soften their grief, I
+hurriedly rejoined my men. On the way over I could not help thinking how
+lonely it would be that night in the dugout without Billy, and memories
+of the hundred and one incidents connected with our toil and trouble and
+joy in fixing up our nest flocked through my tired mind.
+
+They were hard at work mending the damage done at daybreak by that
+messenger of hell. As I reached the spot, one of the boys remarked, "If
+that shell explodes before we get through, there will be no need of a
+grave for us." Very nearly fifteen hours had passed, however, since it
+had struck, and none of us felt there was any danger from that
+direction, as it was quite uncommon for any of them to burst if they had
+not done so within at least twelve hours, and I answered, "Oh, no,
+fellows, there is nothing to fear from it." I stepped to the back of the
+trench where the shell was imbedded in the parados and examined the
+spot. "I guess it is there for keeps," I said, and returned to work. In
+a few minutes one or two of the boys complained of thirst, and I
+volunteered to get water. I ran down the steps into my dugout, got
+Billy's water bottle and my own, and doubled down to the cook's dugout,
+filled them with drinking water, and was just starting back when the
+ground under me shook with an explosion, splinters coming from all
+directions, and one of them slightly wounding the cook. I thought at
+first Fritz had struck an ammunition depot, so tremendous was the roar.
+I grabbed the bottles and shot back to my party.
+
+They did not need the water; they had been swept into eternity by the
+dead shell, and I was the sole surviving man of the thirteen-squad that
+I had taken into the line the night before.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SATAN'S SHELLS AND SCENTED GAS
+
+
+Prior to an attack in the morning, we cleaned up the gun and ammunition,
+getting everything in shape and retiring at 11:30. "Stand to!" was
+called at four o'clock, firing commenced at 4:30, and we worked our guns
+for two hours, during which time the boys went over, took three lines of
+trenches from Fritz and in a remarkably short time, hundreds of
+prisoners were turning into our lines without escort.
+
+That night the prisoners were employed going up and down our lines
+carrying out wounded. I shall never forget the contented look on the
+faces of these captives as they worked inside our lines; they did
+everything required of them with a willingness and cheerfulness that at
+first seemed to be amazing. Most of them were young Bavarians and
+presented a very shabby appearance.
+
+We then decreased our rate of fire, letting go one round every two
+minutes, giving us time to sit around and chat about the big surprise
+we had given Fritz and the success of our attack. Before giving the word
+to fire I would first warn the men, so they could look out for their
+eardrums, besides getting out of the way; we never fire unknowingly to
+any of the men as the concussion works a severe hardship on the ears.
+One of the boys was sitting on an ammunition box, leaning against the
+gun wheel, with his feet on a little fireplace that we had taken a
+chance on installing, thinking the fog was so thick Fritz would not
+notice the smoke. As usual, our ammunition was stationed in our rear.
+One fellow was squatting on the sand bags and leaning against the
+shells; I was sitting in seat three, between the gun wheel and the left
+side, while another was on seat four, also between the gun wheel and the
+gun on the right; another man was standing ready to put a shell in the
+muzzle.
+
+"Fellows, are you ready?" I asked.
+
+"All right."
+
+"Fire!"
+
+The next instant I felt my feet giving way from under me. The gun had
+blown off at the shield, the muzzle being blown to pieces, gas and fumes
+filled the air, the spokes were blown out of the wheels, splinters
+striking me on the feet and legs. I started to the front of the gun and
+fell on top of Graham.
+
+"What happened?" he asked. "I don't know," I said. There were several
+pieces of tube lying about that looked like parts of a German shell.
+Graham yelled to know what had happened. "A German shell hit the gun," I
+said. He was then seized with shell shock and became uncontrollable.
+Park, who was leaning against the ammunition, was blown up, the shell
+having driven clean through his spine; the man loading the shell had a
+fragment driven clear through his stomach. The man leaning against the
+gun wheel was beheaded as cleanly as any king's executioner with his ax
+could do it, his head lying in the fireplace! The cartridge had exploded
+but the shell did not.
+
+The trouble was caused by what is known as a "defective" shell.
+
+I left the gun pit to help Graham over to the dressing station and I had
+a job on my hands; he was suffering from a bad attack of brain
+concussion. After attention a couple of Fritzies carried him to the
+rear.
+
+Returning to the gun pit I found a state of wild confusion among the
+fellows as to what had really happened. On examination I found it was
+this defective shell; over to the right of the gun I picked up a chunk
+of it over a foot long.
+
+Those who remained of our gun crew went that night to the wagon lines,
+spending a few days there while waiting for our gun to be replaced.
+
+When our gun was replaced I started back from the wagon lines, carrying
+a piston rod of the buffer, with Downey assisting me. We were on
+horseback and getting into Labazell Valley, when a shell passed over our
+head so close that we felt the wind of it; it was accompanied by a great
+flare over to our right. The shell struck one of our ammunition dumps
+containing about 50,000 rounds of shells and other explosives, such as
+rifle grenades, Mills bombs, French mortar bombs, aerial torpedoes, high
+explosive shells, shrapnel shells, star and gas shells. The disaster
+resulting from this one single shell was almost inconceivable. It
+started a fire that gathered strength each second, for all the world
+like a prairie fire, and the scenic effect was that of a titanic
+fireworks exhibition. The moon was brightly shining in a clear sky, but
+the star shells shooting in the air and exploding with a constantly
+increasing rapidity, the blaze of artificial light quickly obtained
+ascendency over the mistress of the night; and the shrapnel shells,
+throwing their contents of danger in all directions, together with the
+hissing and roaring of all the other exploding missiles of death, formed
+a diapason of sound that makes one of those wonder-moments that come so
+seldom in a lifetime.
+
+The reflection of the fire from the explosion was quickly observed by
+Fritz, and in short order he had his airplanes hovering overhead, and
+they too were dropping their bombs wherever human activities were noted.
+We hastily dismounted, tying our horses to the barbed-wire iron pickets
+in the side of the road, and rushed with a body of men, mostly wagon
+drivers whose wagons were stalled on the road in the congestion, over to
+do what we could to save the ammunition which is so badly needed at all
+times.
+
+In the first rush toward the pile an explosion snuffed out the lives of
+thirty or forty of the men, knocking the rest of us off our feet like so
+many nine-pins, besides killing several of the horses on the road, and
+to add to the already indescribable chaos, several of the horses
+stampeded, racing blindly into barbed-wire entanglements and adding to
+the general destruction.
+
+What with Fritz dropping bombs from his airplanes, our horses stampeding
+and screaming like wild things, and our own explosives bursting in every
+conceivable direction with a thousand different roars, the scene can be
+better imagined than described. We saved about 10,000 rounds out of that
+entire dump. For a distance of twenty miles the reflection of the fire
+extended, the rockets themselves being visible for a space of ten miles.
+I don't suppose since the world began was there ever a scene of such
+awful beauty; it was a bursting Vesuvius with the co-mingled radiant
+beauties of a thousand rainbows.
+
+When there was nothing further that we could do, we regained our
+frightened mounts and resumed our journey. Such a road of confusion! The
+ground being wet, turning the chalky earth into white, the moving,
+wriggling vehicles of every kind and description afforded a magnificent
+target for the marksmen of the air and casualties here, there and
+everywhere along the road was the order of the night.
+
+A short distance along, the sounds of battle in the air reached our
+ears, and looking up I saw two shadows passing between our eyes and
+moon, then two more. Suddenly our searchlights opened up, and there, in
+full view, were four planes, two British and two German, engaged in one
+of those struggles which practically forms the only feature in this war
+around which is thrown any of the elements of romance that appeals to
+all the instinct of a vivid imagination. It was a fair field and no
+favor. The battle had been on about three or four minutes when one of
+the British birds landed on Fritz, driving him down nose first. He could
+not regain control and he dashed headlong into the earth to destruction.
+Our fellow then rose and went to the assistance of his pal and they made
+short work of the second Taube.
+
+That is the only time I have ever witnessed a scene of that kind under
+those circumstances, and it is a rare occurrence indeed that one has the
+privilege of seeing such a struggle with such a background.
+
+We were now among the batteries; to the right and left of us the guns
+had commenced speaking to the German roads, and the ammunition dumps
+there, in retaliation for the destruction of our gun-food; the
+anti-aircraft guns were also getting into the chorus, together with the
+pom-poms, and the whole swelled into a mighty chorus of sound that
+filled every crack and crevice in the air, making one feel as if he were
+inhaling sound rather than ozone.
+
+As we neared Pozieres a 9.02 howitzer gun on our left fired a shell that
+exploded in the gun and blew the gun and crew in all directions. The
+shell also started some ammunition going that was lying about and it was
+under the greatest difficulty that the men, whose lives were not lost in
+the first explosion, managed to get away. The men were trying to
+manhandle the remainder of the guns of the battery and we jumped off our
+horses, fastened them to an old wagon lying in the ditch, and headed
+over to lend a hand. With much tugging and perspiring we saved three of
+the guns.
+
+Explosions of these tremendous projectiles were deafening in the
+extreme, and here there were two or three of them exploding at once in
+our immediate neighborhood.
+
+Again we mounted on our way to Pozieres and, when reaching our journey's
+end, Fritzie began pumping in his crying shells; these are the kind
+that draw copious tears, inflame the eyes and make things generally
+disagreeable. We had not brought our goggles and suffered from a
+temporary spell of blindness; we had not had any trouble from this
+particular kind of visitor for some time and had not bothered to keep
+our glasses with us. Groping along, blinking my eyes to get a little
+gleam of light, I stumbled across four or five dead horses and was
+nearly thrown from my horse.
+
+I warned Downey, who was behind me, and he avoided the trouble, but we
+had to keep a tight rein on our thoroughly frightened animals. It was
+impossible to get them past the dead horses until some others went by
+and then, leading them by the bridle, we got by.
+
+Traffic was now fearfully congested on account of some tanks that were
+taking cover in the sunken road for their attack in the morning, and a
+shower of shells dropping here and there along the road did not add to
+our comfort. We passed through Courcelette Valley and came to a small
+bridge crossing a trench; this particular bridge was the subject of hot
+shellfire, as it was the only point where traffic could cross for about
+a mile to the right or left, and Fritz was well aware of the fact. When
+half-way across, a shell exploded, killing my horse, and the animal
+rolled over with me on its back, twisting my leg. For a while I thought
+my number was up; in a few moments I was able to get up behind Downey.
+
+We had reached the end of our journey, got to the gun, delivered the
+piston rod and reported to the Captain. He instructed us to stay there
+for the night and told Downey to tie up his horse in one of the German
+gun pits; then Downey was ordered to go on S.O.S. sentry duty. He had
+our sincere sympathy, for the rest of us were just breaking into the
+little old game for the balance of the night (morning).
+
+In the middle of the game Downey came running in. "Say, fellows, there's
+a hell of a smell out here,--something sweet, never smelt it before,
+don't know what it is." "It's gas," I yelled, "the new kind! Get on your
+masks!"
+
+We adjusted our protectors and made for the entrance. Downey began to be
+overcome by the fumes and I took over sentry; the warning gas horns were
+booming up and down the line like a deep-throated buzzing,--a most
+unearthly and weird sound.
+
+The gas shells were now dropping plenteously round about and one of my
+pals, Dory, was instructed to assist me in relighting our lamps, as they
+were growing dim; these are our feed lamps that are lit every night with
+candles and placed, one for each gun, about 50 feet in front, and on
+these lights the sights are trained, so that it is vital to keep them
+burning all night long.
+
+We rapidly commenced replacing the burnt-out candles, and just then we
+heard the warning roar of a coming shell, but before it burst I heard a
+splash; it was Dory taking a header into a shell hole full of water; I
+threw myself flat. In adjusting our lamps we had to remove our gas
+helmets, and after waiting some time for the expected explosion and
+hearing none, I looked up; white fumes were rising from the ground at
+about the spot the shell had entered; there had been no explosion of
+splinters.
+
+This particular shell is very thin, is fired with great velocity, and
+when meeting resistance it breaks and cracks and the white gas fumes
+like steam come floating out. "What do you think of that, Grant!" from
+Dory in the shell hole; "I thought the blankety-blank was a Jack
+Johnson." His thought had cost him a soaking and the reflex action of
+his thought was strongly in evidence during the balance of our watch.
+
+The remainder of our lonely duty was not enhanced in pleasure by the
+contemplation of scores of stretcher bearers carrying out men who had
+been caught unprepared by the gas and who were choking and suffocating
+from its effects.
+
+So earnestly pernicious is the gas device as a fighting weapon that it
+is a matter of common talk among the boys that Fritz, when he invented
+his contrivance, must have been in direct communication with his Satanic
+Majesty.
+
+Working tooth and nail to smother the Hun, and he in turn working might
+and main to smother us, was the order of the day continuously throughout
+the campaign on the Somme, and a few nights following the happening
+above, Dory and myself were on S.O.S. sentry.
+
+About 3:00 o'clock A.M. the messages from Germany started coming and our
+replies were mailed back as fast as the postal authorities at the guns
+could handle the matter; in fact, throughout our campaign on the Somme
+we mailed our replies and our additional messages so rapidly and so
+effectively, that nine times out of ten Fritzie's working force was
+swamped.
+
+On this A.M. his shells were gas which glazed the feed lamps and the
+sight of the lenses, as well as accumulating in the inside of the gun
+muzzle, making it necessary to swab out the muzzle of the gun before
+using, as otherwise it would rust badly, which would result in putting
+the gun out of commission in short order. The fire developed into a
+first-class artillery duel, our battery and nine others answering ten
+German batteries. The net result of the duel was two of Fritzie's guns
+put out of business.
+
+Before long our lamps on the sandbags, by which we got our light to see
+to work the guns, were knocked off by an explosion and we were in
+darkness; following that, the springs in the buffer of my gun were
+broken, making it necessary to put it back in place by hand. Each time
+the gun is fired it recoils and is brought back to place by the
+hydraulic buffer containing the spring; but we had to perform this work
+in the darkness by hand. The coals of Hades were now coming in heavier
+each moment, because heavier caliber pieces had opened up on us, and we
+were getting the worst of it; our weightier sisters must take a hand at
+the game, and we kept up our end of the argument until this could be
+done.
+
+It was Dory's duty to reload the gun and push it forward in place for
+position, each time yelling "Ready!" One time the gun was shoved into
+place and the man on the right,--Dory was on the left--gave the "Ready!"
+and I fired. The darkness was still thick and I could not see that Dory
+was pushing up on the gun with all his might, to bring it into place
+when I fired, and the recoil drove him back into the corner against a
+pile of ammunition, smashing his arm. We assisted him, and one of the
+fellows volunteered to go with him to the dressing station, but Dory was
+game to the core; he was one of the most happy-go-lucky boys I ever met.
+"Hell! I will make it myself. Stay here while the fun is on. I wish to
+God I could stay too!"
+
+We renewed our duel, but the heavier caliber shells were commencing to
+tell; number 3 gun was struck and part of the crew wiped out. Our
+telephonist 'phoned headquarters for the weightier women to get busy,
+telling them of our plight, and inside six minutes the ladies of larger
+girth, the 9.02 howitzers, started debating the question with Fritzie so
+vigorously that inside of thirty minutes not a single reply was to be
+had from their guns.
+
+"Stand down!"--and cleaning our guns, gun pits and carrying ammunition,
+busied us. In the midst of our work a dizziness seized my head,
+accompanied with a choking in the throat and lungs, and before I could
+cry out or warn my pals, I dropped. I had unconsciously imbibed the
+potion when I removed my mask to relight the feed lamps, and it is one
+of the peculiar effects of this dose that it is some time after its
+inhalation that the harmfulness becomes apparent;--so it was with me. I
+was lifted onto a stretcher and carried to the dressing station near
+what is known as the Sunken Road. The ground around the station was
+dotted with men suffering from attacks of a similar nature; there were
+56 of us in all.
+
+The doctor's examination was brief,--"Gas," and I was laid alongside my
+brothers in misery. We were ordered to keep absolutely quiet and on no
+account to leave our stretchers; but while lying there the unwelcome
+messages from the German guns began coming in our neighborhood; and the
+ever terrifying sound of their explosions brought the nerves of the men,
+already on edge, over the border line of reason, and a number of them
+struggled up from their cots and started running away, forgetting or
+ignoring the doctor's orders. The poor fellows paid dearly for it; some
+of them dropped in their tracks, dying, where they dropped; some died
+after they were brought back to the station, and some gave up the ghost
+when in England they lost the last remaining tissue of their lungs, due
+to the effect of their running. "I mustn't budge!" I kept repeating to
+myself, for my own nerves were at the jumping-off point and I thought
+the veins in my head would burst if I had to endure those
+explosion-roars another minute. Happily they ceased as suddenly as they
+began.
+
+There is no kind of suffering endured in the battle front that has such
+a horror for the men as the gas; it is that fighting for breath that
+takes the life out of a fellow, and, God! how it chokes. Out of that
+bunch of 56 gassed men, only six came out whole.
+
+The following week we were ordered to leave the Somme. Although I felt
+in the mood for sticking it as long as I had the strength to keep
+going, yet I must confess the order filled my soul with a gratitude that
+was unspeakable. I had been in the Somme campaign three months, and when
+our guns swept into position at Martinsaart, my weight was 171; when I
+left, I tipped the scales at 145. The men who had been with the guns
+there and who know what it is to work 24 hours in the day for many days
+in the week, rarely during the three months experiencing the refreshing
+rest of a consecutive two hours' sleep, and working like veritable
+demons during every waking moment, either at the guns or cleaning the
+ammunition, or carrying the ammunition into place,--they will understand
+what it means to lose 25 pounds in weight on the Somme.
+
+My uniform was in rags and saturated so thickly with grease and dirt
+that for many days it was one of my pet recreations to take a knife and
+scoop it by the bladeful out of the khaki cloth. And my skin! What a
+hide! The combination of cleaning and repairing guns, working them
+constantly, driving horses, observation work, together with the gas, my
+body was saturated with a mixture that took weeks to extract.
+
+The cut-up-ground, pock-marked with shell holes as closely as the cells
+in a honeycomb, was of course carefully noted by Fritzie's aerial
+observers, and they were naturally led to believe that it would be
+physically impossible for our batteries to be relieved,--that is, to
+retire and another battery take our place. But we camouflaged. Under
+cover of a fog we worked like beavers for a day and a night, filling in
+shell holes, and made fairly decent roads under the conditions, and one
+fine morning, still under the friendly shelter of the fog, leaving our
+ammunition behind, we pulled out the gun; the entire Canadian Division
+retired and were relieved by the English Tommies.
+
+As we were going out we passed their batteries coming in and it was
+heartening indeed to hear the compliments and praises that were showered
+upon us by the lads of England, although we had not done a single thing
+that they could not have done and done just as well as we, and maybe
+better.
+
+In some places where our guns were stationed the ground conditions made
+it absolutely impossible to remove them for the time; in such cases the
+Imperial batteries left their guns at the horse lines and took over the
+Canadian guns, the Canadian gunners taking their pets instead. This
+occasioned a real and heartfelt loss to both Canadian gunners and
+Imperial boys who had to change over their pets, because every gunner
+learns to acquire a real affection for his mistress, as he terms the
+gun, and with many of the men it was like losing a good horse or a dog
+to whom they had become sincerely and warmly attached, the attachment
+being born of weeks and months of the most arduous trial and test.
+
+We reached the wagon lines with our guns still intact and we felt as
+safe as if we were back in our beloved Dominion. We were going back of
+the lines, and the scene of breaking camp in our preparations for
+returning to the rear was picturesque in the extreme. Bonfires made of
+refuse and waste material for which we had no further use were burning
+everywhere; men were hurrying hither and thither; and through it all you
+could hear the steady digging, shoveling and pounding of the German
+prisoners who were repairing the roads their own guns mangled. I felt a
+large measure of satisfaction at seeing them working as hard as they
+could go, restoring at least that much of their destructiveness; they
+will never, they can never replace the wantonness, the frightfulness,
+of which they have been the inspired tool in this the struggle of their
+lords and masters for the earth's control.
+
+Night and day for three days we traveled on our batteries, arriving at a
+place called Camblain-Chatillon, a small town in a mining valley. Here
+we were billeted in barns, but the inhabitants hearing that we were
+Canadians who had been operating on the Somme, came out _en masse_ to
+greet us and give us of their best. We were invited to their homes, and
+their larders were placed at our disposal; a large bath made of
+granite--a splendid outfit used by the miners of the town, was thrown
+open to us, and it is needless to say we reveled in the luxury of a
+plunge as quickly as we could tumble in. How we needed it! I had not
+known a bath during all the time I was on the Somme and lousiness was
+part and parcel of my make-up. I was so accustomed to it, however, that
+it had long ceased to cause me more than a passing thought; there were
+too many other things to think about during that session. But once
+relieved from the tension of the daily struggle to save life, as well as
+take it, the desire to become normal, decent, cleanly human beings took
+possession of every man of us, and we wallowed in the bath until we
+could once more look other respectable citizens in the face.
+
+In this haven of rest and retirement we luxuriated for two weeks, then
+moved into action on the Lens-Arras road. We placed our guns on the side
+of the road, digging our trails in the edge of the cobble stone pavement
+as a trail block, to hold the guns steady when firing. Chicken wire on
+top, covered with grass and brushwood, completed the scenic protection.
+
+Our work was the well-known ruse of a night raid in preparation for the
+attack on Vimy Ridge, and carried out for the purpose of keeping the
+Germans guessing as to where the next drive would be driven.
+
+Leaving four men and the telephonist with the guns that night, we went
+to Anges, half a mile from the gun position, to our billets; this was an
+old French chateau, and comfortable beyond expression. As the foes of
+our anatomies had again attacked in mass formation, this time we were
+annoyed to a degree. Procuring creolin, we rubbed it on our bodies pure;
+it should have been adulterated. During the night the natural
+perspiration of our bodies caused the vermin grease to work through
+the pores, and excessive stinging and smarting was the outcome. One
+fellow awoke with a grunt of impatience and then a snort of anger, as a
+sense of the stinging brought him to a realization of his discomfort;
+then another, and another, until the entire bunch was in a fine frenzy,
+fanning our bodies and running into the night air for relief. My carcass
+was on fire and I wished to heaven I had left the lice alone; they could
+not at least have prevented my sleeping. I determined for the future, as
+against this cure, I would keep the curse. I felt as if I were suffering
+from a severe sunburn over every inch of my body.
+
+[Illustration: A First Line Hospital]
+
+In the midst of our misery "Stand to!" was sounded, necessitating the
+dropping of all our skin troubles and skedaddling to get to the guns. We
+ran across an open field that had been converted into a graveyard after
+the French drove the Germans over on to Vimy Ridge, but there was no
+thought of sacrilege in our minds as we raced pell-mell over the
+grave-filled land; there never is but one thought in our minds; we are,
+every man of us, souls with but a single thought when "Stand to!"
+sounds. We reached the guns practically in the nude, and fastening the
+sights and scratching my hide at the same time kept me fairly busy.
+
+We worked the guns for an hour; then "Ammunition up!" was the order for
+the rest of the night. We were not allowed to return to our billets as
+another attack was expected. At 5:30 the first snowstorm of the winter
+swept over the land. The ground was fairly firm from the preceding
+frost, and in a short time the country was resting underneath a mantle
+of beautiful purity. With the enthusiastic ardor of a lot of school
+boys, we grabbed up the beautiful element in our hands and an old time
+snowball fight took place. Then the "Stand to!" of the morning was
+given.
+
+Our objective this time was to cut channels through the wire about 15 to
+20 feet wide, to permit the infantry to pass. This work is effected by
+means of shrapnel shells that cut the wire into little strands, then
+high explosives are used to root out the remaining posts. When we had
+accomplished our purpose and made everything ready for the charge,
+"Stand down!" was sounded. The infantry took up the program and dashed
+over and through the gaps we had made. They cleaned up the first line,
+then on to the second, smashing their guns, trench mortars and
+trenches, bombed the dugouts, destroyed their rations and sent back over
+1800 prisoners. What I call a fair morning's work!
+
+Now, as I have heretofore said, the objects most easily seen by an
+airplane are white and black and the surface of the earth being covered
+with a mantle of snow, naturally the things that the keen-sighted
+airbirds would first look for would be dark-colored.
+
+The snow around our battery by this time had been thoroughly melted by
+the heat from our guns--as a matter of fact, the guns were steaming--and
+one of our Sergeants, knowing how easily discernible our pieces would be
+to the enemy airbirds, began gathering snow and spreading it all over
+the places where it had melted. He was working hard throwing the snow
+immediately in front of my gun when another "Stand to!" came. Let me
+repeat, if I have not already made it entirely clear, that when this
+most imperative order is sounded, there is only one thought in the mind
+of every man of the battery, to get our message off as quickly as human
+power can send it; and throughout every stage of the world's work that
+we are doing over there, there is no time when the bodies of men are
+entirely free of bruises received in collision with one another in the
+absorbing endeavor of every man to respond. This will account for the
+lamentable accident that occurred at this time.
+
+The Sergeant, unthinkingly, after "Stand to!" was sounded, went on in
+his earnest endeavor to camouflage the battery with the snow. Now it so
+happened that at the identical time that the Sergeant was so engaged, a
+kiltie battalion was making its way to the trenches on a foot path,
+running diagonally across the front of the guns. In obedience to the
+command to fire, the crew speeded to their respective guns, jammed back
+the levers and the missiles started on their journey of destruction. The
+shell from our gun in front of which the Sergeant was working killed him
+before he knew what had happened and, as luck or the devil would have
+it, the shell was a premature; it exploded at the point of the muzzle
+and its 365 shrapnel pellets, each traveling at the rate of 2200 feet
+per second muzzle velocity, and which when exploded assume the shape of
+a gigantic fan, shot death and destruction into the kiltie battalion in
+front. Sixty of the kilties paid with their lives the price of this
+premature shell, including the Sergeant. For a hundred yards in every
+direction the heads, arms and legs of the Scotch fighting men were
+strewn all over the ground. It was one of those terrible things that is
+a matter for the deepest concern and regret, and yet cannot be helped.
+
+We were next ordered back to the wagon lines at Camblain-Chatillon,
+arriving there on the evening of the 23rd of December, and preparations
+for Christmas dinner were uppermost in the mind of every man. We were
+delighted by a visit from the town authorities who asked us if we would
+like to use the schoolhouse for our celebration and that we were most
+heartily welcome to it, which offer we were most heartily glad to
+accept, and the authorities proceeded at once to decorate the
+schoolhouse in true holiday fashion, evergreens and lanterns filling
+every nook and corner of the large room. The tables, of course, we
+supplied ourselves.
+
+For turkey we had a French pig purchased from a farmer for 300 francs,
+each man chipping in three francs; new carrots, Irish potatoes, boiled
+onions, cranberry sauce, the latter supplied by a large-hearted French
+lady in the town, made up the accompaniment of the "Turkey." For dessert
+we had a speech from Major Wright, congratulating us on our work in the
+Somme. In a few well-chosen words he told us how we had lost over 60 per
+cent of our men, counting the reinforcements, and that it was a matter
+of sincere gratitude to every man of us that we were there to enjoy the
+bounteous Christmas cheer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+BEFORE VIMY
+
+
+In the course of ten days we arrived at Bully-Grenay, situated in the
+very heart of the mining district, three mines being located in the town
+itself. We were still working on the Vimy Ridge proposition. At no time
+in France were our quarters more comfortable than here; each gun of my
+battery was stationed in the cellar of a private house on the outskirts
+of the town from which the civilians had been shelled, and at night in
+the midst of a game of cards, or engaged in our letter writing, or
+reading, when we got the "S.O.S." signal, the lanyard was at my hand and
+I had only to pull the rope. Our quarters were heated by coal purchased
+direct from the mine and furnished to us at ten cents per bag. Every
+mine in this place was worked only at night, the smoke of the industry
+indicating to Fritz where to plant his shells; therefore, the entire
+coal mining was done during the hours of sleep.
+
+The Huns were making a most determined effort to get possession of
+Bully-Grenay and these most valuable coal mines, and they were anxiously
+looking forward to the time when they could attack successfully, and
+knowing how vital to us it was to get out this coal, they concentrated
+their efforts through the daytime on the mine shafts in an effort to
+destroy them; but having no smoke signals to guide their fire, their
+efforts generally were futile.
+
+A notable instance of the spirit controlling our ideas of warfare was
+splendidly illustrated in this particular sector. Among the captured
+French mines that the Germans were working was one in close proximity to
+a church, of whose existence they took particular pains to let us know;
+and the church, in addition to being used as a protection for the mine,
+was also used as a camouflage for one of their batteries, the guns being
+placed immediately in front of it. It is repugnant to the very soul of a
+British soldier to level his gun at a church, so Fritz was able to get
+away with his camouflage.
+
+On the morning of the third day of our visit here we were treated to
+another superb example of _kultur_. The school children were playing in
+the school yard and Fritz dropped a shell in their midst, killing and
+wounding several, following it up by two others that smashed the
+schoolhouse. A panic followed among the teachers and children, and the
+only thing we could do at the time was to stand there and watch the
+devilishness. Some of the men of an infantry battalion who were billeted
+on the outskirts of the town, rushed to the school and carried out the
+wounded and dead. If Fritz could have seen and heard the maddened fury
+of those rescuers as they carried out the maimed and bleeding little
+ones, his first thought would have been to have given them as wide a
+berth as possible; but when they did meet,--God help them!
+
+At 1:00 o'clock in the morning Fritz opened up with gas shells,
+smothering the civilian population, and the people who were running out
+of the town, choking and suffocating, brought to my mind a most vivid
+recollection of the city of Ypres. How can I describe the agony, the
+despair on the faces of the inoffending citizens who were having their
+homes blasted to bits, their lungs choked with suffocation, separated
+from their loved ones in the wild scramble of the night for shelter and
+safety! Any place, anywhere but there!
+
+Donning our helmets we got to our guns and waited for orders, which we
+presently received. I never worked with more love and energy than I did
+that night, and never did I spit more liberally on each individual shell
+as it was shoved into place for departure. Inside of twenty minutes
+Fritzie decided that the pastime of shelling Bully-Grenay with gas
+shells was not as funny as it was cracked up to be; he broke off short
+and quick.
+
+In the two weeks following we were at Estari Chic, another Vimy Ridge
+position. Here we were stationed at the horse lines. While there, an
+order was issued that we could not buy bread from the civilian
+population for the reason that our military authorities considered the
+rations we were getting were sufficient for all our needs. The
+shop-keepers were quite willing to sell any soldier, however, and we
+were more than anxious to get his bread if we could safely do so. The
+manner in which we disobeyed orders was as follows: The bake-shop was
+about half-a-mile from our billet and we had to pass several policemen
+on the way down; two fellows would stand outside the building while I
+went inside and purchased the bread, and if policemen were seen coming,
+the man nearest to the officer would give the signal and I would duck
+off into an alley-way and up the back streets into the billet, and it
+would not be long before my outpost would join me; then the jam would be
+produced and in short order the delicious French bread and jam would be
+winding its way down into our voracious stomachs.
+
+We left this point for Camblain-le-Abbeau for another nip at the ridge
+from that angle, pulled into the wagon lines for two days and then got
+into action on the Lens-Arras road. We laid the guns on the side of the
+road, camouflaging them in the usual fashion. We were the first
+battalion to arrive, but within four days 100 or more batteries were
+there. Our work here was to cut the wire in preparation for one of the
+usual raids, to blind Fritz and keep him guessing where the drive was to
+be launched. We performed our work flawlessly, the boys of the infantry
+going over through the gaps we had made and capturing several machine
+guns and prisoners.
+
+On the second day following, the Captain asked me to go into the
+trenches to assist him in observation work. We found after inspection
+that the point we wanted to get our data upon could not be obtained
+from the low-lying trenches, and the Captain, wondering where we had
+best go, happened to get his fancy settled on a mine shaft. "We will go
+up there, Grant," he said, and together we made our way to the spot. The
+climb to the top was no easy matter, and when we got there we set about
+making ourselves as comfortable as possible. As soon as we had our
+apparatus working, the Captain commenced registering the cemetery, the
+tombstones of which were being carried away by Fritz to place around his
+dugouts. The Captain flashed the necessary information and in ten
+minutes they were pretty thoroughly shot up.
+
+The Captain then directed his attention to a trench digging party, sent
+his compliments to the guns--would they kindly take care of the trench
+digging party, which they did. Then we were spotted; in a few seconds we
+were the recipients of a blast of machine-gun fire; a _minenwerfer_
+dropped at the foot of the mine shaft, blowing the entire corner away,
+and it became very evident the place was ours no longer, and we started
+for the bottom.
+
+In going down it was necessary for me to execute a sort of slide, as I
+had to hang on with my hands while my feet were going down, and the
+Captain, in his naturally human haste to get to a place of safety,
+inadvertently trod on my fingers.
+
+"For God's sake, Captain," I yelled, "get off my fingers!"
+
+"Take your damned fingers out of my way!" replied the Captain.
+
+"How can I? Your foot is on them!" He eased up a bit and I was able to
+release my mangled fingers, but Lord! he weighed about 200 pounds.
+
+Now Captain Black was a man who was absolutely afraid of nothing in
+human shape; his fighting spirit is unbeatable; every man in the battery
+can testify to his absolute fearlessness, and I am glad to lend my
+humble testament to his unquestionable bravery. However, in going down
+the shaft the shots were coming thick and fast, and it was the most
+natural thing in the world for him to tread on my fingers in his desire
+to avoid the sniping shell or machine-gun bullet, but my fingers were
+sadly in need of repair by the time we got to the bottom.
+
+When we reached the foot we got into the shell hole blasted out by the
+_minenwerfer_ that had torn the corner of the shaft away. We had not yet
+completed our observations and Cap decided he would try the top of the
+slag heap. To the top we crawled, placing our periscope and telephone in
+position, and were nicely settled and doing good work, the Captain
+congratulating himself audibly on his bright thought in selecting this
+spot, when his congratulations were cut short by a shell smashing the
+periscope glass, followed by a _minenwerfer_ striking the bottom of the
+slag heap, making another huge excavation and causing the slag at the
+top to roll down from under us, taking us with it. But the Cap was not
+to be driven away so easily. "Come on, Grant, let's try it again," and
+up we went again, and again another large shell at the bottom of the
+pile caused a cave-in, and down we rolled. Still the Captain had not
+enough, and up we went a third time. The same thing happened again, the
+shells tearing away a large hole at the bottom of the slag heap, causing
+the slag on which we were standing to give way and carrying us to the
+bottom. By this time the shells were showering the entire place and
+Captain Black reluctantly decided that it was no go, and we gave it up.
+
+It was during the stay of my battery on the Lens-Arras road, during the
+Vimy Ridge preparation, that I again personally encountered Fritz in
+the form of his spy system. One night after the guns had been oiled and
+prepared for their next job, and we were all busy cleaning up the
+ammunition for the work in hand, I was accosted by a couple of British
+officers, a Captain and a Major.
+
+"Sergeant, would you kindly help us to a drink of water?" said the
+Major. "Certainly, sir," I answered, saluting; "if you will wait here a
+moment I will get it for you."
+
+"Thank you," they replied, and I went for the water. Returning I found
+the Major with one of our shells in his hand and the Captain examining
+the gun.
+
+"She's a beauty, Sergeant," said the Captain.
+
+"Yes, sir," I smilingly answered, "and she is just as good as she is
+beautiful,--never kicks or falters."
+
+"By Jove!" laughed the Major, "that's a good one. How many messages did
+you send them last night, Sergeant?"
+
+"None, sir."
+
+"You don't say! Why I thought I heard you firing. Where is your battery
+operating?"
+
+"Oh, we just sent off a few rounds at the crossroads."
+
+"She seems to have been doing her bit today all right."
+
+While conversing with the Major, I noticed the Captain talking with one
+of my men about the gun sight and, hastily excusing myself to the Major,
+I went over to him. "Pardon me for interrupting. Billy, you had better
+go over to the Major and tell him the gun is ready at once for
+inspection."
+
+Billy excused himself to the Captain and started off. The officers then
+prepared to leave.
+
+"Won't you wait a moment, sir, and see the Major? He will be right
+over."
+
+"Well, we will see him on our way back. We're in a kind of a hurry,
+Sergeant." And they bade me good night and left.
+
+There was something told me that all was not well with these men, but
+the suspicion had not become sufficiently rooted in my head to find
+expression, and, consequently, I said nothing at the time.
+
+The very next morning after inspection, orders were read and in the
+instructions were explicit descriptions of two British officers who were
+German agents and who were making the rounds of the lines, picking up
+information wherever they could, and commanding all ranks to be on the
+lookout and arrest them on sight, shooting them if they resisted, and
+offering a prize of ten pounds to the man who succeeded in effecting
+their arrest. "Good Lord!" I thought. "What a miss!" If my wits had been
+properly working, I would have been ten pounds the richer, together with
+a four-weeks' leave of absence.
+
+These audacious agents had visited all sections and doubtless had
+acquired a store of general information, and headquarters urged a most
+rigorous search for them. The following night they were spotted in a
+French _estaminet_, by a bunch of sharp-eyed Tommies, and, as luck would
+have it, the men were chatting about the ten-pound prize for capturing
+these same fellows, and their mouths were watering at the picture that
+each one of them was painting of what he would do if he only had the
+prize.
+
+"I'll tell 'e what it is," said one, "if my blinkers falls on them chaps
+I'll wet the whole damned outfit!"
+
+As they entered, the soldier's eye went over the room and lit on the
+very men in question, seated by themselves in a little side room of the
+inn. In a low tone he communicated his thought to his companions.
+"Blime me, I'll eat your mother-in-law if there ain't our meat!" There
+was about 20 in the bunch, and they did not waste time in consultation.
+At once they were in the anteroom, confronting these men.
+
+"What do you want?" gruffly asked the Major.
+
+"We have to come to tell you, sir, that the O.C. wants to see you and
+the Captain at once."
+
+"All right, tell your O.C. we will be over directly."
+
+"'E wants you now, sir."
+
+"Well, didn't you hear me say we'd be over there shortly?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, damn you, tell him so, and I'll see that you are taken care of
+for your impertinence."
+
+"I don't mean to be impertinent, sir, but I'm here to see that you come
+and come now."
+
+Like a flash both men drew their revolvers, but before they had a chance
+to use them, the entire bunch was on top of them, and it was a somewhat
+mussed up Major and Captain that appeared before the O.C. at the
+headquarters of the Tommies who sleuthed them. The intuition of the
+soldier proved correct; with absolute certainty he had falconed his prey
+and the prize was his.
+
+And he was as good as his word. What that bunch didn't have to eat and
+drink while the money lasted wasn't purchaseable at the front.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+VIMY
+
+
+With Vimy Ridge in the possession of the Germans, their access for
+observation placed us at a decided disadvantage; the Lens-Arras, the
+Mont St. Eloi road--all vital feeding routes for our system--were
+absolutely open to his inspection at all hours of the day or night;
+there was no movement along these channels of communication of either
+men, guns, ammunition, supplies of any kind, of which they were not
+fully cognizant. So it will be seen that the possession of this
+elevation was of wonderful advantage to the side holding it.
+
+One of the chief gains to be derived from its possession was the control
+of the vast coal mines of Lens, one of the richest coal producing
+sections in France, and the benefit of which has been in German hands
+since the gray rush first went through. And the possession of the output
+of these mines gave Fritz a priceless advantage over us. His overlooking
+position also made it impossible for us to work in the daytime the few
+coal mines that we had; neither could we supply our guns with the
+necessary ammunition during the hours of daylight; and further, the
+possession of this vantage point would release for duty elsewhere a
+tremendous number of men whose presence there was unavoidable, because
+of the control he had over the valley and the surrounding country. So,
+when the chief command decided to take the ridge, they went about the
+job in a manner thoroughly characteristic of the Scotch commander, Sir
+Douglas Haig, and his thoroughness was well borne out by the results.
+
+For the space of a month prior to the drive, every hour of the darkness
+was used to get guns, ammunition and supplies into place; all night long
+the traffic on the roads was so congested that going faster than a walk
+with any conveyance, over any part of the channels of communication, was
+simply out of the question; but when day broke it was imperative that
+not a single conveyance of any kind be in sight on any road.
+
+Do not imagine, however, that we were free to work as long as the
+shelter of night lasted; in the artificial light furnished by the
+flares, Fritz did a lot of damage. On one single night during this work
+of preparation on the Mont St. Eloi road alone, 156 horses were killed;
+and on all through roads, each night that the stage was being set for
+the production of the first scene, casualties were had with deadly
+regularity.
+
+When everything was in place and the curtain ready to be drawn up, 1400
+batteries were in a position along the Lens-Arras road and valley,
+standing wheel to wheel, many of them brought to bear over roads that
+had been specially constructed for their conveyance, as regular routes
+were not usable for them and a road one-and-a-half-miles long, made out
+of three-inch thick planking, was placed ready for use in three days'
+time, together with a narrow-gauge railroad, for rushing up ammunition
+and taking back wounded men. This road and narrow-gauge railway took a
+short cut across the valley and proved a godsend in relieving the
+congestion on the regular road, and was of inestimable value in
+achieving our end.
+
+On the 2nd day of April, 1917, stage manager Haig ordered the curtain
+raised and, with its raising, vengeance was let loose. Gaps 20 to 30
+feet wide were blasted in the barbed wire; some of the mine shafts
+about Lens were flattened and destroyed; Fritzie's supply roads were
+rained upon with a steady hail of hell night and day, preventing the
+entrance to his trenches not only of ammunition, but also of food, and
+prevented the withdrawal of any men from his lines; his ammunition dumps
+were set ablaze, the fires from them lighting up the whole country-side
+for miles around. In the air the efficiency of our preparatory work was
+equally demonstrated. A new type of flier winged his way back and forth
+over the sausage-fed warriors, and the ability of our birds to hold the
+line in the Heavens was amply demonstrated, one British airman, on the
+28th of March, five days before the battle began, downing three German
+eagles in quick succession. Spellbound I watched the magnificent work of
+this flier.
+
+Far up as the eye could reach, six British planes in battle formation,
+the leader of the squad about three hundred yards in advance, four
+others in a row, the sixth three hundred yards in the rear, winged their
+way. Suddenly, the rear bird shot downward, volplaning and looping the
+loop with as much abandon as if he were in an exhibition park. I
+quickly discerned the object of his lightning-like descent. Hovering
+over our trenches were three German vultures. As he dropped, Fritz
+volleyed at him with his anti-aircraft mouthpieces, but failed to land.
+The bird kept on his downward plunge until he reached his objective, and
+as he dove into the vultures, our anti-aircraft guns, which had been
+endeavoring to wing the German birds, ceased fire and all eyes were
+turned heavenward. With bated breath we watched and waited the outcome.
+
+The Fritzies spread out in circle formation, with a view to surrounding
+it, each a little higher than the other. With a lightning-like swoop the
+British bird, getting right in front of it and turning sharply, let fly
+his machine gun in rapid fire, Fritz answering energetically. In less
+than three minutes' time, a distinct wabbling was noticeable and the
+British sparrow, seeing that his work there was done, turned his
+attention to the others. His work was surely done; Fritz continued to
+wabble and then plunged in a deadly drop until he got to the Lens-Arras
+road, where he made a desperate attempt to alight on the highway; but he
+got tangled up in the trees, his wings being smashed and remaining in
+the branches, the body of the plane shooting down into a deep ditch and
+embedding itself and its two occupants in the mud. They were dead. A
+tremendous cheer greeted this victory over the first opponent. The other
+two airmen followed our bird, volleying at him as they flew. With a
+quick motion he turned upside down, swooping for the bird on his upper
+left, and continued to chase and fight him in this position. The other
+German bird was off to one side, put-put-put-put-ing! for all he was
+worth, but his bullets were wasted by reason of the upside down
+position. In a run of another 500 yards the work of our lad was
+finished, his machine gun having done the trick; and Fritz and his pilot
+being killed, the machine dashed rudderless to the ground, nose first.
+
+There remained but one. Our bird again got on top, but there was no
+fight left in Fritz; he scooted for a hundred yards in the direction of
+home, but was winged while running, part of his left wing dropping off.
+The rest was easy; his machine became unmanageable, an explosive bullet
+smashed into his petrol tank and he dropped in flames.
+
+The entire ceremony of sending the three German chickens to their
+eternal hen-coop did not take ten minutes. As each bird fell to its
+death, the entire valley resounded with wild cheering; and when the last
+foe fell, the cheering wave of sound was followed by a tiger in the
+shape of a volley from every rifle--in fact, everything that would
+shoot, except the big guns.
+
+Our bird then executed his stunt of victory, looping the loop several
+times over Fritzie's trenches, and the spirit of Fritz was amply
+exemplified by the thousand times ten thousand shots which were leveled
+at the air king to bring him down. He bore a charmed life; although his
+plane was perforated with machine-gun bullets, none touched a vital
+spot.
+
+But, suddenly, from out the clouds swooped a German swallow in a
+frenzied attack to retrieve the disgrace. He had all the advantage of
+position, and a great fear filled my heart that our champion might not
+long enjoy the fruits of his victory. However, when about 400 yards
+above our bird, our watchful boys at the Archee guns (the anti-aircraft
+guns, so nicknamed because of their peculiar explosive sound) opened on
+him, and with the third shot, off flopped his fish tail. He dove in a
+wabble to the ground and, in his descent, his petrol tank was struck by
+one of our explosive bullets. When it reached the ground in No Man's
+Land, it was a mass of flames.
+
+For seven days, every hour of the night and day, the mighty chorus of
+1400 batteries rose and swelled unceasingly in a vast concourse of
+sound.
+
+Promptly at ten minutes past five, on the morning of the seventh day,
+the word having passed from end to end of the lines, the men were up and
+over. A mine that had been prepared in the Ridge by our engineers was
+exploded, the shock rocking every German trench in the valley, killing
+several thousand men and wounding twice as many more. The first and
+second lines were taken without any trouble, and over we went into the
+third. Some opposition was here met, but quickly overcome. The program
+was repeated until the entire six lines of German trenches were in
+Canadian hands, and late in the afternoon we were masters of the Ridge.
+
+The personal comfort to the men taking a stroll through the streets of
+Arras, after the Ridge was in our possession, had to be seen to be
+appreciated. Heretofore such a thing as a pleasure walk or shopping tour
+was out of the question, as the sniping was continuous, and the only way
+now for Fritz to snipe the town was with his heavy naval pieces, six or
+seven miles off, and as these visitors are a hundred times scarcer than
+the callers from the short range boys, the peace and quiet of our
+fellows were correspondingly increased one hundred fold.
+
+No need now was there to hide our work in and around the coal mines, the
+precious element being taken out of the bowels of bountiful nature in as
+large abundance as was required; our hungry guns can now be supplied
+with all the grub they require in any hour of the twenty-four; our wagon
+lines moved forward behind the Ridge to a place of perfect security;
+several army corps were released for service in other parts of the
+lines, and the city of Lens, honeycombed with German soldiers, is
+practically bottled up, they not daring to retreat, and it being
+impossible for them to advance. But the over-weaning advantage of this
+movement and the reduction of this obstacle is the tremendous impetus
+that will be given our forces when the waves of the great drive that is
+in contemplation sweep the gray-clad hordes of Huns from the land of
+Sunny France. From a military point of view, it can be stated that our
+success here was of far-reaching importance.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY
+
+
+I spent the two nights following at the wagon lines, taking a
+much-needed rest, and after my first night's sleep there I sought out a
+spot in a grassy nook, as far away from the road and bustle of the lines
+as I could safely go, and lay at full length on the green sward; I felt
+as if I wanted to lie there forever, without even exerting myself to
+think. As the sun was setting, I awoke from my day dream, and my stomach
+felt the call of the cookhouse.
+
+On the day following, one of my chums, Mulhall and myself were ordered
+to go to the line, gathering up the horses that were wounded or had
+fallen out through exhaustion. Our errand of mercy to the dumb animals
+had to be done on horseback, and, with the roads still under
+observation, it was dangerous for more than two men to go together.
+
+We corralled several of the poor beasts, and their condition of
+suffering in many instances smote me with a kind of remorse; I couldn't
+help feeling that we humans were responsible for the pain and misery of
+these most useful animals that bounteous nature had put upon earth for
+our comfort and help. We placed them in the ruins of a barn, made them
+as comfortable as we could, and left them with a supply of water; for
+feed they had to wait.
+
+It is with much pleasure that I can commend the splendid work in
+connection with caring for these wounded and sick horses that is being
+done at the front by the societies organized for that purpose. The
+amount of suffering alleviated in this, the noblest animal of all, would
+be ample justification for the work done; but the economic advantage
+derived in addition makes the object of the societies most worthy in
+character. Two of the horses that were only slightly wounded I pulled to
+the line, and as they were inclined to lie down at every step of the
+way, the condition of my arms when I reached my destination may be
+imagined; every nerve and muscle from the shoulder down was aching.
+
+When we got to the line, Fritz was retaliating on the Ridge and a heavy
+bombardment was in progress; our guns were vigorously answering, and
+over we ran to the gun pit, getting into the game with both feet. After
+an hour's hard drubbing, I took occasion to step over and see a man
+whose friendship I had never ceased to curry--the cook, and I was just
+swallowing the first mouthful of the fruits of my friendship when my joy
+was rudely interrupted by an orderly.--"The Major wants to see you,
+Grant." Over I went, wondering what was up, and ransacking my noodle for
+some breach of discipline of which I might have been guilty.
+
+"Did you want to see me, sir?"
+
+"Yes, Grant," smiled the Major; two officers were standing by and they
+beamed on me in a fashion that made me think my future mother-in-law had
+gone on a long journey. "Listen carefully, Grant," said the Major, as he
+started to read something. I paid strict attention and I could scarcely
+believe my ears as the true import of the communication commenced to
+dawn upon me;--the G.O.C. had granted me a furlough and I was instructed
+to return to Canada immediately on a three-months' leave of absence. I
+was walking on air for a few minutes, and it was quite some little time
+before I could make myself really believe I wasn't dreaming.
+
+I lost no time in bidding my pals good-bye, and when I had convinced
+them that it was an actual fact, the gun Sergeant said, "Fellows,
+Grant's going; we'll give him the best we've got; ten rounds of gun
+fire. Ready! Fire!" and ten ear-drum splitters clove the air. I had no
+cotton in my ears and the effects of that farewell stayed with me
+several minutes after I left. I then went to say good-bye to the man
+whose friendship I had always nursed, my good friend the cook. He urged
+me to wait while he fixed me up the feed of my life, as he expressed it,
+and you can understand the state of my feelings when I tell you that I
+refused his bounty. I never did such a thing in my life!
+
+I turned to go and found myself face to face with the Major. "What the
+hell are you hanging around here for? Didn't I tell you to beat it to
+the wagon lines before you got hit? Do you think your horseshoe luck is
+going to stay with you forever? While you have got your furlough in your
+hand, beat it!"
+
+I hastened my steps. On the way I passed the burial party who were
+laying to their last rest the men who had fallen the night before, and
+as I glanced at the faces of the boys who would never again see their
+beloved Canadian homes, tears, for the first time in many long months,
+welled up into my eyes.
+
+I doubled from there to a battery in the rear to say farewell to my
+cousin Hughie, and while going from pit to pit in his battery, looking
+for him, the guns were speaking as fast as they could, and retaliation
+from Germany was blasting its way through the air. Right at this moment
+the Major's warning was most beautifully exemplified; a splinter struck
+me in the cheek, flooring me and knocking out two teeth in the upper
+left jaw. When I recovered my balance, the diligence I exercised in
+getting away from the scene of activity would have satisfied even the
+Major; besides, I was doubly anxious that he should not know of my
+mishap, as he would be bound to twit me unmercifully.
+
+Holding my jaw, I made my way carefully to one of the horses I had
+brought up, mounted, and kicked the poor brute in the ribs every step of
+the way back to the wagon line. My feelings of sympathy for the animal
+were completely submerged in the feeling in my jaw, my haste to get to a
+dressing station, and home. For fear it would reach the Major's ears, I
+told the doctor at the dressing station that the horse had kicked me. He
+washed and dressed it with a bandage, but just before getting to the
+wagon lines I removed it.
+
+Here I had another hard time convincing the fellows that I was off for
+home, but when they saw me go to the paymaster and draw 50 francs, they
+were constrained to believe that there must be something in it, and I
+was the recipient of hearty congratulations and well wishes. Forty of
+the francs went for champagne and eats; I felt that this might be the
+last time I would have the opportunity to enjoy the company of many of
+them.
+
+I departed next morning in the mess cart, and just before leaving I had
+another send-off;--the entire wagon lines paraded and gave me a parting
+cheer. Again the tears!
+
+I arrived at Bethune, boarded a French civilian train and traveled for
+five hours, reaching a junction point where, in company with a number of
+wounded men who were able to walk, I boarded a box car.
+
+The train was traveling at a funereal pace and the weather turned
+sharply cold; neither the wounded nor the well men, with one exception,
+had any blankets; the exception had seven blankets that he monopolized,
+refusing to share an inch of them with anyone. Such unparalleled
+hoggishness and meanness never went unpunished at the front, and I
+resolved that he would be no exception to the rule. In order to take the
+chill off ourselves, we jumped off the train every chance we got,
+gathering up some coal, until we had accumulated enough to make a
+fair-sized fire, which we kindled on the floor of the car; it was
+necessary to shove the burning coals here and there over the surface to
+avoid burning a hole through it. At one point I noticed a horse-car
+filled with straw bedding for the animals, and the train going here at a
+snail's pace enabled me to jump off and chuck an armful of the straw
+into our car; I did this with my friend of the blankets in mind. I threw
+the damp straw on top of the live coals and in a few minutes or less the
+car was filled with rank, reeking smoke that fairly made the eyes water.
+Up jumped the blanket monopolist, rushed to the window for a breath of
+air, and while inhaling the ozone I chucked his blankets out of the car
+door. When he returned to his nest, which was a nest no longer, he swore
+several swears, both large and small, but he was forced to fare like the
+rest of us,--on the bare boards.
+
+All this time the pain in my jaw was gradually getting worse. A
+swelling had started and I was feeling a little the worse for wear.
+
+It was morning when we reached Abbeville Station, where we were to wait
+until night before being able to resume our journey. Here there was a
+horrible mass of dead horses--about 500 in all--lying in the railroad
+yards; they had died in the cars on the way back for treatment. It was a
+fearsome sight.
+
+In an hour or so my face was commencing to throb violently, and I hunted
+up the nearest dressing station, which was a casualty clearing station,
+and addressed myself to the nurse.
+
+"What's the matter, Canada?" she asked, looking at my jaw.
+
+"Why, I got hit, nurse."
+
+"I can plainly see that, but what makes it that color? It looks like
+gangrene! Come in and see the doctor."
+
+He examined me and found there was a piece left sticking there; I would
+have to be operated on at once, he said, and there was no time lost
+getting down to business. He extracted a small splinter.
+
+"See that this man is put to bed at once; gangrene has just started."
+
+When I got off the table my face was so bound up in bandages that only
+my nose and one eye were visible.
+
+"Go to bed, now," said the nurse. "Oh, no, I can't," I said; "I have got
+to leave at once."
+
+"No, no, you mustn't do anything of the kind; you must go to bed at once
+and have the closest care for some weeks." She fixed up a cot for me in
+the station and I went to bed. After lying there for three hours I asked
+her if I might go up to the station and get my kit, that I had some
+valuable souvenirs I didn't want to lose, and that I would like to
+present her with some of them. She let me go, and at the station I saw
+some box cars going through. Grabbing my kit, I slung myself aboard and
+reached a station by nightfall, where I got off and waited for the
+through train, which finally came along. The fellows on board with whom
+I had become acquainted on the way down, told me the hospital orderly
+was searching for me high and low.
+
+After another wearisome day aboard those unspeakable box-cars, I reached
+the base. My jaw, although not throbbing so fiercely, was still
+painfully troublesome, and I sought out one of the hospitals and had to
+swallow the unwelcome news that the condition of my face was such that
+it would be necessary to luxuriate in a hospital bed for a week or ten
+days, which I did.
+
+The kindness of the nurses was beyond praise, and the efforts for the
+wounded men left nothing to be desired; there was absolutely every
+provision for the health and well-being of the men. The wonderful
+organization of the British Red Cross and its workings in this war will
+go down through the pages of history as the one spot in the nation's
+management of the campaign that is absolutely flawless.
+
+At the end of ten days I was permitted to leave the hospital, with the
+understanding that I would take good care of myself and report daily for
+dressing. I then went to the Y.M.C.A., making my home there for three or
+four days, and here, also the treatment accorded me was most
+praiseworthy; the provision made for the men's recreation will remain a
+lasting tribute to this most beneficial organization.
+
+I left the boys for England, embarking on board ship at 5:00 o'clock in
+the evening, leaving about an hour later. On the way over submarines
+were reported in the channel, but my horseshoe luck was still with me,
+and I made the tight little isle in safety next morning. I arrived at
+Southampton the latter part of May. My first errand in England was to
+report to the O.C. at Camp Shorncliffe. Then I made haste to look up my
+brother Billy, who was in the hospital 200 miles away. On my way to the
+camp I happened to meet a pal of Billy's, and was delighted to learn
+that he was well and out of hospital, fully recovered from his wound in
+the thigh, and in a few minutes' time we were gripping hands.
+
+I never before realized the large measure of affection in our hearts for
+each other as I did on that morning. It seemed as if we had both been
+through the Valley of the Shadow and had been led safely through by an
+all-wise and bountiful Father.
+
+In due time I embarked at Liverpool, on board the Mistress of the Seas,
+the S.S. _Olympic_, the largest passenger boat afloat. For three days we
+lay in the channel, awaiting our escort, four torpedo boat destroyers,
+and, finally, as the wheel of the mighty leviathan commenced churning
+the waters, I knew we were really off for home!
+
+In starting, we followed the course mapped out for us by three or four
+of the little channel pilot boats that threaded their way through the
+maize of mines placed in the water there, and by night time we were on
+the bosom of the Atlantic.
+
+The following day was quiet, nothing happened to interrupt the usual
+monotony of an ocean voyage, but that night at 9:15 the ship from stem
+to stern was thrown into a turmoil of excitement by the firing of a gun
+and the terrifying word--"Submarine!" The boat was darkened, not a light
+showing, and everyone was rushing from their cabins in a mad state for
+life belts, utterly ignoring the rigid command not to leave their
+portholes open and expose the lights of the vessel. It was worse than
+confusion confounded!
+
+I had been appointed one of provo N.C.O.'s, and my duty was to see that
+everybody was supplied with a lifebelt, wear it at all times except when
+going to bed, and then they were ordered to have them at hand in case of
+emergency. Although some of the people obeyed the instructions to the
+letter, even going so far as to sleep in them, many others neglected the
+order.
+
+Some idea of the sense of responsibility on the Captain and his crew can
+be had when I state that 1400 women and children on board were in his
+absolute care and keeping. Everything possible was done to calm the
+frantic people; nothing could convince them that that single shot had
+sunk the sub. But so indeed it was! The steady nerve and unfailing aim
+of the gunner had done the trick, and there was no more danger to be
+feared from that particular snake of the sea. The gunner was an old
+man-o'-war's man and was completely overwhelmed by the grateful and
+heartfelt thanks of the passengers, he, in his native modesty,
+apparently thinking he hadn't done any more than he ought to have
+done,--which indeed was very true. But if he had missed!
+
+There was only one sad mishap throughout the entire excitement. A woman,
+losing her head and trying to climb into a lifeboat, before she was
+ordered to do so, and carrying her baby in her arms at the time, as she
+was clambering up the rail of the vessel to get into the boat, let her
+baby slip from her arms into the dark waters below. With a frenzied
+scream, she seemed as if about to throw herself after her little one,
+but strong hands caught her and prevented.
+
+In spite of the watchful eyes of the four escorts plowing along at each
+corner of the vessel, and signaling constantly, never for a moment
+during the time we were in the submarine zone did the ship cease its
+zigzagging course, and lookouts were stationed on every point of the
+boat from which observations could be had.
+
+The trip was made in perfect safety and I arrived in Halifax, Nova
+Scotia, five and a half days from the time I left Liverpool.
+
+At last I was on the train for home! I commenced to count the minutes on
+the last lap of my journey, and no blushing young girl, making her
+debut, was any more excited than I was when the iron horse choo-chooed
+into the station at Ottawa two days later. As fast as a taxi could make
+the trip without violating the rigors of the law against speeding, I
+dashed homeward. I had sent no word ahead to my people, as I wanted to
+give them a complete surprise and I succeeded most admirably, my
+favorite sister fainting as I entered the door.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of S.O.S. Stand to!, by Reginald Grant
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK S.O.S. STAND TO! ***
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