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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tommy, by Joseph Hocking
+
+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: Tommy
+
+Author: Joseph Hocking
+
+Release Date: April 4, 2008 [EBook #24986]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOMMY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TOMMY
+
+
+BY
+
+JOSEPH HOCKING
+
+
+
+AUTHOR OF
+
+  "ALL FOR A SCRAP OF PAPER"
+  "DEARER THAN LIFE" ETC.
+
+
+
+
+HODDER AND STOUGHTON
+
+LONDON ---- NEW YORK ---- TORONTO
+
+MCMXVI
+
+
+
+
+_TWO GREAT WAR STORIES BY JOSEPH HOCKING_
+
+  ALL FOR A SCRAP OF PAPER
+  DEARER THAN LIFE
+
+
+_OTHER STORIES BY JOSEPH HOCKING_
+
+  Facing Fearful Odds
+  O'er Moor and Fen
+  The Wilderness
+  Rosaleen O'Hara
+  The Soul of Dominie Wildthorne
+  Follow the Gleam
+  David Baring
+  The Trampled Cross
+
+
+
+
+NOTE
+
+My only qualification for writing this simple story of "Tommy" is that
+I have tried to know him, and that I greatly admire him.  I met him
+before he joined the army, when for more than six months I addressed
+recruiting meetings.  I have also been with him in training camps, and
+spent many hours talking with him.  It was during those hours that he
+opened his heart to me and showed me the kind of man he is.  Since then
+I have visited him in France and Flanders.  I have been with him down
+near La Bassée, and Neuve Chapelle.  I have talked with him while great
+guns were booming as well as during his hours of well-earned rest, when
+he was in a garrulous mood, and was glad to crack a joke "wi' a man
+wearin' a black coat."  I have also been with him up at Ypres, when the
+shells were shrieking over our heads, and the "pep, pep, pep" of
+machine guns heralded the messengers of death.  We stood side by side
+in the front trenches, less than a hundred yards from the German
+sand-bags, when to lift one's head meant a Hun's bullet through one's
+brain, and when "woolly bears" were common.  So although I am not a
+soldier, and have probably fallen into technical errors in telling the
+story of "Tommy," it is not because he is a stranger to me, or because
+I have not tried to know him.
+
+Only a small part of this story is imagination.  Nearly every incident
+in the book was told me by "Tommy" himself, and while the setting of my
+simple tale is fiction, the tale itself is fact.
+
+That is why I hope the story of "Tommy" will not only be read by
+thousands of men in khaki, but by their fathers and mothers and loved
+ones who bade them go to the Front, and who earnestly pray for their
+speedy and victorious return, even as I do.
+
+
+JOSEPH HOCKING.
+
+PRIORS' CORNER, TOTTERIDGE, HERTS,
+  _February_ 1916.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The Brunford Town Hall clock was just chiming half-past three as Tom
+Pollard left his home in Dixon Street and made his way towards the
+Thorn and Thistle public-house.  It was not Tom's intention to stay
+long at the Thorn and Thistle, as he had other plans in view,
+nevertheless something drew him there.  He crossed the tram lines in
+St. George's Street, and, having stopped to exchange some rustic jokes
+with some lads who stood at the corner of the street, he hurried across
+the open space and quickly stood on the doorsteps of the public-house.
+
+The weather was gloriously fine, and for a wonder the air in the heart
+of the town was pure and clear.  That was accounted for by the fact
+that it was Sunday, and the mills were idle.  Throughout the week-days,
+both in summer and in winter, the atmosphere of Brunford is smoke
+laden, while from a hundred mills steamy vapours are emitted which
+makes that big manufacturing town anything but a health resort.  Tom
+was making his way up the passage towards the bar, when the door opened
+and a buxom, bold-eyed, red-cheeked girl of about twenty-four stopped
+him.
+
+"You're late, Tom," she said.
+
+"Am I?" replied Tom.  "I didn't mean to be."
+
+"I was thinking you weren't coming at all.  Some young men I know of
+wouldn't have been late if I'd said to them what I said to you on
+Friday night."  Then she looked at him archly.
+
+"I couldn't get away before," replied Tom.  Evidently he was not quite
+comfortable, and he did not return the girl's glances with the warmth
+she desired.
+
+"Anyhow I am free till half-past five," she went on.  "I don't know
+what father and mother would say if they knew I was walking out with
+you; but I don't mind.  Do you like my new dress, Tom?"
+
+Tom looked at her admiringly; there was no doubt that, after her own
+order, she was a striking-looking girl, and her highly coloured attire
+was quite in accord with her complexion.
+
+"Jim Scott was here half an hour ago," she went on; "he badly wanted me
+to go with him, but I wouldn't."
+
+Tom looked more uncomfortable than ever; he remembered the purpose for
+which he had set out, and was sorry that he had called at the Thorn and
+Thistle at all, even although the girl evidently favoured him more than
+any of her other admirers.
+
+"I just called to say I couldn't come for a walk with you this
+afternoon," he said, looking on the ground.  "You see I have an
+appointment."
+
+"Appointment!" cried the girl.  "Who with?"
+
+"Oh, with no one in particular; only I must keep it."
+
+The girl's eyes flashed angrily.  "Look here," she cried, "you are
+still sweet on Alice Lister; I thought you had given up all that
+Sunday-school lot."
+
+"Well, I have noan been to Sunday School," said Tom.
+
+"Ay, but you're going to meet Alice Lister now, and that is why you
+can't go wi' me."  Evidently the girl was very angry, and a look of
+jealousy flashed from her eyes.  Still there could be no doubt that she
+was very fond of Tom and meant if possible to capture him.
+
+"I can't go out wi' you this afternoon, and--and----but there, I'm off."
+
+For a moment the girl seemed on the point of speaking to him still more
+angrily, and perhaps of bidding him to leave her for good.  She quickly
+altered her mind, however, and seemed determined to use all her
+blandishments.
+
+"Ay, Tom," she said.  "Tha'rt too good to throw thyself away on the
+goody-goody Alice Lister sort.  Tha'rt too much of a man for that, else
+I should never have got so fond of thee."
+
+"Art'a really fond of me, Polly?" asked Tom, evidently pleased by
+Polly's confession.
+
+"I'm not goin' to say any more," replied the girl.  And then she
+laughed.  "I was thinkin' that after we'd been to Scott's Park you
+might come back to tea.  I don't believe father and mother would mind.
+Father wur sayin' only this morning that you'd got brains.  You took
+three prizes at the Mechanics' Institute last winter, and he said that
+if you got manufacturing on your own, you'd make brass."
+
+"Did he say that?" asked Tom eagerly,
+
+"Ay, he did, only this morning."
+
+"But I have no capital," said Tom rather sadly.
+
+"Father's saved money," replied Polly eagerly.  "The Thorn and
+Thistle's a good house and we have good company; and if father liked a
+lad, especially if I recommended him, he could easily find money to
+start a small mill.  But there, I suppose you are only thinking of
+Alice Lister."
+
+The Town Hall clock chimed the three-quarters, and, much as he wanted
+to stay with Polly, he moved towards the door and said, "Well, I must
+be goin' now."
+
+Again anger flashed from Polly's eyes, but still controlling her temper
+she said: "Ay, but you'll come back this evening, won't you, Tom?  Jim
+Dixon's coming to tea, and if you're not here, and he wur to ask me to
+go out for a walk with him tonight, I shouldn't have any excuse for
+refusing."
+
+There could be no doubt about it that, to Tom, Polly Powell looked very
+alluring.  She was rather older than he, and her beauty was of a highly
+coloured order.  At that moment Tom's mind was much distracted,
+nevertheless as the sound of the deep-toned bell in the Town Hall tower
+died away he determined to take his leave.
+
+"And I thought we might have such a nice time, too," she said,
+following him.  "But never mind, you'll be back this evening.  Ay, Tom
+lad, tha doesn't know when tha'art well off."  And she gave him her
+most bewitching smile.
+
+Tom hurried up Liverpool Road with the sound of Polly's voice in his
+ears and the memory of the flash in her great black eyes in his mind.
+"She is a grand lass," he reflected, "and she's fair gone on me too;
+and what's more she's not so finickin' as some lasses are.  After all,
+why should I be so straitlaced?  She's a lass as loves good company,
+she likes a lark, and--and----"  After that Tom became thoughtful.
+
+Tom Pollard was typical of thousands of lads who dwell in the
+manufacturing districts of Lancashire.  His father and mother had been
+weavers, and while his mother had ceased going to the mill, his father
+still earned his thirty shillings a week behind the looms.  They did
+not belong to the best class of Lancashire operatives, and Tom's home
+influence was not all it might have been.  That was why, years before,
+many wondered that Tom promised to turn out so well.  He was not
+particularly clever, but he possessed a large share of the proverbial
+Lancashire sharpness and common sense; he had an eye to the main
+chance, and dreamt of becoming something better than an ordinary
+weaver.  For that reason he had attended some technical classes at the
+Mechanics' Institute, and, as Polly Powell had reminded him, had only a
+few months before taken prizes there.  Young as he was, he had already
+been promised a Tackler's job, which meant that he would be a kind of
+foreman, and have the oversight of a small part of a mill.  This, Tom
+was sure, would open the way to a more responsible position, and then
+if he had good luck he might in a few years start manufacturing for
+himself.  Many of the mill-owners in Brunford were, a few years before,
+poor men, while now, owing to a great boom in the cotton trade, they
+were quite wealthy men.  During the last few months, however, Tom's
+best friends had not been quite so hopeful about him.  He had been a
+frequent visitor at the Thorn and Thistle; and he had altogether given
+up attendance at Sunday School.  This was considered a bad sign in
+Brunford, where the great bulk of the respectable young men attend one
+of the many Sunday Schools in the town.
+
+As Tom neared the Town Hall his face changed somewhat, and a look of
+eager expectancy came into his eyes.  He noted with satisfaction that
+the yard outside a big building was empty.  "I'm in time after all," he
+reflected.  "They've just sung the last hymn."
+
+A few minutes later several hundred young people came into the street,
+and Tom was not long in singling out one for whom he had evidently been
+watching.  This was a young girl of about twenty years of age, and it
+was easy to see at a glance that she was superior to those whom she
+accompanied.  Her face was refined, her eyes large and intelligent; and
+her neat, well-fitting clothes did not suggest the flamboyancy of Polly
+Powell's adornments.
+
+"There's Tom Pollard waiting for you, Alice," said one of the girls.
+Alice Lister flushed as the girl spoke, and the colour which rose to
+her cheeks told its own tale.
+
+"If I were you, Alice," said another, "I should keep my eye on him.
+Sin' he give up going to Sunday School he's noan so much of a catch;
+besides, I saw him with Polly Powell last Sunday evening after he went
+home with you; and Polly Powell is noan your sort."
+
+Alice did not reply to this, but her lips trembled; evidently the words
+wounded her.  All the time Tom stood smoking a cigarette.  Although he
+had come to meet Alice, he did not like the idea of going up to claim
+her while so many girls were around.
+
+"Ay, Tom," said one of the girls, shouting to him.  "How's Polly
+Powell?"
+
+Tom did not reply; his ready wit left him for the moment.
+
+"If I were Alice," said another, "I'd give thee the sack.  Tha's noan
+fitted to go with her."
+
+"Ay," said another, "and Polly's only just playing wi' him; she's got
+more nor one string to her bow, has Polly.  And she'd noan look at
+thee, Tom, if the young landlord at the Bull and Butcher had made up to
+her."
+
+Lancashire folks are not slow in speaking their minds, and they have no
+false delicacy about telling people their opinion of them.
+
+"Well," said Tom quietly, "I fly higher game than you, Emily Bilson,
+anyhow.  I have only just got to hold up my finger to the whole lot on
+you, and you'd come after me.  But I'm noan going to do it; I've got
+too much respect for myself."
+
+Almost as if by arrangement the girls separated, and Tom found himself
+walking up Liverpool Road by the side of Alice Lister.  Neither of them
+spoke for some minutes.  Tom didn't know what to say, while Alice was
+evidently thinking deeply.
+
+"Have you been to the Young Men's Class this afternoon," she asked
+presently.
+
+"Nay."
+
+"Why?" asked the girl, looking at him steadily.
+
+"It's noan in my line," replied Tom.  "That kind of thing'll do for
+kids, but when people get grown up they want something better."
+
+"Better and cleverer people than you, Tom, don't give it up," replied
+the girl.
+
+Tom continued to walk by Alice's side, looking rather sulky.
+
+He and Alice had begun to walk out together a little more than a year
+before, much to the surprise of their mutual friends.  For Alice was
+not only better educated than Tom, but she moved in rather a better
+circle.  Alice's father was one who, beginning life as a weaver, had by
+steady perseverance and good common sense become a small manufacturer.
+He was anything but a rich man, but he was what the people called
+"Doin' vary weel"--one who with good luck would in about ten years'
+time "addle a tidy bit of brass."  Alice was his only daughter.  He had
+never allowed her to go to the mill, but had sent her to a fairly good
+school until she was sixteen years of age, since which time she had
+stayed at home with her mother, and assisted her in the house work.
+Alice had continued her education, however.  She had a natural gift for
+music and possessed a fine contralto voice.  She had quite a local
+reputation as a pianist and was constantly in demand to sing at
+concerts.  She was more than ordinarily intelligent too, and was a
+lover of good books.  Added to this she attended classes in the town
+for French and German; and had on more than one occasion been invited
+to the houses of big manufacturers.  That was why people wondered at
+her walking out with Tom Pollard.  He, although looked upon as a sharp
+lad, was not, as was generally agreed, "up to Alice's mark."
+
+Still facts were facts, and there could be no doubt about it that Alice
+showed a great preference for Tom, and, in spite of the fact that her
+father and mother were not at all pleased, had allowed him to accompany
+her home on several occasions.
+
+"What are you going to do, Tom?" asked the girl.
+
+"What am I going to do?" queried Tom.  "I don't know that I am going to
+do anything.  What do you mean, Alice?"
+
+"I mean that you must make your choice."
+
+"Choice?  What choice?"
+
+"I should not have met you this afternoon," replied Alice Lister
+quietly, "but for the fact that I want to come to an understanding.  I
+have not been blind, neither have I been deaf, these last few months; a
+change has come over you, and--and you will have to choose."
+
+Tom knew what she meant well enough, but he pretended to be ignorant.
+
+"What has come over you, Alice?  What do you mean?  Surely," he went
+on, "you are not taking any notice of what Emily Bilson said.  Just as
+though a lad can't speak to any lass but his own!"
+
+"Tom," went on the girl quietly, "you know what you told me twelve
+months ago; you know, too, what my father and mother said when they saw
+us together; it has not been pleasant for me to listen to people's
+gossip, especially when I know that most of it is true.  I have been
+very fond of you and I don't deny it; if I hadn't I should not have
+walked out with you, but I want to tell you this--you have to make your
+choice this afternoon; either you are going to give up me, or you are
+going to give up the Thorn and Thistle and all it means."
+
+"You're jealous of Polly Powell," said Tom, with an uneasy laugh.
+
+"I'm jealous of your good name, Tom, jealous of evil influence."
+
+"Evil influence?  What evil influence?"
+
+"Going to the Thorn and Thistle has done you a great deal of harm; it
+has caused you to give up your Young Men's Class, and--and--but there,
+I needn't talk any more about it.  You understand what I mean.  It must
+be either one or the other, Tom."
+
+"You mean that I must either give up you or Polly Powell?"
+
+"It means more than that," replied the girl, "it means that you must
+either give up me or give up going to the Thorn and Thistle.  You used
+to be a teetotaler, Tom."
+
+"As though any lad's a teetotaler in these days," laughed the young
+fellow.  "Come now, Alice, you are not so narrow-minded as that.  I am
+nearly twenty-three now, and if I want a glass of beer surely I can
+have it.  You don't mean to say that everybody but teetotalers are
+going to the bad."
+
+"You know very well what I mean, Tom.  You are not the kind of young
+man you were, and either you give up these things or we part company."
+
+"Nay, Alice, doan't be narrow-minded.  I suppose," he added bitterly,
+"that you are beginning to look higher than me, that you are thinking
+o' one of the manufacturers.  I hear that Harry Briarfield was up at
+your house to supper the other night."
+
+They had by this time left the Liverpool Road and had entered Scott's
+Park, which during the last few years had become a rendezvous for the
+people of the town, especially on Sunday afternoons.
+
+"You know," went on the girl, "that it made no difference to me when
+people told me that I was choosing a weaver.  I didn't think about it,
+I only thought of you.  But, Tom, I shall never marry any one who--who
+can find his pleasure in such places as the Thorn and Thistle, and who
+sneers at Sunday School."
+
+"You mean," said Tom, rather angrily, "that if you continue to keep
+company with me I must feed on your religious lolly-pops."
+
+An angry flush mounted the girl's cheek, but she continued to speak
+quietly.
+
+"Tom," she said, "will you answer me truly?  Do you find anything at
+the Thorn and Thistle better than you found in the young men's class?
+You sneer at religion, but religion does no one any harm; rather it
+always does good; anyhow, it's everything to me, and you have to make
+your choice."
+
+Tom looked at her steadily.  He knew what she meant, knew too that the
+time had come when he would have to make his choice.  At that moment he
+saw what Polly Powell meant to his life, saw, too, that if he followed
+the road in which he had been walking during the last few months he
+would have to give up Alice Lister.  He saw more than this, for at that
+moment Polly Powell's blandishments had no effect on him.  She appeared
+to him in her true light--a coarse, vulgar girl.
+
+"You don't care about me like you did," he said angrily.  "You are
+getting tired of me."
+
+"If that were true I should not speak to you in this way," and her
+voice became tremulous.  "But I am not going to throw away my life,
+Tom; there's something more in life than--than love."
+
+"What?" he asked.
+
+"Duty, God," was the reply.
+
+Tom again laughed uneasily.  Alice Lister lived in a different world
+from that in which Polly Powell lived; they breathed a different
+atmosphere; they spoke a different language.  Yes, he would have to
+make his choice.
+
+"I would rather have you than forty Polly Powells," he burst out, "I
+would really, Alice, but--but----"
+
+"There must be no buts, Tom, if--if you want me.  Oh, Tom, can't you
+see?  You know that what I say is right and--and----"
+
+He saw her lips quiver; saw the tears start to her eyes.  He knew that
+his association with the daughter of the landlord of the Thorn and
+Thistle was coarsening him, making him have lower standards of life,
+making everything poorer, more sordid.  Whenever he was with Alice he
+wanted to be better and truer, and she always made him ashamed of
+coarse, base things.
+
+"Alice, do you love me?" and his voice became almost hoarse.
+
+"If I didn't would I talk to you like this?" was her answer.
+
+A crisis had come into Tom's life, and he knew it.  Two forces were
+fighting in his heart, two angels were battling for his soul.  At that
+moment it seemed as though his better angel were going to win the
+victory; he was on the point of telling Alice that he would never go
+into the Thorn and Thistle again, never speak to Polly Powell again,
+when he heard a familiar voice close to him.
+
+"I say, Pollard, you are coming to-night, aren't you?"
+
+Tom turned and saw a well-dressed young fellow close beside him.  He
+had come to Brunford some three years before to learn the cotton trade,
+and during the last few months he and Tom had been very friendly.  Tom
+was rather proud of this, because young Harry Waterman was his
+superior, both socially and from an educational standpoint.  Waterman
+claimed to be the son of a squire who lived in Warwickshire, who had
+sent him to Brunford to learn cotton manufacturing because more money
+was to be made out of it than by sticking to the land.
+
+Waterman was a tall, handsome young fellow, with a florid complexion
+and light-brown hair.  He had met Tom at the Mechanics' Institute
+Classes, and the young weaver had been much flattered when the other
+had at various times discarded all social distinctions and been
+friendly with him.  It was he who had laughed Tom out of going to the
+Young Men's Classes on Sunday afternoon, and told him that religion was
+only fit for ignorant people and women.  Waterman professed to have
+travelled a good deal, and had told Tom that after leaving an English
+Public School he had studied in one of the German Universities and
+taken his degree there.  He had described to the simple Lancashire boy
+the life of Berlin, and Leipzig, Munich, and other German cities.  Tom
+had been a willing pupil and thought what wonderful people the Germans
+were.  He felt proud too that young Harry Waterman had evidently taken
+a liking to him.  "You will come, won't you?" went on Waterman; "just
+the same lot, you know."
+
+"Ay, I think so," said Tom.
+
+"That's all right, then; we'll look out for you about seven."
+
+"Where are you going to-night?" asked Alice.
+
+"Only with Mr. Waterman," replied Tom.
+
+"But where?"
+
+"To a kind of club we have at the Rose and Crown.  Come now, Alice,
+it's no use looking like that; you can't expect me to be a ninny.
+Besides, Waterman's a swell, he is the son of a squire."
+
+"That is how you are going to spend your Sunday evening, then?" said
+the girl.
+
+"Certainly," replied Tom.  He felt angry that Alice should interfere
+with his pleasures.  Besides, he remembered that Waterman had once said
+to him that any fellow was a fool who allowed a woman to interfere with
+his pleasures.
+
+"I see you have made your choice," said Alice.
+
+"Look here, Alice," said Tom angrily, "if you mean that you expect me
+to behave like a Methody parson, I have.  I mean to get on, and
+Waterman can help me; and--and----  I say, Alice, don't look like
+that!" for the look in the girl's eyes had almost destroyed the
+influence which Waterman had over him.
+
+"I am going home now," said the girl.
+
+"May I come with you?" asked Tom.
+
+"That depends," replied the girl; "either you must be as you were when
+I first walked out with you, or we must part."
+
+"You mean good-bye for ever?"
+
+"Just that," she replied.  "Oh, Tom, can't you see!  Can't you see!
+Won't you promise, Tom?  I don't know anything about young Waterman;
+but I know he is not having a good influence on you, and, Tom, why do
+you want to break my heart?"
+
+Still Tom was undecided.  He wanted Alice more than words could say; he
+felt there was no girl like her in all the wide world, and he knew that
+the last few months had not done him any good.  But there was another
+side.  He was only a weaver, and he had been proud to associate with
+Waterman, who was friendly with big manufacturers.  But to give up
+Alice?  No, he could not do that.  He heard a loud laugh close by his
+side, and walking towards the Band-stand he saw Polly Powell with Jim
+Dixon.
+
+Yes, Alice looked pale and bloodless beside Polly Powell.  Polly had no
+squeamish narrow-minded notions.  Polly loved a good joke and a laugh,
+and was not tied down to Sunday-school rule.  The daughter of the
+landlord of the Thorn and Thistle caught Tom's eye.
+
+"I shall see you to-night, shan't I, Tom?" she said, looking at him
+languishingly, and then passed on.
+
+Alice had become pale almost to the lips, and there was a look of
+steady resolution in her eyes.  "You must make your choice, Tom," she
+said.
+
+Tom looked at her for a second, then cast his eyes towards the spot
+where Polly Powell stood.  He felt madly jealous of Jim Dixon at that
+moment.  What right had he to be with such a girl as Polly?  Besides,
+why should he give up all the fun of life?  Why should he become
+strait-laced and silly?
+
+Alice Lister held out her hand.  "Good-bye, Tom," she said, "I see that
+your choice is made."  And then she walked away.
+
+Tom stood gazing after her for a few seconds, undecided what to do.
+Something, he could not tell what, urged him to run after her; to
+promise her what she wanted him to promise; to renounce the life which,
+although it might not be very bad, was still not good for him.  He knew
+what she meant, knew too that she was in the right.  No, he could not,
+would not give her up; he loved her too much.  Then he felt a hand upon
+his arm.
+
+"Ay, so you have got rid of her, have you?  You must come back wi' me
+to tea."  Polly's hand was caressing, and her eyes burnt brightly;
+evidently she had been watching him, and had left Jim Dixon for him.
+He turned and walked by Polly's side.
+
+
+That night as Tom walked back to Dixon Street his feet were unsteady
+and his voice was husky and uncertain.
+
+"What's matter with thee?" said his mother as he entered the house.
+
+"Nowt's matter wi' me."
+
+"Ay, but there is.  Thou'st bin' drinkin' agean."
+
+"Weel, and what if I have?  It's cost me nowt."
+
+"Ay, I know: thou'st been to the Thorn and Thistle after that Polly
+Powell lass.  Ay, you ninny.  I thought you looked higher nor that.
+What about Alice Lister?"
+
+"She's got too much pie-jaw for me," said Tom sulkily.  "I'm noan goin'
+to be a Methody parson."
+
+"Thou'st goin' to be a bigger fool than I thought tha ever could be,"
+retorted his mother angrily.
+
+"That tak's a bit o' doin'," replied Tom as he fumbled with his boot
+laces.
+
+"Thou'st gi'en up a nice lass for a brazen-faaced 'uzzy; thou'rt an
+addle-'eaded ninny.  Can'st'a see?"
+
+"Ay, I tak' after my mother," was Tom's reply as he made his way
+upstairs.  "Bein' fools runs in the family."
+
+"It must or I should never 'a' reared thee," shouted his mother after
+him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+What I have related took place on the first Sunday in June in the year
+1914.  Brunford, a large manufacturing town which stood well-nigh in
+the centre of the cotton district of Lancashire, had enjoyed what was
+called "a great boom in trade."  Mills had been working overtime, and
+money had been earned freely.  During the last five years poor men had
+become rich, while the operatives had had their share in the general
+prosperity.  This fact was manifest in the general life of the town.
+The sober and thrifty part of the population had increased their
+savings.  Hundreds of people had bought their own cottages, and had
+laid by for a rainy day.  The thriftless were none the better for the
+prosperity which abounded, rather they were the worse.  Big wages had
+only meant increased drunkenness and increased misery.  Still all the
+people hoped that good trade would continue and that there would be
+plenty of work.
+
+On the following day Tom went to work as usual, but he felt that a new
+element had come into his life.  He was not given to self-analysis, but
+while on the one hand he felt suddenly free, he knew on the other that
+he had sacrificed something which meant a great deal to him.  Still he
+would not think about it.  After all, all the time he had been keeping
+company with Alice he felt like a man tied to the end of a rope.  He
+would now have his liberty.  He was glad to be free from a girl who
+made him uncomfortable when he drank a glass of beer or went out to
+enjoy himself.
+
+Tom was by no means a hero.  There was a great deal of good in his
+nature, but there were coarse elements which affected him strongly.  If
+Polly Powell had not appeared, it is possible, such was Alice's
+influence over him, that he would have remained true to his former
+ambitions, and probably have risen in the social scale.  He was
+intelligent, and possessed a large degree of what the Lancashire people
+called gumption.  On the other hand he was the child of his
+surroundings and of his order.  The coarse life of the town had gripped
+him, and his home influences had not helped him toward the ideal which
+Alice Lister had helped him to strive after.
+
+"Ay, Tom, I 'ear as Alice Lister has give thee the sack," said a youth
+a few days after Tom had parted from Alice.
+
+"Maybe 'twas t'other way around," replied Tom.
+
+"Why, yo doan't main that you chucked 'er?"
+
+"She wur too goody-goody for me," replied Tom.  "I am noan baan to be a
+saint, I am going to enjoy mysen."
+
+"Weel, tha' won't be a saint if tha' has much to do with Polly Powell.
+She's noan a saint," and the lad laughed meaningly.  "Still her
+feyther's got a bit of brass.  I reckon he will have all thine, Tom;
+Jim Parkin told me that tha' spent four shillings at the Thorn and
+Thistle last night."
+
+"Well, what if I did?" asked Tom.
+
+"Ay, it's noan my business, but I think thee'rt a fool.  If a lass like
+Alice Lister took up wi' me, I would not throw myself away on Polly
+Powell.  Thou'lt ne'er mak' much on 'er.  She'll lead thee a dog's
+life, Tom, and tak' all tha' brass."
+
+"Well, I reckon it's my business," retorted Tom.
+
+"Then it's a fool's business," replied the other.
+
+This kind of thing made Tom uncomfortable, but it didn't turn him aside
+from the path on which he was walking.  There could be no doubt about
+it, Tom's character was deteriorating, and during the next two months
+he not only declared that he had chucked religion altogether, but that
+he meant to enjoy life.  Tom spent most of his evenings at the Thorn
+and Thistle, and as a consequence his studies were neglected.  Not that
+there was much outward difference in him; he still remained fairly
+sober, although on more than one occasion he was seen leaving the Thorn
+and Thistle at closing time with staggering footsteps; it never caused
+him to lose any work, however.
+
+Meanwhile dark clouds began to arise in the nation's sky.  People had
+given only a passing thought to the news of the murder of the Crown
+Prince of Austria, but presently when Austria sent her outrageous
+ultimatum to Serbia, and the people read what Sir Edward Grey said
+about it, they began to talk seriously.  For there is no part in
+England where politics have such a keen interest for the
+working-classes as they have in Lancashire.  Almost every man there is
+a politician, and there are but few, especially among the older men,
+who have not an intelligent grasp not only of home, but of
+international affairs.
+
+"I'll tell you what," said one manufacturer to another as they stood on
+the steps of the Mechanics' Institute, "those Germans mean war; they
+have been preparing for it for years, and they are trying to force it."
+
+"Nay," replied the other, "but I doan't see how it can affect us,
+except"--and he laughed meaningly--"except for our benefit."
+
+"How can it be for our benefit?"
+
+"Why, can't you see?  If the Germans join Austria against Russia and
+France, we shall be able to steal the German trade;--and we can do with
+it," was the reply.
+
+"Ay, we can."
+
+"Just see how Manchester is riddled with Germans.  They have been
+robbing our trade right and left, and even here in Brunford Germans are
+poking their noses.  I am about sick of them.  Thirty years ago we
+hardly ever saw a German, and now they have nobbled our best-paying
+lines.  If I had my way, all Germans should be driven out of the
+country; they are a bad lot to deal with; they have no business honour,
+and they don't play the game."
+
+"Come now, it's not so bad as that."
+
+"Ay, but it is.  For years they have been sending their lads over here
+on the pretence of learning the language.  They take jobs in our
+offices for hardly any wage, and then when they have learned our
+secrets, and the names of our customers, they just play against us."
+
+"Well, more fools we for letting 'em."
+
+But it is not my purpose to deal with the talk which was so prevalent
+towards the close of July 1914.  Neither am I going to try to trace the
+history of the events which led up to the war which has staggered
+humanity.  We all know now what Germany had in her mind: how by
+pretence, and deceit, and fraud she worked her will; how she thought
+that England would allow her to crush France and Russia without moving
+a finger.  Germany thought that the English were blind, and that for
+the sake of gain we should remain neutral and never lift a finger while
+she swept over Belgium to crush France; thought, too, that we should be
+supine while she violated treaties and committed the most fiendish
+deeds ever committed in the history of the world.  But it is not my
+purpose to speak of these things; I have to tell the story of a
+commonplace lad in a workaday town, and what influence the great world
+convulsion had upon his life.
+
+At first Tom was not much moved by the danger of war.  For one thing he
+had given but little attention to public affairs, and for another thing
+he was enamoured with Polly Powell.  Still he could not help being
+influenced by what every one was talking about.  Local strikes, the
+rate of wages, and the quality of beer ceased to be the general
+subjects of conversation in the Thorn and Thistle.  Every one was
+talking about a possible war.  And when finally early in August the
+news came to Brunford that England had decided to take her part in the
+great struggle, Tom found himself greatly interested.
+
+"I'll tell you what," said Enoch Powell, the landlord of the Thorn and
+Thistle, "the Germans have bitten off a bigger piece than they can
+chew.  I give them about six weeks.  What can they do with Russia on
+the one side and France and England on the other?  Besides, the German
+people don't want war.  It's that blooming Kaiser.  In about six weeks'
+time they will be on their knees crying for mercy."
+
+That was the general feeling of the town during the first fortnight of
+the War, and when as day after day the brave little Belgian army at
+Liege held out against the advancing Huns there was great confidence.
+"They have had their time-table smashed to smithereens at the first
+go," was the joyful comment.  "Wait till our lads get across, they'll
+let 'em know."
+
+In these days there was very little bitterness against the Germans.
+The terror of war had scarcely been felt.  People talked about the
+untold millions of Russian soldiers who would be in Berlin by the
+following October.  They boasted confidently about the armies of
+France, and the unconquerable power of the British Navy.  It is true
+that at the first news of the War many of the employers of labour were
+staggered; but presently as, when day followed day, they saw that trade
+would not be destroyed, but that possibly new avenues of wealth would
+be opened, they became more cheerful.  Besides, England was rising
+nobly to her responsibilities.  Lord Kitchener's call for half a
+million men was answered in a few days.  "Think on it," the people said
+one to another, "half a million men in a week!  Why, we'll smash 'em
+afore they know where they are!"
+
+Tom never thought of joining the army.  The idea of being a soldier was
+utterly strange to him.  The soldiers whom he knew were mostly of the
+lower orders; fellows who had got into trouble, or had taken the
+"King's shilling" while they were drunk.  He had looked down upon them
+as being lower in social scale than himself, and he would never be seen
+walking with a soldier.  When he saw lads of his own class enlisting,
+he shrugged his shoulders with a laugh.  "Let 'em join if they want
+to," he said, "but it's noan in my line."  In fact, after the first
+three weeks of the War, although terrible stories were reaching England
+about the ghastly atrocities in Belgium, and about the Germans nearing
+Paris, the manufacturing parts of Lancashire were largely unmoved.  The
+terrible harvest of war which was to come later was not yet realised.
+It is true that thousands of young fellows responded to the call of
+duty.  Young men of the better-educated class obtained commissions and
+were working at the local barracks; while here and there the more
+adventurous of the operatives found their way to recruiting stations.
+But the response was not large; partly for the reason that the reality
+of their country's call had not come to them with its full meaning.
+
+One evening Tom found himself talking with young Waterman, who had been
+away from Brunford for some weeks.
+
+"Hullo, Pollard," said Waterman, "I see you have not enlisted."
+
+"Nay, I am not bound to enlist; there's enough gone to lick the Germans
+already.  Don't you think so?" asked Tom.
+
+A bright light came into Waterman's eyes.  "I am going to enlist," he
+said--"that is, my people are getting me a commission.  I have had some
+training, you know."
+
+"But we shall quickly lick them, don't you think so?" asked Tom.
+"You've been in Germany a goodish bit.  You went to school and college
+there, so you ought to know."
+
+Waterman laughed.  "We English are fools," he said.
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Of course I am going to do my bit," said Waterman.  "As an Englishman
+I must; but we shall never lick the Germans."
+
+"Why?  Think of the millions the Russians have got; think of the
+French; think of our Navy."
+
+"Ay, think of it all," replied Waterman, "but you don't know what the
+Germans are.  I do.  In that country every man is a soldier.  Look at
+Brunford; here are thousands upon thousands of fellows who are hanging
+back, and who are worth nothing in a time of war.  If this had been a
+German town every man you see would be a soldier.  Then see how much in
+advance of us the Germans are in scientific matters.  They have got
+mountains of guns and ammunition.  Besides, they have made a science of
+war, while Englishmen are only amateurs.  Think of what they have done
+already; nearly the whole of Belgium belongs to them, and a great slice
+of France."
+
+"But do you mean to say," cried Tom, "that they will lick us?  Why,
+think of our Navy; think of----"
+
+Waterman did not wait to hear the end of Tom's sentence; he crossed the
+road and was lost to sight.
+
+One event took place, however, which somewhat opened the people's eyes,
+and is talked of even to-day.  A young German who had come to Brunford
+a few years before, and who had succeeded in amassing a fortune, was
+called home by his Government.  So popular had he become in the town,
+and so little had the realities of the war laid hold of the people,
+that some of the leading townsmen decided to give him a dinner.  This
+dinner was arranged to take place in the large dining-room of the Bull
+and Butcher, the largest hotel in the town.  Although some people were
+anything but pleased at the arrangement, so little ill-feeling was felt
+towards the Germans that a good number of the townspeople gathered.
+When the dinner had been eaten the chairman rose to propose the toast
+of the evening.  He said that although Mr. Shweitzer was called upon to
+fight against the English people, the town had no ill-will against him
+personally; they all knew him as a good fellow, a good sportsman, and
+an honourable business man.  During the time he had been in Brunford
+they had opened their doors to him and received him as an honoured
+guest, and although the unfortunate war had taken place, they had
+nothing but good feeling towards Mr. Shweitzer.  That was why they had
+invited him as their guest that night, and he, the chairman, expressed
+the hope that the war would soon be over and that Mr. Shweitzer would
+return and take up the position which he had so long occupied amongst
+them.  The toast to his health was heartily cheered; good feeling
+abounded, and all waited for the response of the German guest.
+
+As Mr. Shweitzer rose to respond he received quite an ovation; the
+diners even went so far as to give him musical honours.  Mr.
+Shweitzer's reply was in fairly good English.  He thanked his friends
+for their good-fellowship, and for the kind things they had said about
+him.
+
+"As to my coming back to Brunford again," he concluded, "I have but
+little doubt that I shall return, but when I do, the Kaiser, and not
+the man you now own as king, will rule over England.  For the Germans
+are going to lick your country, and Wilhelm II will be your future
+king."
+
+For a few seconds those who had gathered were so much astonished that
+there was a dead silence.  Meanwhile the German looked around the room
+with a supercilious smile.
+
+Then an Englishman who had been sitting close by came up to the German.
+He was a brawny, stalwart fellow.  "Do you mean that?" he asked the
+German.
+
+"Yes, I do," was the reply.
+
+The Englishman without another word struck him a mighty blow on the
+jaw.  "That for you and your Kaiser!" he exclaimed amidst the shouts of
+those present.
+
+The blow was so heavy and so well aimed that the German's jaw was
+broken.  He was taken to the hospital, where he remained for some
+months, and he has not yet returned to Germany.[1]
+
+During the next day Brunford was excited beyond measure.  The story was
+told in a hundred mills by thousands of operatives; it was discussed in
+the public places, in every inn and tavern, and throughout the whole
+district.  It did more to enlighten the minds of the people as to the
+real hopes and aims of the Germans than all the newspaper articles
+which had appeared.  It revealed to the people, too, the real character
+of the Germans.  Here was one of the best of them who had acted like a
+cad, and who in the face of good-fellowship had haughtily flaunted the
+superiority of the German people.  The incident also gave point to the
+story of the ghastly atrocities which were taking place in Belgium.
+People were excited beyond measure; the War was becoming real to them.
+
+All this had its effect upon Tom.  Not that even yet he realised the
+full significance of what was taking place.  Hundreds of young fellows
+were enlisting, but Tom held back.  September, October, November passed
+away, and still Tom failed to respond to his country's call.  He quite
+agreed with his friends, and said that of course England must lick the
+Germans; but he never admitted that the War had anything to do with him.
+
+"I am earning good brass," said Tom, "and if I hold on I shall make
+more still.  Let those as wants to fight the Germans fight 'em, I'm
+noan going to get killed."  This he said to Polly Powell one night as
+he sat in the private sitting-room of the Thorn and Thistle.
+
+"And quite right too, Tom," said Polly--"tha'rt too good a lad to be
+killed by the Germans.  Besides, enough'll go without thee.  If th'
+other chaps like to be fools, let 'em."
+
+Still Tom did not feel altogether comfortable.  At the back of his mind
+was the vague thought that he ought to do his bit, but his natural
+selfishness, added to Polly Powell's influence, kept him at home.
+
+Besides, by this time winter had laid its icy grip upon the earth.
+News came of soldiers being crippled for life by frost-bite; stories
+were told of men standing up to the waist in icy slush; wounded men
+came back from the front telling stories about the terrible power of
+the Germans; newspapers were obliged to admit that we seemed to be
+powerless in the face of the enemy.
+
+All this made Tom somewhat afraid; he was not cast in an heroic mould;
+the spirit of adventure was not strong within him.
+
+"I say, Tom," said a man whose three sons were in the army, "are you
+going to stay home like a coward?"
+
+"I'm noan a coward," replied Tom.
+
+"Then what do you mean by not doing your duty?"
+
+"I have my own views," replied Tom.  "Look here, Elijah, I'm not such a
+fool as to go over there and get killed; th' other chaps'll lick the
+Germans all right."
+
+"That's the answer of a coward," replied Elijah Butterworth; "if
+everybody said that, the country would be robbed from us, and we should
+have those German devils ruling over us."
+
+"No fear of that," laughed Tom, and yet he felt uncomfortable.
+
+"Aren't you an Englishman?" cried Elijah, "and don't you care for the
+old country?"
+
+"Ay, I don't know," replied Tom, "the Germans are just as well off as
+we are."
+
+Meanwhile the real facts of the situation became more apparent.  The
+Germans were not to be beaten easily.  Russia, in spite of all that had
+been said about her power as a great steam-roller, could make no real
+headway; while France and England combined could not drive the Huns
+from the line they occupied.  People tried to explain the situation,
+but the dreadful logic still remained: the country we had sworn to
+protect and save was in the hands of the enemy.  The industrial part of
+France was held in a grip of iron; while Russia was powerless against
+the hosts of Germany.
+
+First there were talks about the war being over by Christmas, but that
+delusion quickly vanished, and when a member of the Cabinet came to
+Manchester, and said that it might take years to drive the enemy from
+his position, people stared in bewilderment.  More and more men were
+asked for, while some of the newspapers began to talk about
+conscription.
+
+As Christmas drew near, Tom became more and more uncomfortable, even
+although the blandishments of Polly Powell grew more powerful.  He had
+attended two recruiting meetings, but they seemed to him half-hearted
+and unconvincing.  He still saw no reason why he should "do his bit."
+When he was asked why he didn't join, he mentioned the names of several
+young fellows who also held back.
+
+"Why should I go," he would say, "when so-and-so and so-and-so stay at
+home?  They are manufacturers' sons, and they are no better nor me.
+Let them enlist as privates, and then I'll see about it."
+
+When the New Year came a big recruiting meeting was announced at the
+great hall of the Mechanics' Institute.  It was advertised that a man
+who had been to Belgium, and had witnessed what had taken place, was to
+be the chief speaker.  At first Polly Powell tried to persuade Tom not
+to go, and would probably have been successful had there not been a
+dance that night to which Polly had been invited.  Tom, not being a
+dancer, was not eligible for the occasion, so he made his way to the
+meeting.
+
+That meeting marked an era in Tom's life.  Little by little the speaker
+gripped the attention of the audience until the interest became intense
+and almost painful.  He described what he had seen, he gave terrible
+proofs of the ghastly butchery, and worse than butchery, that had taken
+place.  He made it clear to the audience what the war really meant.  He
+showed that not only was the power of England at stake, but the welfare
+of humanity trembled in the balance.  He related authenticated stories
+of what the Germans said they would do when they came to England.  As
+Tom listened he heard the sound of the advancing Huns, saw towns and
+villages laid waste, saw the women of England debauched and outraged,
+saw the reign of devilry.
+
+"By God!" he exclaimed aloud, "I can't stand this!"
+
+His words reached the speaker, who made the most of them.
+
+"Yes," he cried, "if the young men of England hang back, if they fail
+to love their country, if they care nothing about the honour or
+sacredness of womanhood, if they prefer their own ease, their own
+paltry pleasures, before duty; if they would rather go to cinema shows,
+or hang around public-house doors than play the game like Englishmen,
+this, and more than this, will take place.  The England that we own and
+love will be lost for ever.  Liberty will be gone, we shall be a nation
+in chains, while our women will be the playthings of inhuman devils.
+That is the problem which every man has to consider.
+
+"What are you going to do?  Let me put it another way.  If we win this
+war, if the glory of England is maintained, and if she remains as she
+has always been--
+
+  "The home of the brave and free,
+  The land of liberty,
+
+to whom shall we owe it?  Who will have been our saviours?  It will be
+the lads who have sacrificed everything to do their duty."
+
+A great cheer arose from the audience, and Tom, scarcely realising what
+he was doing, shouted and cheered with the rest.
+
+"But if we lose," continued the speaker, "if the Germans break our
+lines and come to England, if we are beaten, to whom shall we owe it?
+Who will be responsible?  It will be the shirkers, the cowards!  Look,
+you young men!" he cried passionately.  "Thousands and tens of
+thousands of our brave fellows are at this time in the trenches;
+fighting, suffering, dying.  What for?  For England, for England's
+honour, for the safety of her women, for the sacredness of our lives,
+for you: while you, you skulk at home smoking your cigarettes, go to
+your places of amusement, and drink your beer.  Don't you realise that
+you are playing the coward?"
+
+Then the speaker made his last appeal, clear, impassioned, convincing.
+
+"What are you going to do, young men?" he cried.  "We don't want
+conscripts, but free men who come out cheerfully, willingly, gladly to
+do their duty to their King, Country, and God.  Who will be the first?"
+
+He stood on the platform waiting amidst breathless silence.
+
+"Will you wait until you are forced?"
+
+"No!  By God, no!" said Tom, and starting to his feet he walked to the
+platform and gave his name.
+
+Thus Tom became a soldier.
+
+
+"Tha doesn't say so?" said Tom's mother when, that night, he told her
+what he had done.
+
+"Ay, I have."
+
+"Then thou'st goin' for a sodger."
+
+"Ay."
+
+Mrs. Martha Pollard looked at him for a few seconds without speaking.
+Evidently she found it difficult to find words to express her thoughts.
+
+"Weel, Tom," she said presently, "I thought thee't got low eno' when
+thee got drinkin' and picked up wi' that peacock-bedecked Polly Powell;
+but I ne'er thought a bairn o' mine would sink as low as that.  Wer't'a
+baan now?"
+
+"I'm goin' to tell Polly," said Tom.
+
+"Ay, tha mun be sent to Lancaster asylum," said Mrs. Pollard.
+
+
+
+[1] The above incident actually took place in a Lancashire city at the
+beginning of the War.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Tom made his way to the Thorn and Thistle, but was informed that Polly
+would not be home until eleven o'clock.  He therefore wandered about
+the town until that time, and again appeared at the public-house door.
+But it was not until twelve o'clock that Polly made her appearance.
+
+"Anything the matter, Tom?" she asked.
+
+"Ay, I have joined the Army."
+
+"Thou'st noan been such a fool?"
+
+"I have noan been a fool," said Tom, "I couldn't help it."
+
+Polly Powell looked at him rather angrily, then she said: "If you have
+done it, what do you want to speak to me about it for?"
+
+"I shall be off to-morrow," replied Tom.  "The recruiting officer told
+me I must report at the Town Hall to-morrow morning at ten o'clock."
+
+"Where will you go?" she asked.
+
+"I don't know," said Tom.
+
+"Well, what are you waiting for?"
+
+"I thought," said Tom, "that is--I thought as I was going away
+I'd--I'd----  Look here, Polly, you are going to keep true to me while
+I'm away, aren't you?"
+
+"I never thought much of soldiers," said Polly.  "Besides----"
+
+"Besides what?" asked Tom.  "Look here, Polly, I gave up Alice Lister
+for you, and if you had been at that meeting you would see as how I
+couldn't do anything else."
+
+"Do you think you might get a commission and be an officer?" asked the
+girl.
+
+"I never thought about that," said Tom.
+
+Polly hesitated a second, then she said: "Of course I'll be true to
+you, Tom.  There, good night, I must go in."
+
+The next morning as Tom was making his way towards the Town Hall he met
+Alice Lister.  At first he was going to pass her by without notice, but
+when he saw the look on her face he stopped.  She came towards him with
+outstretched hand.
+
+"Tom," she said, "I've heard about last night, and it was splendid of
+you.  I am glad you were the first.  I am told that your going up in
+that way led scores of others to go."
+
+"Have you heard that?" said Tom.  "I never thought of it."
+
+"I am sure you will be a good soldier, Tom.  We are all proud of you,
+and--and we shall be thinking about you, and praying for you."
+
+Tom laughed uneasily.  "I thought you had forgotten all about me,
+Alice," he said.
+
+"Why should you think so?"
+
+"I have heard there is a young parson going after you.  Are you going
+to make a match of it, Alice?"  And again he laughed.
+
+"Good-bye, Tom, I hope you will do well."  And Alice left him with a
+strange fluttering in his heart.
+
+Tom joined the Loyal North Lancashires.  I will not say which
+battalion, as the mention of it might cause some of my readers to
+identify the lad whose story I am telling.  His unit was located at a
+large Lancashire town some thirty miles from Brunford.  Here he was
+initiated into the secrets of a soldier's life.  At first everything
+was a drudgery to him; he could not see the meaning of what he was
+doing, could not understand how "forming fours" and other parts of his
+drill could help him to be a soldier.  Still, being a fairly sharp,
+common-sense lad, he picked up his work quickly, and in the course of a
+few weeks was physically much better for his training.  At the end of
+three months he was nearly two inches taller, and more than three
+inches bigger around the chest than at the time he joined.  He began to
+enjoy his work, too.  The young subaltern whose duty it was to train
+the company had more than once singled him out as a capable fellow, and
+as the cold winter days passed away and spring began to advance Tom
+could undergo a twenty- or thirty-mile march without weariness.  He was
+well fed, well housed, and well clothed, and while his pocket money was
+not extravagant, he had enough for his needs.
+
+Indeed in many respects it would have been better for Tom if he had had
+less money.  The influence of the Thorn and Thistle was still strong
+upon him, and I have to relate with sadness that on more than one
+occasion Tom barely escaped punishment for being drunk and disorderly.
+Most of the lads with whom he was brought into contact were, on the
+whole, steady and well-behaved.  On the other hand, however, there were
+a number of them who had a bad influence upon him.  In fact, while he
+narrowly escaped being brought before his superiors for his various
+misdemeanours, Tom's character was steadily deteriorating.  The first
+flush of enthusiasm, and loyalty, and even something nobler than
+loyalty, which had been aroused in him by the speaker who had caused
+him to join the army, slowly faded away.  The men with whom he
+associated did not help him to be on the side of the angels, rather
+they appealed to what was coarse and debased in his nature.
+
+To tell the truth, there was very little in Tom's life which tended to
+ennoble him.  It is true there was a service for soldiers every Sunday
+morning in one of the big buildings in the town, and while Tom, lover
+of music as he had always been, was somewhat influenced by the singing
+of the men, and while the hymns reminded him of his Sunday-school days,
+they did not move him very deeply.  He paid little or no attention to
+the ministrations of the chaplain.  Neither did he avail himself of the
+many meetings which were held for soldiers by the various churches in
+the town.  Indeed, up to this point Tom was not the better, but the
+worse, for joining the Army.
+
+There was in Tom's company a young fellow much superior to the rank and
+file of the soldiers.  He was a young Cornish lad, the son of a
+well-to-do father who had sent him to a good public school, and from
+thence to Lancashire to learn the manufacturing business.  This young
+fellow, Robert Penrose by name, although belonging socially to a
+different class from that in which Tom moved, took a liking to him.  He
+was amused at his good humour, and seemed to be grieved at seeing him
+drifting with the dregs of the battalion.
+
+"I say, Pollard," he said to him on one occasion, "do you know you are
+making an ass of yourself?  You have the makings of a man in you, and
+yet you mix with that lot."
+
+"Why shouldn't I?" said Tom.
+
+"Because you have more brains than they have, are better educated, and
+are capable of better things."
+
+"Why shouldn't I have a lark while I can?" replied Tom.  "I shall have
+to go to the front in a month or two, so I will just make hay while the
+sun shines."
+
+"Make hay!" replied Penrose, "make a fool of yourself, you mean.  I
+hear that years ago you were on the way to becoming an educated chap,
+and now everybody's looking upon you as one of the drinking fellows."
+
+"It's all very well for you to talk," said Tom, "you're a swell."
+
+"I am a private just as you are," replied Penrose.
+
+"Ay, but you will be getting a commission soon, and there's no chance
+of that for me.  I don't belong to your sort.  Besides, what can I do?
+There's no places but the theatre, the cinema show, and the
+public-house when the day's work is over."
+
+"That's all nonsense," replied Penrose.
+
+"Well, what is there?" asked Tom.
+
+"There's the Y.M.C.A."
+
+"Y.M.C.A.!" laughed Tom, "none o' that for me!  I know some of the
+fools who go to the Y.M.C.A. meetings."
+
+"Why are they fools?"
+
+"Because they go and hear a lot of pie-jaw; they are a lot of ninnies,
+that's what they are."
+
+"They don't get hauled over the coals for misbehaviour, anyhow."
+
+"No, they haven't got pluck enough.  I didn't come into the Army to
+become religious; I joined to fight the blooming Germans, and what's
+fighting got to do with religion?"
+
+"Maybe it has a good deal if you feel you are fighting for a good
+cause," replied Penrose; "besides, the Y.M.C.A. chaps are not ninnies,
+as you call them.  Some of them are the best fellows we have."
+
+"No religious lolly-pops for me," said Tom, "I had enough of that when
+I lived i' Brunford."
+
+"Of course you can go your own way," said Penrose.  "I suppose you will
+spend your evening in the public-house, or at some cinema show, or
+perhaps you will be larking around with some silly girls; but I am
+going to the Y.M.C.A."
+
+"Do you go there?" cried Tom in astonishment.  For Penrose was looked
+upon as anything but goody-goody, and he was generally admired.  He was
+the best boxer in the company, was smart in drill, could do long
+marches with the best of them, and was always ready to do a kindly
+action.  Besides all that, his evident education and social superiority
+made him a marked man.  It was rumoured, too, that he had refused a
+commission.
+
+"Of course I go," replied Penrose.
+
+"What, and listen to their pie-jaw?"
+
+"There is precious little pie-jaw, as you call it," was Penrose's
+response.  "We have jolly good entertainments almost every night, and
+some of the fellows who come to talk to us are not half bad, I can tell
+you!  Besides, I go there to rub up my conversational French."
+
+"Conversational French!" said Tom, only dimly understanding what he
+meant.  "Dost 'a mean to say that they learn you French there?"
+
+"There's a Frenchman who gives his services free," replied Penrose.
+"It's jolly good of him too, for the poor wretch has hardly a sixpence
+to his name; still he does it.  In his way he's quite a French scholar,
+and he has helped me no end."
+
+"Ay, but you learnt French at school," said Tom; "he would have nowt to
+do wi' a chap like me."
+
+"Don't be an ass.  Why, dozens of fellows go to him every night.  A few
+weeks ago they didn't know a word of French, and now they are picking
+it up like mad.  Besides all that, the Y.M.C.A. rooms are open every
+night, they have all sorts of games there, lots of newspapers, and they
+give you every facility for writing letters and that sort of thing."
+
+"By gum!" said Tom, "I didn't know that."
+
+"That's because you have been making an ass of yourself.  While the
+other fellows have been improving themselves you have been loafing
+around public-houses.  Good night," and Penrose left him alone.
+
+Tom felt rather miserable; he was somewhat angered too.  He didn't like
+the way Penrose had spoken to him.  In the old days he had been proud
+of his respectability, and before he had made Polly Powell's
+acquaintance, and when Alice Lister had shown a preference for him, Tom
+was very ambitious.  Now he knew he had not only sunk in the social
+scale, but he had less self-respect than formerly.  "After all," he
+argued to himself presently, "I didn't join the Army to go to Sunday
+School, I joined to lick the blooming Germans."
+
+Still he could not help recalling the feelings which possessed him on
+the night he came out of the great hall at the Mechanics' Institute.
+He had felt stirred then; felt indeed as though he had heard the call
+of some higher power.  Hitherto he had looked upon wearing the King's
+uniform as something ignoble; then it had appeared to him almost as a
+religious act.  The speaker had called upon him to fight against
+brutality, butchery, devilry, and his heart had burned at the thought
+of it.  Something which he felt was holy made him leap to his feet and
+give his name, yet now he found his chief delights in coarse
+associations and debasing habits.
+
+He was still fond of Polly Powell.  The girl's coarse beauty made a
+strong appeal to him, but he remembered Alice Lister; remembered the
+things which she had said to him, and he could not help sighing.
+
+"Eh, Tom, is that you?"
+
+Tom turned and saw a tall raw-boned fellow in kilts.
+
+"Ay, Alec; wher't' baan?"
+
+"There's a wee lassie I promised to meet to-nicht," replied the other.
+
+Alec McPhail belonged to the Black Watch, a battalion of which was
+stationed in the town, and Tom and Alec had become friends.
+
+"What's thy lass's name?" asked Tom.
+
+"I dinna ken reightly, except that they ca' her Alice.  Come wi' me,
+Tom; mebbe she has a friend."
+
+"Nay," replied Tom, "I doan't feel like skylarking with the lasses
+to-night."
+
+"Weel, I'm not ower particular mysel', but I have not much siller.
+Three bawbees will have to last me till Saturday, otherwise I'd be
+asking ye to come and have a drop of whisky wi' me."
+
+"I am stony-broke too," said Tom.  "I expect I have been a fool."
+
+"Nay, man, nae man's a fool who spends his siller on good whisky."
+
+By this time they were walking together towards the outskirts of the
+town.
+
+"What is this lass o' yourn?" asked Tom after a silence.
+
+"I think she's a wee bit servant lassie," replied the Scotchman; "she's
+a bonny wee thing too, and fairly enamoured wi' a kilt."
+
+Tom still walked on aimlessly; the thought of going to meet a girl who
+might never come did not have much attraction for him; still he didn't
+know where to go.
+
+"I don't think I'll come any further," he said presently.
+
+"Nay, what makes ye alter your mind, Tom?"
+
+"I think I'll go back to the Black Cow," replied Tom, "'appen there's
+some chaps there who'll stand a treat.  After all, Penrose wur right
+when he called me an ass."
+
+"Penrose is what you call a gentleman ranker, I'm thinking."
+
+"Summat o' that sort," replied Tom,
+
+"What did he call you an ass for?"
+
+"Well, you see I've been a bit of a fool; I've spent all my brass, and
+I've took up wi' a lot o' lads as is no use to me.  Penrose is gone to
+the Y.M.C.A. You wouldn't think it perhaps, McPhail, but I wur a bit in
+the religious line myself once.  I wur educating myself too, and I had
+as nice a lass as there was i' Brunford, but I took up wi' the daughter
+of a man as kept a public-house, and--well, there you are."
+
+"And you have chucked releegion?" asked McPhail.
+
+"Ay, there's nowt in it, and it keeps a chap from having a good
+time--but I doan't know," and Tom sighed.
+
+"I am a wee bit of a philosopher mysel'," replied McPhail, "and I have
+reasoned it all out very carefully.  My mither, now, is what you might
+call a godly woman; my father was an elder in the old U. P. Kirk, and I
+was brought up in a godly fashion.  But, as I said, I reasoned it out.
+I read Colonel Ingersoll's Lectures, and he proved to me that Moses
+made a lot of mistakes.  So, weel, presently I got fond of whisky, and
+I came to the conclusion that releegion was not logical."
+
+"I reckon as you're none too logical," replied Tom.
+
+"Ay, man, but I was well groonded in the fundamentals!  I could say the
+Shorter Catechism when I was a wee kiddie of seven years old!  How am I
+no logical?"
+
+"After all," replied Tom, "it's noan logical to give up religion
+because of Colonel Ingersoll's Lectures.  The religion my Alice had
+went deeper nor that.  Ay, but there, I am a fool to be talking about
+it.  Good night, McPhail, I will go back now."  And Tom went back
+towards the town alone.
+
+The following Saturday night Tom was again drunk and disorderly.  This
+time he did not escape punishment.  Tom never felt so degraded in his
+life as when he was undergoing that punishment.  He had joined the Army
+under the influence of a noble impulse.  He had felt that he was doing
+a noble thing.  Not that he was proud of it, because in reality he
+could do nothing else; when he came to think of it afterwards he knew
+that he was doing nothing but his duty.  All the same he was elated by
+his action.  It had made him hold his head higher, and made his heart
+beat fast; now, after a little more than three months' training, he had
+actually been called before his officers for being a disgrace to his
+company.  The colonel, who was a stern soldier, was also a kindly
+gentleman.  He recognised at a glance that Tom was not a gutter lad;
+saw, too, that he had the making of a man in him.  That was the reason
+perhaps why he used stronger language than usual, and for meting out a
+heavier punishment.
+
+"What excuse have you for yourself?" asked the colonel.  "You have
+evidently had some education and were meant for better things.  Why did
+you make a beast of yourself?"  His words cut Tom like a knife.  "Make
+a beast of myself," he thought, "has Tom Pollard come to that?"
+
+"Where is there to go, sir, when one's day's work is over?" he asked
+almost sulkily.
+
+"Go?" replied the colonel, a little nonplussed, "go?"  And then
+remembering a visitor who came to him the previous day, he said:
+"There's the Y.M.C.A. hall; they teach you something useful there."
+
+After his punishment was over Tom could not help seeing that the better
+class of fellows somewhat shunned him.  He could not say he was
+boycotted, but they showed no inclination to be in his company.  This
+touched his pride.  "I am as good as they are," he said to himself,
+"and a bit better nor some on 'em."  He was delighted, however, to
+notice that Penrose acted differently from the rest, although he was by
+no means flattering.
+
+"I told you you were an ass," he said.  "If you go on in this way,
+you'll end by being kicked out of the Army."
+
+Again Tom was wounded deeply.  "Kicked out of the Army!"  He had never
+dreamed of that.  What! he, Tom Pollard, who had won prizes at the
+Mechanics' Institute, and who had ambition of one day becoming a
+manufacturer on his own account, kicked out of the Army!
+
+"Come now, Tom," said Penrose, who almost repented of having spoken so
+sharply, "it is not too late to turn over a new leaf, and you have the
+makings of a fine fellow in you."
+
+"I'd rather be kicked out of the Army as a straight chap than to be a
+blooming white-livered hypocrite."
+
+"And do you think I'm a white-livered hypocrite?"
+
+"A sort of plaster saint, anyhow," retorted Tom.
+
+"Anything but that, Tom," replied Penrose; "all the same I've taken a
+liking to you."
+
+"You have a nice way of showing it," replied Tom.
+
+His anger was all gone now, for he instinctively felt that Penrose
+meant to be friendly.
+
+"Come with me to the Y.M.C.A. hall to-night," urged Penrose.
+
+"Ay, and be preached to," said Tom, yielding rapidly to the other.
+
+"I promise you there will be no preaching," said Penrose, with a laugh,
+"unless you like to wait for it.  Come now."
+
+"All right, then," said Tom still sulkily, but glad that he had
+yielded.  A few minutes later they entered a large hall where perhaps
+six or seven hundred soldiers had gathered.
+
+There are few counties in England where music is more cultivated than
+in Lancashire, and that night Tom listened almost spellbound.  Songs
+that he knew and loved were sung; songs which he had heard Alice Lister
+sing.  Recitations were given in broad Lancashire dialect which gave
+him keen enjoyment.  More than all this there was a feeling of
+good-fellowship; the Y.M.C.A. workers were evidently on the friendliest
+of terms with the men, while there was no suggestion of goody-goodyism.
+
+"This is a special occasion, I suppose," said Tom to Penrose.
+
+"Oh no, they have entertainments like this almost every night.  All the
+musical people in the district give their services."
+
+"What for?" asked Tom.
+
+"Just to give us soldiers a good time; but we must be going now."
+
+"Why?" asked Tom, "it's not late."
+
+"But there's a fellow just going to speak, and as you object to being
+preached to we had better go."
+
+Tom rose almost reluctantly.  He was not sure that he didn't want to
+hear what the man had to say.
+
+"Besides," went on Penrose, "I haven't shown you over the place yet.  I
+want to take you into the rooms which are provided for writing letters,
+and playing games; there are the French classes too, and I should like
+you to see what they are like."
+
+That night at eleven o'clock, as Tom went back to the house where he
+had been billeted, he felt that he had indeed made a fool of himself.
+The Y.M.C.A. rooms had the feeling of home; none of the people there
+wanted his money, and he was the better, not the worse, for going.
+
+"Of course," said Tom to himself as he went to bed, "religious
+lolly-pops are not fit for a grown-up man, but it wur a grand evening;
+I am sure I could pick up that French, too.  Let's see, how did it go?
+
+  "_Je suis_   I am.
+   _Vous êtes_   you are.
+   _Nous sommes_   we are.
+   _Ils sont_   they are.
+
+"Why, it's easy enough," thought Tom, "I could pick it up, and then
+when I go over to France I shall be able to speak their lingo."
+
+"Where have you been lately, Tom?" asked Alec McPhail when he met him
+some time later.  "I have been to all the public-houses where we used
+to meet and have not set my eyes on you."
+
+"Nay," replied Tom, "I have been to the Y.M.C.A."
+
+"Nay, Tom, a man like you, with your power of reasoning an' a', are
+surely not turning releegious?"
+
+"Nay, I am noan turning religious," replied Tom, "but I tell you, man,
+the entertainments are fair grand; champion, in fact!  I am learning
+French too."
+
+"I suppose the entertainments are sandwiched between the dry bread of
+releegion?" replied the Scotchman.
+
+"Nay, I have nowt to do wi' religion," replied Tom.  "I have just
+listened to the singing and the recitations, and then when the chap has
+got up to talk I've gone into the writing-room or to the French class."
+
+"Will you tell me about it?" asked the Scotchman.
+
+Tom gave him a full description.
+
+"You see," he said, "it's not like Sunday School, or anything of that
+sort.  There's lots of folks what can sing, and play the piano very
+well, and can recite champion.  And they give us a good concert every
+night.  Then there's a room where we can go in and read papers, write
+letters, or play draughts or bagatelle and all that sort of thing.
+Then there's a good library where you can get any book for the asking.
+Ay, those religious folks have been kind; they have sent hundreds of
+books for us chaps to read, good books and all.  Then there's a
+class-room where you can learn French."
+
+"And will there be a bar where you can get some whisky?" asked the
+Scotchman.
+
+"Nay," replied Tom, "there's no whisky or owt o' that sort, but there's
+a refreshment bar where you can get tea and coffee, and tarts, and
+sandwiches."
+
+"For nothing?" asked the Scotchman eagerly.
+
+"Nay, not for nothing, but cheaper than you can buy it at any shop.
+From what I can hear they sell it at just cost price."
+
+"And," said the Scotchman, "do you mean, Tom, that you will give up the
+evenings we used to have, for that sort of thing?"
+
+"I don't say I've turned teetotaler," replied Tom, "although I have
+took nothing sin'--sin' I were--disgraced, and I doan't mean to for a
+bit.  You see, the chaps at the Y.M.C.A. doan't tell you not to go to
+the public-houses and then provide nothing better for you.  Anyhow,
+I've been to the Y.M.C.A. every night sin' I had my punishment, and
+what's more, I'm going again."
+
+A week later there was great excitement amongst the soldiers.  They had
+now been nearly four months in this Lancashire town, and orders came
+for the Loyal North Lancashires and the Black Watch to move south.
+They heard that they were going to Surrey, and were to be situated at a
+camp in the most beautiful part of that county.  Tom was delighted, for
+although he had made many friends at the Y.M.C.A and grown to know many
+people in this Lancashire town, the thought of a change appealed to him
+strongly.  He was young, and longed for new associations and new
+surroundings.  Besides, it meant a step nearer towards his desires.  He
+was told that his battalion was to be moved to Surrey preparatory to
+orders for the Front.  Possibly they might be moved to Salisbury Plain
+or Shoreham afterwards, but it was quite on the cards that they would
+go straight from the Surrey camp to France or Flanders.
+
+As soon as Tom heard this, he applied for leave, and, the young
+lieutenant having reported that Tom had behaved very well since his
+punishment, and had apparently turned over a new leaf, it was granted.
+
+He did not spend much of his time with his father and mother, but as
+soon as possible made his way to the Thorn and Thistle.  He had saved
+practically all his last four weeks' regimental pay, a great part of
+which he spent on a present for Polly Powell.  On the whole he was
+satisfied with Polly's reception, although he felt that she was not
+quite so affectionate towards him as she had been during the days when
+she was trying to win him away from Alice Lister.  It was during his
+stay in Brunford, too, that Tom gave way to the temptation of drink.
+
+"Nay, Tom," said Polly when he said he would only take a bottle of
+ginger ale, "I never heard of a soldier who was worth his salt but
+would not take his beer like a man."  And Tom, who could not bear to be
+laughed at, yielded to Polly's persuasions.
+
+"Ay, she's a grand lass," he said to himself, "and a rare beauty too;
+she's got eyes like black diamonds, and a face like a June rose."  All
+the same he remembered some of the ladies who had come to the Y.M.C.A.
+to sing to the soldiers, and he had a feeling, which he could not put
+into words, that Polly was a little bit loud.  Her dresses were always
+highly coloured, while her hats were bedecked with big feathers.  Of
+course these things suited her to perfection, and although he did not
+raise the slightest objection to them there were doubts at the back of
+his mind.  Neither did he altogether like the way in which she bandied
+jokes, which were not always of the best taste, with the young fellows
+who came to the Thorn and Thistle.  Altogether it was not an unmixed
+sorrow to him when his leave was up and he returned to his regiment.
+
+He did not see Alice Lister during his visit, and if the truth must be
+told he was glad of it.  Polly Powell's spell was strong upon him, and
+he said repeatedly that Alice Lister was not his sort.
+
+A week after this Tom's battalion was ordered south, and amidst much
+excitement the men boarded the train which took them there.  He had
+hoped they would stay in London for at least one night, but only two
+hours were allowed between the time they reached Euston from the time
+the train was due to leave Waterloo.  Discipline was somewhat relaxed
+during the journey, and when at length Tom entered the train at
+Waterloo he noticed that many of the men were the worse for drink.
+
+"What blithering fools they are!" said Penrose to him, as seated in
+their carriage they saw many of their companions staggering along the
+platform.  Tom was silent at this, nevertheless he thought a great deal.
+
+It was now the beginning of May, and the Surrey meadows were bedecked
+with glory.  Tom, who had never been out of Lancashire before, could
+not help being impressed with the beauty he saw everywhere.  It was
+altogether different from the hard bare hills which he had been
+accustomed to in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire.  The air
+was sweet and pure too.  Here all nature seemed generous with her
+gifts; great trees abounded, flowers grew everywhere, while fields were
+covered with such a glory of green as he had never seen before.  By and
+by the train stopped at a little station, and then commenced the march
+to the camp for which they were bound.  Penrose and Tom walked side by
+side.
+
+"This is not new to you, I suppose?" Tom queried.
+
+"No," said Penrose, "I know almost every inch round here."
+
+"I saw you looking out of the train at a place we passed what they call
+Godalming; you were looking at a big building on the top of a hill
+there.  What was it?"
+
+"It was my old school," said Penrose, "Charterhouse; the best school in
+the world."
+
+"Ay, did you go there?" asked Tom.  "Why, it was fair grand.  How long
+were you there?"
+
+"Five years," said Penrose.
+
+"And to think of your becoming a Tommy like me!" Tom almost gasped.
+
+"Well, what of that?"
+
+"You might have been an officer if you had liked, I suppose?"
+
+Penrose nodded.
+
+"It wur just grand of you."
+
+"Nothing grand at all," said Penrose.  "A chap who doesn't do his bit
+at a time like this is just a skunk, that's all; and I made up my mind
+that I would learn what a private soldier's life was like before I took
+a commission."
+
+"Well, you know now," said Tom, "and you will be an officer soon, I
+expect."
+
+"My uniform's ordered," said Penrose.
+
+Tom was silent for some time.
+
+"I suppose you won't be friends with me any more, and I shall have to
+salute you," he remarked presently.
+
+"Discipline is discipline," replied Penrose.  "As to friendship, I am
+not given to change."
+
+The battalion, eleven hundred strong, climbed a steep hill, under great
+overshadowing trees.  Birds were singing gaily; May blossom was
+blooming everywhere; the green of the trees was wonderful to behold.
+Presently they came to a great clearing in a pine forest.  The life of
+the country seemed suddenly to end, and they arrived at a newly
+improvised town.  There were simply miles of wooden huts, while the
+sound of men's voices, the neighing of horses, and the rolling of
+wheels were heard on every hand.  These huts, from what Tom could see,
+were nearly all of them about two hundred feet long, while around them
+were great open spaces where all vegetation had been worn away by the
+tramp of thousands of feet.  The men, who had been singing all the way
+during their march, became silent; the scene was so utterly different
+from what they had left.  That morning they had left a grim, grey,
+smoky manufacturing town; in the evening they had entered a clearing
+surrounded by sylvan beauty.
+
+"I feel as though I could stay here for ever," said Tom.  "But look at
+yon'," and he pointed to a long, low hut, at the door of which the
+letters "Y.M.C.A." were painted.  "Why, they're here too!"
+
+"Yes," said Penrose, "there's not a camp in the country where you don't
+find the Y.M.C.A. huts; for that matter they are on the Continent too."
+
+"But yon' place must have cost a lot of money," said Tom, "you can't
+build shanties like that without a lot of brass.  Where did they get
+the brass from?"
+
+"I expect the people who believe in religious lolly-pops gave it to
+them," replied Penrose.
+
+It took Tom two or three days before he became accustomed to his new
+surroundings.  He found that in this camp nearly thirty thousand men
+had gathered; men who had come from every corner of the
+country--Cameronians, Durhams, Devons, Welsh, Duke of Cornwalls, they
+were all here.  Tom had rather expected that the advent of a new
+battalion would have caused some excitement, but scarcely any notice
+seemed to be taken; their coming was a matter of course.  Three days
+before a battalion had left for the Front, and they had come to take
+their place, that was all.  Instead of being billeted at various
+houses, as they had been in Lancashire, they had now to sleep sixty in
+a hut.  Tom laughed as he saw the sleeping arrangements.  Beds were
+placed close together all around the building; these beds were of the
+most primitive nature, and consisted of a sack of straw, a couple of
+rugs, and what might be called a pillow.  These sacks of straw were
+raised some three or four inches from the floor by means of boarding,
+and had only the suggestion of a spring.  No privacy was possible, but
+everything was clean and well-kept.  In a few days Tom got to like it.
+The weather was beautiful, the country was lovely, and the air was
+pure.  Tom had a good appetite in Lancashire, now he felt ravenous.
+The work was hard, harder than he had had in Lancashire, but he enjoyed
+it; on the whole, too, he could not help noticing that many of the men
+seemed of a better type than those which made up his own battalion With
+the exception of Penrose, nearly all his company were drafted from coal
+pits and cotton mills.  Here were numbers of university men,
+public-school men, and the like.  Truly the Army was a great democracy.
+
+One thing made Tom feel very sad, and that was the loss of Penrose.  He
+had been in Surrey only a few days when he was gazetted and was removed
+to another camp about four miles away.  Still he made new friends and
+was on the whole happy.  He found, too, that even the men, whose
+conduct was anything but praiseworthy in Lancashire, were sober here.
+Only a dozen public-houses existed, within the radius of almost as many
+miles; and as the rules of the canteen were very strict, there were few
+temptations to drink.  Discipline was far easier, and on the whole the
+men were better looked after.
+
+At the end of the second day in this Surrey camp, he was going with a
+message to the officers' quarters, when he stopped suddenly.
+
+"Ay, can that be you?" he said aloud.
+
+"What do you mean, my man?"  And then Tom saw that the person whom he
+recognised wore a lieutenant's uniform.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," said Tom, saluting, "but--but--yes, sir, it
+is you."
+
+"Oh, is that you, Pollard?  I see you have enlisted, then; that's all
+right.  You'll know me another time, won't you?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Waterman.  That is, yes, sir.  I hope you are well, sir."
+
+"Yes, I'm all right.  Good night," and the officer passed on.
+
+"By George!" said Tom to himself, "I didn't expect to meet Waterman
+here, but there's nothing to wonder about, after all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+It is not my purpose to give a lengthy account of Tom Pollard's stay in
+the Surrey training camp, although much of interest took place, and his
+daily life there would, if truly reported, gladden the hearts of
+thousands of fathers and mothers who have given their boys to their
+country at this time.  I, who have been to this particular camp, and
+have talked with the lads there, can testify to this by personal
+experience.  As I have before stated, Tom found the work hard, the
+discipline strict, and the duties many; at the same time everything was
+so well arranged and the spirit of such good-fellowship prevailed that
+thousands of young men were under much more healthy conditions, both
+physically and morally, than they were at home.  Indeed, many told me
+that they would never care for the cramped life of the office, the
+workshop, and the factory again, after the free open-air life of a
+soldier.
+
+Tom, who had been quick to learn his duties and to master his drill,
+especially after he had--as he termed it to me--"been disgraced, and
+turned over a new leaf," found the work easy and pleasant.
+
+"Ay," said Tom to me, "it's very funny."
+
+"What?" I asked.
+
+"The way these greenhorns try to learn their drill."
+
+"How's that?" I asked.
+
+"Why, yesterday a chap came up to me wi' tears in his eyes.  I asked
+him what wur the matter, and he said, 'Ay, I have not got brains for
+it.'  'Brains for what?' I asked.  'Brains for this 'ere drill: a man
+needs to have a head like Shakespeare to get hold on it.  That there
+formin' fours now: I have tried, and I have tried, and I have better
+tried, but I can't get a fair grip on it.  Ay, I shall have to write a
+letter to the Colonel and tell him I shall have to give it up.'"
+
+Tom laughed gleefully as he spoke.  "Why, it's as easy as winking,
+sir," he said; "but some chaps are thick-headed, you know--in fact they
+have no heads at all, they've just got turnips stuck on top of their
+shoulders.  I fair pity the young officers sometimes when they are
+trying to knock these chaps into shape.  But they are doing it fine;
+and fellows who came a few weeks ago, slack and shuffling, are now
+straight and smart.  It's wonderful what a bit of drilling does."
+
+"And do you find the Y.M.C.A. helpful down here, Tom?" I asked.
+
+"Helpful, sir!  I don't know what we should do without it.  You see
+it's different here from what it is in big towns where the men are in
+billets.  We're away, as you may say, from any town that's sizeable,
+and there's no place to go to of an evening, except the public-house;
+and if the Y.M.C.A. hadn't been here we should have nothing to do but
+fool around.  But the work they're doing here is just champion.  They
+have entertainments every night, and if you don't feel like going to
+them, there's a room where you can read the papers, and write your
+letters or play games; then they have all sorts of good books for us to
+read."
+
+"And how are you getting on with your French?" I asked.
+
+Tom blushed as he replied, "Would you like to see my report, sir?" and
+he took it from his tunic proudly.
+
+"Why, Tom, this is splendid!" I said, after reading it.
+
+"Ay, I have worked fair hard at it," said Tom; "but my difficulty is
+getting my tongue round the words.  You see, they don't know how to
+pronounce, these French people, and you have to pronounce their way
+else they wouldn't understand what you wur saying, and you have to get
+a grip on it or you can't understand what they are saying.  I can
+conjugate the verbs," added Tom proudly, "but when they speak to me in
+French, that's anything like a long sentence, I get mixed up.  While
+I'm getting hold of the first part of what they're saying, I forget the
+rest; but I will master it.  What a French chap can learn a Lancashire
+chap can.
+
+"Do you know, sir," went on Tom, "that the Y.M.C.A. has got no less
+than six huts here; each of them will hold a thousand men, and they are
+jam-full every night.  And all the workers are so friendly too."
+
+"And do you go to any religious services, Tom?" I asked.
+
+"I been to two or three," replied Tom, "but I don't hold much wi'
+religion.  Still they're grand people, and you may ask any man in the
+camp, from the sergeant-major down to the newest recruit, and they will
+all tell you the same thing, The Y.M.C.A. is a fair God-send to us."
+
+I found out afterwards that Alec McPhail had not followed Tom's
+example.  Alec had discovered a wayside public-house about a mile from
+the camp, where he and several others of his companions spent most of
+their spare time.
+
+"I'm noan religious," said Tom rather boastfully; "but the Y.M.C.A.
+showed me that I was making a fool of myself, and they have made me see
+that a soldier ought to be a gentleman.  We're not a lot of riff-raff
+in the Army; we have come at the call of our King and Country to do our
+bit.  And what I say is that a chap ought to live up to his job; we
+have got a big, grand job, and we chaps as is to do it ought to be
+worthy of our job."
+
+Tom wrote regularly to Polly Powell during the time he was in the
+Surrey camp, although he could not help noticing that Polly's replies
+grew less and less frequent and less and less affectionate.  When he
+had been there a little more than two months he received a letter from
+his mother telling him that Polly was walking out regularly with Jim
+Dixon.  The letter from Tom's mother was characteristic.
+
+
+"Dear Tom," she wrote, "thou'st been fooled by Polly Powell.  I always
+said that Alice Lister was too good for thee, and thou used to get
+vexed about it.  A man is not to blame for his mother, he can't choose
+her, so I can't blame thee for thy mother, but he is to be blamed for
+his wife; he makes his own choice there, and the man as chooses Polly
+Powell is a fool.  When I wur a lass I lived on a farm, I wur only
+sixteen when I came to Brunford, and the farmer I lived wi' always said
+when he was buying a cow, 'be sure to look at the stock before you
+close the bargin.'  Look at the stock Polly Powell has come from.  I
+say nowt about her feyther because I don't know him, but I have seen
+her mother, and that's enough for me.  Polly is just the image of what
+her mother was when she was her age.  She's only twenty-four years
+older than Polly, but she's like Bethesda Chapel, she's broader nor
+she's long.  That's what Polly will be in twenty years' time.  Her
+mother's got a mustash too, and Polly gives every sign of having one by
+the time she's her mother's age.  Besides, she's a flighty thing is
+Polly, and has no stayin' power; she goes wi' one chap one week and
+another the next.  She's walked out wi' seven chaps since you left
+Brunford, and she only took up wi' Jim Dixon again because he's making
+a bit of brass.  I daresay she'll tell you that she's only larking wi'
+Jim, and is true to you all the time; but if I were thee I'd sack her.
+There are plenty of lasses everywhere, and thou can do better nor her.
+
+"I expect you will be going to France soon, and will be fighting them
+Germans.  If they find thee as hard to deal wi' as I have, they'll have
+a tough job.  But they are a bad lot, and I don't ask you to show 'em
+any mercy.
+
+"Your affectionate mother,
+  "MRS. MARTHA POLLARD.
+
+"P.S.--Be sure to write and give Polly Powell the sack right away,
+she's noan thy sort.  If you come across that German Emperor, don't be
+soft-hearted wi' 'im."
+
+
+After Tom had read his mother's letter twice, he sat silent for some
+time.  "So she's going out with Jim Dixon," he reflected; "well, I'm
+glad.  After all, my liking for her was only top-water stuff, and she
+was doing me no good."  The next minute Tom was whistling his way
+through the camp.  "Yes," he continued, "mother's got what the writing
+chaps call 'a good literary style,' and she hits the bull's-eye every
+time.  Gosh, what a fool I've been!  Fancy giving up Alice Lister for a
+lass like that.  I wonder if it's true that Alice has took up wi' that
+parson chap.  I'd like to wring his neck, I would for sure."
+
+At the end of nearly three months Tom was moved to another camp still
+nearer the south coast.  He had a presentiment that the time was not
+far distant when he would have to cross the sea, and know in real
+earnest what soldiering was like.  In a way he was glad of this; like
+all youths he longed for excitement, and wanted to come to close grips
+with the thing he had set out to do.  On the other hand however, he
+could not help looking forward with dread.  When on reading the
+newspapers he saw long lists of casualties, and heard stories of the
+men he had known, who went out healthy and strong and never came back
+again, and others who were brought home maimed for life, he had a
+strange feeling at his heart, and a sinking at the pit of his stomach.
+It was not that he felt afraid, but there was a kind of dread of the
+unknown.  What would it be like to die?
+
+"I hear we're off soon," said Alec McPhail to him one day.
+
+"There's no telling," said Tom laconically.
+
+"Ay, but we shall," replied Alec, "and I shall be glad, I'm getting
+sick of this life in the camps."
+
+"I doan't wonder at it," said Tom.
+
+"What micht ye mean by that?" asked the Scotchman.
+
+"I am fair stalled wi' thee," said Tom.  "I thought that you, being a
+thinking sort o' chap, would know better.  You saw what a fool I was
+making of myself, and yet you kept on drinking and carousing, and
+making a ninny of yourself, as though you had no more brains nor a
+waterhen.  Why, lad, with your education and cleverness, you might have
+been sergeant-major by now.  Nay, nay, keep thee temper; I mean nowt
+wrong."
+
+The Scotchman looked at Tom angrily for some seconds.  He seemed on the
+point of striking him, then mastering himself he said, "Ay, Tom, you're
+richt, and yet I'm no' sure."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Tom.
+
+"Tom, man," said the Scotchman, "ye canna think worse of me than I
+think of mysel'.  I had a good home too, and a godly mither; as for my
+father he was a hard man, but just, very just.  Ay, I know I ought to
+have known better, but the whisky got hold of me.  Besides----"
+
+"Besides what?" asked Tom.
+
+"Ay, man, I'm not a hero when it comes to facing death.  I fancy I'm as
+brave as most men about lots of things, but I just shiver when I think
+o' dying; then I tak' a wee drap of whisky, and it gi'es me courage."
+
+"Poor sort of courage," replied Tom; "besides, you take more than a
+'wee drap,' as you call it."
+
+"Ay, it needs mair and mair.  But it's this way, Tom; when I think of
+going over the water into those trenches, and when I think of the
+shells falling all around me; when I call to mind that men may be dying
+at my richt hand and on my left, blown all to smithereens, I get
+afraid, but after I have filled mysel' fou' of whisky I don't care.  I
+know I ought to be ashamed of mysel'; I know, too, it's the wrang sort
+of courage.  As for you, Tom, you have been wiser than me, you've got
+releegion."
+
+"Nay, I've nowt o' th' sort," replied Tom, "I've just kept straight,
+that's all."
+
+"But it's not enough, Tom," said the Scotchman.
+
+"What does a' mean?" asked Tom.
+
+"I mean that a man wants releegion," replied Alec very solemnly.  "I
+have been a thinking lad all my life, and when I chucked releegion and
+professed to believe in Colonel Ingersoll I kenned fine I was making a
+fool of mysel'.  It's either whisky or releegion to keep a man's
+courage up; that is, such a man as me."
+
+"Then you think there's something after death?" said Tom.
+
+"Ay, lad, I am sure of it.  I'm a-thinking you're richt, Tom, in going
+to the Y.M.C.A. meetings, and I know you're wrang in not getting
+releegion.  E'en when I'm fou' of whisky, I have known that releegion
+was necessary; and if I only had the strength I'd gi' up the whisky."
+
+The next day the camp was in a great state of excitement; the men had
+received definite information that they were to start for the Front in
+two days' time.  They did not know where they were going, but they were
+told it would be somewhere in France or Belgium.  At first there was
+great cheering at this; the men shouted and boasted of what they would
+do when they were face to face with the Germans.  After that, almost as
+if by prearrangement, a solemn silence fell among them; evidently they
+were thinking deeply.  Some paid longer visits than usual to the wet
+canteen or public-houses; others, again, were seen walking alone as
+though they had no desire for company.
+
+We who remain at home in safety, and talk about the heroism of the men
+going away to the Front, little realise the thoughts which pass through
+their minds.  When the order to embark comes they don't say very much
+about it, and even when they do talk they speak of death almost
+lightly.  "If I am potted," they say, "I am, and that's all about it."
+But that's not all they feel, as I have reason to know.  They love
+their lives just as much as we do, and they long to go back and spend
+their days amongst their loved ones.  It is only rare that cowardice is
+seen, and it is rarer still for them to make any boast; the average
+Englishman is not given to boasting; he has his duty to do, and he just
+does it, saying very little about it.
+
+On the night before they were to embark for France, farewell meetings
+were held at the Y.M.C.A. huts, and Tom noticed that Alec McPhail found
+his way to the hut where he went.  Perhaps eight hundred or a thousand
+men had gathered, and although high spirits prevailed, each man felt
+that he was breathing an atmosphere which was not usual.  There was a
+look not common in the eyes of the lads; a set, stern expression on
+their faces.  Afterwards when they had been to the Front and returned,
+they would go out again without such feeling as now possessed them.
+But these lads had never been to the war before; they were entering
+upon an unknown; they knew that in all probability a large number of
+them would never come back to England again.  Each had a hope that he
+might escape, although the chances were against him.
+
+Still they cheered at the old recitations, listened to the old songs,
+and joined in the choruses which they liked just as they had been doing
+for months; they were not going to show the white feather.
+
+A special speaker had come to the hut that night.  He had been working
+among the soldiers in the Y.M.C.A. tents on the Continent, and had come
+home for a short holiday; now he had come to this camp in order to
+speak to the men before their departure.  It is said that months before
+he had been fond of telling humorous stories, and had delighted in
+making the soldiers laugh.  He certainly had a sense of humour, and now
+and then could not refrain from some witticism which set the highly
+strung lads in roars of laughter.  But the close of his address did not
+inspire mirth.
+
+"My lads," he said, "you have done a brave thing; I don't say that you
+deserve much praise for it, because at a time like this if an
+able-bodied youth does not join the Army he fails in his duty; and you
+are only doing your duty.  If you had not done what you have done, I
+should be ashamed of you.  All the same you are brave lads.  You have
+offered your all, your very lives, at the altar of duty.  I am not
+going to try and describe to you what you will have to do, and possibly
+have to suffer; you will find out that soon enough.  Possibly many of
+you are going to your death.  I don't want to frighten you, but we have
+to face facts: I don't say it is an awful thing to die, but it is a
+tremendous thing.  You know that you have souls as well as bodies.  I
+am not going to argue it out with you; I needn't, because you know.  I
+needn't try to prove to you that there is a God, because you know it,
+you feel it.  There is no atheism out at the Front: some of you have
+tried to live without God, and you have made a mess of your lives.  I
+tell you, my boys, it's a terrible thing to die without God.  Some of
+you know what it is to believe in a personal Saviour; you have accepted
+Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came on earth to die for us that we
+might know God; and you have found Him to be a strength in temptation,
+a joy in sorrow.  My lads, you all want that Saviour, and especially do
+you want Him now.  You are embarking on the Great Unknown, and you need
+a Captain, a Guide, a Saviour: I have come to tell you about Him."
+
+I am not going to try to describe the close of his address.  This man
+had seen hundreds die, he had come face to face with the great
+realities of life, of death, and of religion.  He knew what he was
+talking about because he had experienced it, and he made the men feel
+what he felt.  That night when the meeting was over Tom Pollard found
+himself again with Alec McPhail.
+
+"That chap was fair earnest," said Tom.
+
+"Ay," replied the Scotchman, "he went richt down to the bottom of
+things.  Come wi' me to the canteen, lad, I feel I must have a drink."
+
+"Not if I know it," said Tom, "no drink for me to-night."
+
+But the Scotchman rushed away towards the canteen, and Tom, scarcely
+knowing what he was doing, followed him.  When they entered, they saw a
+number of men standing there drinking.
+
+"Yes," they heard one man say, "that chap was right; I know I'm making
+a fool of myself, but I'm going to have another drink.  My God!  What
+would my mother say if she knew I wur off tomorrow morning!"
+
+A lad with a pale, refined face, standing by his side, had a glass in
+his hand ready to lift to his lips.  "Ay, and what would my mother
+say!" he said.  "I know she would be praying for me."
+
+At this some one uttered a coarse oath, but the lad threw the drink
+from him and left the canteen.
+
+"Ay, he's richt," said the Scotchman as he watched him go.  "Tom
+Pollard, man, I hinna prayed for years, but I am praying to-nicht.  I
+ought to be a different man, for I ken the fundamentals of releegion,
+but I'm giving my heart to God to-nicht; I am for sure."
+
+Tom followed the Scotchman out of the canteen towards one of the
+numerous sleeping-huts.
+
+"I am giving my heart to God, Pollard," he said hoarsely, "and I'm
+writing to tell my mither about it this very nicht.  Ay, man, something
+has come into my life stronger than the power of whisky!"
+
+When Tom found his way to his own sleeping-hut that night, he was in a
+chastened frame of mind.  "I'm noan going to turn religious," he said
+almost sullenly, "but I believe he's got the reight on't."
+
+The next morning they were at Folkestone, where the big troopship lay
+in the harbour.  Before mid-day the ship was crowded with soldiers.
+How many men were there Tom had not the slightest idea; but they filled
+every part of it.  Generals, colonels, majors, non-commissioned
+officers, and privates were all huddled together.  All over the ship
+officers and men were alike; they were going to the field of battle to
+die if need be for honour, duty, and the liberty of the world.
+
+There were scarcely a score of civilians on board, and even they were
+in some way attached to the Army.  Nurses wearing the Red Cross,
+religious workers with a look of wonder in their eyes, a few sent by
+the Government on some particular mission, but all were taking part in
+the great War which was staggering the world.
+
+Perhaps a mile or more out at sea a great Destroyer proudly spurned the
+waves; she was to guard the troopship along her perilous passage.
+
+Presently they landed at Boulogne.
+
+"Where are we going?" said one of the soldiers in Tom's company as they
+entered a waiting train.
+
+"I don't know," said Tom, "but what does it matter?  We have nowt to do
+with that, we have just got to do our job."
+
+They spent all the night in the troop-train, which was crowded almost
+to suffocation.  Where they were going they didn't know, scarcely
+cared.  Sometimes they were drawn up to a siding where they would stay
+for hours, then the train crawled on again.  Presently the morning
+broke and Tom saw a flat and what seemed to him, after Surrey, an
+uninteresting piece of country.  Everything was strange to him, even
+the trees looked different from those he had seen in Surrey.  On and on
+the train crawled, until presently they had orders to alight.
+
+It was now early morning, and after breakfast they were formed in
+marching order.  Tom took but little notice of the country through
+which they marched, except that they were on a straight road, which was
+paved in the middle.  As the day advanced the sun grew hot and
+scorching, but the men marched on uncomplainingly; there was little
+merriment, but much thought.  Presently noon came, and again they
+stopped for food, after which there was another march.  By this time
+Tom realised that he was indeed in the zone of war.  He saw what looked
+to him miles of motor waggons filled with food and munitions, numbers
+of ambulance waggons marked with the Red Cross.  More than one body of
+horse soldiers passed him, and again he saw numbers of men bivouacked
+near him; but everywhere there were soldiers, soldiers.  Tom could not
+understand it, it was all so different from what he expected, neither
+could he see any order or purpose in that which was taking place around
+him.  There was activity and movement everywhere, but he could
+co-ordinate nothing, he was simply bewildered.
+
+Towards evening there was another resting-time, and each man gladly
+threw himself full length on the grass.  For a moment there was a
+silence, then Tom heard a sound which gave him a sickening sensation;
+he felt a sinking, too, at the pit of his stomach: it was the boom,
+boom, boom of guns.
+
+"Look at yon' airship in the sky!" cried one of the men.  Each eye was
+turned towards it, then they heard the boom of guns again, after which
+there were sheets of fire around the aeroplane, and afterwards little
+clouds of smoke formed themselves.
+
+"I am getting near at last," thought Tom.  "I wonder now--I wonder----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Tom discovered presently that his destination was the Ypres salient,
+one of the most "unhealthy" places, to use the term in favour among the
+soldiers, in the whole of the English battle line.  Here the most
+tremendous battle ever fought in our British Army took place--indeed
+one of the most tremendous battles in the history of the world.  A
+sergeant who was in a garrulous mood described it to Tom with a great
+deal of spirit.
+
+"Yes," he said, "you have come to an unhealthy spot; still it may be
+good for you.  The blessed Huns thought they were going to break
+through here about last September when the battle of Wipers was fought.
+They had six hundred thousand men to our hundred and fifty thousand.
+Then that blooming Kaiser made up his mind that he would break through
+our lines, and get to Calais.  Yes, it was a touch and go with us.
+Fancy four to one, and they had all the advantage in big guns and
+ammunition.  You think _those_ big guns?  Wait till you have heard Jack
+Johnson and Black Maria.  Talk about hell!  Hell was never as bad as
+the battle of Wipers.  I thought we were licked once.  I was in the
+part where our line was the thinnest, and we saw 'em coming towards us
+in crowds; there seemed to be millions of 'em; we had to rake out every
+cook and bottle-washer on the show.  Lots of our men were fresh to the
+job, too, and had never smelt powder, or felt the touch of steel.  But,
+by gosh, we let 'em know!  Four to one, my boy, and we licked 'em, in
+spite of their big guns and their boasting.  Aren't you proud of being
+a British Tommy?"
+
+Tom listened with wide, staring eyes and compressed lips.  There within
+a mile or two of the battle line he could picture all of which the
+sergeant spoke.  As he looked he could see the brown line of earth away
+in the distance, and could discern too, here and there, dotted along
+this brown line, clouds of black smoke.  All around him our guns were
+booming, while the distant sounds of the German guns reached him.
+
+"Ay, it's a bit unhealthy," went on the sergeant, "but you will get
+used to it after a bit.  There, hear that?"
+
+Tom listened and heard the screaming of a shell in the air; the note it
+made was at first low, but it rose higher and higher and then dropped
+again.
+
+"When the note gets to about B flat," said the sergeant, "you may know
+it's soon going to fall, and as soon as it has touched the ground the
+shell bursts and tears a big hole up."
+
+"Are many killed?" asked Tom.
+
+"Ay, there's a good lot of casualties every day, but not so much as
+there was at the second battle of Wipers.  That was fair terrible.  You
+see, the Germans could not drive us back nor break our lines.  That was
+why they started bombarding the city.  I was here and saw it.  Man, you
+should have heard the women screaming, and seen the people flying for
+their lives.  Whole streets of houses were burning, and all the time
+shells were falling and bursting.  How many people were killed here God
+only knows, but there must have been hundreds of women and children.
+But what did those dirty swine of Germans care!  They could not break
+our lines, and they had lost a hundred and fifty thousand men, so they
+turned their big guns upon the city.  'We can kill Belgian women and
+children, anyhow,' they said, 'and we can smash up the old town.'  Are
+you a bit jumpy?"
+
+"No n-n-no;--that is, a little bit," said Tom.
+
+"Oh, it's quite quiet now," replied the sergeant.  "I will walk through
+with you if you like and show you round.  This is the great square; one
+of the biggest in the world.  I saw it before it was bombarded; the
+Cathedral and the Cloth Hall were just wonderful; see what they are
+now! knocked into smithereens.  See the trees around, how they are
+twisted and burnt?  That house there I saw shelled myself.  I had got a
+bit used to the shelling by that time, but I tell you it gave me a
+turn.  It was the biggest house in the Square, and a great bomb caught
+it fair in the face; it seemed as though the whole world was shaking,
+and the noise fair deafened you.  The house went down as though it were
+cardboard, and other houses around fell as though to keep it company,
+while others caught fire.  Ay, they're sweet creatures, are those
+German swine."
+
+"Doan't you hate 'em?" asked Tom.
+
+"Hate 'em?" said the sergeant; "well, I don't know.  Mind you, they are
+fine soldiers, and brave men too, or at least they seem brave; but it's
+discipline does it.  They are just like machinery.  Once when I was
+right in the middle of it, they attacked in close formation, and we
+turned our machine-guns on 'em.  Ever seen a mowing machine in a wheat
+field? ever seen the wheat fall before the knives?  Well, that's how
+they fell.  Hundreds upon hundreds; but still they came on.  Just as
+fast as one lot was killed, the others, knowing that they were going to
+certain death, came on, thinking they would wear us down by sheer
+numbers."
+
+"Did they?" asked Tom.
+
+"No, that time they didn't," replied the sergeant, "but another scrap I
+was in they did.  That is their plan, you know; it is terribly costly,
+but when it succeeds it works havoc."
+
+"Have you been wounded at all?" asked Tom.
+
+"Yes, I have stopped two bullets, one in the foot and another in the
+shoulder, but I quickly got over it.  I have been wonderfully lucky.
+You will get used to it after a bit; you seem a plucky chap; you don't
+look like the sort that runs away.  Although, mind you, I have seen
+plucky chaps hook it."
+
+"No, I'm not plucky," said Tom; "but I don't think I would run away."
+
+"Wait till the shrapnel is falling around you; wait till great pieces
+of jagged shell mow men down on your right and on your left.  Still we
+have stuck so far, and we must stick to the end.  Still, from a
+military standpoint," and here the sergeant spoke judicially, "our
+holding Wipers is a bad policy.  You see, it's a salient and the
+Germans guns are all around us; but if we made a straight line we
+should give them Wipers, and that would have a bad effect.  Just look
+in here," and he pointed to a house, the front of which was completely
+blown away, but the rest of which remained comparatively intact.
+
+"There's the room just as those poor blighters of Belgians left it,"
+continued the sergeant.  "See the baby's shoes, and the kiddy's dress?
+There are one or two pictures on the wall, not of much value, or those
+blooming souvenir-hunters would have got 'em."
+
+"Do you think we shall lick 'em?" asked Tom.
+
+"Lick 'em!  Of course we shall," said the sergeant, who had served
+nearly twenty years in the Army.  "Mind you, it will be no easy job.
+Up to now they have had the upper hand of us, both in men and
+munitions; but we are gaining on 'em now.  What I can't stand is those
+blooming swipes, those shirkers who sit at home and who call themselves
+men.  I tell you I'm for conscription out and out.  This is no job to
+be played with; if we don't put forth our strength we can't beat 'em.
+But just think of those swine, who read the papers and talk about
+beating the Germans, who strut about with their patent-leather boots
+and fine clothes, and try to make out that they are gentlemen, but who
+won't face the music; that's what sickens me.  Who are we fighting for,
+I should like to know?  We are fighting for them, and for our women,
+and for the old country.  They think they can stop at home and
+criticise, and then when we have done the work, share the benefits.
+Great God!"--and here the sergeant indulged in some unprintable
+language--"I would like to get hold of them."
+
+"Isn't it dangerous here?" asked Tom, as another shrieking shell passed
+over their heads.
+
+"Not just now," replied the other; "their shells are falling on the
+other side of the town.  Of course," he added casually, "they may fall
+here any moment."
+
+"I asked you just now," said Tom, "whether you hated the Germans?"
+
+"Yes, you did," replied the sergeant, "and I went off on another tack.
+Hate 'em?  Well, it's this way.  At the beginning I don't know that I
+hated 'em so much.  Yes, what you call Belgian atrocities were hellish;
+but 'twasn't that, and as long as they fought fair that was all I cared
+about.  But when they got using that poisonous gas they came it a bit
+too strong.  No, lad, I never hated 'em till then.  But when they used
+that stuff and laughed about it, ay, and laughed to see our poor chaps
+writhing in agony, I felt I must kill every German I saw.  Of course,
+we've got over it now a bit, and we're all supplied with helmets, but
+when they used it first we had simply nothing to defend us.  Yes, I
+have done some rough bits of work in my time, but I never met with
+anything like that.  When you see your own pals getting bluer and bluer
+in the face, and coughing and gasping, oh, I tell you it made us mad!
+We didn't feel like showing any mercy after that.  Besides, they have
+no sense of fair play, the swipes.  I was in a scrap once, and after a
+hard tussle, and after losing lots of men, a lot of Germans held up
+their hands and shouted, 'We surrender.'  Our officer, a young chap new
+to the job, and knowing nothing of their tricks, instead of telling
+them to come to us, told us to go to them, they holding up their hands
+all the time; but no sooner did we get near them than they up with
+their pistols and shot two of our chaps.  They thought our officer was
+going to take it lying down, and when they were taken prisoners they
+laughed and said everything was fair in war; but our young officer saw
+red, and he said 'No, my lads, you are going to kingdom come.'  'What!'
+shrieked those German swine, 'will you kill men after they have
+surrendered?'  'You are not men,' said the lieutenant; 'men don't shoot
+after they've surrendered--only Germans do that."
+
+"And then?" asked Tom, "then----"
+
+"Ah well," replied the sergeant grimly, "there were no questions asked
+in the morning."
+
+"Great God!" said Tom, "what a ghastly thing war is!"
+
+"Wait till you have seen it, my lad," replied the sergeant.
+
+For some weeks Tom was in the neighbourhood of Ypres without taking any
+part in the righting.  During that time he got accustomed to the
+constant booming of the guns, and to the fact that any moment a shell
+might fall near him and blow him into eternity.  On more than one
+occasion, too, he roamed around the ruins of Ypres; and while he could
+not be called an imaginative lad he could not help being impressed by
+the ghastly desolation of this one-time beautiful city.  In many of the
+streets not one stone was left upon another, not one of the inhabitants
+who had formerly lived there remained; all had fled; it was indeed a
+city of the dead.  To Tom the ruins of the great Cloth Hall and the
+Cathedral were not the most terrible; what appealed to him most were
+the empty houses in which things were left by the panic-stricken
+people.  Bedsteads twisted into shapeless masses; clothes half burnt;
+remnants of pieces of cloth which tradesmen had been in the act of
+cutting and stitching; children's toys, and thousands of other things
+which suggested to the boy the life the people had been living.  Not a
+bird sang, not even a street dog roamed amidst the shapeless
+desolation; the ghastly horror of it all possessed him.  Great gaping
+holes in the old ramparts of the city; trees torn up by their roots and
+scorched by deadly fire: this was Ypres, not destroyed by the
+necessities of war, but by pure devilry.
+
+At last Tom's turn came to go up to the front trenches.  It was with a
+strange feeling at heart that he, with others, crept along the pave
+road towards the communication trench.  They had to be very careful,
+because this road was constantly swept by the German machine guns.
+Presently, when they came to a house used as a first dressing station
+close to the beginning of the communication trench, Tom felt his heart
+grow cold.  Still, with set teeth, and a hard look in his eyes, he
+groped his way along the trench, through Piccadilly, and Haymarket, and
+Bond Street, and Whitehall (for in this manner do the soldiers name the
+various parts of the zigzag cuttings through the clay): while all the
+time he could hear the pep, pep, pep, pep of the machine guns, and the
+shrieking of the shells.
+
+There was no romance in war now, it was a grim, ghastly reality.  After
+following the lines of the trenches for well-nigh an hour he was
+informed that he had now reached the front line and was within a
+hundred or a hundred and fifty yards of the Huns.  For the moment there
+was a comparative quiet, only occasionally did he hear the sound of a
+gun, while the shrieking of the shells was less frequent.  Danger
+seemed very far away; he was in a deep hole in the ground, and above
+the earthworks were great heaps of sand-bags.  How could he be hurt?
+The men whom his company was sent to relieve seemed in high good
+spirits too, they laughed and talked and bandied jokes.  "There seems
+no danger here," thought Tom.  An hour passed and still all was
+comparatively quiet.
+
+"I would like to see those blooming German trenches," said a Lancashire
+lad, "and I will too."
+
+He lifted his head above the sand-bags and looked towards the brown
+heaps of earth perhaps a hundred yards away.
+
+"Dost'a see any Germans?" some one asked.
+
+"I'm not sure," replied the lad, "but I believe I see the top of a
+German helmet."
+
+"Duck down quickly," said another, "thou'st been holding thy head there
+too long."
+
+"Nay, there's no danger," replied the lad, "it's all as quiet as----"
+But he did not finish the sentence; at that moment there was a crack of
+a rifle and a bullet passed through the poor boy's brain.
+
+"That will be a warning for you fellows," said an officer who came up
+just then.  "You must play no tricks; there have been hundreds of lads
+killed here who would never have been touched if they hadn't been
+careless and foolish.  Let's have no more of your Hampstead Heath Bank
+Holiday skylarking."
+
+Tom did duty at the front trench on several occasions, but nothing of
+importance took place.  The Huns seemed comparatively quiet, and while
+there was severe artillery work on both sides, Tom did not receive a
+scratch.
+
+The fourth time he went to the front lines, however, he felt that there
+was a change in the atmosphere, and he saw by the strained looks and
+the compressed lips of the men that something desperate was expected.
+The officers gave their orders with more sternness than usual; every
+one was alert.
+
+Tom thought he knew what intense artillery work meant, but he realised
+that day that hitherto he had seen and heard nothing.  Such a tornado
+of shells burst around him that it was like hell let loose.  Hour after
+hour the Germans bombarded our trenches, tearing great holes in the
+ground, and undoing the work of months.  It seemed to Tom that no man
+could escape.
+
+"Oh," cried the boy, "if they would be quiet for only a minute!  If one
+could only stop to take breath!"
+
+But there was no cessation; it seemed as though the Germans were
+determined to make a final and overwhelming attack; as though all the
+explosives in the world were concentrated on those few miles.
+
+The sights were horrible; he saw shells falling on groups of men,
+tearing them to pieces, while all around him were the shrieks and cries
+of the wounded.  Some of the men who were yet untouched yelled as
+though they were mad, others laughed, but their laughter was not
+natural; it was frenzied, wild, just as though they were madmen.
+
+"We can't stand it!  We can't stand it!" cried the boy.  "We shall all
+be blown into eternity.  Why do we stay here like this?"
+
+He spoke to the sergeant who had given him a description of the first
+battle of Ypres some time before.  The sergeant was comparatively cool;
+he had been through it before.
+
+"It's nothing to you whether we are doing anything or not," replied the
+sergeant, "besides, don't be a fool; our guns are giving them as hot a
+time as their guns are giving us.  Don't lose your head."
+
+"I wouldn't mind if I could do something," said the poor boy, trembling.
+
+"Do!  Unless I'm mistaken there will be enough for us all to do very
+soon.  There! firing has ceased!  Look out!"
+
+It was as the sergeant said; almost suddenly there was a calm, and a
+few seconds later Tom heard a command which made his knees knock
+together.
+
+What happened after that Tom could never describe; even if he could, he
+would not have done so.  As he has said to me more than once, "It was
+not something to talk about, it was a matter of bayonet work; it was
+fighting face to face, steel to steel."
+
+Tom didn't feel fear now; all that was gone.  His muscles were hard,
+his thoughts were tense, he saw red!  Presently he had a conviction
+that we were gaining ground, and he suddenly became aware of the fact
+that we had gained the better of the situation and had returned to our
+trenches.  A number of the enemy had been taken prisoners, and the plot
+which the Germans had hatched had come to nothing.  Immediately
+afterwards something happened which Tom never forgot.  A German officer
+lay wounded some little distance from the trench which the English had
+taken, and piteously cried for help.
+
+"Which of you chaps will volunteer to go and fetch him in?" cried a
+young officer whose bravery that day had been the talk of all the men.
+
+Each looked to the other as if for response; they were dazed and
+bewildered by all they had gone through.
+
+"I say," said another officer, "you can't expect any of the chaps to do
+that.  Directly the Huns see any one going to him they will shoot him.
+Besides, he may be nearly dead; better put an end to him."
+
+"But hear how he groans!" cried the young fellow.  "There, I'll do it."
+
+He leapt from the trench and rushed along the intervening space for
+perhaps about fifty yards; then lifting the German officer bodily, he
+brought him back to safety.
+
+"I am parched--parched!" cried the German, as if in agony, "give me
+water."  The young Englishman got a cup of water and held it to the
+German's lips, but even as he did so the German drew his revolver and
+shot him through the heart.[1]
+
+What happened to the German after that I will not try to relate.  Why
+am I describing this, and why have I mentioned this incident?  Only
+that our people at home may realise what heroes our lads are; what they
+have to face in order to save our country, and what kind of an enemy
+they have to deal with.  I am describing it to try if possible to raise
+a blush of shame on the faces of those shirkers at home who are a
+disgrace to the name of Englishman.
+
+Tom passed through this ordeal without a scratch, and by and by when
+his company was relieved, and he returned to a place of safety, the
+whole episode seemed but a ghastly dream.  And yet it caused a great
+change to Tom's life.  If he had been asked to describe it he would not
+have been able to do so; it was something subtle, elusive; but the
+change was there.  He felt as though he had a new conception of life;
+and he realised its tremendousness as he had never realised it before.
+
+He was by no means given to philosophising, but two things impressed
+him.  One was the tremendous amount of heroism that lay latent in the
+commonplace lads who had come out with him.  He knew many of them
+before they joined the Army; knew them just as they were.  Humdrum
+workaday boys who did not seem capable of anything like heroism; but
+the war had brought out new qualities, fine qualities.  He saw how
+those men were willing to sacrifice themselves for others; saw them
+doing all sorts of glorious deeds.  One fellow impressed him
+tremendously.  He himself was wounded, but not badly, for he could
+easily have crawled to a place of safety; and yet he remained with a
+comrade, holding his head on his knees and ministering to him as
+tenderly as a woman, in a spot where life could not be valued at a
+pin's purchase.  Deeds like that are common at the Front.
+
+The other thing which impressed him was the tremendous power of
+religion.  Before he went up to the firing line he had heard one
+officer say to another, "I wish the chaplains could be allowed to go up
+to the front line of trenches.  You see, when men have no religion to
+support them, the constant bombardment and danger make them jumpy."
+Tom realised what this meant after the action I have just described.
+He himself felt that he needed a Power greater than his own, to steady
+him.
+
+Tom had just heard that he was to go on duty at the front trench again,
+when passing along by the canal towards one of the officers' dug-outs
+he saw a staff officer talking with the major of his own battalion.
+Tom lifted his hand to salute, when the staff officer turned and spoke
+to him.
+
+"Ah, is that you, Pollard?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Waterman--that is, yes, sir," stammered Tom.
+
+"I hope you are doing well," said Waterman.
+
+"I am still alive, thank you, sir," and then he passed on.
+
+"He's got a safe job anyhow," thought Tom, "he'll be at the Divisional
+Headquarters I expect; well, he's a clever fellow."
+
+That night when Tom returned to the first line he was put on sentry
+duty.  It was one of those silent, windless, starless nights, when
+under ordinary circumstances a solemn hush prevails.  Even the trenches
+were silent that night.  On both sides the guns had ceased booming; it
+seemed as though a truce had been agreed upon, and yet the air was
+tense with doom.
+
+Tom could not help feeling it as he traversed that part of the trench
+in which his especial duty lay.  Unimaginative as he was, his mind
+worked freely.  He called to mind the engagement of a few days before,
+remembered what he had seen and heard.
+
+Again and again he traversed the cutting in the earth; his rifle on his
+shoulder, and bayonet fixed.  How silent it was!  Not a man's voice was
+to be heard.  He knew that sentries were all around him, but he could
+not hear a footstep; he knew, too, that many of the soldiers lay in
+their dug-outs, sleeping as peacefully as though they were at home.
+And yet he felt all alone.  "Where's Jim Bates now, I wonder, and
+Arthur Wadge, and Bill Perkins, and George Wilson? they were killed,
+but are they really dead?" he said to himself.  He had known these lads
+well; in fact, they had been pals of his, and he wondered what had
+become of them.  Were they still alive?  What had they felt like when
+they had to cross the deep, dark valley?  What was death?
+
+He thought of his old Sunday-schooldays, thought of his old beliefs.
+"Ay," cried Tom aloud, "if I could only feel that Christ was wi' me now
+I shouldn't care a bit; but I gave Him up months ago.  Alice Lister
+believed in Him, ay, she did an' all.  I wonder where Alice is now?
+Does she ever think about me, I wonder? does she pray for me as she
+said?"
+
+He thought of what the man had said in the Y.M.C.A. hut on the night
+before they set sail for France.  He had told the soldiers that they
+needed a personal Saviour, and that that Saviour was ever waiting, ever
+watching, to give them help; that He would be near all those who
+stretched out their lame hands of faith towards Him, and help them,
+strengthen them, comfort them.  It was very unreal, it seemed a long
+way off too.  And yet was it?  Was Christ there just as the man had
+said?
+
+"Boom!"  The sound came from an enemy's gun, but he heard no shell
+screeching its way through space, saw no light of explosion.  It was
+not repeated, although he waited, listening tensely.  Minute after
+minute passed, still there was silence; evidently the English gunners
+were instructed not to reply.
+
+What was the meaning of it?  The silence became so tense that it seemed
+to make a noise; the air was laden with gloom.
+
+"I wonder what it means," said the boy, and a great fear possessed him;
+he felt as though he were on the brink of a fathomless chasm, a chasm
+which was as black as ink.
+
+Minute after minute he waited, and still no sound broke the silence.
+
+He tried to comfort himself by remembering pleasant things that
+happened at Brunford, but in vain.  It seemed to him as though he was
+surrounded by something fierce and terrible; was it a premonition of
+death, he wondered?
+
+Again he called to mind what the Y.M.C.A. man had said on the night
+before they started for the Front.  He had advised them to pray, and to
+put their trust in a loving God who had been revealed to them through
+Jesus Christ.
+
+He still tramped the bit of trench which it was his duty to guard,
+looking eagerly into the darkness as if to discern the outline of an
+approaching enemy.  "If I only could pray!" thought Tom, "if I only
+could!"
+
+But he had not prayed for years, the very thought of prayer had gone
+out of his mind and heart; but oh! how he longed for something to
+comfort and steady him!
+
+Well, why should he not pray?  It could do no harm, it might even do
+him good.
+
+Lifting his eyes towards the inky-black sky, he tried to formulate a
+prayer, but he could not, his thoughts could not shape themselves, his
+mind refused to work; he opened his lips and cried, "O God!"
+
+That was all; he could think of nothing else to say, but he repeated
+the words again and again:
+
+"O God!--O God!--O God!"
+
+That was all.  He had asked for nothing, he had indeed hardly thought
+of anything.  Nevertheless he was comforted; the words he had uttered
+meant infinite things, for at the back of his mind he had a confused
+belief that God saw, that God listened, that God understood, and the
+thought changed everything.
+
+"I wonder what Alice Lister is doing now," thought the boy presently.
+He did not know why it was, but somehow God seemed more real when he
+thought of the girl who had promised to pray for him.
+
+
+
+[1] This incident was described to me as having actually taken place as
+I have set it down here.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+What was Alice Lister doing on the night when Tom prayed?  If it had
+been a night of wonder to Tom, it had been a night of decision to Alice
+Lister, who had to face another crisis in her life.  While Tom had been
+offering his almost inarticulate prayer in the trenches in the Ypres
+salient, Alice Lister sat alone in her bedroom.
+
+More than a year had passed since the Sunday afternoon when she had
+told Tom that he must make his choice between her and the life he
+seemed determined to lead.  What it had cost her to do this I will not
+try to describe, for Alice had truly cared for Tom.  It was true that
+he did not quite belong to her class, and it was also true that her
+parents had done their best to dissuade her from thinking about him;
+but Alice had been fond of Tom: something, she knew not what, had drawn
+her heart towards him.  She had believed in him too; believed that he
+was possessed of noble qualities which only she understood.  Then as
+she saw Tom drifting, she knew that her decisive step must be taken,
+and she had taken it.
+
+Afterwards, when she was told how Tom had risen in the great crowd at
+the hall in the Mechanics' Institute, and had gone up to the platform
+and volunteered for active service, her heart had thrilled strangely.
+She did not understand much about the war, but she felt that Tom had
+done a noble thing.  In spite of the fact, too, that he had left her to
+walk out with Polly Powell, she had a sense of possession; it seemed to
+her that Tom belonged to her more than to this highly coloured buxom
+girl who had taken him from her.
+
+Then something happened which set the people at the church she attended
+talking freely.  The young minister was a bachelor, and it was evident
+he was enamoured with Alice; he paid her marked attention, and eagerly
+sought to be in her company.
+
+"That's something like," said many of Alice's friends; "Alice will make
+a splendid minister's wife."
+
+But when at length Mr. Skelton proposed to Alice, she had no difficulty
+in answering him.  He could offer her a far better position than Tom
+dreamed of; the work she would have to do as a minister's wife, too,
+would be thoroughly in accord with her tastes and desires.  But Alice
+cared nothing for Mr. Skelton.  Her heart was sad when she saw how pale
+he looked at her refusal, but she had no hesitation.
+
+The problem which faced her now, however, was not so easy to settle.
+Young Harry Briarfield was not a comparative stranger like Mr. Skelton;
+she had known him all her life, they had been brought up together in
+the same town, they had gone to Sunday School together, they had sung
+duets together at concerts, and although she had never looked at Harry
+in the light of a lover she had always been fond of him.
+
+Harry was in a good position too; his father was a manufacturer in a
+fairly large way, and he had just been admitted as a partner into the
+business.  He was twenty-four years of age now, was highly respected
+throughout the town, and was looked upon as one who in a few years
+would hold his head high among commercial men.
+
+During the last few weeks Harry had come often to Mr. Lister's house,
+ostensibly to talk about business, but really to see Alice.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Lister had nudged each other and smiled at Harry's
+frequent visits.
+
+"I knew our Alice would do the right thing," said Mr. Lister to his
+wife; "for a time she went silly about that Pollard boy, but she threw
+him over of her own accord.  Harry's a nice lad, and he's making a tidy
+bit of brass, while George Briarfield has about made his pile.  In two
+or three years Harry will have the business entirely in his own hands,
+and then there will not be a better chance in Brunford for her."
+
+Mrs. Lister sighed.
+
+"I don't think our Alice has forgotten Tom Pollard, though," she
+replied.
+
+"Nonsense," replied her husband, "what is the good of her thinking
+about Tom?  I thought he would have done well at one time, and if he
+hadn't taken up with that Polly Powell lot he might have got on; but he
+did, and then he went for a soldier.  What is the good of our Alice
+thinking about him?  Even if the war were to finish next week and Tom
+were to come back, it would take him years, even if he had good luck,
+to make five pound a week, while Harry's making a thousand a year if
+he's making a penny."
+
+"Ay, I know," replied Mrs. Lister, "but you can never judge a lass's
+heart.  You know how it was wi' us, George; at the very time you asked
+me to be your wife you were only making thirty-three shillings a week,
+and William Pott was making hundreds a year.  He was a far better
+chance nor you, George, and people said I was a fool for not taking
+him; but I couldn't."
+
+"That was a different thing," said George Lister hastily, "that Pollard
+boy went wrong.  Besides, we need not think about that now; Alice gave
+him up, and very likely he will be killed."
+
+On the night when Tom was alone in the trenches, Harry Briarfield made
+his way to Mr. Lister's house, and it was not long before Alice and he
+were left alone together.  Harry had made up his mind to make his
+proposal that night, and he had but little doubt as to the result.
+
+"Look here, Alice," he said presently, "I want to say something to you,
+something very particular.  You must have seen for a long time how fond
+I am of you, and perhaps you have wondered why I haven't spoken.  I
+wanted to badly enough, but I waited until father took me into
+partnership.  You see," he went on, "at the beginning of the war things
+were going bad with us; there was a boom in the cotton trade about a
+year ago, but when the war broke out there was a regular slump, and we
+thought we were going to be ruined.  Now, however, things are going
+very well again.  We have got some war contracts, and we are making
+money."
+
+Alice's heart beat wildly, although by an effort she appeared calm.
+
+"I wonder you have not joined the Army, Harry," she said; "every day
+there's a call for more men."
+
+"Not if I know it," replied Harry.  "At one time I did think of trying
+for a commission, but that would have been foolish: you see I might not
+have been able to have got it, and of course a man in my position could
+not go as a Tommy."
+
+"Why not?" asked Alice quickly.  "I am told that lots of men of every
+order join as privates."
+
+"No, thank you," replied Harry, with a laugh.  "I know one chap who did
+that; Edgar Burton.  Do you know him?  He joined at the beginning of
+the war, but he quickly got sick of it.  He said the life was terrible;
+he described to me how he had to wash up dishes, and scrub the floors
+of his barracks, and how he had to be pals with a lot of chaps who
+didn't know the decencies of life.  Besides, think of me on a shilling
+a day!"
+
+"Still, if your country needs you?" suggested Alice.
+
+"I am doing more important work at home," replied Harry; "they could
+not do without me at the mill.  It's all very well for boys like Tom
+Pollard, who used to be so fond of you, but for people like me it's
+different."
+
+There was a silence for a few minutes, and then Harry went on again:
+
+"Alice, you know how fond I am of you--in fact, I have loved you all my
+life.  You will marry me, won't you?"
+
+Harry was very disappointed, and not a little surprised, that Alice did
+not answer in the affirmative right away; but he had conceded with
+fairly good grace when she had asked for a few days to think about it.
+
+"It is all right," said Harry to himself as he left the house that
+night, "I am sure she means yes.  And she's a fine lass, the finest in
+Brunford."
+
+That was why Alice sat alone that night thinking.  She had promised to
+give Harry her definite reply in three days' time, and although she was
+very fond of him she could not bring herself to give him the answer he
+desired.  When he had left the house her father and mother had come
+into the room.
+
+"Well, Alice, have you fixed it up?"
+
+She shook her head, but didn't speak.
+
+"Come now, lass, you needn't be so shy.  I know he's asked you to wed
+him; he asked for my permission like a man, and then he told me he was
+going to speak to you to-night.  You can't do better, my dear.  Have
+you fixed it all up?"
+
+"No," she said.
+
+"What!" cried the father, "you don't mean to say you have been such a
+fool as to say no!"
+
+"I have said nothing as yet," was her answer.
+
+George Lister heaved a sigh of relief.  "Ay, well," he said, "it's
+perhaps a good thing not to say yes at once.  Hold him back two or
+three days and it will make him all the more eager.  When a man comes
+to me to buy cloth I never shows as 'ow I am eager to sell.  But of
+course you _will_ take him?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Alice.
+
+"Don't know!  Why don't you know?  You like him, don't you?"
+
+"I don't know, father," she replied, and then she rushed out of the
+room.
+
+"What's the meaning of this, lass?" said George Lister to his wife.
+"Has she told you anything?"
+
+"Not a word," said Mrs. Lister.
+
+"But surely she can't be such a fool as to refuse Harry!  Why, there
+isn't a better chap in Brunford!  He's an only son, and his father's
+brass will go to him when he dies."
+
+But Mrs. Lister did not speak a word; in her eyes was a far-away look,
+as though she saw something which her husband did not see.
+
+As for Alice, she sat for a long time thinking in silence.
+
+Harry's words still rang in her ears; the memory of the look on his
+face as he left her still remained.  Still she could not make up her
+mind.  Yes, she liked Harry, in a way she admired him.  He was a
+teacher in the Sunday School, he was a good business man, he was
+clever, and he was respected in the town; and yet she hesitated.
+
+Hour after hour passed away, and still she could not make up her mind.
+In spite of Harry Briarfield's words she had not forgotten the lad from
+whom she had parted months before.  Why was it?  She thought she had
+forgotten him.  He had been unworthy of her; he had taken up with a
+girl whom she despised, a coarse, vulgar girl, and she had heard since
+that Polly Powell had been walking out with a number of young men.  And
+Tom had preferred this kind of creature to her love.  Her pride had
+been wounded, her self-respect had been shocked, and yet even now,
+while she was thinking of Harry Briarfield's proposal, her mind
+reverted to the boy who had gone away as a soldier.
+
+The Town Hall clock boomed out the hour of midnight.  Alice found
+herself mechanically counting the strokes of the deep-toned bell.  Then
+she fell on her knees beside the bed, but the prayer which she had been
+wont to pray did not come to her lips.  Her thoughts were far away; she
+pictured a distant battlefield; she imagined the boom of guns; she
+heard the clash of bayonets; she thought she heard the cries of wounded
+men, too; then a prayer involuntarily came to her lips:
+
+"O God, save him!  O God, help him and protect him!"
+
+Thus it came to pass at the time Tom Pollard tried for the first time
+in many months to pray, and to formulate his distracted thoughts, Alice
+Lister was kneeling by her bedside also trying to pray.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Tom Pollard's mind was suddenly brought back to mundane things.  It was
+now nearly one o'clock in the morning, and the night was chilly; a
+breeze having sprung up, the clouds had rolled away.
+
+He distinctly heard a shout, and as far as he could make out it came
+from the German trenches, which were not far away.
+
+"Holloa!"
+
+"Holloa!" said Tom, "what is it?"  He thought one of the other men on
+patrol duty had spoken to him.
+
+"You belong to the Lancashires, don't you?"
+
+"Of course I do," replied Tom; "what of that?"  He was able to locate
+the voice now, and knew it came from a German trench.
+
+"I have got something to tell you," and the words were followed by a
+laugh.
+
+Whoever it was spoke in perfectly good English, although with a German
+accent.
+
+"I reckon it'll be lies," was Tom's reply.
+
+By this time another sentry, hearing Tom's voice, had rushed up to him.
+
+"What is it?  Who goes there?" he called out.
+
+"Listen," whispered Tom, "it's one of the Bosches speaking to me.  What
+is it?" he asked aloud.
+
+"Only this," and the German laughed as he spoke: "you Lancashires are
+going to attack us at six o'clock to-morrow morning, eleven hundred
+strong, and we're ready for you.  That's all," and again the German
+laughed.
+
+"What does he mean?" said Tom to the man who stood by his side.  "I
+know nothing about any attack.  Do you?"
+
+"I knows there's something on foot," replied the other, "but what it is
+I don't know."
+
+"Do you think we ought to tell one of the officers?"
+
+"Nay, it's not worth the trouble," was the reply; "besides, it's only a
+bit of bluff."
+
+Two hours later the English trenches were full of movement; evidently,
+as the other sentry had told Tom, something was on foot.  Orders were
+given in low, tense tones, and although it wanted some time to
+daylight, preparations were evidently being made for an attack.
+
+The words which the German had spoken weighed heavily on Tom's mind.
+Of course he was only a private, but might not the news he had received
+mean something?  The more he thought about it, the more he was
+convinced that the German who spoke to him told the truth.  Tom had no
+knowledge, and no warning, that an attack was to be made, and yet,
+within two hours from the time the German had spoken to him,
+preparations were being made for an attack.  He knew, too, that his
+battalion was eleven hundred strong, having been reinforced only two
+days before.  Seeing a young officer, he determined to speak to him and
+tell him what he had heard.
+
+"It is very funny," said the subaltern, "I can't understand it a bit;
+but it's too late now, we must go through with it."  All the same the
+subaltern found his way to his Colonel.
+
+Precisely at six o'clock that morning the attack was made.  From what
+Tom learnt afterwards, it had been conceived and prepared for in
+secret.  None but those in high command had any knowledge whatever of
+it.  But evidently the enemy knew.  As the German soldier who had
+warned Tom said, "they were ready for them," and when the attack was
+made they were met by a storm of bullets.  Indeed the whole adventure
+would have been disastrous had not the subaltern to whom Tom had spoken
+reported the conversation to a superior officer, who had hurriedly
+given orders for a number of the Black Watch to be brought up.  As it
+was, although our loss of life was heavy, we did not have to yield any
+ground.
+
+When the affair came to an end the Colonel of Tom's battalion sent for
+him.
+
+"Now, my man," said the Colonel, "tell me exactly what you heard."
+
+Tom told his story straightforwardly.  It was little he had to say, and
+although the Colonel cross-questioned him very closely he was not able
+to shake him.
+
+"This is very strange," said the Colonel to the Major when Tom had
+gone; "no one breathed a word about our plans, and as you know I laid
+everything before the General at the Divisional Headquarters.  They
+were good plans too, and if the Germans had not got hold of them we
+should have made a big haul.  What is the meaning of it?"
+
+The Major shook his head.
+
+"It was the biggest thing we had planned for months," went on the
+Colonel, "and I can't tell you how sick I am.  We had everything in our
+favour too.  There must be some treachery somewhere!"
+
+"Where can the treachery be?" asked the Major.  "You know what the
+Staff General said.  It was to be kept absolutely quiet; the men were
+to know nothing about it until an hour before the time, and all the
+junior officers were to be kept in darkness.  You know how careful the
+General is too."
+
+"But the fact is there, man!" cried the Colonel, "we have the evidence
+of this lad, who could not possibly have been mistaken.  He seemed an
+intelligent lad too; you saw how closely I cross-questioned him.  Who
+is he?"
+
+"I will send for his sergeant," was the Major's reply.
+
+A few minutes later Sergeant Ashworth appeared on the scene.  It was
+the sergeant to whom Tom had spoken when he first came to Ypres.
+
+"Tell me what you know of Private Pollard," said the Colonel.
+
+Sergeant Ashworth spoke freely about Tom.
+
+"A smart lad, sir," he said, "intelligent, and well-behaved.  I spoke
+to him about whether he would like his lance-corporal's stripe, but he
+didn't seem to want it.  He would make a very good non-commissioned
+officer, sir."
+
+"He seems a lad of some education," replied the Colonel.
+
+"Yes, sir, a lot of those Lancashire lads are very well educated; they
+are quick and sensible too, and Pollard is one of the best of them.  My
+opinion of him is that he is utterly trustworthy and intelligent."
+
+"Now then, Blundell," and the Colonel turned to the Major, "what do you
+think?"
+
+"Of course we must report it to Headquarters at once," replied the
+Major, "but for the life of me I can't see through it."
+
+The incident as far as the men were concerned was simply regarded as an
+affair which had missed fire.  How, they didn't know.  But there it
+was; a number of their comrades had been killed, and many more had been
+wounded.  Still it was what they had come to the Front for.  Many of
+their attacks had failed, and no one seemed to know why.
+
+As may be imagined, Tom thought a great deal about it.  He knew by the
+Colonel's questions, and by the tone of his voice, that the affair was
+regarded as serious.  Tom, although not brilliant, had a good deal of
+common sense.  He was able to put two and two together, and his
+Lancashire gumption led him to see further than many gave him credit
+for.  He kept his own counsel, but he had become alert to the
+finger-tips.
+
+Altogether that night was the most wonderful in Tom's history.  In a
+way he could not understand, it formed an epoch in his life; it
+affected him in many ways.  From that time he felt the reality of God.
+It was not an impression which came to him for a moment and then passed
+away, it was something which became permanent.  God was a personal
+Power ever present with him.  He was not simply some great Eternal
+Abstraction, but He was a great loving Father, revealed through Jesus
+Christ His Son.  All the teaching he had received in the Sunday School,
+all the addresses he had heard at the Y.M.C.A. huts, came back to him.
+He formulated no theories, he tried to shape no creeds, but there
+seemed to be a Spiritual Deposit in his life to which he had hitherto
+been a stranger.  He was a child of the Great Eternal Father, and Jesus
+Christ had told him what that Father was like.  He said nothing about
+it to any one, it was not something to talk about.  To Tom it was very
+real, and in a vital sense the knowledge made him a new man; a new life
+pulsated through his being.  What it was he could not tell, did not
+even care.  But it was there.  Indeed he had a greater love for his
+life than ever, but he was no longer afraid.
+
+It was not until two days later that Tom received news that Alec
+McPhail was among the wounded and had been removed to a hospital some
+little distance from Ypres, on the road leading to Cassel.  He had seen
+but little of McPhail since he had come to France, as the Scotchman's
+battalion of the Black Watch occupied the trench some three miles from
+where the Lancashires were situated.  They had met occasionally near
+Ypres, but had had little to say to each other.  When Tom heard he was
+wounded, however, he determined to go and see him.
+
+"He got it bad," said a friend of McPhail's; "they told me at the
+dressing station that he was in no fit condition to be removed, but
+they had to do it."
+
+"You don't mean to say he's going to die!" said Tom.
+
+"Nay, I don't think it's so bad as that," replied the other, "but he's
+got it bad."
+
+When Tom arrived at the little town where the hospital was situated he
+immediately asked for permission to see the wounded man.
+
+The nurse shook her head.  "I doubt if you can," she replied.
+
+"Is he very bad?" asked Tom.
+
+The nurse nodded.  "Very bad indeed," she replied; "he was wounded the
+other morning when the attack was made.  We seem to have lost a number
+of men."
+
+"Yes," said Tom, "I was there and I heard that the Black Watch were
+called up."
+
+For a few seconds there was a silence between them, while Tom scanned
+the nurse's face closely.
+
+"Do you mean to say he's going to die?" asked Tom, and his voice
+trembled a little.
+
+The nurse nodded.  "I am afraid so," she said.  "He's too ill to see
+any one, and I doubt if he would know you."
+
+"I am sure he would like to see me," said Tom pleadingly; "you see we
+were pals in Lancashire, and we saw a goodish bit of each other while
+we were in the camp in Surrey.  I would like to see him if I could, I
+would really."
+
+"Well, I shall have to speak to the doctor," was the nurse's reply.
+"Will you wait here?  I won't be long before I'm back."
+
+A curious feeling came into Tom's heart.  He did not know very much
+about McPhail, but he recalled the conversations that they had had in
+Lancashire, and he vividly remembered the night before they had started
+for the Front.  McPhail had been very much wrought upon then.  Tom had
+watched his face while they sat together in the Y.M.C.A. hut when the
+speaker was telling them about the deep needs of their lives.
+McPhail's face had become set and stern, although his lips quivered.
+Afterwards when they had gone to the canteen the Scotchman had uttered
+words which Tom never forgot.
+
+He wondered now if McPhail had meant what he said, wondered too if he
+had realised the same experiences which he, Tom, had passed through.
+It seemed awful that this tall, stalwart Scotchman was going to die.
+Why should men be killed in this way?  Why should that lonely
+Scotchwoman, McPhail's mother, have to suffer because of German sins?
+
+The nurse came back to him.  "He wants to see you," she said, "and the
+doctor says he may.  He's been asking for you."
+
+"Asking for me?" queried Tom.
+
+"Yes, I didn't know anything about it.  He's been telling another nurse
+that he wanted to see you.  Pollard is your name, isn't it?"
+
+A few seconds later Tom was admitted into the room where a number of
+men lay.  McPhail was in a corner of the room partially hidden from the
+rest.  The Scotchman gave Tom a smile of recognition as he came up to
+him.
+
+"I felt sure ye'd come," he whispered.  "They told me I couldna get at
+ye, but I had a feeling that I should see ye before I died."
+
+Tom hesitated a second before replying.
+
+"It may not be as bad as that," he said, "lots of chaps who have looked
+worse than you have got better."
+
+"Nay," said McPhail, "I'm pipped, I have got to go.  I'm not in any
+pain, though," he added quickly, "the doctor saw to that, but it willna
+be long afore I'm gone.  Tom, I would like ye to write a letter to my
+mither.  As I told you, she's a godly woman, and I've grieved her sair."
+
+"I will do anything you ask me, McPhail," was Tom's reply.  "Ay, but
+don't give up; you may get well yet, and have another smack at the
+Germans."
+
+"Nay," replied the other, "I have done my bit.  I would like to live a
+bit longer, but there, it's a' for the best.  I'm not afraid, Tom; do
+you remember that night before we came out here, when we left the
+canteen together?"
+
+"Ay, I remember."
+
+"I settled it that night," said the Scotchman.  "You remember me
+tellin' ye that I was always a thinking sort o' laddie?  Weel, when I
+got away by mysel' that night I made up my mind, and I just accepted
+the way o' salvation, which my mither explained to me when I were a wee
+laddie.  And it worked, Tom!  It worked!  I laughed at releegion when I
+was wi' you in Lancashire; but man, there's nothing else that stands by
+a man.  Ay, and it works, it does.  I want ye to write to my mither and
+tell her this.  Tell her that I gave my life to the Lord on the night
+before I left England, that I have not touched a drap of drink since
+then, and that I died with the love of God in my heart.  Will you tell
+her, Tom?"
+
+"Ay," said Tom, "I will."
+
+"Write down her address, will ye?"
+
+Tom's hand trembled and the tears coursed down his face as he wrote the
+address of the woman who lived away in the Highlands of Scotland.
+
+"It will comfort her," said McPhail when this was done.  "It will make
+her feel that her teaching and her example were not in vain."
+
+"Ay, but you must not die, you must not die," sobbed Tom.
+
+"Dinna talk like that, lad," said the Scotchman.  "I have been thinking
+it all oot sin' I have been here, and it's richt.  It's a'richt.
+Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, and you can't
+purge away iniquity without paying the price: I am a part of the price,
+Tom.  The Son of God died that others might live.  That's not only a
+fact, it is a principle.  Thousands of us are dying that others may
+live.  Christ died that He might give life and liberty to the world,
+and in a way that is what we are doing.  I can't richtly explain it,
+it's too deep for me; but I see glimpses of the truth.  Tom, have you
+learnt the secret yourself?"
+
+"I think I have," replied Tom.  "On the night of the attack I was on
+sentry duty, and while I was alone I--I prayed.  I could not say it in
+words like, they wouldn't come, but I am sure I got the grip of it, and
+I feel as though God spoke to me."
+
+"That's it, lad, that's it!" said the dying man eagerly.  "Tom, do ye
+think ye could pray now?"
+
+By this time the room had become very silent.  The men who had been
+talking freely were evidently listening to that which I have tried to
+describe, but the two lads were not conscious of the presence of others.
+
+"I don't know as I can pray in words," said Tom, "somehow prayer seems
+too big to put into words.  I just think of God and remember the love
+of Jesus Christ.  But happen I can sing if you can bear it."
+
+"Ay, lad, sing a hymn," said the Scotchman.  Tom knelt by the dying
+man's bed and closed his eyes.  For some time nothing would come to
+him; his mind seemed a blank.  Then he found himself singing the hymn
+he had often sung as a boy.
+
+  Jesu, Lover of my soul,
+    Let me to Thy Bosom fly;
+  While the nearer waters roll,
+    While the tempest still is high;
+  Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
+    Till the storm of life is past,
+  Safe into the haven guide,
+    O receive my soul at last.
+
+
+"Ay, that's it, that's it," said the Scotchman, "it's a hymn I dinna
+ken, but it goes to the heart of things.  Man, can ye recite to me the
+twenty-third Psalm?"
+
+"Nay," replied Tom, "I forget which it is."
+
+"That's because you were born and reared in a godless country," replied
+the Scotchman.  "No Scottish lad ever forgets the twenty-third Psalm,
+especially those who canna thole the paraphrases.  'The Lord is my
+Shepherd,' surely ye ken that, Tom?"
+
+"Ay," replied Tom eagerly, "I know that."
+
+Then the two lads recited the psalm together:
+
+"_The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want._
+
+"_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside
+still waters._
+
+"_He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for
+His Name's sake._
+
+"_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
+fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort
+me._"
+
+"Stop there!" said the Scotchman.  "That's eno'.  It's a' there, Tom;
+that's why I'm not afraid now.  I'm in the valley of the shadow of
+death, but I dinna fear: the Lord is wi' me, and He's gotten hold of my
+hand."
+
+"You must go now," said the nurse, coming up, "the doctor says you must
+not stay any longer."
+
+"Good-bye," said the Scotchman, with a smile, "it's a' richt; you'll
+tell my mither, won't you?"
+
+"Ay, I will," said Tom.
+
+"And--and Tom," said the Scotchman almost eagerly, "although I shall be
+dead, I shall be near you, and mebbe----  Ay, but we shall meet in a
+better world, Tom.  It's a' richt."
+
+As Tom passed through the room where the sick and wounded men lay, he
+noticed that they looked towards him longingly, wonderingly.  The
+atmosphere of the place seemed charged with something sacred.  At that
+moment Tom knew the meaning of the word Sacrament.
+
+The next day the Scotchman died.  The nurse was with him to the very
+last, and just before he breathed his last breath he lifted his eyes to
+her with a smile.
+
+"It's a' richt, nurse," he said, "what my mither taught me was true
+down to the very foundations."
+
+"Ay, it was grand, it was grand!" said Tom Pollard when he heard the
+news.  "It doesn't seem like death at all, it was just victory,
+victory!"
+
+After that Tom did his work with a new light in his eyes.  It seemed as
+though his visit to the Scotchman had removed the last remaining cloud
+which had hung in the sky of his faith.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"Yes," said Colonel Blount to Major Blundell, "there's treachery
+around; we may as well face it."
+
+"A man must be as blind as a bat not to see that," was the Major's
+reply, "but where is it?"
+
+"That's the question.  But we cannot close our eyes to facts.  Time
+after time our plans have been discovered, and not only discovered, but
+evidently revealed to the enemy.  I've talked the matter over with
+General Withers, and while he agrees with me that these constant
+mishaps are strange, he cannot see where the treachery can come in.
+Why, man, he has even guarded himself against his own staff officers!
+He keeps his plans to himself, and only makes them known to those who
+have to carry them out; he's taken every precaution a man can take, and
+you know what a keen fellow Withers is!  Yet before we can strike our
+blow, the Huns get wind of our intentions!"
+
+The Colonel sighed as he spoke.  The constant mishaps were getting on
+his nerves; he felt that his brother officers regarded him as
+incapable.  He wondered sometimes whether he would be relieved of his
+command, so unsuccessful had he been.
+
+And yet he had been known as a capable, far-seeing officer, and earlier
+in the war his name had been mentioned in the dispatches.  He had been
+spoken of in the General Headquarters, too, as an officer of more than
+ordinary ability, and yet for the last few weeks everything he had
+touched seemed to miscarry.  There had been no great set-back, but
+there had been no advance worth speaking of.  A spirit of restlessness
+and suspicion was felt in the whole regiment.  It seemed to them as
+though there was an Achan in the camp, yet no one knew who the traitor
+might be.
+
+Of course all these misadventures might have been owing to unfortunate
+accidents, or because the plans of the British officers were not well
+thought out.  All the same Colonel Blount could not understand it.  He
+was an old soldier, he had served in India, had been through the Boer
+War, and he felt sure that the plans he had submitted to the Divisional
+Headquarters had been sound and good.  He had been complimented upon
+them too, and yet they had ended in failure, and he had narrowly
+escaped disaster.
+
+"If I could see a glimmer of light anywhere," said Colonel Blount to
+his senior major, "I wouldn't mind.  But I can't.  Only General Withers
+at the Divisional Headquarters, the Brigadier, you, and myself knew the
+details of our last scheme, and yet the Bosches got wind of them.  It's
+maddening, maddening!"
+
+"Whoever the blighter is he's got brains," said the Major.
+
+"Ah, here are two staff officers coming now!"
+
+For some time after this Colonel Blount was more than ordinarily
+active.  He was constantly in communication with the commanding
+officers of other battalions, and there were frequent journeys to
+Headquarters; but no one knew what was on foot.  The presence of staff
+officers was constantly noted, and all felt that some big action was to
+take place, but when or in what way no one knew.  Even the Tommies in
+the trenches felt that something of more than ordinary importance was
+in the air, and they discussed it one with another.  They, too, could
+not help realising that things had been going bad with them, and that,
+to say the least of it, the Germans were not getting the worst of it.
+
+Tom Pollard felt this more keenly than any one.  He had been the man
+who had been questioned by the Colonel, and he had more than once
+fancied that he had been specially watched.  Indeed Tom had determined
+to keep both ears and eyes well open, and if possible to do a little
+detective work on his own account.  He entertained suspicions too,
+which he dared not breathe to any one.  They seemed so wild and
+unfounded that they would not bear the test of a minute's careful
+thought, and yet they constantly haunted him.
+
+Of course he knew nothing of what was being settled between the
+officers; he had not the slightest idea of the nature of the plans
+which had miscarried, he like the others only had a vague feeling that
+something was wrong.
+
+One day, while near the canal which runs round the foot of the old
+ramparts of the city, he noticed that the Brigadier and Colonel Blount
+were talking with two staff officers; one of the latter was a general,
+while the other was a captain.  Tom felt sure that the captain was
+Waterman, whom he had known in Brunford.
+
+Tom was reclining near a dangerous corner, close by the Potijze Road
+which runs straight to the beginning of the British communication
+trench.  German shells were constantly screeching their way through the
+air, and falling in various parts of the old town; but by this time he
+had become so accustomed to these ominous sounds that he had almost
+ceased to take notice of them.  There was only one chance in a hundred
+that one of them might fall near him, and as he had been so far
+fortunate, he, like hundreds of others in a similar condition, thought
+he might escape altogether.  Besides, although he stood near the
+dangerous crossing he was in a sheltered position, and as the day was
+hot he sat under the shade of a wall and looked out on the ruins of the
+old city.
+
+A few seconds later the group of officers passed close by him, and Tom
+immediately rose and saluted.
+
+"Oh, this is the man," said Colonel Blount as he caught sight of Tom.
+"Come here, Pollard."
+
+Tom did as he was commanded, not without some fluttering around the
+region of his heart.
+
+"Now, Private Pollard," said Colonel Blount, "repeat what you told me
+some time ago."
+
+Again Tom found himself submitted to a keen cross-examination after he
+had told his story, and he noticed that all the officers, including
+Waterman, listened very attentively.
+
+"There's something wrong," said Tom to himself; "they tried to shake
+me, but they failed; I know what I heard well enough."  And then he
+watched them as they quickly crossed the dangerous corner, and hurried
+into a sheltered position.
+
+That same night, after the staff officers had returned to their
+Headquarters, Tom, who was passing the Water Tower, saw, much to his
+surprise, the retreating form of a staff officer.  Of course this might
+mean nothing--he was utterly ignorant of the movements of those above
+him; all the same he felt as though hammers were beating against his
+forehead, so excited was he.
+
+The next night Tom's company was ordered to relieve a number of men who
+had been a good many hours in the trenches, and just as the shadows of
+evening were falling they crept along the Potijze Road towards the
+communication trench.  An hour later Tom had taken up his post in the
+zig-zag cutting with a feeling that something of importance was going
+to happen.
+
+Hour after hour passed away, and still Tom wondered at what he had seen
+and heard.  He had no definite data upon which to go, no tangible
+reason for his suspicions, and yet with that bulldog tenacity
+characteristic of the sharp Lancashire boy he kept thinking of what he
+ought to do.  Presently he heard a voice which he recognised; it was
+that of Major Blundell, in reply to something that had been said to him.
+
+"Yes, yes," said the Major, "I quite understand."
+
+"You are sure you have the instructions plain?"
+
+"Perfectly sure."
+
+"Then I will get along here and speak to Captain Winfield."
+
+"Let me come with you," said Major Blundell.
+
+"Oh no, certainly not.  I know the way perfectly well.  Good night,
+Blundell."
+
+"Good night, Waterman."
+
+It was a fairly bright night, although a few clouds hung in the sky.
+Tom heard approaching footsteps, and then hid himself in a sharp corner
+of the trench while Waterman passed him.  Tom followed noiselessly, all
+the time keeping out of sight of the man he watched.  This he was able
+to do with comparative ease, owing to the zig-zag nature of the trench.
+Tom knew that at this particular point they were only a little more
+than a hundred yards from the German lines, and that the German snipers
+were constantly on the watch for any one who might happen to show
+himself above the sand-bags.  He had not gone more than twenty yards
+when he saw Waterman stop and look around.
+
+Tom stopped almost instinctively, still hidden by a sharp turn in the
+trench.  The light was fairly good, and Tom's eyes were keen.  He saw
+that the man had adopted a listening attitude.  That particular part of
+the trench was for the moment deserted, although any moment a patrol
+might appear.  Evidently Waterman was keenly watchful; he looked each
+way with evident care, and listened attentively.  Then he took a piece
+of white paper from his pocket which seemed to be attached to something
+heavy.  Even in the dim light Tom saw the white gleam of the paper
+which Waterman had taken from his pocket.  Quick as a thought Waterman
+stepped on to the ledge of the trench, and then, leaning over the
+sand-bags, threw the paper towards the German lines.  This done he
+stepped back and hurried quickly away.
+
+For a second the lad was almost paralysed; then the meaning of it came
+to him like a flash of light, and before Waterman had proceeded half a
+dozen yards Tom had sprung upon him.
+
+"What do you mean, fellow?  Get away from me!" and Waterman struggled
+to free himself.
+
+But Tom held on like grim death.  "You are a German spy, that's what
+you are!" he said hoarsely.  "A mean, skulking German spy!"
+
+"This will mean death for you, my man," said Waterman, still
+struggling.  "You are enough of a soldier to know that for a private to
+strike an officer in war time means court martial and death."
+
+"It will not be I who will be court martialled," panted Tom.  "Ah, you
+swine!" for at that moment Waterman had pulled out his pistol, and had
+not Tom struck his arm a bullet would have gone through his brain.
+
+"I say, what's this?"
+
+"A German spy!" cried Tom hoarsely, "he tried to shoot me, sir!"
+
+"A German spy!" said the new-comer.  "You must be mad."
+
+"I am not mad, sir.  I saw him."
+
+"He _is_ mad!" said Waterman.  "I'm here on duty and the fellow
+attacked me.  Pull him off, Lieutenant Penrose, he's strangling me!"
+
+Tom recognised the new-comer although he had not seen him for months.
+It was Penrose who had been with him in Lancashire, and who had
+received his commission immediately after his arrival in Surrey.
+
+"You know me, sir!" cried Tom, still holding on to the other; "you know
+I would not do a thing without reason, sir!  Make him a prisoner, he's
+been giving information to the enemy!"
+
+"Prove it!" said Waterman.
+
+"Yes, I will prove it!" panted Tom.  "Make him a prisoner, sir; I tell
+you he's been communicating with the enemy.  I saw him not a minute
+ago!"
+
+"What has he done?" asked Penrose.
+
+"I saw him take a piece of paper from his pocket which was fastened to
+something heavy; then he threw it over the sand-bags towards the German
+lines.  I tell you, sir, I saw him do it!  Make him a prisoner."
+
+By this time others had come up, and Waterman, whom Tom had released
+somewhat, laughed uneasily.  "He's either a fool or a madman," he said;
+"he attacked me without a moment's warning, and without the slightest
+reason."
+
+"Hold him fast, sir," cried Tom.  "I'll soon prove to you whether it's
+without the slightest reason.  Promise me you won't let him go, sir?"
+
+Penrose, who had grasped the situation, replied quickly: "Of course I
+shall not let him go, but you must prove your accusation, Pollard.
+Where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to get the paper he threw towards the German trenches,"
+cried Tom.  "That's it, sir, hold him fast!"
+
+Tom was so excited that he had forgotten all about military rules and
+regulations.  He acted just as he would have acted had he caught any
+one doing an outrageous deed before the war.
+
+Waterman began to shout aloud, but Penrose was too quick for him.  He
+placed his hand on the other's mouth, and said quietly, "No you don't,
+sir."
+
+"Do you know what you are doing, Lieutenant?" said Waterman.  "You are
+attacking your superior officer.  Take away your men and let me go at
+once."
+
+"Not until I get at the bottom of this," said Penrose quietly.
+
+"I tell you the man is either a madman or a fool."  Waterman was
+stammering painfully now.
+
+"That will have to be proved," and Penrose gripped his arm tightly.
+"That's it, Jackson; take his revolver.  As it happens," he went on to
+Waterman, "I know Pollard; he's a level-headed lad, and he would not
+have done this without reason.  Ah, Major Blundell, will you come here
+a minute, sir," for by this time the Major, having heard the sound of
+voices, had rushed up.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+Penrose quickly told him what had taken place, and the young officer's
+words came like a bombshell upon this steady-going and rather dull
+officer.  If it were true, all the mystery of the last few weeks was
+cleared up.  But he could not believe it.  Waterman was regarded as one
+of the most capable and trustworthy of the staff officers.  He had
+shown zeal beyond the ordinary, and his intelligence and quickness of
+perception had more than once been remarked upon; indeed he had been
+mentioned in the dispatches as one who had rendered valuable service to
+the British Army; and now for an accusation like this to come fairly
+staggered the well-meaning faithful officer.
+
+The whole affair had been so sudden too.  Only a couple of minutes
+before, he had been discussing plans with Waterman, who had urged him
+to be more than ordinarily careful in carrying out the instructions
+from Headquarters, and yet here he was accused of communicating with
+the enemy, and seen by a trustworthy soldier to throw a missile towards
+the enemy's lines.
+
+"Where is Pollard?" asked Major Blundell, for Tom had disappeared.
+
+"He's gone to secure the paper he saw Captain Waterman throw," was
+Penrose's reply.
+
+A second later Major Blundell was leaning over the sand-bags, looking
+across the "No-man's-Land" towards the enemy's trenches.
+
+By this time a number of other men had gathered; as if by magic the
+news had flown, and for a moment even discipline was in abeyance.
+
+As will be easily seen, Tom's work was not easy, and the space of
+ground between the English and the German lines was dangerous in the
+highest degree.  Any one seen there was a target for both English and
+German rifles.  But Tom did not think of this, indeed the thought of
+danger was at that time utterly absent from him.  Just as at times the
+mind has subconscious powers, so there are times when the body is so
+much under the influence of excitement that ordinary laws do not seem
+to operate.  At that time Tom seemed to be living hours in seconds,
+because he instinctively felt that great issues depended upon what he
+wanted to do.  If he were right in his conclusions, as he felt sure he
+was, Waterman, who was naturally in the confidence of his superior
+officers, would have valuable information to impart.  It came upon him
+too, like a flash of lightning, that Waterman had uttered a peculiar
+cry as he threw the missile across the intervening space.  That was
+doubtless a prearranged signal between him and the Germans.  If they
+had heard it, as was more than probable, one of their men would
+naturally be sent to find the paper.  In that case the plans and
+arrangements which the English officers had made would be in the hands
+of the Germans.
+
+Tom had noted the spot on which Waterman had stood when he threw his
+missile, and had also noticed the direction in which it had flown, at
+least he thought he had.  But when he was in the open space he was not
+so sure.  As fortune would have it, this particular bit of ground was
+not wired, and he moved without difficulty.
+
+Tom looked around, bewildered; nowhere could he see the gleaming white
+paper which Waterman had thrown--in fact, nothing was plainly visible
+to him.  He saw, dimly, the outline of the German trenches; saw the
+mounds of earth with the sandbags on their summits, but nothing else.
+A hundred yards or so is no great distance, but it is difficult to
+locate a small object in such a space at night.  He could not tell how
+far Waterman had been able to throw the stone, or how near it might be
+to the German trench.  But his eyes were young and keen; every faculty
+was more than ordinarily tense and active, and Tom was in deadly
+earnest.  He had started to do this thing, and he would do it.
+
+Presently he saw a white spot on the ground, and he felt as though
+hammers were beating against his temples.  Crouching low, he made his
+way towards it, but he had only gone a few steps when he discerned the
+form of a man, apparently with the same object in view, creeping from a
+German trench.  Like lightning Tom made a dash for it, but the other
+was nearer than he, and by the time he had reached it the German had
+secured it.  As far as he could judge they were about half-way between
+the two lines, and he knew the danger of the task he had set himself.
+In a vague way he wondered whether the Germans had seen him, he also
+wondered whether the British were watching him.  But this did not
+trouble him much; the one thought which filled his mind was that he
+must at all hazards secure the paper which Waterman had thrown.
+
+Without hesitating a second, and without making a sound, he threw
+himself upon the German and well-nigh bore him to the ground.  Then
+followed a hand-to-hand struggle, the details of which Tom was never
+clear about.  As a lad he had been a football player and had made good
+muscle; he had played half-back for the Brunford football club for
+several seasons, and although he was by no means a giant, he was well
+built and strong.  During the time he had been in the Army, too, every
+muscle in his body had been developed to its fullest capacity: his
+severe training told in his favour now, and Tom never dreamt of giving
+in.  On the other hand, however, the German was a big, heavy man, and
+he also had undergone a severe training.
+
+Tom felt his antagonist weakening; he knew it by his gurgling breath
+and his weakening grasp.  He himself was also well-nigh spent, although
+he was not quite exhausted.  Then, fearing lest the apparent weakness
+of his opponent was only a ruse by which he might gain advantage, Tom
+determined on an old football trick.  A second later the German's
+shoulder blade snapped like a match, and Tom, seizing the paper, rushed
+back towards the English lines.
+
+He had only fifty yards to cover, but such a fifty yards!  His legs
+seemed of lead, too, while his head was swimming.  No sooner had he
+commenced to stagger back, than the Germans opened fire on him; a
+hundred bullets whistled by him, while he heard yells of rage coming
+from the enemy's trenches.
+
+He felt his strength leaving him, his head was swimming, his breath
+came in short, difficult gasps, and he knew he was wounded.  He
+suffered no great pain, but by the burning sensations in his left arm
+and in his right shoulder he knew that the German bullets must have
+struck him.  More than once he stumbled and fell.
+
+He felt himself going blind; he heard cries from the English trenches
+which seemed like cheers, but he could see nothing, and the cries
+seemed to be a long, long way off.  Still he struggled on.  "I must get
+in!  I must get in!" was the thought which possessed his bewildered
+brain.  Then he fell heavily; after that all became dark.
+
+When he returned to consciousness it seemed to him as though he saw a
+number of ghostly faces around him.  He had a sort of feeling that he
+was dead, and that those faces belonged to the spirit world; but in a
+few seconds they became clearer.
+
+"That's better, Tom, that's better!  You are all right.  You did it,
+lad!  You did it!"
+
+"Stand back there, and give him air.  Heavens!  There hasn't been a
+braver thing done by any man in the Army!"
+
+He heard all this, but not clearly.  They seemed to be stray sentences,
+uttered by many voices.  But it didn't matter; only one thing mattered.
+Had he done what he had set out to do?
+
+"Have you got it?" he gasped.
+
+"Got it!  I should think we have."  It was Major Blundell who spoke.
+"It's all right, Pollard, you've done the trick."
+
+"Have I, sir?" said Tom.  "I--I feel very strange."
+
+"You will soon get over it, you are only pumped!"
+
+"Ay," laughed another, and the voice was as sweet music to Tom, "I've
+seen thee worse nor this i' the Brunford Cup Tie match."
+
+"That thee, Nick?" he said, lapsing into the Brunford vernacular, which
+he had been trying to correct lately.
+
+"Ay, Tom, it's me; tha'st done a good neet's work to-neet."
+
+Tom's brain was clearer now; he knew where he was; knew, too, that he
+had succeeded.  Something was still hammering at his temples, and his
+head was aching terribly, but he didn't mind; his heart was light.
+
+"You have done well, Pollard."  It was Major Blundell who spoke.
+
+"Was what I got any good, sir?"
+
+"Good!  I should think it was."
+
+"And Captain Waterman, have you got him?"
+
+"That's all right, Pollard, he's safe enough," replied the Major.
+
+"Thank you, sir," said Tom, "I don't care now."
+
+What happened after that Tom didn't remember.  He had a confused idea
+that he was carried down a long line of trenches, and that he heard
+cheering words during his journey.  But nothing was plain to him,
+except a burning sensation in his left arm and in his right shoulder;
+for the rest he was faint, sick, and weary.
+
+"You are feeling better now, are you not, Pollard?"  It was the doctor
+who spoke.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am feeling all right," replied Tom; "there is not much the
+matter with me, is there?"
+
+"You are simply a miracle," replied the doctor, "only a couple of flesh
+wounds, that's all.  You have lost a great deal of blood, of course,
+but you will soon be as fit as a fiddle again.  I wonder that a hundred
+bullets did not go through you!"
+
+"They came mighty near," was Tom's reply.
+
+"You must be removed from here at once," said the doctor, "this
+region's too unhealthy for you."
+
+An hour later Tom found himself away from the screech of shells.
+
+As he reflected afterwards, it seemed to him a miracle that he had not
+been killed.  No sooner had he mastered the German and seized the paper
+than bullets showered upon him like rain, and yet beyond these two
+slight flesh wounds he was wholly untouched.  It was true he was very
+stiff and sore, but he knew that he would soon be as well as ever.
+
+On the evening of the same day Colonel Blount came to see him.
+
+"Pollard, my lad," said the colonel, "I felt I must come to see you.
+You have rendered the British Army and your country a great service,
+and you will get your reward."
+
+"Thank you, sir, but I never thought about reward," said Tom simply.
+
+"I'm sure you didn't," replied the colonel, "but this job's not at an
+end yet, my lad."
+
+"No, sir," said Tom, mistaking his meaning, "we have got a stiff job
+before we lick the Germans."
+
+"I didn't mean that," replied the colonel.  "I mean this Waterman
+business is not at an end yet."
+
+"No, sir," said Tom, "of course you will shoot him."
+
+"He deserves a worse death than that," replied the Colonel grimly, "but
+you will have to give evidence against him."
+
+"Yes, sir," replied Tom.
+
+"Will you be well enough to come to-morrow night?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The Colonel knew he was not acting according to strict regimental rules
+and regulations in speaking to a private in this fashion, but it was no
+ordinary case, and Colonel Blount was not a man to be tied down to
+military etiquette.  Private though Tom Pollard was, he had rendered,
+as he had said, a signal service, not only to the Army, but to the
+British Nation.
+
+The next evening Tom found himself in a large room amongst a number of
+officers, and standing at one corner, carefully guarded, was Waterman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The evidence against Waterman was so clear, so overwhelming, that there
+was not the slightest doubt about the verdict which would be passed
+upon him.  He had been caught practically red-handed in his deed of
+treachery; but this was not all.  Tom Pollard's action had led to a
+number of other facts coming to light.  He had by many cunning devices
+been in communication with the enemy; he had constantly made known the
+plans which he had learnt at the Divisional Headquarters, and had thus
+prepared the Germans for many of the attacks which we had made.
+
+Tom could not help being impressed by the fact that even although
+Waterman's guilt was as clear as daylight, it was the evident desire of
+those who tried him to act fairly, and even generously, towards him.
+Everything that could be said in his favour was carefully listened to,
+and noted; and on the faces of more than one present was a look of
+concern almost amounting to pain.  This, however, did not hide the
+truth that every man regarded him with horror, almost amounting to
+loathing.  They respected an enemy who fought openly and fairly, but
+for a man who was a staff officer in the British Army and who
+consequently learnt many of the plans of that Army; for a man who had
+taken the oath to be faithful to his King and Country, and yet to act
+as he had acted, was ignominy too vile for expression.
+
+But Waterman seemed to have no shame, no sense of guilt; he uttered no
+word of regret, but stood erect and almost motionless.  His face was
+hard and set, in his eyes was a steely glitter; it seemed as though he
+defied his judges to do their worst, and to mock at their evident
+disgust.
+
+Tom gave his evidence clearly, and without any waste of words.
+
+"You knew him before you went into the Army, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir," replied Tom.
+
+"Tell us where."
+
+Whereupon Tom told of Waterman's association with him in Brunford, and
+of the conversations he had had with the prisoner.
+
+"I didn't quite understand at the time," said Tom, "why he seemed so
+sure of the Germans getting the best of it.  He seemed to be glad when
+he told me of the tremendous strength of the German army, and the
+preparations they had made.  He said he had been to Germany to school,
+and had lived there a long time; that was how he came to know so much
+about it.  I could never quite make it out how an Englishman who loved
+his country could be so sure that the Germans would win.  Besides, he
+didn't talk about it as though it would be a calamity, but something he
+would be proud of; but I don't know that I thought much of it at the
+time, especially when he told me he was going to receive a commission
+in our Army; but later on, when I found out the Germans knew what we
+were going to do, I wondered how they'd found out, and that led me to
+put one thing to another."
+
+This was not strict evidence, and the officers knew it, but they
+allowed Tom to tell his story his own way.
+
+"That was why I determined to watch him," went on Tom, "and--well, sir,
+that was how things turned out as they did."
+
+When Tom's evidence came to an end he was told to retire.  The lad was
+sorely grieved at this, because he would have liked to remain to the
+end; but after all, he was only a private, and he was there simply to
+give his evidence.
+
+"Shooting's too good for him," thought Tom as he left the room.  "What
+a look he did give me!  If a look could murder a man I should not be
+alive now!"
+
+"Now then," said the President to Waterman, when Tom had gone, "what
+have you got to say for yourself?"
+
+"Nothing," replied Waterman.  He was no longer respectful or polite.
+His every word suggested insolence.
+
+"You admit, then, that you are guilty of the charges that have been
+brought against you?"
+
+Waterman shrugged his shoulders scornfully.
+
+"You admit that you, an officer in the British Army, have given away
+your country's secrets and become an ally to the enemy?"
+
+Waterman laughed.  "I have simply tried to serve my own country," was
+his reply, "the country which will soon conquer yours."
+
+Every eye was fixed upon him; the man's brazen confession almost
+staggered them.
+
+"Then you are a German!"
+
+"Yes," replied Waterman proudly.
+
+The President looked at him keenly, and then turned towards some papers.
+
+"I see that you claim English birth, that you were educated at an
+English public school, and that you went into an English house of
+business."
+
+"That doesn't make me cease to be a German," replied Waterman.
+
+"I find, too, that you boasted of being an Englishman."
+
+"That helped me to do my work," was the jeering answer.
+
+For some seconds there was a deathly silence save for the rustle of the
+papers which the President read.  Each man who sat in the room listened
+almost breathlessly; each was so intensely interested that no one broke
+the silence.
+
+"My father and my mother are German," went on Waterman; "when they
+lived in Germany they spelt their name German fashion, and there were
+two n's, not one, at the end of my name; but when they were in England
+they thought it would serve them best to spell it English fashion.  But
+they never ceased being Germans.  When I was a boy I was taught to love
+my country above all things; that was my religion, and I was always
+faithful to it.  When I went to your British school I was always a
+German at heart; the other boys used to say that I was not a sportsman,
+and that I could not play the game."
+
+"Evidently they spoke the truth."
+
+Waterman shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
+
+"Then you mean to say that you, born in England, educated in England,
+and receiving all the benefits of our country, were all the time a
+German at heart, and sought to act in Germany's interests."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"And you didn't feel that you were acting meanly, ungratefully?"
+
+"I thought only of my own country," was the reply.  "I knew that this
+war was coming, knew too that I could best serve my country by
+professing to be an Englishman, and by entering the British Army.  I
+proved myself in the right too," he added significantly.
+
+"But didn't you realise that such conduct as yours must inevitably end
+in disgrace and death?"
+
+"Disgrace?" cried the other.  "No, it is glory.  As for death, what
+does that matter?  My death is of no importance; the victory of my
+country is everything."
+
+"Then you have no sense of shame for what you have done?"
+
+"Shame?" laughed Waterman--"shame in feeling that I have served the
+Fatherland!"
+
+"What do you think about your action, then?"
+
+"I think what fools you all were and are," and Waterman laughed
+insolently.  "I and others have laughed when you have played into our
+hands.  Why," and here there was a touch of passion in his voice, "your
+country is simply riddled with friends of Germany.  Do you think that
+because a German becomes naturalised he ceases to be a German?  Do you
+think that, although he protests his loyalty to England, and his desire
+to help England, that he is the less a German at heart?  Do you think
+that a German, whether naturalised or not, stops at anything in order
+to serve his country?  You have hundreds of Germans in your army
+to-day, while your public offices are full of men, and women too for
+that matter, of German parentage and with German sympathies.  Yes, you
+may kill me," and he threw back his shoulders proudly, "but that will
+not stop us from conquering your country and being your masters."
+
+For a moment he almost seemed to dominate the room.  He stood erect,
+haughty, scornful; it might seem as though he were the accuser and not
+the accused.
+
+"Of course you know the consequence of your deed?" said the President
+presently.
+
+Waterman shrugged his shoulders.  "I have counted the cost, and am
+willing to pay the price," was his reply.
+
+When he was led away there was a silence in the room for some seconds.
+Whatever else he had done he had given his judges to see that he was a
+brave man; that to him the victory of his country was more than life;
+that for what he had called the Fatherland he had trampled under his
+feet all ordinary conventions, all accepted rules of honour and truth.
+Germany was first, everything else came afterwards.
+
+The Englishman always admires courage, no matter in what form it may
+appear, and there could be no doubt that Waterman was courageous.
+
+"It is no wonder," said the General, as if speaking to himself, "that
+they are such terrible enemies."  No man spoke, but each knew what was
+in the other's mind.
+
+Of course, there was no doubt about the verdict; Waterman had been
+guilty of the worst possible crime, and but for the quick wit and
+prompt action of the Lancashire lad he would doubtless have continued
+to help the enemy.  The paper which Waterman had thrown towards the
+German lines contained the details of the next plan of attack; details
+which, known to the Germans, would have nullified the British action,
+and possibly have led to disaster.
+
+"That young Pollard is a plucky young beggar," remarked the President
+presently, "he is a lad of brains, too, and has behaved splendidly.  Of
+course what he has done must not be lost sight of."
+
+There was a general assent to this.
+
+He ought to be recommended for his D.C.M. was the general verdict.
+
+Early next morning Waterman was led out to a wall not far from the room
+where he had been judged.  He walked steadily and proudly towards the
+place of his execution, and then stood erect like a soldier at
+attention.  He faced his dread ordeal with a look of pride on his face.
+
+"Fire!"
+
+Several shots rang out, and he fell heavily to the ground.
+
+"Yon' chap'll never do any more spying," said one soldier to another a
+little later.
+
+"If I had my way," said the other, "he should not have had such a death
+as that.  When I think of the dirty meanness of these German swine;
+when I think of spies like that; when I think of poisonous gas, and of
+all their treachery, I feel as though nothing's too bad for them
+Germans.  At first, when the war commenced I had nowt but kindly
+feelings towards the soldiers, as soldiers; but now----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+It was late in November when the events just recorded took place, and a
+few days later the English newspapers contained special paragraphs
+headed "Heroism of a Lancashire Lad."  Few details were given about
+Waterman, but Tom's bravery was fully commented on.
+
+More than one journalist who had obtained details of what Tom had done
+made special reference to him and spoke of him in glowing terms.  Mrs.
+Pollard received many applications for Tom's photograph, and presently
+when she learnt that it appeared in newspapers all over the country,
+she gave expression to remarks more forcible than elegant.
+
+"Our Tom an 'ero, eh?" she laughed.  "Weel, I never knowed it afore.  I
+always looked upon him as a bit of a coward, but it's this 'ere
+sodgering as has done it, I suppose.  'Appen there's summat in th'
+uniform.  When a lad's got sodger's clothes on, I reckon as aa' it
+makes him feel cocky.  But it's a pity he's still such a fool as to
+keep on wi' Polly Powell.  I wrote him a letter a while sin' telling
+him as aa' Polly wur walking out wi' other lads, but she still boasts
+as aa' Tom's faithful to her, and that she's got him under her thumb."
+
+"'Appen he will give her the sack now," said a neighbour.
+
+"Nay, our Tom wur always a fool.  He might have had Alice Lister if he
+hadn't been such a ninny, but she's engaged to Harry Briarfield now.  I
+wrote and told him about it only last week.  I suppose George Lister is
+fairly suited about it."
+
+"I hear that Tom's going to have the V.C. or D.C.M. or summat o' that
+sort," remarked a neighbour; "dost 'a know what that means?"
+
+"Nay, I know nowt about it, but I hope as he will get a bit o' brass
+wi' it, onyhow."
+
+"Will he come home, dost 'a' think?"
+
+"Nay, I don't know.  Why should he leave his job for a thing like that?
+I expect if he wur to come home they'd stop his pay, and I hope Tom is
+noan such a fool as to lose his pay, but there, there's no tellin'."
+
+In spite of all this, however, Mrs. Pollard was in no slight degree
+elated.  She knew that Tom was the talk of Brunford, and that special
+articles were devoted to him in the Brunford newspapers.
+
+"He will be sure to come home," said Ezekiel Pollard to her one night
+after supper; "when a lad's done a job like that, he's sure to have a
+bit of a holiday."
+
+"Maybe, and I suppose tha'll be showing him around as though he wur a
+prize turkey.  Ay, but I am glad about this drinking order."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because else all th' lads in the town 'ud be wanting to treat our Tom;
+they 'd be proud to be seen wi' him, and they'd make him drunk afore he
+know'd where he wur.  Our Tom never could sup much beer wi'out it goin'
+to his head."
+
+"Our Tom has give up that sort o' thing," replied Ezekiel.
+
+"How dost tha' know?"
+
+"I do know, and that's enough," replied Ezekiel, thinking of Tom's last
+letter, which, by the way, he had never shown to his wife.
+
+I am not going to try to describe Tom's feelings when he was told that
+he had been recommended for the D.C.M.
+
+"Thank you, sir, but I've done nowt to deserve it," cried the lad,
+lapsing for the moment into the Lancashire dialect.
+
+Colonel Blount laughed.  Ever since Waterman's death he had felt as
+though a burden had been lifted from him.  He felt sure now that his
+plans would not be frustrated.
+
+"We are the best judges of that, my lad," he said.  "You can tell your
+father and mother that, as a Lancashire man, I'm proud of you."
+
+
+It was on a Saturday in December when Tom arrived in Brunford on leave
+of absence.  He had spent Friday in London, and caught the ten o'clock
+train at King's Cross Station.  There was no prouder lad in England
+that day, although, truth to tell, he was not quite happy.  Naturally
+he had read what had been written about him in the newspapers, and
+reflected upon what the people in Brunford would be saying about him.
+He imagined meeting people whom he knew, in the Brunford streets, and
+the greeting they would give him.  He knew it would be a great
+home-coming, and yet he had a heavy heart.
+
+It was several months now since he had left Brunford, and he could not
+help reflecting on the change that had taken place in him.  He still
+wore a private's uniform, and carried the mud of the trenches on his
+clothes.  But the Tom Pollard who had enlisted at the Mechanics'
+Institute was not the same lad who now made his way to his Lancashire
+home.  Since then he had been through strange scenes, and had realised
+wonderful experiences.  New facts and new forces had come into his
+life; day by day he had been face to face with death, and this had led
+him to touch the very core of life.  Thoughts which were unknown to him
+a year before now possessed his being; powers of which he had never
+dreamed had been called into life.
+
+Tom could not put these things into words, he didn't even clearly
+realise them, but he knew that he was different.  The very thought that
+he had looked into the face of death made him realise the wondrousness
+of life.  Tom did not feel that he had been a hero, and yet he knew
+that the life he had been living, and the work he had been doing,
+especially during the last few months, had called qualities, which lay
+latent in his being, into life and action.  The war had not made him a
+different man, it had only aroused dormant qualities within him.  The
+fires through which he had passed had cleansed him, and he knew that
+life would never be the same again.  But more than all that, he, like
+thousands of others, had learnt the great secret of life, and realised
+that it was only by opening his life to the Eternal Life that the
+highest manhood could be known.
+
+And yet he was strangely dissatisfied.  He had read his mother's letter
+telling him that Alice Lister was engaged to Harry Briarfield, and his
+heart was very sore at the thought of it.  Never before had he realised
+the meaning of the choice he had made, when more than a year before he
+had left Alice to walk out with Polly Powell.  "And yet I loved Alice
+all the time," he reflected, as the train rushed northward.  "I never
+knew how I did love her till now.  I must have been mad and worse than
+mad!"
+
+For a long time he had ceased to care for Polly Powell; when he was in
+Surrey his mother's letter had opened his eyes to the kind of girl she
+really was.  He saw her, coarse, loud-talking, and vulgar; a girl who
+had appealed only to what was coarse in his own nature.  And he had
+yielded to her blandishments; he had left a pure, refined girl for her,
+and he had lost Alice for ever.
+
+That was the bitterness in Tom's cup of joy.  He was proud of what he
+had done--what fellow situated as he was would not be?  His heart
+thrilled with exultation as he remembered what the Colonel had said and
+written about him.  He remembered with joy, too, what his comrades had
+said when he left for home, and the cheers they gave him.
+
+Oh, if he hadn't been such a fool!
+
+He thought of what his home-coming might have been if he had remained
+true to Alice; he fancied the look in her eyes as she greeted him; of
+the feelings which would fill his heart as he sat by her side in the
+church which she attended.  But that was impossible now; he had made
+his choice, and she had made hers.  Thus his home-coming would be
+robbed of half its joy.  If he saw Alice at all she would be in the
+company of Harry Briarfield, and Briarfield, he knew, had always looked
+down upon him.  "But there," he said to himself, "I'll bear it like a
+man.  I have done my bit, and that's something, anyhow."
+
+He had sent a telegram to his mother the day before, telling her of the
+time he expected to arrive in Brunford, and presently when the train
+drew into the station he looked out of the window eagerly expectant,
+and with fast-beating heart.
+
+Yes, there his father and mother were, waiting for him.  But what was
+the meaning of the crowd?
+
+No sooner did he set foot on the platform than a great cheer arose.
+
+"There he is!  There's Tom Pollard!"
+
+"Gi't tongue, lads!  Gi't tongue!  Hip! hip! hip! hoorah!"
+
+Tom, heedless of the cheering and shouting, went straight to his
+mother.  For a second this lady looked at him, and seemed to be on the
+point of greeting him with a caustic remark; then her mother's heart
+melted.
+
+"Ay, Tom, I'm fair glad to see thee," she sobbed.
+
+"And I am glad to see you, mother.  Ay, father, it is good to see you,
+it is."
+
+"And I am fair proud on you, Tom," and Ezekiel Pollard's voice was
+hoarse as he shook his son's hand.
+
+"But, Tom," cried Mrs. Pollard, wiping her eyes, "thy clothes be dirty;
+I shall have a rare job to get th' muck out of 'em."
+
+This was followed by a general laugh by those who had come to greet Tom
+and bid him welcome.
+
+"Ay, and thou look'st as though thou hasn't weshed for a week.  I
+thought as aa' sodjers kept theirsens clean."
+
+"I'll wash right enough when I get home, mother," laughed Tom.
+
+"Holloa, Tom.  I am glad to see you," and Polly Powell made her way
+through the crowd.
+
+"Thank you," replied Tom quietly; "have you brought one of your young
+men with you, Polly?"
+
+"I have not got any young men," was Polly's reply.  Whereupon there was
+a general laugh of incredulity.
+
+Polly, heedless of the crowd, and although angered at the remarks that
+were made, still held her ground.
+
+"You are coming down to the Thorn and Thistle, aren't you, Tom?" she
+said; "mother and father are expecting you."
+
+"No, thank you, Polly," said Tom.  "I am going home with my mother and
+father.  Besides, I don't want to play gooseberry."
+
+At this there was general cheering.  It was evident that Polly Powell
+was ready to give up her latest lover in order that the glory of Tom's
+lustre might shine upon her; but her power over him had gone.
+
+"Nay, thou'lt come down to the Rose and Crown wi' us, won't 'a'?" cried
+another.
+
+"No, I am not going to the Rose and Crown," replied Tom.
+
+"Nay, you doan't mean to say you've turned teetotaler?"
+
+"Ay, that I have," replied the lad, "you see I'm following the example
+of the King."  Whereupon Polly went away abashed.
+
+All the way Tom's progress down Liverpool Road was a great procession
+of people.  On every hand he was greeted and cheered.  Other soldiers
+who had gone out from Brunford had returned; some had been wounded, and
+many had done brave deeds, but Tom's action had laid hold of the
+imagination of the people.  To discover a German spy in Waterman, whom
+many in the town knew; to bring him to justice; to risk his life in
+order to render his country a service; to face almost certain death
+that he might obtain the plans which had been intended to help the
+enemy, made him a hero.
+
+Perhaps there are few parts of the world where the people are more
+hearty and more generous than the dwellers in those busy manufacturing
+towns in the North, and Tom was their own townsboy.  He had been reared
+amongst them, had gone out from them, and so they gave him a great
+welcome.
+
+No words can tell the joy which Mrs. Pollard felt when she found that
+Tom was going straight home with her.  As she said, she had got the
+best dinner in Brunford for him, but she was afraid that Tom would
+yield to all the inducements which would be held out to him.
+
+"Never mind," she said to the neighbour whom she had asked to get
+everything in readiness by the time she returned, "we'll have
+everything as though we were sure he wur coming 'ome.  Nobody shall say
+as 'ow I didn't prepare a good dinner for my boy when he returned from
+the War."
+
+Thus when Tom had refused the invitation to go to the Rose and Crown,
+and declared his intention of going straight home, her joy knew no
+bounds.
+
+"Dost 'a' really mean, Tom, as thou'rt coming straight home with thee
+feyther and me?"
+
+"Ay, I do," replied Tom, "there's no place but home for me to-day."
+
+"Ay, then I mun kiss thee agean," she sobbed, throwing her arms around
+his neck.
+
+Throughout the whole of the afternoon and evening Ezekiel Pollard's
+house was besieged with visitors.  Reporters came from the newspapers
+in order to hear any details which had been missed concerning Tom's
+exploits.  Relations whom Tom had not seen for years came to bid him
+welcome, while the neighbours thronged the doors.
+
+"Ay, it's good to be home again," said Tom, standing on the doorstep
+and watching the last visitor depart that night, "I never thought that
+it would be like this."
+
+"Art 'a' tired, lad?" asked his father.
+
+"Just a bit," said Tom.  "I couldn't sleep last night, I was thinking
+all the time about coming home, and now----"
+
+"Ay, lad, I'm proud of thee," said his father for the hundredth time.
+
+"Thou art a fool, lad," said his mother, "but thou'rt noan such a fool
+as I feared.  Thou'st done vary weel too, vary weel."
+
+"Father," said Tom when they had entered the house and closed the door,
+"do you ever pray now?"
+
+"I hadna prayed for years," said Ezekiel Pollard, "till thou went to
+the Front, but every night sin' I have asked God to take care o' thee.
+I have asked nowt for myself," he added almost proudly.  "I didn't
+deserve it; but I've asked God to take care o' thee."
+
+"So have I," said his mother.  "I never towd anybody about it; I wur a
+bit ashamed, I reckon, but I have prayed twenty times a day."
+
+"Then," said Tom, "let us kneel down and thank God for His goodness."
+
+And the three knelt down together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+It was nearly midday when Tom awoke.  The church bells had ceased
+ringing for nearly an hour, indeed at nearly all the churches the
+congregations were being dismissed.  The Town Hall clock chimed a
+quarter to twelve, but all else seemed strangely silent.  Tom rose in
+his bed, and rubbed his eyes.
+
+"Where am I?" he gasped; "this is--this is--ay, where am I?  Why, I'm
+home!  I'm home!"
+
+Immediately he jumped out of bed, and pulling up the blinds looked out
+upon the smoky town.
+
+"Dear old Brunford, dear old Brunford," he said; "ay, this is a change!"
+
+"Art 'a' got up, Tom?"
+
+"Ay, mother."
+
+"Make haste, then, I'll have dinner ready for thee by the time thou'rt
+ready."
+
+"Ay, it's good to be home," said Tom, and then he sighed.  "I wonder
+now, I wonder----" and then he sighed again.
+
+"I mean to go to chapel to-day," he said to his mother when he
+presently appeared.
+
+"Chapel!" said his mother, "I thought thou'd given up going to chapel."
+
+"I am going to-day, anyhow," said Tom.  "It would be grand if you and
+father would come with me to-night."
+
+"Then us will," said Ezekiel quietly.
+
+That night Tom, together with his father and mother, found their way to
+the church which he had attended years before.  Many eyes were upon him
+as he was shown into the pew.  All the town had heard of Tom Pollard's
+return, but few expected to see him at church that night.  For some
+time Tom was very self-conscious, and it is to be feared that he
+thought little of the service; more than once, too, he caught himself
+gazing furtively around the building, but he did not see the face he
+longed yet feared to see.  Since his return he had asked no questions
+about Alice Lister, and neither his mother nor his father had
+volunteered any information about her.
+
+"Well," said Tom, "I must drive her out of my mind.  What a fool I was!"
+
+How beautiful it was to be singing the old hymns again!  The Sunday
+before he had been in Ypres, and instead of church bells he had heard
+the boom of guns; instead of the music of hymns, the shrieking of
+shells; instead of the scenes of home, and the loved ones, were the
+blackened ruins of an ancient town which had been ruthlessly destroyed.
+Oh, how Tom wished the War were over!  How he dreaded the idea of going
+back again!  Yet he knew he must go, knew that he and thousands of
+others must fight on, until those who had made war should be powerless
+to make it again.
+
+Presently the service was over, and Tom made his way towards the
+vestibule of the church.  Scores of hands were held out to him,
+hundreds of greetings were offered to him.  Many congratulated him on
+his bravery, and on his distinction.
+
+Then suddenly Tom's heart ceased to beat, for standing before him was
+Alice Lister.
+
+Tom felt his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth.  He could not
+speak, while Alice seemed almost as much wrought upon as he.
+
+He looked around as if in expectation of seeing Harry Briarfield, but
+Harry was nowhere present.  What did it mean?
+
+Afterwards Tom wondered at his temerity; wondered that he should dare
+to speak to her at all.  But some power which was stronger than himself
+compelled him to do so.  He held out his hand to her.
+
+"How are you, Alice?" he said.
+
+Alice gave him her hand, but did not reply, save that her fingers
+trembled in his.
+
+A thousand hopes, fancies, and fears flashed through his mind and
+heart; then Alice shyly lifted her eyes to his.
+
+"May I walk home with you, Alice?" he stammered.
+
+"Yes, if you will, Tom," and the two walked away, side by side.
+
+They walked up Liverpool Road together for some time without speaking a
+word.  On every side the crowd passed them, but Tom did not heed, his
+heart was too full for words, his mind too occupied with wild,
+turbulent fancies.  Presently they passed into a quiet lane where they
+were apparently alone.
+
+"Alice," said Tom at length, "I'm fair ashamed of myself, I--I'm just
+a----"
+
+"No," and Alice interrupted him, "you are a hero, Tom, you have done
+wonderful things."
+
+"Ah, but that is nothing," was Tom's reply, "I could not help doing
+that, no decent lad could.  But the other now--ay, Alice, I am ashamed
+of myself.  I was such a fool too!"
+
+Alice did not speak; perhaps she was delighted at Tom's
+self-condemnation, or perhaps, which was more likely, she was eagerly
+waiting for him to say more.
+
+"Is it true what mother told me?" he asked, after what seemed a long
+silence.
+
+"What did she tell you?"
+
+"That you are engaged to Harry Briarfield."
+
+"No!" replied the girl eagerly, "I never was!"
+
+"Then is it that young parson?"
+
+"No, Tom; who could have told you such lies?"
+
+Lancashire people are very undemonstrative in their love-making, as in
+most of their things, and although Tom was nearly swept off his feet
+with joy at what Alice had said, he still walked on by her side
+quietly, and for some seconds did not speak again.
+
+"I never really cared about Polly Powell," he said presently, "even at
+the time I--I----"
+
+"I knew, Tom," and the girl almost sobbed as she spoke, "I knew all the
+time you could never really care for her, and--and that you would come
+back to me.  That was why----"
+
+"Why what?" asked Tom.
+
+"Why there was never anybody else but you, Tom."
+
+"Do you mean it, Alice? do you really mean it?" and Tom's voice was
+hoarse and tremulous.  "Can you forgive me?  I chucked Polly Powell
+long ago, and I let her know it yesterday when I came home.  She met me
+at the station with the others, and I never knew what a fool I had been
+till I saw her just as she was.  Ay, I must have been mad!"
+
+"I heard all about it," replied the girl, "but it didn't need that to
+tell me that you would come back to me, Tom."
+
+"Ay," said Tom, "but I feel so ashamed.  I feel as though I have
+nothing to offer you.  I am only a poor Tommy with a bob a day, but
+will you wait for me, Alice, till the war is over?--and then if God
+spares my life I will work for you night and day, and I will give you
+as good a home as there is in Brunford."
+
+"I can't help waiting for you," sobbed Alice.
+
+"Can't help!  Why?" asked Tom.
+
+"Because--because---- oh, you know."
+
+
+It was not until an hour later that Tom and Alice appeared at George
+Lister's house.  During that time Tom had told Alice the story of his
+life since he had parted from her.  Told her of the influences which
+had been at work, how he had been led to pray, and how his heart had
+all the time been longing for her.  In spite of Alice's repeated
+questions he had said very little about his hour of peril, when he had
+risked his life to serve his country; that seemed of little importance
+to him.  His one thought was to make Alice know that he was ashamed of
+himself for leaving her, and that he loved her all the time.
+
+"Ay," said George Lister to his wife when Tom had left the house, "our
+Alice is a fool."
+
+"'Appen she is," replied Mrs. Lister, "but yon's a grand lad, a fair
+grand lad!"
+
+"He may be a grand lad," retorted her husband, "and I don't deny that
+he has behaved vary weel, but how can he keep a wife?  What sort of a
+home can he give our Alice?"
+
+"A lad that can do what he has done," replied Mrs. Lister, "will make
+his way anywhere.  If God spares his life, he will come back when the
+war's over, and you will not have any reason to be ashamed of him.  He
+is not earning any brass now, and that's right, for he's serving his
+King and Country, and doing his duty like a man; but wait till we have
+licked the Germans, then Tom will let you know."
+
+"I don't deny that he's a sharp, capable lad," said George, "and it's
+easy to see that our Alice is fair gone on him.  That's why she had
+nowt to do wi' the young parson, and wi' Harry Briarfield.  Well, I
+want Alice to be happy, and marriage without love is a poor thing,
+however much brass you may have.  'Appen I can put Tom in the way of
+getting on when the war's over.  Ay, he's a grand lad, as you say, and
+it was real plucky the way he nabbed that German spy and got the
+papers.  No wonder the King thinks such a lot of him."
+
+Upon this George Lister filled his pipe slowly, and there was a look of
+pride in his eyes.
+
+As for Alice, she sobbed for very joy when she went to her room that
+night.  "Oh, thank God, thank God," cried her heart, "and he is coming
+early in the morning too!"
+
+
+"Well, mother," said Tom when he reached home, "I have made it up with
+Alice Lister."
+
+"Tha' never ses!" and Mrs. Pollard's voice was very caressing.  "That's
+one for Polly Powell, anyhow.  She wur never thy sort, Tom--a lass wi'
+a mother like that can never be ony good."
+
+"Ay, and she's the finest lass i' Brunford, is Alice Lister," said
+Ezekiel contentedly; "and is she willing to wait for thee, Tom?"
+
+Tom laughed joyfully.
+
+"Maybe they will make an officer of thee," said Mrs. Pollard.
+
+"No," said Tom, "I shall never be an officer, I don't belong to that
+class; perhaps I will be a sergeant, or something like that, but that's
+as may be; anyhow, I'll do my bit."
+
+When Tom's leave was up, George Lister said he had business in London,
+so Alice accompanied him.  Truth to tell, the business which George had
+was only a secondary matter; he saw that Alice wanted to accompany her
+lover as far as she could, and the business was a pretext.  I also made
+my way to Waterloo Station to see Tom off; that was only a few days
+ago, and what I saw and heard is fresh in my memory.  But however long
+I may live, I shall never forget the look in Tom's eyes as he stood on
+the platform with Alice by his side.  A great light was burning there,
+the light of love, and duty, and faith, and chastened joy.
+
+"Don't fear, Alice," said the lad, "I will come back again all right."
+
+"You--you are sure you will take care of yourself, Tom," and Alice's
+voice was husky, although she was evidently making a great effort to be
+brave.
+
+"Ay, that I will," said Tom.
+
+Crowds of soldiers thronged the platform, while hundreds of their
+friends who came to see them off made it difficult to move; many of the
+Tommies were shouting and cheering, while others found their way into
+the carriages as if anxious to be quiet.
+
+"They seem splendid fellows," said Alice, "but some of them are very
+rough, aren't they?"
+
+"Just a bit rough," replied Tom, "but they are all right.  Some of
+those very chaps who look rough and common are just heroes, you know;
+they would face any kind of danger to do a pal a good turn.  Perhaps
+you may not think it to look at them, but their hearts are true as
+gold.  This war has made a wonderful difference in them."
+
+Alice pressed his arm convulsively.
+
+"You know that book you lent me the other day," went on Tom, "that book
+of Kipling's where there is a story about a ship that found herself.
+It means a lot, does that story.  That's what this war has done for a
+lot of us chaps, it's helped us to find ourselves."
+
+The guard blew his whistle, and there was a slamming of doors.
+
+"Good-bye, Alice," and Tom held her close to his heart.  "The war will
+be over soon, and then, please God, I will come back again."
+
+"Yes, yes, Tom, and--and you know I will be always thinking of you, and
+praying for you."
+
+"Ay, lass, I do, that's why I'm not a bit afraid.  It's not good-bye,
+Alice, it's only au revoir as the French say.  You will be brave, won't
+you?"
+
+"Yes, Tom," she spoke bravely, although her voice was husky; "and--and,
+Tom"--this with a sob--"I shall be loving you--loving you all the time."
+
+Slowly the train left the station.  At the carriage windows hundreds of
+men stood waving their hands, and shouting.  They were going back to
+the grim, cold trenches, going to danger, and possible death; but they
+were going with brave hearts and the light of resolution in their eyes.
+Amongst them was Tom.  He, too, was waving his hand, although his lips
+were tremulous.
+
+"God help me to do my bit, and then take me back to her," he prayed.
+
+Will he come back again, or will he be one of those who give their
+lives for the defence of honour and home?  This I know: he with a great
+host of others will fight on, and hold on until victory is won, the
+victory which means peace.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tommy, by Joseph Hocking
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tommy, by Joseph Hocking
+
+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: Tommy
+
+Author: Joseph Hocking
+
+Release Date: April 4, 2008 [EBook #24986]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOMMY ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TOMMY
+
+
+BY
+
+JOSEPH HOCKING
+
+
+
+AUTHOR OF
+
+  "ALL FOR A SCRAP OF PAPER"
+  "DEARER THAN LIFE" ETC.
+
+
+
+
+HODDER AND STOUGHTON
+
+LONDON ---- NEW YORK ---- TORONTO
+
+MCMXVI
+
+
+
+
+_TWO GREAT WAR STORIES BY JOSEPH HOCKING_
+
+  ALL FOR A SCRAP OF PAPER
+  DEARER THAN LIFE
+
+
+_OTHER STORIES BY JOSEPH HOCKING_
+
+  Facing Fearful Odds
+  O'er Moor and Fen
+  The Wilderness
+  Rosaleen O'Hara
+  The Soul of Dominie Wildthorne
+  Follow the Gleam
+  David Baring
+  The Trampled Cross
+
+
+
+
+NOTE
+
+My only qualification for writing this simple story of "Tommy" is that
+I have tried to know him, and that I greatly admire him.  I met him
+before he joined the army, when for more than six months I addressed
+recruiting meetings.  I have also been with him in training camps, and
+spent many hours talking with him.  It was during those hours that he
+opened his heart to me and showed me the kind of man he is.  Since then
+I have visited him in France and Flanders.  I have been with him down
+near La Bassee, and Neuve Chapelle.  I have talked with him while great
+guns were booming as well as during his hours of well-earned rest, when
+he was in a garrulous mood, and was glad to crack a joke "wi' a man
+wearin' a black coat."  I have also been with him up at Ypres, when the
+shells were shrieking over our heads, and the "pep, pep, pep" of
+machine guns heralded the messengers of death.  We stood side by side
+in the front trenches, less than a hundred yards from the German
+sand-bags, when to lift one's head meant a Hun's bullet through one's
+brain, and when "woolly bears" were common.  So although I am not a
+soldier, and have probably fallen into technical errors in telling the
+story of "Tommy," it is not because he is a stranger to me, or because
+I have not tried to know him.
+
+Only a small part of this story is imagination.  Nearly every incident
+in the book was told me by "Tommy" himself, and while the setting of my
+simple tale is fiction, the tale itself is fact.
+
+That is why I hope the story of "Tommy" will not only be read by
+thousands of men in khaki, but by their fathers and mothers and loved
+ones who bade them go to the Front, and who earnestly pray for their
+speedy and victorious return, even as I do.
+
+
+JOSEPH HOCKING.
+
+PRIORS' CORNER, TOTTERIDGE, HERTS,
+  _February_ 1916.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The Brunford Town Hall clock was just chiming half-past three as Tom
+Pollard left his home in Dixon Street and made his way towards the
+Thorn and Thistle public-house.  It was not Tom's intention to stay
+long at the Thorn and Thistle, as he had other plans in view,
+nevertheless something drew him there.  He crossed the tram lines in
+St. George's Street, and, having stopped to exchange some rustic jokes
+with some lads who stood at the corner of the street, he hurried across
+the open space and quickly stood on the doorsteps of the public-house.
+
+The weather was gloriously fine, and for a wonder the air in the heart
+of the town was pure and clear.  That was accounted for by the fact
+that it was Sunday, and the mills were idle.  Throughout the week-days,
+both in summer and in winter, the atmosphere of Brunford is smoke
+laden, while from a hundred mills steamy vapours are emitted which
+makes that big manufacturing town anything but a health resort.  Tom
+was making his way up the passage towards the bar, when the door opened
+and a buxom, bold-eyed, red-cheeked girl of about twenty-four stopped
+him.
+
+"You're late, Tom," she said.
+
+"Am I?" replied Tom.  "I didn't mean to be."
+
+"I was thinking you weren't coming at all.  Some young men I know of
+wouldn't have been late if I'd said to them what I said to you on
+Friday night."  Then she looked at him archly.
+
+"I couldn't get away before," replied Tom.  Evidently he was not quite
+comfortable, and he did not return the girl's glances with the warmth
+she desired.
+
+"Anyhow I am free till half-past five," she went on.  "I don't know
+what father and mother would say if they knew I was walking out with
+you; but I don't mind.  Do you like my new dress, Tom?"
+
+Tom looked at her admiringly; there was no doubt that, after her own
+order, she was a striking-looking girl, and her highly coloured attire
+was quite in accord with her complexion.
+
+"Jim Scott was here half an hour ago," she went on; "he badly wanted me
+to go with him, but I wouldn't."
+
+Tom looked more uncomfortable than ever; he remembered the purpose for
+which he had set out, and was sorry that he had called at the Thorn and
+Thistle at all, even although the girl evidently favoured him more than
+any of her other admirers.
+
+"I just called to say I couldn't come for a walk with you this
+afternoon," he said, looking on the ground.  "You see I have an
+appointment."
+
+"Appointment!" cried the girl.  "Who with?"
+
+"Oh, with no one in particular; only I must keep it."
+
+The girl's eyes flashed angrily.  "Look here," she cried, "you are
+still sweet on Alice Lister; I thought you had given up all that
+Sunday-school lot."
+
+"Well, I have noan been to Sunday School," said Tom.
+
+"Ay, but you're going to meet Alice Lister now, and that is why you
+can't go wi' me."  Evidently the girl was very angry, and a look of
+jealousy flashed from her eyes.  Still there could be no doubt that she
+was very fond of Tom and meant if possible to capture him.
+
+"I can't go out wi' you this afternoon, and--and----but there, I'm off."
+
+For a moment the girl seemed on the point of speaking to him still more
+angrily, and perhaps of bidding him to leave her for good.  She quickly
+altered her mind, however, and seemed determined to use all her
+blandishments.
+
+"Ay, Tom," she said.  "Tha'rt too good to throw thyself away on the
+goody-goody Alice Lister sort.  Tha'rt too much of a man for that, else
+I should never have got so fond of thee."
+
+"Art'a really fond of me, Polly?" asked Tom, evidently pleased by
+Polly's confession.
+
+"I'm not goin' to say any more," replied the girl.  And then she
+laughed.  "I was thinkin' that after we'd been to Scott's Park you
+might come back to tea.  I don't believe father and mother would mind.
+Father wur sayin' only this morning that you'd got brains.  You took
+three prizes at the Mechanics' Institute last winter, and he said that
+if you got manufacturing on your own, you'd make brass."
+
+"Did he say that?" asked Tom eagerly,
+
+"Ay, he did, only this morning."
+
+"But I have no capital," said Tom rather sadly.
+
+"Father's saved money," replied Polly eagerly.  "The Thorn and
+Thistle's a good house and we have good company; and if father liked a
+lad, especially if I recommended him, he could easily find money to
+start a small mill.  But there, I suppose you are only thinking of
+Alice Lister."
+
+The Town Hall clock chimed the three-quarters, and, much as he wanted
+to stay with Polly, he moved towards the door and said, "Well, I must
+be goin' now."
+
+Again anger flashed from Polly's eyes, but still controlling her temper
+she said: "Ay, but you'll come back this evening, won't you, Tom?  Jim
+Dixon's coming to tea, and if you're not here, and he wur to ask me to
+go out for a walk with him tonight, I shouldn't have any excuse for
+refusing."
+
+There could be no doubt about it that, to Tom, Polly Powell looked very
+alluring.  She was rather older than he, and her beauty was of a highly
+coloured order.  At that moment Tom's mind was much distracted,
+nevertheless as the sound of the deep-toned bell in the Town Hall tower
+died away he determined to take his leave.
+
+"And I thought we might have such a nice time, too," she said,
+following him.  "But never mind, you'll be back this evening.  Ay, Tom
+lad, tha doesn't know when tha'art well off."  And she gave him her
+most bewitching smile.
+
+Tom hurried up Liverpool Road with the sound of Polly's voice in his
+ears and the memory of the flash in her great black eyes in his mind.
+"She is a grand lass," he reflected, "and she's fair gone on me too;
+and what's more she's not so finickin' as some lasses are.  After all,
+why should I be so straitlaced?  She's a lass as loves good company,
+she likes a lark, and--and----"  After that Tom became thoughtful.
+
+Tom Pollard was typical of thousands of lads who dwell in the
+manufacturing districts of Lancashire.  His father and mother had been
+weavers, and while his mother had ceased going to the mill, his father
+still earned his thirty shillings a week behind the looms.  They did
+not belong to the best class of Lancashire operatives, and Tom's home
+influence was not all it might have been.  That was why, years before,
+many wondered that Tom promised to turn out so well.  He was not
+particularly clever, but he possessed a large share of the proverbial
+Lancashire sharpness and common sense; he had an eye to the main
+chance, and dreamt of becoming something better than an ordinary
+weaver.  For that reason he had attended some technical classes at the
+Mechanics' Institute, and, as Polly Powell had reminded him, had only a
+few months before taken prizes there.  Young as he was, he had already
+been promised a Tackler's job, which meant that he would be a kind of
+foreman, and have the oversight of a small part of a mill.  This, Tom
+was sure, would open the way to a more responsible position, and then
+if he had good luck he might in a few years start manufacturing for
+himself.  Many of the mill-owners in Brunford were, a few years before,
+poor men, while now, owing to a great boom in the cotton trade, they
+were quite wealthy men.  During the last few months, however, Tom's
+best friends had not been quite so hopeful about him.  He had been a
+frequent visitor at the Thorn and Thistle; and he had altogether given
+up attendance at Sunday School.  This was considered a bad sign in
+Brunford, where the great bulk of the respectable young men attend one
+of the many Sunday Schools in the town.
+
+As Tom neared the Town Hall his face changed somewhat, and a look of
+eager expectancy came into his eyes.  He noted with satisfaction that
+the yard outside a big building was empty.  "I'm in time after all," he
+reflected.  "They've just sung the last hymn."
+
+A few minutes later several hundred young people came into the street,
+and Tom was not long in singling out one for whom he had evidently been
+watching.  This was a young girl of about twenty years of age, and it
+was easy to see at a glance that she was superior to those whom she
+accompanied.  Her face was refined, her eyes large and intelligent; and
+her neat, well-fitting clothes did not suggest the flamboyancy of Polly
+Powell's adornments.
+
+"There's Tom Pollard waiting for you, Alice," said one of the girls.
+Alice Lister flushed as the girl spoke, and the colour which rose to
+her cheeks told its own tale.
+
+"If I were you, Alice," said another, "I should keep my eye on him.
+Sin' he give up going to Sunday School he's noan so much of a catch;
+besides, I saw him with Polly Powell last Sunday evening after he went
+home with you; and Polly Powell is noan your sort."
+
+Alice did not reply to this, but her lips trembled; evidently the words
+wounded her.  All the time Tom stood smoking a cigarette.  Although he
+had come to meet Alice, he did not like the idea of going up to claim
+her while so many girls were around.
+
+"Ay, Tom," said one of the girls, shouting to him.  "How's Polly
+Powell?"
+
+Tom did not reply; his ready wit left him for the moment.
+
+"If I were Alice," said another, "I'd give thee the sack.  Tha's noan
+fitted to go with her."
+
+"Ay," said another, "and Polly's only just playing wi' him; she's got
+more nor one string to her bow, has Polly.  And she'd noan look at
+thee, Tom, if the young landlord at the Bull and Butcher had made up to
+her."
+
+Lancashire folks are not slow in speaking their minds, and they have no
+false delicacy about telling people their opinion of them.
+
+"Well," said Tom quietly, "I fly higher game than you, Emily Bilson,
+anyhow.  I have only just got to hold up my finger to the whole lot on
+you, and you'd come after me.  But I'm noan going to do it; I've got
+too much respect for myself."
+
+Almost as if by arrangement the girls separated, and Tom found himself
+walking up Liverpool Road by the side of Alice Lister.  Neither of them
+spoke for some minutes.  Tom didn't know what to say, while Alice was
+evidently thinking deeply.
+
+"Have you been to the Young Men's Class this afternoon," she asked
+presently.
+
+"Nay."
+
+"Why?" asked the girl, looking at him steadily.
+
+"It's noan in my line," replied Tom.  "That kind of thing'll do for
+kids, but when people get grown up they want something better."
+
+"Better and cleverer people than you, Tom, don't give it up," replied
+the girl.
+
+Tom continued to walk by Alice's side, looking rather sulky.
+
+He and Alice had begun to walk out together a little more than a year
+before, much to the surprise of their mutual friends.  For Alice was
+not only better educated than Tom, but she moved in rather a better
+circle.  Alice's father was one who, beginning life as a weaver, had by
+steady perseverance and good common sense become a small manufacturer.
+He was anything but a rich man, but he was what the people called
+"Doin' vary weel"--one who with good luck would in about ten years'
+time "addle a tidy bit of brass."  Alice was his only daughter.  He had
+never allowed her to go to the mill, but had sent her to a fairly good
+school until she was sixteen years of age, since which time she had
+stayed at home with her mother, and assisted her in the house work.
+Alice had continued her education, however.  She had a natural gift for
+music and possessed a fine contralto voice.  She had quite a local
+reputation as a pianist and was constantly in demand to sing at
+concerts.  She was more than ordinarily intelligent too, and was a
+lover of good books.  Added to this she attended classes in the town
+for French and German; and had on more than one occasion been invited
+to the houses of big manufacturers.  That was why people wondered at
+her walking out with Tom Pollard.  He, although looked upon as a sharp
+lad, was not, as was generally agreed, "up to Alice's mark."
+
+Still facts were facts, and there could be no doubt about it that Alice
+showed a great preference for Tom, and, in spite of the fact that her
+father and mother were not at all pleased, had allowed him to accompany
+her home on several occasions.
+
+"What are you going to do, Tom?" asked the girl.
+
+"What am I going to do?" queried Tom.  "I don't know that I am going to
+do anything.  What do you mean, Alice?"
+
+"I mean that you must make your choice."
+
+"Choice?  What choice?"
+
+"I should not have met you this afternoon," replied Alice Lister
+quietly, "but for the fact that I want to come to an understanding.  I
+have not been blind, neither have I been deaf, these last few months; a
+change has come over you, and--and you will have to choose."
+
+Tom knew what she meant well enough, but he pretended to be ignorant.
+
+"What has come over you, Alice?  What do you mean?  Surely," he went
+on, "you are not taking any notice of what Emily Bilson said.  Just as
+though a lad can't speak to any lass but his own!"
+
+"Tom," went on the girl quietly, "you know what you told me twelve
+months ago; you know, too, what my father and mother said when they saw
+us together; it has not been pleasant for me to listen to people's
+gossip, especially when I know that most of it is true.  I have been
+very fond of you and I don't deny it; if I hadn't I should not have
+walked out with you, but I want to tell you this--you have to make your
+choice this afternoon; either you are going to give up me, or you are
+going to give up the Thorn and Thistle and all it means."
+
+"You're jealous of Polly Powell," said Tom, with an uneasy laugh.
+
+"I'm jealous of your good name, Tom, jealous of evil influence."
+
+"Evil influence?  What evil influence?"
+
+"Going to the Thorn and Thistle has done you a great deal of harm; it
+has caused you to give up your Young Men's Class, and--and--but there,
+I needn't talk any more about it.  You understand what I mean.  It must
+be either one or the other, Tom."
+
+"You mean that I must either give up you or Polly Powell?"
+
+"It means more than that," replied the girl, "it means that you must
+either give up me or give up going to the Thorn and Thistle.  You used
+to be a teetotaler, Tom."
+
+"As though any lad's a teetotaler in these days," laughed the young
+fellow.  "Come now, Alice, you are not so narrow-minded as that.  I am
+nearly twenty-three now, and if I want a glass of beer surely I can
+have it.  You don't mean to say that everybody but teetotalers are
+going to the bad."
+
+"You know very well what I mean, Tom.  You are not the kind of young
+man you were, and either you give up these things or we part company."
+
+"Nay, Alice, doan't be narrow-minded.  I suppose," he added bitterly,
+"that you are beginning to look higher than me, that you are thinking
+o' one of the manufacturers.  I hear that Harry Briarfield was up at
+your house to supper the other night."
+
+They had by this time left the Liverpool Road and had entered Scott's
+Park, which during the last few years had become a rendezvous for the
+people of the town, especially on Sunday afternoons.
+
+"You know," went on the girl, "that it made no difference to me when
+people told me that I was choosing a weaver.  I didn't think about it,
+I only thought of you.  But, Tom, I shall never marry any one who--who
+can find his pleasure in such places as the Thorn and Thistle, and who
+sneers at Sunday School."
+
+"You mean," said Tom, rather angrily, "that if you continue to keep
+company with me I must feed on your religious lolly-pops."
+
+An angry flush mounted the girl's cheek, but she continued to speak
+quietly.
+
+"Tom," she said, "will you answer me truly?  Do you find anything at
+the Thorn and Thistle better than you found in the young men's class?
+You sneer at religion, but religion does no one any harm; rather it
+always does good; anyhow, it's everything to me, and you have to make
+your choice."
+
+Tom looked at her steadily.  He knew what she meant, knew too that the
+time had come when he would have to make his choice.  At that moment he
+saw what Polly Powell meant to his life, saw, too, that if he followed
+the road in which he had been walking during the last few months he
+would have to give up Alice Lister.  He saw more than this, for at that
+moment Polly Powell's blandishments had no effect on him.  She appeared
+to him in her true light--a coarse, vulgar girl.
+
+"You don't care about me like you did," he said angrily.  "You are
+getting tired of me."
+
+"If that were true I should not speak to you in this way," and her
+voice became tremulous.  "But I am not going to throw away my life,
+Tom; there's something more in life than--than love."
+
+"What?" he asked.
+
+"Duty, God," was the reply.
+
+Tom again laughed uneasily.  Alice Lister lived in a different world
+from that in which Polly Powell lived; they breathed a different
+atmosphere; they spoke a different language.  Yes, he would have to
+make his choice.
+
+"I would rather have you than forty Polly Powells," he burst out, "I
+would really, Alice, but--but----"
+
+"There must be no buts, Tom, if--if you want me.  Oh, Tom, can't you
+see?  You know that what I say is right and--and----"
+
+He saw her lips quiver; saw the tears start to her eyes.  He knew that
+his association with the daughter of the landlord of the Thorn and
+Thistle was coarsening him, making him have lower standards of life,
+making everything poorer, more sordid.  Whenever he was with Alice he
+wanted to be better and truer, and she always made him ashamed of
+coarse, base things.
+
+"Alice, do you love me?" and his voice became almost hoarse.
+
+"If I didn't would I talk to you like this?" was her answer.
+
+A crisis had come into Tom's life, and he knew it.  Two forces were
+fighting in his heart, two angels were battling for his soul.  At that
+moment it seemed as though his better angel were going to win the
+victory; he was on the point of telling Alice that he would never go
+into the Thorn and Thistle again, never speak to Polly Powell again,
+when he heard a familiar voice close to him.
+
+"I say, Pollard, you are coming to-night, aren't you?"
+
+Tom turned and saw a well-dressed young fellow close beside him.  He
+had come to Brunford some three years before to learn the cotton trade,
+and during the last few months he and Tom had been very friendly.  Tom
+was rather proud of this, because young Harry Waterman was his
+superior, both socially and from an educational standpoint.  Waterman
+claimed to be the son of a squire who lived in Warwickshire, who had
+sent him to Brunford to learn cotton manufacturing because more money
+was to be made out of it than by sticking to the land.
+
+Waterman was a tall, handsome young fellow, with a florid complexion
+and light-brown hair.  He had met Tom at the Mechanics' Institute
+Classes, and the young weaver had been much flattered when the other
+had at various times discarded all social distinctions and been
+friendly with him.  It was he who had laughed Tom out of going to the
+Young Men's Classes on Sunday afternoon, and told him that religion was
+only fit for ignorant people and women.  Waterman professed to have
+travelled a good deal, and had told Tom that after leaving an English
+Public School he had studied in one of the German Universities and
+taken his degree there.  He had described to the simple Lancashire boy
+the life of Berlin, and Leipzig, Munich, and other German cities.  Tom
+had been a willing pupil and thought what wonderful people the Germans
+were.  He felt proud too that young Harry Waterman had evidently taken
+a liking to him.  "You will come, won't you?" went on Waterman; "just
+the same lot, you know."
+
+"Ay, I think so," said Tom.
+
+"That's all right, then; we'll look out for you about seven."
+
+"Where are you going to-night?" asked Alice.
+
+"Only with Mr. Waterman," replied Tom.
+
+"But where?"
+
+"To a kind of club we have at the Rose and Crown.  Come now, Alice,
+it's no use looking like that; you can't expect me to be a ninny.
+Besides, Waterman's a swell, he is the son of a squire."
+
+"That is how you are going to spend your Sunday evening, then?" said
+the girl.
+
+"Certainly," replied Tom.  He felt angry that Alice should interfere
+with his pleasures.  Besides, he remembered that Waterman had once said
+to him that any fellow was a fool who allowed a woman to interfere with
+his pleasures.
+
+"I see you have made your choice," said Alice.
+
+"Look here, Alice," said Tom angrily, "if you mean that you expect me
+to behave like a Methody parson, I have.  I mean to get on, and
+Waterman can help me; and--and----  I say, Alice, don't look like
+that!" for the look in the girl's eyes had almost destroyed the
+influence which Waterman had over him.
+
+"I am going home now," said the girl.
+
+"May I come with you?" asked Tom.
+
+"That depends," replied the girl; "either you must be as you were when
+I first walked out with you, or we must part."
+
+"You mean good-bye for ever?"
+
+"Just that," she replied.  "Oh, Tom, can't you see!  Can't you see!
+Won't you promise, Tom?  I don't know anything about young Waterman;
+but I know he is not having a good influence on you, and, Tom, why do
+you want to break my heart?"
+
+Still Tom was undecided.  He wanted Alice more than words could say; he
+felt there was no girl like her in all the wide world, and he knew that
+the last few months had not done him any good.  But there was another
+side.  He was only a weaver, and he had been proud to associate with
+Waterman, who was friendly with big manufacturers.  But to give up
+Alice?  No, he could not do that.  He heard a loud laugh close by his
+side, and walking towards the Band-stand he saw Polly Powell with Jim
+Dixon.
+
+Yes, Alice looked pale and bloodless beside Polly Powell.  Polly had no
+squeamish narrow-minded notions.  Polly loved a good joke and a laugh,
+and was not tied down to Sunday-school rule.  The daughter of the
+landlord of the Thorn and Thistle caught Tom's eye.
+
+"I shall see you to-night, shan't I, Tom?" she said, looking at him
+languishingly, and then passed on.
+
+Alice had become pale almost to the lips, and there was a look of
+steady resolution in her eyes.  "You must make your choice, Tom," she
+said.
+
+Tom looked at her for a second, then cast his eyes towards the spot
+where Polly Powell stood.  He felt madly jealous of Jim Dixon at that
+moment.  What right had he to be with such a girl as Polly?  Besides,
+why should he give up all the fun of life?  Why should he become
+strait-laced and silly?
+
+Alice Lister held out her hand.  "Good-bye, Tom," she said, "I see that
+your choice is made."  And then she walked away.
+
+Tom stood gazing after her for a few seconds, undecided what to do.
+Something, he could not tell what, urged him to run after her; to
+promise her what she wanted him to promise; to renounce the life which,
+although it might not be very bad, was still not good for him.  He knew
+what she meant, knew too that she was in the right.  No, he could not,
+would not give her up; he loved her too much.  Then he felt a hand upon
+his arm.
+
+"Ay, so you have got rid of her, have you?  You must come back wi' me
+to tea."  Polly's hand was caressing, and her eyes burnt brightly;
+evidently she had been watching him, and had left Jim Dixon for him.
+He turned and walked by Polly's side.
+
+
+That night as Tom walked back to Dixon Street his feet were unsteady
+and his voice was husky and uncertain.
+
+"What's matter with thee?" said his mother as he entered the house.
+
+"Nowt's matter wi' me."
+
+"Ay, but there is.  Thou'st bin' drinkin' agean."
+
+"Weel, and what if I have?  It's cost me nowt."
+
+"Ay, I know: thou'st been to the Thorn and Thistle after that Polly
+Powell lass.  Ay, you ninny.  I thought you looked higher nor that.
+What about Alice Lister?"
+
+"She's got too much pie-jaw for me," said Tom sulkily.  "I'm noan goin'
+to be a Methody parson."
+
+"Thou'st goin' to be a bigger fool than I thought tha ever could be,"
+retorted his mother angrily.
+
+"That tak's a bit o' doin'," replied Tom as he fumbled with his boot
+laces.
+
+"Thou'st gi'en up a nice lass for a brazen-faaced 'uzzy; thou'rt an
+addle-'eaded ninny.  Can'st'a see?"
+
+"Ay, I tak' after my mother," was Tom's reply as he made his way
+upstairs.  "Bein' fools runs in the family."
+
+"It must or I should never 'a' reared thee," shouted his mother after
+him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+What I have related took place on the first Sunday in June in the year
+1914.  Brunford, a large manufacturing town which stood well-nigh in
+the centre of the cotton district of Lancashire, had enjoyed what was
+called "a great boom in trade."  Mills had been working overtime, and
+money had been earned freely.  During the last five years poor men had
+become rich, while the operatives had had their share in the general
+prosperity.  This fact was manifest in the general life of the town.
+The sober and thrifty part of the population had increased their
+savings.  Hundreds of people had bought their own cottages, and had
+laid by for a rainy day.  The thriftless were none the better for the
+prosperity which abounded, rather they were the worse.  Big wages had
+only meant increased drunkenness and increased misery.  Still all the
+people hoped that good trade would continue and that there would be
+plenty of work.
+
+On the following day Tom went to work as usual, but he felt that a new
+element had come into his life.  He was not given to self-analysis, but
+while on the one hand he felt suddenly free, he knew on the other that
+he had sacrificed something which meant a great deal to him.  Still he
+would not think about it.  After all, all the time he had been keeping
+company with Alice he felt like a man tied to the end of a rope.  He
+would now have his liberty.  He was glad to be free from a girl who
+made him uncomfortable when he drank a glass of beer or went out to
+enjoy himself.
+
+Tom was by no means a hero.  There was a great deal of good in his
+nature, but there were coarse elements which affected him strongly.  If
+Polly Powell had not appeared, it is possible, such was Alice's
+influence over him, that he would have remained true to his former
+ambitions, and probably have risen in the social scale.  He was
+intelligent, and possessed a large degree of what the Lancashire people
+called gumption.  On the other hand he was the child of his
+surroundings and of his order.  The coarse life of the town had gripped
+him, and his home influences had not helped him toward the ideal which
+Alice Lister had helped him to strive after.
+
+"Ay, Tom, I 'ear as Alice Lister has give thee the sack," said a youth
+a few days after Tom had parted from Alice.
+
+"Maybe 'twas t'other way around," replied Tom.
+
+"Why, yo doan't main that you chucked 'er?"
+
+"She wur too goody-goody for me," replied Tom.  "I am noan baan to be a
+saint, I am going to enjoy mysen."
+
+"Weel, tha' won't be a saint if tha' has much to do with Polly Powell.
+She's noan a saint," and the lad laughed meaningly.  "Still her
+feyther's got a bit of brass.  I reckon he will have all thine, Tom;
+Jim Parkin told me that tha' spent four shillings at the Thorn and
+Thistle last night."
+
+"Well, what if I did?" asked Tom.
+
+"Ay, it's noan my business, but I think thee'rt a fool.  If a lass like
+Alice Lister took up wi' me, I would not throw myself away on Polly
+Powell.  Thou'lt ne'er mak' much on 'er.  She'll lead thee a dog's
+life, Tom, and tak' all tha' brass."
+
+"Well, I reckon it's my business," retorted Tom.
+
+"Then it's a fool's business," replied the other.
+
+This kind of thing made Tom uncomfortable, but it didn't turn him aside
+from the path on which he was walking.  There could be no doubt about
+it, Tom's character was deteriorating, and during the next two months
+he not only declared that he had chucked religion altogether, but that
+he meant to enjoy life.  Tom spent most of his evenings at the Thorn
+and Thistle, and as a consequence his studies were neglected.  Not that
+there was much outward difference in him; he still remained fairly
+sober, although on more than one occasion he was seen leaving the Thorn
+and Thistle at closing time with staggering footsteps; it never caused
+him to lose any work, however.
+
+Meanwhile dark clouds began to arise in the nation's sky.  People had
+given only a passing thought to the news of the murder of the Crown
+Prince of Austria, but presently when Austria sent her outrageous
+ultimatum to Serbia, and the people read what Sir Edward Grey said
+about it, they began to talk seriously.  For there is no part in
+England where politics have such a keen interest for the
+working-classes as they have in Lancashire.  Almost every man there is
+a politician, and there are but few, especially among the older men,
+who have not an intelligent grasp not only of home, but of
+international affairs.
+
+"I'll tell you what," said one manufacturer to another as they stood on
+the steps of the Mechanics' Institute, "those Germans mean war; they
+have been preparing for it for years, and they are trying to force it."
+
+"Nay," replied the other, "but I doan't see how it can affect us,
+except"--and he laughed meaningly--"except for our benefit."
+
+"How can it be for our benefit?"
+
+"Why, can't you see?  If the Germans join Austria against Russia and
+France, we shall be able to steal the German trade;--and we can do with
+it," was the reply.
+
+"Ay, we can."
+
+"Just see how Manchester is riddled with Germans.  They have been
+robbing our trade right and left, and even here in Brunford Germans are
+poking their noses.  I am about sick of them.  Thirty years ago we
+hardly ever saw a German, and now they have nobbled our best-paying
+lines.  If I had my way, all Germans should be driven out of the
+country; they are a bad lot to deal with; they have no business honour,
+and they don't play the game."
+
+"Come now, it's not so bad as that."
+
+"Ay, but it is.  For years they have been sending their lads over here
+on the pretence of learning the language.  They take jobs in our
+offices for hardly any wage, and then when they have learned our
+secrets, and the names of our customers, they just play against us."
+
+"Well, more fools we for letting 'em."
+
+But it is not my purpose to deal with the talk which was so prevalent
+towards the close of July 1914.  Neither am I going to try to trace the
+history of the events which led up to the war which has staggered
+humanity.  We all know now what Germany had in her mind: how by
+pretence, and deceit, and fraud she worked her will; how she thought
+that England would allow her to crush France and Russia without moving
+a finger.  Germany thought that the English were blind, and that for
+the sake of gain we should remain neutral and never lift a finger while
+she swept over Belgium to crush France; thought, too, that we should be
+supine while she violated treaties and committed the most fiendish
+deeds ever committed in the history of the world.  But it is not my
+purpose to speak of these things; I have to tell the story of a
+commonplace lad in a workaday town, and what influence the great world
+convulsion had upon his life.
+
+At first Tom was not much moved by the danger of war.  For one thing he
+had given but little attention to public affairs, and for another thing
+he was enamoured with Polly Powell.  Still he could not help being
+influenced by what every one was talking about.  Local strikes, the
+rate of wages, and the quality of beer ceased to be the general
+subjects of conversation in the Thorn and Thistle.  Every one was
+talking about a possible war.  And when finally early in August the
+news came to Brunford that England had decided to take her part in the
+great struggle, Tom found himself greatly interested.
+
+"I'll tell you what," said Enoch Powell, the landlord of the Thorn and
+Thistle, "the Germans have bitten off a bigger piece than they can
+chew.  I give them about six weeks.  What can they do with Russia on
+the one side and France and England on the other?  Besides, the German
+people don't want war.  It's that blooming Kaiser.  In about six weeks'
+time they will be on their knees crying for mercy."
+
+That was the general feeling of the town during the first fortnight of
+the War, and when as day after day the brave little Belgian army at
+Liege held out against the advancing Huns there was great confidence.
+"They have had their time-table smashed to smithereens at the first
+go," was the joyful comment.  "Wait till our lads get across, they'll
+let 'em know."
+
+In these days there was very little bitterness against the Germans.
+The terror of war had scarcely been felt.  People talked about the
+untold millions of Russian soldiers who would be in Berlin by the
+following October.  They boasted confidently about the armies of
+France, and the unconquerable power of the British Navy.  It is true
+that at the first news of the War many of the employers of labour were
+staggered; but presently as, when day followed day, they saw that trade
+would not be destroyed, but that possibly new avenues of wealth would
+be opened, they became more cheerful.  Besides, England was rising
+nobly to her responsibilities.  Lord Kitchener's call for half a
+million men was answered in a few days.  "Think on it," the people said
+one to another, "half a million men in a week!  Why, we'll smash 'em
+afore they know where they are!"
+
+Tom never thought of joining the army.  The idea of being a soldier was
+utterly strange to him.  The soldiers whom he knew were mostly of the
+lower orders; fellows who had got into trouble, or had taken the
+"King's shilling" while they were drunk.  He had looked down upon them
+as being lower in social scale than himself, and he would never be seen
+walking with a soldier.  When he saw lads of his own class enlisting,
+he shrugged his shoulders with a laugh.  "Let 'em join if they want
+to," he said, "but it's noan in my line."  In fact, after the first
+three weeks of the War, although terrible stories were reaching England
+about the ghastly atrocities in Belgium, and about the Germans nearing
+Paris, the manufacturing parts of Lancashire were largely unmoved.  The
+terrible harvest of war which was to come later was not yet realised.
+It is true that thousands of young fellows responded to the call of
+duty.  Young men of the better-educated class obtained commissions and
+were working at the local barracks; while here and there the more
+adventurous of the operatives found their way to recruiting stations.
+But the response was not large; partly for the reason that the reality
+of their country's call had not come to them with its full meaning.
+
+One evening Tom found himself talking with young Waterman, who had been
+away from Brunford for some weeks.
+
+"Hullo, Pollard," said Waterman, "I see you have not enlisted."
+
+"Nay, I am not bound to enlist; there's enough gone to lick the Germans
+already.  Don't you think so?" asked Tom.
+
+A bright light came into Waterman's eyes.  "I am going to enlist," he
+said--"that is, my people are getting me a commission.  I have had some
+training, you know."
+
+"But we shall quickly lick them, don't you think so?" asked Tom.
+"You've been in Germany a goodish bit.  You went to school and college
+there, so you ought to know."
+
+Waterman laughed.  "We English are fools," he said.
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Of course I am going to do my bit," said Waterman.  "As an Englishman
+I must; but we shall never lick the Germans."
+
+"Why?  Think of the millions the Russians have got; think of the
+French; think of our Navy."
+
+"Ay, think of it all," replied Waterman, "but you don't know what the
+Germans are.  I do.  In that country every man is a soldier.  Look at
+Brunford; here are thousands upon thousands of fellows who are hanging
+back, and who are worth nothing in a time of war.  If this had been a
+German town every man you see would be a soldier.  Then see how much in
+advance of us the Germans are in scientific matters.  They have got
+mountains of guns and ammunition.  Besides, they have made a science of
+war, while Englishmen are only amateurs.  Think of what they have done
+already; nearly the whole of Belgium belongs to them, and a great slice
+of France."
+
+"But do you mean to say," cried Tom, "that they will lick us?  Why,
+think of our Navy; think of----"
+
+Waterman did not wait to hear the end of Tom's sentence; he crossed the
+road and was lost to sight.
+
+One event took place, however, which somewhat opened the people's eyes,
+and is talked of even to-day.  A young German who had come to Brunford
+a few years before, and who had succeeded in amassing a fortune, was
+called home by his Government.  So popular had he become in the town,
+and so little had the realities of the war laid hold of the people,
+that some of the leading townsmen decided to give him a dinner.  This
+dinner was arranged to take place in the large dining-room of the Bull
+and Butcher, the largest hotel in the town.  Although some people were
+anything but pleased at the arrangement, so little ill-feeling was felt
+towards the Germans that a good number of the townspeople gathered.
+When the dinner had been eaten the chairman rose to propose the toast
+of the evening.  He said that although Mr. Shweitzer was called upon to
+fight against the English people, the town had no ill-will against him
+personally; they all knew him as a good fellow, a good sportsman, and
+an honourable business man.  During the time he had been in Brunford
+they had opened their doors to him and received him as an honoured
+guest, and although the unfortunate war had taken place, they had
+nothing but good feeling towards Mr. Shweitzer.  That was why they had
+invited him as their guest that night, and he, the chairman, expressed
+the hope that the war would soon be over and that Mr. Shweitzer would
+return and take up the position which he had so long occupied amongst
+them.  The toast to his health was heartily cheered; good feeling
+abounded, and all waited for the response of the German guest.
+
+As Mr. Shweitzer rose to respond he received quite an ovation; the
+diners even went so far as to give him musical honours.  Mr.
+Shweitzer's reply was in fairly good English.  He thanked his friends
+for their good-fellowship, and for the kind things they had said about
+him.
+
+"As to my coming back to Brunford again," he concluded, "I have but
+little doubt that I shall return, but when I do, the Kaiser, and not
+the man you now own as king, will rule over England.  For the Germans
+are going to lick your country, and Wilhelm II will be your future
+king."
+
+For a few seconds those who had gathered were so much astonished that
+there was a dead silence.  Meanwhile the German looked around the room
+with a supercilious smile.
+
+Then an Englishman who had been sitting close by came up to the German.
+He was a brawny, stalwart fellow.  "Do you mean that?" he asked the
+German.
+
+"Yes, I do," was the reply.
+
+The Englishman without another word struck him a mighty blow on the
+jaw.  "That for you and your Kaiser!" he exclaimed amidst the shouts of
+those present.
+
+The blow was so heavy and so well aimed that the German's jaw was
+broken.  He was taken to the hospital, where he remained for some
+months, and he has not yet returned to Germany.[1]
+
+During the next day Brunford was excited beyond measure.  The story was
+told in a hundred mills by thousands of operatives; it was discussed in
+the public places, in every inn and tavern, and throughout the whole
+district.  It did more to enlighten the minds of the people as to the
+real hopes and aims of the Germans than all the newspaper articles
+which had appeared.  It revealed to the people, too, the real character
+of the Germans.  Here was one of the best of them who had acted like a
+cad, and who in the face of good-fellowship had haughtily flaunted the
+superiority of the German people.  The incident also gave point to the
+story of the ghastly atrocities which were taking place in Belgium.
+People were excited beyond measure; the War was becoming real to them.
+
+All this had its effect upon Tom.  Not that even yet he realised the
+full significance of what was taking place.  Hundreds of young fellows
+were enlisting, but Tom held back.  September, October, November passed
+away, and still Tom failed to respond to his country's call.  He quite
+agreed with his friends, and said that of course England must lick the
+Germans; but he never admitted that the War had anything to do with him.
+
+"I am earning good brass," said Tom, "and if I hold on I shall make
+more still.  Let those as wants to fight the Germans fight 'em, I'm
+noan going to get killed."  This he said to Polly Powell one night as
+he sat in the private sitting-room of the Thorn and Thistle.
+
+"And quite right too, Tom," said Polly--"tha'rt too good a lad to be
+killed by the Germans.  Besides, enough'll go without thee.  If th'
+other chaps like to be fools, let 'em."
+
+Still Tom did not feel altogether comfortable.  At the back of his mind
+was the vague thought that he ought to do his bit, but his natural
+selfishness, added to Polly Powell's influence, kept him at home.
+
+Besides, by this time winter had laid its icy grip upon the earth.
+News came of soldiers being crippled for life by frost-bite; stories
+were told of men standing up to the waist in icy slush; wounded men
+came back from the front telling stories about the terrible power of
+the Germans; newspapers were obliged to admit that we seemed to be
+powerless in the face of the enemy.
+
+All this made Tom somewhat afraid; he was not cast in an heroic mould;
+the spirit of adventure was not strong within him.
+
+"I say, Tom," said a man whose three sons were in the army, "are you
+going to stay home like a coward?"
+
+"I'm noan a coward," replied Tom.
+
+"Then what do you mean by not doing your duty?"
+
+"I have my own views," replied Tom.  "Look here, Elijah, I'm not such a
+fool as to go over there and get killed; th' other chaps'll lick the
+Germans all right."
+
+"That's the answer of a coward," replied Elijah Butterworth; "if
+everybody said that, the country would be robbed from us, and we should
+have those German devils ruling over us."
+
+"No fear of that," laughed Tom, and yet he felt uncomfortable.
+
+"Aren't you an Englishman?" cried Elijah, "and don't you care for the
+old country?"
+
+"Ay, I don't know," replied Tom, "the Germans are just as well off as
+we are."
+
+Meanwhile the real facts of the situation became more apparent.  The
+Germans were not to be beaten easily.  Russia, in spite of all that had
+been said about her power as a great steam-roller, could make no real
+headway; while France and England combined could not drive the Huns
+from the line they occupied.  People tried to explain the situation,
+but the dreadful logic still remained: the country we had sworn to
+protect and save was in the hands of the enemy.  The industrial part of
+France was held in a grip of iron; while Russia was powerless against
+the hosts of Germany.
+
+First there were talks about the war being over by Christmas, but that
+delusion quickly vanished, and when a member of the Cabinet came to
+Manchester, and said that it might take years to drive the enemy from
+his position, people stared in bewilderment.  More and more men were
+asked for, while some of the newspapers began to talk about
+conscription.
+
+As Christmas drew near, Tom became more and more uncomfortable, even
+although the blandishments of Polly Powell grew more powerful.  He had
+attended two recruiting meetings, but they seemed to him half-hearted
+and unconvincing.  He still saw no reason why he should "do his bit."
+When he was asked why he didn't join, he mentioned the names of several
+young fellows who also held back.
+
+"Why should I go," he would say, "when so-and-so and so-and-so stay at
+home?  They are manufacturers' sons, and they are no better nor me.
+Let them enlist as privates, and then I'll see about it."
+
+When the New Year came a big recruiting meeting was announced at the
+great hall of the Mechanics' Institute.  It was advertised that a man
+who had been to Belgium, and had witnessed what had taken place, was to
+be the chief speaker.  At first Polly Powell tried to persuade Tom not
+to go, and would probably have been successful had there not been a
+dance that night to which Polly had been invited.  Tom, not being a
+dancer, was not eligible for the occasion, so he made his way to the
+meeting.
+
+That meeting marked an era in Tom's life.  Little by little the speaker
+gripped the attention of the audience until the interest became intense
+and almost painful.  He described what he had seen, he gave terrible
+proofs of the ghastly butchery, and worse than butchery, that had taken
+place.  He made it clear to the audience what the war really meant.  He
+showed that not only was the power of England at stake, but the welfare
+of humanity trembled in the balance.  He related authenticated stories
+of what the Germans said they would do when they came to England.  As
+Tom listened he heard the sound of the advancing Huns, saw towns and
+villages laid waste, saw the women of England debauched and outraged,
+saw the reign of devilry.
+
+"By God!" he exclaimed aloud, "I can't stand this!"
+
+His words reached the speaker, who made the most of them.
+
+"Yes," he cried, "if the young men of England hang back, if they fail
+to love their country, if they care nothing about the honour or
+sacredness of womanhood, if they prefer their own ease, their own
+paltry pleasures, before duty; if they would rather go to cinema shows,
+or hang around public-house doors than play the game like Englishmen,
+this, and more than this, will take place.  The England that we own and
+love will be lost for ever.  Liberty will be gone, we shall be a nation
+in chains, while our women will be the playthings of inhuman devils.
+That is the problem which every man has to consider.
+
+"What are you going to do?  Let me put it another way.  If we win this
+war, if the glory of England is maintained, and if she remains as she
+has always been--
+
+  "The home of the brave and free,
+  The land of liberty,
+
+to whom shall we owe it?  Who will have been our saviours?  It will be
+the lads who have sacrificed everything to do their duty."
+
+A great cheer arose from the audience, and Tom, scarcely realising what
+he was doing, shouted and cheered with the rest.
+
+"But if we lose," continued the speaker, "if the Germans break our
+lines and come to England, if we are beaten, to whom shall we owe it?
+Who will be responsible?  It will be the shirkers, the cowards!  Look,
+you young men!" he cried passionately.  "Thousands and tens of
+thousands of our brave fellows are at this time in the trenches;
+fighting, suffering, dying.  What for?  For England, for England's
+honour, for the safety of her women, for the sacredness of our lives,
+for you: while you, you skulk at home smoking your cigarettes, go to
+your places of amusement, and drink your beer.  Don't you realise that
+you are playing the coward?"
+
+Then the speaker made his last appeal, clear, impassioned, convincing.
+
+"What are you going to do, young men?" he cried.  "We don't want
+conscripts, but free men who come out cheerfully, willingly, gladly to
+do their duty to their King, Country, and God.  Who will be the first?"
+
+He stood on the platform waiting amidst breathless silence.
+
+"Will you wait until you are forced?"
+
+"No!  By God, no!" said Tom, and starting to his feet he walked to the
+platform and gave his name.
+
+Thus Tom became a soldier.
+
+
+"Tha doesn't say so?" said Tom's mother when, that night, he told her
+what he had done.
+
+"Ay, I have."
+
+"Then thou'st goin' for a sodger."
+
+"Ay."
+
+Mrs. Martha Pollard looked at him for a few seconds without speaking.
+Evidently she found it difficult to find words to express her thoughts.
+
+"Weel, Tom," she said presently, "I thought thee't got low eno' when
+thee got drinkin' and picked up wi' that peacock-bedecked Polly Powell;
+but I ne'er thought a bairn o' mine would sink as low as that.  Wer't'a
+baan now?"
+
+"I'm goin' to tell Polly," said Tom.
+
+"Ay, tha mun be sent to Lancaster asylum," said Mrs. Pollard.
+
+
+
+[1] The above incident actually took place in a Lancashire city at the
+beginning of the War.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Tom made his way to the Thorn and Thistle, but was informed that Polly
+would not be home until eleven o'clock.  He therefore wandered about
+the town until that time, and again appeared at the public-house door.
+But it was not until twelve o'clock that Polly made her appearance.
+
+"Anything the matter, Tom?" she asked.
+
+"Ay, I have joined the Army."
+
+"Thou'st noan been such a fool?"
+
+"I have noan been a fool," said Tom, "I couldn't help it."
+
+Polly Powell looked at him rather angrily, then she said: "If you have
+done it, what do you want to speak to me about it for?"
+
+"I shall be off to-morrow," replied Tom.  "The recruiting officer told
+me I must report at the Town Hall to-morrow morning at ten o'clock."
+
+"Where will you go?" she asked.
+
+"I don't know," said Tom.
+
+"Well, what are you waiting for?"
+
+"I thought," said Tom, "that is--I thought as I was going away
+I'd--I'd----  Look here, Polly, you are going to keep true to me while
+I'm away, aren't you?"
+
+"I never thought much of soldiers," said Polly.  "Besides----"
+
+"Besides what?" asked Tom.  "Look here, Polly, I gave up Alice Lister
+for you, and if you had been at that meeting you would see as how I
+couldn't do anything else."
+
+"Do you think you might get a commission and be an officer?" asked the
+girl.
+
+"I never thought about that," said Tom.
+
+Polly hesitated a second, then she said: "Of course I'll be true to
+you, Tom.  There, good night, I must go in."
+
+The next morning as Tom was making his way towards the Town Hall he met
+Alice Lister.  At first he was going to pass her by without notice, but
+when he saw the look on her face he stopped.  She came towards him with
+outstretched hand.
+
+"Tom," she said, "I've heard about last night, and it was splendid of
+you.  I am glad you were the first.  I am told that your going up in
+that way led scores of others to go."
+
+"Have you heard that?" said Tom.  "I never thought of it."
+
+"I am sure you will be a good soldier, Tom.  We are all proud of you,
+and--and we shall be thinking about you, and praying for you."
+
+Tom laughed uneasily.  "I thought you had forgotten all about me,
+Alice," he said.
+
+"Why should you think so?"
+
+"I have heard there is a young parson going after you.  Are you going
+to make a match of it, Alice?"  And again he laughed.
+
+"Good-bye, Tom, I hope you will do well."  And Alice left him with a
+strange fluttering in his heart.
+
+Tom joined the Loyal North Lancashires.  I will not say which
+battalion, as the mention of it might cause some of my readers to
+identify the lad whose story I am telling.  His unit was located at a
+large Lancashire town some thirty miles from Brunford.  Here he was
+initiated into the secrets of a soldier's life.  At first everything
+was a drudgery to him; he could not see the meaning of what he was
+doing, could not understand how "forming fours" and other parts of his
+drill could help him to be a soldier.  Still, being a fairly sharp,
+common-sense lad, he picked up his work quickly, and in the course of a
+few weeks was physically much better for his training.  At the end of
+three months he was nearly two inches taller, and more than three
+inches bigger around the chest than at the time he joined.  He began to
+enjoy his work, too.  The young subaltern whose duty it was to train
+the company had more than once singled him out as a capable fellow, and
+as the cold winter days passed away and spring began to advance Tom
+could undergo a twenty- or thirty-mile march without weariness.  He was
+well fed, well housed, and well clothed, and while his pocket money was
+not extravagant, he had enough for his needs.
+
+Indeed in many respects it would have been better for Tom if he had had
+less money.  The influence of the Thorn and Thistle was still strong
+upon him, and I have to relate with sadness that on more than one
+occasion Tom barely escaped punishment for being drunk and disorderly.
+Most of the lads with whom he was brought into contact were, on the
+whole, steady and well-behaved.  On the other hand, however, there were
+a number of them who had a bad influence upon him.  In fact, while he
+narrowly escaped being brought before his superiors for his various
+misdemeanours, Tom's character was steadily deteriorating.  The first
+flush of enthusiasm, and loyalty, and even something nobler than
+loyalty, which had been aroused in him by the speaker who had caused
+him to join the army, slowly faded away.  The men with whom he
+associated did not help him to be on the side of the angels, rather
+they appealed to what was coarse and debased in his nature.
+
+To tell the truth, there was very little in Tom's life which tended to
+ennoble him.  It is true there was a service for soldiers every Sunday
+morning in one of the big buildings in the town, and while Tom, lover
+of music as he had always been, was somewhat influenced by the singing
+of the men, and while the hymns reminded him of his Sunday-school days,
+they did not move him very deeply.  He paid little or no attention to
+the ministrations of the chaplain.  Neither did he avail himself of the
+many meetings which were held for soldiers by the various churches in
+the town.  Indeed, up to this point Tom was not the better, but the
+worse, for joining the Army.
+
+There was in Tom's company a young fellow much superior to the rank and
+file of the soldiers.  He was a young Cornish lad, the son of a
+well-to-do father who had sent him to a good public school, and from
+thence to Lancashire to learn the manufacturing business.  This young
+fellow, Robert Penrose by name, although belonging socially to a
+different class from that in which Tom moved, took a liking to him.  He
+was amused at his good humour, and seemed to be grieved at seeing him
+drifting with the dregs of the battalion.
+
+"I say, Pollard," he said to him on one occasion, "do you know you are
+making an ass of yourself?  You have the makings of a man in you, and
+yet you mix with that lot."
+
+"Why shouldn't I?" said Tom.
+
+"Because you have more brains than they have, are better educated, and
+are capable of better things."
+
+"Why shouldn't I have a lark while I can?" replied Tom.  "I shall have
+to go to the front in a month or two, so I will just make hay while the
+sun shines."
+
+"Make hay!" replied Penrose, "make a fool of yourself, you mean.  I
+hear that years ago you were on the way to becoming an educated chap,
+and now everybody's looking upon you as one of the drinking fellows."
+
+"It's all very well for you to talk," said Tom, "you're a swell."
+
+"I am a private just as you are," replied Penrose.
+
+"Ay, but you will be getting a commission soon, and there's no chance
+of that for me.  I don't belong to your sort.  Besides, what can I do?
+There's no places but the theatre, the cinema show, and the
+public-house when the day's work is over."
+
+"That's all nonsense," replied Penrose.
+
+"Well, what is there?" asked Tom.
+
+"There's the Y.M.C.A."
+
+"Y.M.C.A.!" laughed Tom, "none o' that for me!  I know some of the
+fools who go to the Y.M.C.A. meetings."
+
+"Why are they fools?"
+
+"Because they go and hear a lot of pie-jaw; they are a lot of ninnies,
+that's what they are."
+
+"They don't get hauled over the coals for misbehaviour, anyhow."
+
+"No, they haven't got pluck enough.  I didn't come into the Army to
+become religious; I joined to fight the blooming Germans, and what's
+fighting got to do with religion?"
+
+"Maybe it has a good deal if you feel you are fighting for a good
+cause," replied Penrose; "besides, the Y.M.C.A. chaps are not ninnies,
+as you call them.  Some of them are the best fellows we have."
+
+"No religious lolly-pops for me," said Tom, "I had enough of that when
+I lived i' Brunford."
+
+"Of course you can go your own way," said Penrose.  "I suppose you will
+spend your evening in the public-house, or at some cinema show, or
+perhaps you will be larking around with some silly girls; but I am
+going to the Y.M.C.A."
+
+"Do you go there?" cried Tom in astonishment.  For Penrose was looked
+upon as anything but goody-goody, and he was generally admired.  He was
+the best boxer in the company, was smart in drill, could do long
+marches with the best of them, and was always ready to do a kindly
+action.  Besides all that, his evident education and social superiority
+made him a marked man.  It was rumoured, too, that he had refused a
+commission.
+
+"Of course I go," replied Penrose.
+
+"What, and listen to their pie-jaw?"
+
+"There is precious little pie-jaw, as you call it," was Penrose's
+response.  "We have jolly good entertainments almost every night, and
+some of the fellows who come to talk to us are not half bad, I can tell
+you!  Besides, I go there to rub up my conversational French."
+
+"Conversational French!" said Tom, only dimly understanding what he
+meant.  "Dost 'a mean to say that they learn you French there?"
+
+"There's a Frenchman who gives his services free," replied Penrose.
+"It's jolly good of him too, for the poor wretch has hardly a sixpence
+to his name; still he does it.  In his way he's quite a French scholar,
+and he has helped me no end."
+
+"Ay, but you learnt French at school," said Tom; "he would have nowt to
+do wi' a chap like me."
+
+"Don't be an ass.  Why, dozens of fellows go to him every night.  A few
+weeks ago they didn't know a word of French, and now they are picking
+it up like mad.  Besides all that, the Y.M.C.A. rooms are open every
+night, they have all sorts of games there, lots of newspapers, and they
+give you every facility for writing letters and that sort of thing."
+
+"By gum!" said Tom, "I didn't know that."
+
+"That's because you have been making an ass of yourself.  While the
+other fellows have been improving themselves you have been loafing
+around public-houses.  Good night," and Penrose left him alone.
+
+Tom felt rather miserable; he was somewhat angered too.  He didn't like
+the way Penrose had spoken to him.  In the old days he had been proud
+of his respectability, and before he had made Polly Powell's
+acquaintance, and when Alice Lister had shown a preference for him, Tom
+was very ambitious.  Now he knew he had not only sunk in the social
+scale, but he had less self-respect than formerly.  "After all," he
+argued to himself presently, "I didn't join the Army to go to Sunday
+School, I joined to lick the blooming Germans."
+
+Still he could not help recalling the feelings which possessed him on
+the night he came out of the great hall at the Mechanics' Institute.
+He had felt stirred then; felt indeed as though he had heard the call
+of some higher power.  Hitherto he had looked upon wearing the King's
+uniform as something ignoble; then it had appeared to him almost as a
+religious act.  The speaker had called upon him to fight against
+brutality, butchery, devilry, and his heart had burned at the thought
+of it.  Something which he felt was holy made him leap to his feet and
+give his name, yet now he found his chief delights in coarse
+associations and debasing habits.
+
+He was still fond of Polly Powell.  The girl's coarse beauty made a
+strong appeal to him, but he remembered Alice Lister; remembered the
+things which she had said to him, and he could not help sighing.
+
+"Eh, Tom, is that you?"
+
+Tom turned and saw a tall raw-boned fellow in kilts.
+
+"Ay, Alec; wher't' baan?"
+
+"There's a wee lassie I promised to meet to-nicht," replied the other.
+
+Alec McPhail belonged to the Black Watch, a battalion of which was
+stationed in the town, and Tom and Alec had become friends.
+
+"What's thy lass's name?" asked Tom.
+
+"I dinna ken reightly, except that they ca' her Alice.  Come wi' me,
+Tom; mebbe she has a friend."
+
+"Nay," replied Tom, "I doan't feel like skylarking with the lasses
+to-night."
+
+"Weel, I'm not ower particular mysel', but I have not much siller.
+Three bawbees will have to last me till Saturday, otherwise I'd be
+asking ye to come and have a drop of whisky wi' me."
+
+"I am stony-broke too," said Tom.  "I expect I have been a fool."
+
+"Nay, man, nae man's a fool who spends his siller on good whisky."
+
+By this time they were walking together towards the outskirts of the
+town.
+
+"What is this lass o' yourn?" asked Tom after a silence.
+
+"I think she's a wee bit servant lassie," replied the Scotchman; "she's
+a bonny wee thing too, and fairly enamoured wi' a kilt."
+
+Tom still walked on aimlessly; the thought of going to meet a girl who
+might never come did not have much attraction for him; still he didn't
+know where to go.
+
+"I don't think I'll come any further," he said presently.
+
+"Nay, what makes ye alter your mind, Tom?"
+
+"I think I'll go back to the Black Cow," replied Tom, "'appen there's
+some chaps there who'll stand a treat.  After all, Penrose wur right
+when he called me an ass."
+
+"Penrose is what you call a gentleman ranker, I'm thinking."
+
+"Summat o' that sort," replied Tom,
+
+"What did he call you an ass for?"
+
+"Well, you see I've been a bit of a fool; I've spent all my brass, and
+I've took up wi' a lot o' lads as is no use to me.  Penrose is gone to
+the Y.M.C.A. You wouldn't think it perhaps, McPhail, but I wur a bit in
+the religious line myself once.  I wur educating myself too, and I had
+as nice a lass as there was i' Brunford, but I took up wi' the daughter
+of a man as kept a public-house, and--well, there you are."
+
+"And you have chucked releegion?" asked McPhail.
+
+"Ay, there's nowt in it, and it keeps a chap from having a good
+time--but I doan't know," and Tom sighed.
+
+"I am a wee bit of a philosopher mysel'," replied McPhail, "and I have
+reasoned it all out very carefully.  My mither, now, is what you might
+call a godly woman; my father was an elder in the old U. P. Kirk, and I
+was brought up in a godly fashion.  But, as I said, I reasoned it out.
+I read Colonel Ingersoll's Lectures, and he proved to me that Moses
+made a lot of mistakes.  So, weel, presently I got fond of whisky, and
+I came to the conclusion that releegion was not logical."
+
+"I reckon as you're none too logical," replied Tom.
+
+"Ay, man, but I was well groonded in the fundamentals!  I could say the
+Shorter Catechism when I was a wee kiddie of seven years old!  How am I
+no logical?"
+
+"After all," replied Tom, "it's noan logical to give up religion
+because of Colonel Ingersoll's Lectures.  The religion my Alice had
+went deeper nor that.  Ay, but there, I am a fool to be talking about
+it.  Good night, McPhail, I will go back now."  And Tom went back
+towards the town alone.
+
+The following Saturday night Tom was again drunk and disorderly.  This
+time he did not escape punishment.  Tom never felt so degraded in his
+life as when he was undergoing that punishment.  He had joined the Army
+under the influence of a noble impulse.  He had felt that he was doing
+a noble thing.  Not that he was proud of it, because in reality he
+could do nothing else; when he came to think of it afterwards he knew
+that he was doing nothing but his duty.  All the same he was elated by
+his action.  It had made him hold his head higher, and made his heart
+beat fast; now, after a little more than three months' training, he had
+actually been called before his officers for being a disgrace to his
+company.  The colonel, who was a stern soldier, was also a kindly
+gentleman.  He recognised at a glance that Tom was not a gutter lad;
+saw, too, that he had the making of a man in him.  That was the reason
+perhaps why he used stronger language than usual, and for meting out a
+heavier punishment.
+
+"What excuse have you for yourself?" asked the colonel.  "You have
+evidently had some education and were meant for better things.  Why did
+you make a beast of yourself?"  His words cut Tom like a knife.  "Make
+a beast of myself," he thought, "has Tom Pollard come to that?"
+
+"Where is there to go, sir, when one's day's work is over?" he asked
+almost sulkily.
+
+"Go?" replied the colonel, a little nonplussed, "go?"  And then
+remembering a visitor who came to him the previous day, he said:
+"There's the Y.M.C.A. hall; they teach you something useful there."
+
+After his punishment was over Tom could not help seeing that the better
+class of fellows somewhat shunned him.  He could not say he was
+boycotted, but they showed no inclination to be in his company.  This
+touched his pride.  "I am as good as they are," he said to himself,
+"and a bit better nor some on 'em."  He was delighted, however, to
+notice that Penrose acted differently from the rest, although he was by
+no means flattering.
+
+"I told you you were an ass," he said.  "If you go on in this way,
+you'll end by being kicked out of the Army."
+
+Again Tom was wounded deeply.  "Kicked out of the Army!"  He had never
+dreamed of that.  What! he, Tom Pollard, who had won prizes at the
+Mechanics' Institute, and who had ambition of one day becoming a
+manufacturer on his own account, kicked out of the Army!
+
+"Come now, Tom," said Penrose, who almost repented of having spoken so
+sharply, "it is not too late to turn over a new leaf, and you have the
+makings of a fine fellow in you."
+
+"I'd rather be kicked out of the Army as a straight chap than to be a
+blooming white-livered hypocrite."
+
+"And do you think I'm a white-livered hypocrite?"
+
+"A sort of plaster saint, anyhow," retorted Tom.
+
+"Anything but that, Tom," replied Penrose; "all the same I've taken a
+liking to you."
+
+"You have a nice way of showing it," replied Tom.
+
+His anger was all gone now, for he instinctively felt that Penrose
+meant to be friendly.
+
+"Come with me to the Y.M.C.A. hall to-night," urged Penrose.
+
+"Ay, and be preached to," said Tom, yielding rapidly to the other.
+
+"I promise you there will be no preaching," said Penrose, with a laugh,
+"unless you like to wait for it.  Come now."
+
+"All right, then," said Tom still sulkily, but glad that he had
+yielded.  A few minutes later they entered a large hall where perhaps
+six or seven hundred soldiers had gathered.
+
+There are few counties in England where music is more cultivated than
+in Lancashire, and that night Tom listened almost spellbound.  Songs
+that he knew and loved were sung; songs which he had heard Alice Lister
+sing.  Recitations were given in broad Lancashire dialect which gave
+him keen enjoyment.  More than all this there was a feeling of
+good-fellowship; the Y.M.C.A. workers were evidently on the friendliest
+of terms with the men, while there was no suggestion of goody-goodyism.
+
+"This is a special occasion, I suppose," said Tom to Penrose.
+
+"Oh no, they have entertainments like this almost every night.  All the
+musical people in the district give their services."
+
+"What for?" asked Tom.
+
+"Just to give us soldiers a good time; but we must be going now."
+
+"Why?" asked Tom, "it's not late."
+
+"But there's a fellow just going to speak, and as you object to being
+preached to we had better go."
+
+Tom rose almost reluctantly.  He was not sure that he didn't want to
+hear what the man had to say.
+
+"Besides," went on Penrose, "I haven't shown you over the place yet.  I
+want to take you into the rooms which are provided for writing letters,
+and playing games; there are the French classes too, and I should like
+you to see what they are like."
+
+That night at eleven o'clock, as Tom went back to the house where he
+had been billeted, he felt that he had indeed made a fool of himself.
+The Y.M.C.A. rooms had the feeling of home; none of the people there
+wanted his money, and he was the better, not the worse, for going.
+
+"Of course," said Tom to himself as he went to bed, "religious
+lolly-pops are not fit for a grown-up man, but it wur a grand evening;
+I am sure I could pick up that French, too.  Let's see, how did it go?
+
+  "_Je suis_   I am.
+   _Vous etes_   you are.
+   _Nous sommes_   we are.
+   _Ils sont_   they are.
+
+"Why, it's easy enough," thought Tom, "I could pick it up, and then
+when I go over to France I shall be able to speak their lingo."
+
+"Where have you been lately, Tom?" asked Alec McPhail when he met him
+some time later.  "I have been to all the public-houses where we used
+to meet and have not set my eyes on you."
+
+"Nay," replied Tom, "I have been to the Y.M.C.A."
+
+"Nay, Tom, a man like you, with your power of reasoning an' a', are
+surely not turning releegious?"
+
+"Nay, I am noan turning religious," replied Tom, "but I tell you, man,
+the entertainments are fair grand; champion, in fact!  I am learning
+French too."
+
+"I suppose the entertainments are sandwiched between the dry bread of
+releegion?" replied the Scotchman.
+
+"Nay, I have nowt to do wi' religion," replied Tom.  "I have just
+listened to the singing and the recitations, and then when the chap has
+got up to talk I've gone into the writing-room or to the French class."
+
+"Will you tell me about it?" asked the Scotchman.
+
+Tom gave him a full description.
+
+"You see," he said, "it's not like Sunday School, or anything of that
+sort.  There's lots of folks what can sing, and play the piano very
+well, and can recite champion.  And they give us a good concert every
+night.  Then there's a room where we can go in and read papers, write
+letters, or play draughts or bagatelle and all that sort of thing.
+Then there's a good library where you can get any book for the asking.
+Ay, those religious folks have been kind; they have sent hundreds of
+books for us chaps to read, good books and all.  Then there's a
+class-room where you can learn French."
+
+"And will there be a bar where you can get some whisky?" asked the
+Scotchman.
+
+"Nay," replied Tom, "there's no whisky or owt o' that sort, but there's
+a refreshment bar where you can get tea and coffee, and tarts, and
+sandwiches."
+
+"For nothing?" asked the Scotchman eagerly.
+
+"Nay, not for nothing, but cheaper than you can buy it at any shop.
+From what I can hear they sell it at just cost price."
+
+"And," said the Scotchman, "do you mean, Tom, that you will give up the
+evenings we used to have, for that sort of thing?"
+
+"I don't say I've turned teetotaler," replied Tom, "although I have
+took nothing sin'--sin' I were--disgraced, and I doan't mean to for a
+bit.  You see, the chaps at the Y.M.C.A. doan't tell you not to go to
+the public-houses and then provide nothing better for you.  Anyhow,
+I've been to the Y.M.C.A. every night sin' I had my punishment, and
+what's more, I'm going again."
+
+A week later there was great excitement amongst the soldiers.  They had
+now been nearly four months in this Lancashire town, and orders came
+for the Loyal North Lancashires and the Black Watch to move south.
+They heard that they were going to Surrey, and were to be situated at a
+camp in the most beautiful part of that county.  Tom was delighted, for
+although he had made many friends at the Y.M.C.A and grown to know many
+people in this Lancashire town, the thought of a change appealed to him
+strongly.  He was young, and longed for new associations and new
+surroundings.  Besides, it meant a step nearer towards his desires.  He
+was told that his battalion was to be moved to Surrey preparatory to
+orders for the Front.  Possibly they might be moved to Salisbury Plain
+or Shoreham afterwards, but it was quite on the cards that they would
+go straight from the Surrey camp to France or Flanders.
+
+As soon as Tom heard this, he applied for leave, and, the young
+lieutenant having reported that Tom had behaved very well since his
+punishment, and had apparently turned over a new leaf, it was granted.
+
+He did not spend much of his time with his father and mother, but as
+soon as possible made his way to the Thorn and Thistle.  He had saved
+practically all his last four weeks' regimental pay, a great part of
+which he spent on a present for Polly Powell.  On the whole he was
+satisfied with Polly's reception, although he felt that she was not
+quite so affectionate towards him as she had been during the days when
+she was trying to win him away from Alice Lister.  It was during his
+stay in Brunford, too, that Tom gave way to the temptation of drink.
+
+"Nay, Tom," said Polly when he said he would only take a bottle of
+ginger ale, "I never heard of a soldier who was worth his salt but
+would not take his beer like a man."  And Tom, who could not bear to be
+laughed at, yielded to Polly's persuasions.
+
+"Ay, she's a grand lass," he said to himself, "and a rare beauty too;
+she's got eyes like black diamonds, and a face like a June rose."  All
+the same he remembered some of the ladies who had come to the Y.M.C.A.
+to sing to the soldiers, and he had a feeling, which he could not put
+into words, that Polly was a little bit loud.  Her dresses were always
+highly coloured, while her hats were bedecked with big feathers.  Of
+course these things suited her to perfection, and although he did not
+raise the slightest objection to them there were doubts at the back of
+his mind.  Neither did he altogether like the way in which she bandied
+jokes, which were not always of the best taste, with the young fellows
+who came to the Thorn and Thistle.  Altogether it was not an unmixed
+sorrow to him when his leave was up and he returned to his regiment.
+
+He did not see Alice Lister during his visit, and if the truth must be
+told he was glad of it.  Polly Powell's spell was strong upon him, and
+he said repeatedly that Alice Lister was not his sort.
+
+A week after this Tom's battalion was ordered south, and amidst much
+excitement the men boarded the train which took them there.  He had
+hoped they would stay in London for at least one night, but only two
+hours were allowed between the time they reached Euston from the time
+the train was due to leave Waterloo.  Discipline was somewhat relaxed
+during the journey, and when at length Tom entered the train at
+Waterloo he noticed that many of the men were the worse for drink.
+
+"What blithering fools they are!" said Penrose to him, as seated in
+their carriage they saw many of their companions staggering along the
+platform.  Tom was silent at this, nevertheless he thought a great deal.
+
+It was now the beginning of May, and the Surrey meadows were bedecked
+with glory.  Tom, who had never been out of Lancashire before, could
+not help being impressed with the beauty he saw everywhere.  It was
+altogether different from the hard bare hills which he had been
+accustomed to in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire.  The air
+was sweet and pure too.  Here all nature seemed generous with her
+gifts; great trees abounded, flowers grew everywhere, while fields were
+covered with such a glory of green as he had never seen before.  By and
+by the train stopped at a little station, and then commenced the march
+to the camp for which they were bound.  Penrose and Tom walked side by
+side.
+
+"This is not new to you, I suppose?" Tom queried.
+
+"No," said Penrose, "I know almost every inch round here."
+
+"I saw you looking out of the train at a place we passed what they call
+Godalming; you were looking at a big building on the top of a hill
+there.  What was it?"
+
+"It was my old school," said Penrose, "Charterhouse; the best school in
+the world."
+
+"Ay, did you go there?" asked Tom.  "Why, it was fair grand.  How long
+were you there?"
+
+"Five years," said Penrose.
+
+"And to think of your becoming a Tommy like me!" Tom almost gasped.
+
+"Well, what of that?"
+
+"You might have been an officer if you had liked, I suppose?"
+
+Penrose nodded.
+
+"It wur just grand of you."
+
+"Nothing grand at all," said Penrose.  "A chap who doesn't do his bit
+at a time like this is just a skunk, that's all; and I made up my mind
+that I would learn what a private soldier's life was like before I took
+a commission."
+
+"Well, you know now," said Tom, "and you will be an officer soon, I
+expect."
+
+"My uniform's ordered," said Penrose.
+
+Tom was silent for some time.
+
+"I suppose you won't be friends with me any more, and I shall have to
+salute you," he remarked presently.
+
+"Discipline is discipline," replied Penrose.  "As to friendship, I am
+not given to change."
+
+The battalion, eleven hundred strong, climbed a steep hill, under great
+overshadowing trees.  Birds were singing gaily; May blossom was
+blooming everywhere; the green of the trees was wonderful to behold.
+Presently they came to a great clearing in a pine forest.  The life of
+the country seemed suddenly to end, and they arrived at a newly
+improvised town.  There were simply miles of wooden huts, while the
+sound of men's voices, the neighing of horses, and the rolling of
+wheels were heard on every hand.  These huts, from what Tom could see,
+were nearly all of them about two hundred feet long, while around them
+were great open spaces where all vegetation had been worn away by the
+tramp of thousands of feet.  The men, who had been singing all the way
+during their march, became silent; the scene was so utterly different
+from what they had left.  That morning they had left a grim, grey,
+smoky manufacturing town; in the evening they had entered a clearing
+surrounded by sylvan beauty.
+
+"I feel as though I could stay here for ever," said Tom.  "But look at
+yon'," and he pointed to a long, low hut, at the door of which the
+letters "Y.M.C.A." were painted.  "Why, they're here too!"
+
+"Yes," said Penrose, "there's not a camp in the country where you don't
+find the Y.M.C.A. huts; for that matter they are on the Continent too."
+
+"But yon' place must have cost a lot of money," said Tom, "you can't
+build shanties like that without a lot of brass.  Where did they get
+the brass from?"
+
+"I expect the people who believe in religious lolly-pops gave it to
+them," replied Penrose.
+
+It took Tom two or three days before he became accustomed to his new
+surroundings.  He found that in this camp nearly thirty thousand men
+had gathered; men who had come from every corner of the
+country--Cameronians, Durhams, Devons, Welsh, Duke of Cornwalls, they
+were all here.  Tom had rather expected that the advent of a new
+battalion would have caused some excitement, but scarcely any notice
+seemed to be taken; their coming was a matter of course.  Three days
+before a battalion had left for the Front, and they had come to take
+their place, that was all.  Instead of being billeted at various
+houses, as they had been in Lancashire, they had now to sleep sixty in
+a hut.  Tom laughed as he saw the sleeping arrangements.  Beds were
+placed close together all around the building; these beds were of the
+most primitive nature, and consisted of a sack of straw, a couple of
+rugs, and what might be called a pillow.  These sacks of straw were
+raised some three or four inches from the floor by means of boarding,
+and had only the suggestion of a spring.  No privacy was possible, but
+everything was clean and well-kept.  In a few days Tom got to like it.
+The weather was beautiful, the country was lovely, and the air was
+pure.  Tom had a good appetite in Lancashire, now he felt ravenous.
+The work was hard, harder than he had had in Lancashire, but he enjoyed
+it; on the whole, too, he could not help noticing that many of the men
+seemed of a better type than those which made up his own battalion With
+the exception of Penrose, nearly all his company were drafted from coal
+pits and cotton mills.  Here were numbers of university men,
+public-school men, and the like.  Truly the Army was a great democracy.
+
+One thing made Tom feel very sad, and that was the loss of Penrose.  He
+had been in Surrey only a few days when he was gazetted and was removed
+to another camp about four miles away.  Still he made new friends and
+was on the whole happy.  He found, too, that even the men, whose
+conduct was anything but praiseworthy in Lancashire, were sober here.
+Only a dozen public-houses existed, within the radius of almost as many
+miles; and as the rules of the canteen were very strict, there were few
+temptations to drink.  Discipline was far easier, and on the whole the
+men were better looked after.
+
+At the end of the second day in this Surrey camp, he was going with a
+message to the officers' quarters, when he stopped suddenly.
+
+"Ay, can that be you?" he said aloud.
+
+"What do you mean, my man?"  And then Tom saw that the person whom he
+recognised wore a lieutenant's uniform.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," said Tom, saluting, "but--but--yes, sir, it
+is you."
+
+"Oh, is that you, Pollard?  I see you have enlisted, then; that's all
+right.  You'll know me another time, won't you?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Waterman.  That is, yes, sir.  I hope you are well, sir."
+
+"Yes, I'm all right.  Good night," and the officer passed on.
+
+"By George!" said Tom to himself, "I didn't expect to meet Waterman
+here, but there's nothing to wonder about, after all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+It is not my purpose to give a lengthy account of Tom Pollard's stay in
+the Surrey training camp, although much of interest took place, and his
+daily life there would, if truly reported, gladden the hearts of
+thousands of fathers and mothers who have given their boys to their
+country at this time.  I, who have been to this particular camp, and
+have talked with the lads there, can testify to this by personal
+experience.  As I have before stated, Tom found the work hard, the
+discipline strict, and the duties many; at the same time everything was
+so well arranged and the spirit of such good-fellowship prevailed that
+thousands of young men were under much more healthy conditions, both
+physically and morally, than they were at home.  Indeed, many told me
+that they would never care for the cramped life of the office, the
+workshop, and the factory again, after the free open-air life of a
+soldier.
+
+Tom, who had been quick to learn his duties and to master his drill,
+especially after he had--as he termed it to me--"been disgraced, and
+turned over a new leaf," found the work easy and pleasant.
+
+"Ay," said Tom to me, "it's very funny."
+
+"What?" I asked.
+
+"The way these greenhorns try to learn their drill."
+
+"How's that?" I asked.
+
+"Why, yesterday a chap came up to me wi' tears in his eyes.  I asked
+him what wur the matter, and he said, 'Ay, I have not got brains for
+it.'  'Brains for what?' I asked.  'Brains for this 'ere drill: a man
+needs to have a head like Shakespeare to get hold on it.  That there
+formin' fours now: I have tried, and I have tried, and I have better
+tried, but I can't get a fair grip on it.  Ay, I shall have to write a
+letter to the Colonel and tell him I shall have to give it up.'"
+
+Tom laughed gleefully as he spoke.  "Why, it's as easy as winking,
+sir," he said; "but some chaps are thick-headed, you know--in fact they
+have no heads at all, they've just got turnips stuck on top of their
+shoulders.  I fair pity the young officers sometimes when they are
+trying to knock these chaps into shape.  But they are doing it fine;
+and fellows who came a few weeks ago, slack and shuffling, are now
+straight and smart.  It's wonderful what a bit of drilling does."
+
+"And do you find the Y.M.C.A. helpful down here, Tom?" I asked.
+
+"Helpful, sir!  I don't know what we should do without it.  You see
+it's different here from what it is in big towns where the men are in
+billets.  We're away, as you may say, from any town that's sizeable,
+and there's no place to go to of an evening, except the public-house;
+and if the Y.M.C.A. hadn't been here we should have nothing to do but
+fool around.  But the work they're doing here is just champion.  They
+have entertainments every night, and if you don't feel like going to
+them, there's a room where you can read the papers, and write your
+letters or play games; then they have all sorts of good books for us to
+read."
+
+"And how are you getting on with your French?" I asked.
+
+Tom blushed as he replied, "Would you like to see my report, sir?" and
+he took it from his tunic proudly.
+
+"Why, Tom, this is splendid!" I said, after reading it.
+
+"Ay, I have worked fair hard at it," said Tom; "but my difficulty is
+getting my tongue round the words.  You see, they don't know how to
+pronounce, these French people, and you have to pronounce their way
+else they wouldn't understand what you wur saying, and you have to get
+a grip on it or you can't understand what they are saying.  I can
+conjugate the verbs," added Tom proudly, "but when they speak to me in
+French, that's anything like a long sentence, I get mixed up.  While
+I'm getting hold of the first part of what they're saying, I forget the
+rest; but I will master it.  What a French chap can learn a Lancashire
+chap can.
+
+"Do you know, sir," went on Tom, "that the Y.M.C.A. has got no less
+than six huts here; each of them will hold a thousand men, and they are
+jam-full every night.  And all the workers are so friendly too."
+
+"And do you go to any religious services, Tom?" I asked.
+
+"I been to two or three," replied Tom, "but I don't hold much wi'
+religion.  Still they're grand people, and you may ask any man in the
+camp, from the sergeant-major down to the newest recruit, and they will
+all tell you the same thing, The Y.M.C.A. is a fair God-send to us."
+
+I found out afterwards that Alec McPhail had not followed Tom's
+example.  Alec had discovered a wayside public-house about a mile from
+the camp, where he and several others of his companions spent most of
+their spare time.
+
+"I'm noan religious," said Tom rather boastfully; "but the Y.M.C.A.
+showed me that I was making a fool of myself, and they have made me see
+that a soldier ought to be a gentleman.  We're not a lot of riff-raff
+in the Army; we have come at the call of our King and Country to do our
+bit.  And what I say is that a chap ought to live up to his job; we
+have got a big, grand job, and we chaps as is to do it ought to be
+worthy of our job."
+
+Tom wrote regularly to Polly Powell during the time he was in the
+Surrey camp, although he could not help noticing that Polly's replies
+grew less and less frequent and less and less affectionate.  When he
+had been there a little more than two months he received a letter from
+his mother telling him that Polly was walking out regularly with Jim
+Dixon.  The letter from Tom's mother was characteristic.
+
+
+"Dear Tom," she wrote, "thou'st been fooled by Polly Powell.  I always
+said that Alice Lister was too good for thee, and thou used to get
+vexed about it.  A man is not to blame for his mother, he can't choose
+her, so I can't blame thee for thy mother, but he is to be blamed for
+his wife; he makes his own choice there, and the man as chooses Polly
+Powell is a fool.  When I wur a lass I lived on a farm, I wur only
+sixteen when I came to Brunford, and the farmer I lived wi' always said
+when he was buying a cow, 'be sure to look at the stock before you
+close the bargin.'  Look at the stock Polly Powell has come from.  I
+say nowt about her feyther because I don't know him, but I have seen
+her mother, and that's enough for me.  Polly is just the image of what
+her mother was when she was her age.  She's only twenty-four years
+older than Polly, but she's like Bethesda Chapel, she's broader nor
+she's long.  That's what Polly will be in twenty years' time.  Her
+mother's got a mustash too, and Polly gives every sign of having one by
+the time she's her mother's age.  Besides, she's a flighty thing is
+Polly, and has no stayin' power; she goes wi' one chap one week and
+another the next.  She's walked out wi' seven chaps since you left
+Brunford, and she only took up wi' Jim Dixon again because he's making
+a bit of brass.  I daresay she'll tell you that she's only larking wi'
+Jim, and is true to you all the time; but if I were thee I'd sack her.
+There are plenty of lasses everywhere, and thou can do better nor her.
+
+"I expect you will be going to France soon, and will be fighting them
+Germans.  If they find thee as hard to deal wi' as I have, they'll have
+a tough job.  But they are a bad lot, and I don't ask you to show 'em
+any mercy.
+
+"Your affectionate mother,
+  "MRS. MARTHA POLLARD.
+
+"P.S.--Be sure to write and give Polly Powell the sack right away,
+she's noan thy sort.  If you come across that German Emperor, don't be
+soft-hearted wi' 'im."
+
+
+After Tom had read his mother's letter twice, he sat silent for some
+time.  "So she's going out with Jim Dixon," he reflected; "well, I'm
+glad.  After all, my liking for her was only top-water stuff, and she
+was doing me no good."  The next minute Tom was whistling his way
+through the camp.  "Yes," he continued, "mother's got what the writing
+chaps call 'a good literary style,' and she hits the bull's-eye every
+time.  Gosh, what a fool I've been!  Fancy giving up Alice Lister for a
+lass like that.  I wonder if it's true that Alice has took up wi' that
+parson chap.  I'd like to wring his neck, I would for sure."
+
+At the end of nearly three months Tom was moved to another camp still
+nearer the south coast.  He had a presentiment that the time was not
+far distant when he would have to cross the sea, and know in real
+earnest what soldiering was like.  In a way he was glad of this; like
+all youths he longed for excitement, and wanted to come to close grips
+with the thing he had set out to do.  On the other hand however, he
+could not help looking forward with dread.  When on reading the
+newspapers he saw long lists of casualties, and heard stories of the
+men he had known, who went out healthy and strong and never came back
+again, and others who were brought home maimed for life, he had a
+strange feeling at his heart, and a sinking at the pit of his stomach.
+It was not that he felt afraid, but there was a kind of dread of the
+unknown.  What would it be like to die?
+
+"I hear we're off soon," said Alec McPhail to him one day.
+
+"There's no telling," said Tom laconically.
+
+"Ay, but we shall," replied Alec, "and I shall be glad, I'm getting
+sick of this life in the camps."
+
+"I doan't wonder at it," said Tom.
+
+"What micht ye mean by that?" asked the Scotchman.
+
+"I am fair stalled wi' thee," said Tom.  "I thought that you, being a
+thinking sort o' chap, would know better.  You saw what a fool I was
+making of myself, and yet you kept on drinking and carousing, and
+making a ninny of yourself, as though you had no more brains nor a
+waterhen.  Why, lad, with your education and cleverness, you might have
+been sergeant-major by now.  Nay, nay, keep thee temper; I mean nowt
+wrong."
+
+The Scotchman looked at Tom angrily for some seconds.  He seemed on the
+point of striking him, then mastering himself he said, "Ay, Tom, you're
+richt, and yet I'm no' sure."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked Tom.
+
+"Tom, man," said the Scotchman, "ye canna think worse of me than I
+think of mysel'.  I had a good home too, and a godly mither; as for my
+father he was a hard man, but just, very just.  Ay, I know I ought to
+have known better, but the whisky got hold of me.  Besides----"
+
+"Besides what?" asked Tom.
+
+"Ay, man, I'm not a hero when it comes to facing death.  I fancy I'm as
+brave as most men about lots of things, but I just shiver when I think
+o' dying; then I tak' a wee drap of whisky, and it gi'es me courage."
+
+"Poor sort of courage," replied Tom; "besides, you take more than a
+'wee drap,' as you call it."
+
+"Ay, it needs mair and mair.  But it's this way, Tom; when I think of
+going over the water into those trenches, and when I think of the
+shells falling all around me; when I call to mind that men may be dying
+at my richt hand and on my left, blown all to smithereens, I get
+afraid, but after I have filled mysel' fou' of whisky I don't care.  I
+know I ought to be ashamed of mysel'; I know, too, it's the wrang sort
+of courage.  As for you, Tom, you have been wiser than me, you've got
+releegion."
+
+"Nay, I've nowt o' th' sort," replied Tom, "I've just kept straight,
+that's all."
+
+"But it's not enough, Tom," said the Scotchman.
+
+"What does a' mean?" asked Tom.
+
+"I mean that a man wants releegion," replied Alec very solemnly.  "I
+have been a thinking lad all my life, and when I chucked releegion and
+professed to believe in Colonel Ingersoll I kenned fine I was making a
+fool of mysel'.  It's either whisky or releegion to keep a man's
+courage up; that is, such a man as me."
+
+"Then you think there's something after death?" said Tom.
+
+"Ay, lad, I am sure of it.  I'm a-thinking you're richt, Tom, in going
+to the Y.M.C.A. meetings, and I know you're wrang in not getting
+releegion.  E'en when I'm fou' of whisky, I have known that releegion
+was necessary; and if I only had the strength I'd gi' up the whisky."
+
+The next day the camp was in a great state of excitement; the men had
+received definite information that they were to start for the Front in
+two days' time.  They did not know where they were going, but they were
+told it would be somewhere in France or Belgium.  At first there was
+great cheering at this; the men shouted and boasted of what they would
+do when they were face to face with the Germans.  After that, almost as
+if by prearrangement, a solemn silence fell among them; evidently they
+were thinking deeply.  Some paid longer visits than usual to the wet
+canteen or public-houses; others, again, were seen walking alone as
+though they had no desire for company.
+
+We who remain at home in safety, and talk about the heroism of the men
+going away to the Front, little realise the thoughts which pass through
+their minds.  When the order to embark comes they don't say very much
+about it, and even when they do talk they speak of death almost
+lightly.  "If I am potted," they say, "I am, and that's all about it."
+But that's not all they feel, as I have reason to know.  They love
+their lives just as much as we do, and they long to go back and spend
+their days amongst their loved ones.  It is only rare that cowardice is
+seen, and it is rarer still for them to make any boast; the average
+Englishman is not given to boasting; he has his duty to do, and he just
+does it, saying very little about it.
+
+On the night before they were to embark for France, farewell meetings
+were held at the Y.M.C.A. huts, and Tom noticed that Alec McPhail found
+his way to the hut where he went.  Perhaps eight hundred or a thousand
+men had gathered, and although high spirits prevailed, each man felt
+that he was breathing an atmosphere which was not usual.  There was a
+look not common in the eyes of the lads; a set, stern expression on
+their faces.  Afterwards when they had been to the Front and returned,
+they would go out again without such feeling as now possessed them.
+But these lads had never been to the war before; they were entering
+upon an unknown; they knew that in all probability a large number of
+them would never come back to England again.  Each had a hope that he
+might escape, although the chances were against him.
+
+Still they cheered at the old recitations, listened to the old songs,
+and joined in the choruses which they liked just as they had been doing
+for months; they were not going to show the white feather.
+
+A special speaker had come to the hut that night.  He had been working
+among the soldiers in the Y.M.C.A. tents on the Continent, and had come
+home for a short holiday; now he had come to this camp in order to
+speak to the men before their departure.  It is said that months before
+he had been fond of telling humorous stories, and had delighted in
+making the soldiers laugh.  He certainly had a sense of humour, and now
+and then could not refrain from some witticism which set the highly
+strung lads in roars of laughter.  But the close of his address did not
+inspire mirth.
+
+"My lads," he said, "you have done a brave thing; I don't say that you
+deserve much praise for it, because at a time like this if an
+able-bodied youth does not join the Army he fails in his duty; and you
+are only doing your duty.  If you had not done what you have done, I
+should be ashamed of you.  All the same you are brave lads.  You have
+offered your all, your very lives, at the altar of duty.  I am not
+going to try and describe to you what you will have to do, and possibly
+have to suffer; you will find out that soon enough.  Possibly many of
+you are going to your death.  I don't want to frighten you, but we have
+to face facts: I don't say it is an awful thing to die, but it is a
+tremendous thing.  You know that you have souls as well as bodies.  I
+am not going to argue it out with you; I needn't, because you know.  I
+needn't try to prove to you that there is a God, because you know it,
+you feel it.  There is no atheism out at the Front: some of you have
+tried to live without God, and you have made a mess of your lives.  I
+tell you, my boys, it's a terrible thing to die without God.  Some of
+you know what it is to believe in a personal Saviour; you have accepted
+Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came on earth to die for us that we
+might know God; and you have found Him to be a strength in temptation,
+a joy in sorrow.  My lads, you all want that Saviour, and especially do
+you want Him now.  You are embarking on the Great Unknown, and you need
+a Captain, a Guide, a Saviour: I have come to tell you about Him."
+
+I am not going to try to describe the close of his address.  This man
+had seen hundreds die, he had come face to face with the great
+realities of life, of death, and of religion.  He knew what he was
+talking about because he had experienced it, and he made the men feel
+what he felt.  That night when the meeting was over Tom Pollard found
+himself again with Alec McPhail.
+
+"That chap was fair earnest," said Tom.
+
+"Ay," replied the Scotchman, "he went richt down to the bottom of
+things.  Come wi' me to the canteen, lad, I feel I must have a drink."
+
+"Not if I know it," said Tom, "no drink for me to-night."
+
+But the Scotchman rushed away towards the canteen, and Tom, scarcely
+knowing what he was doing, followed him.  When they entered, they saw a
+number of men standing there drinking.
+
+"Yes," they heard one man say, "that chap was right; I know I'm making
+a fool of myself, but I'm going to have another drink.  My God!  What
+would my mother say if she knew I wur off tomorrow morning!"
+
+A lad with a pale, refined face, standing by his side, had a glass in
+his hand ready to lift to his lips.  "Ay, and what would my mother
+say!" he said.  "I know she would be praying for me."
+
+At this some one uttered a coarse oath, but the lad threw the drink
+from him and left the canteen.
+
+"Ay, he's richt," said the Scotchman as he watched him go.  "Tom
+Pollard, man, I hinna prayed for years, but I am praying to-nicht.  I
+ought to be a different man, for I ken the fundamentals of releegion,
+but I'm giving my heart to God to-nicht; I am for sure."
+
+Tom followed the Scotchman out of the canteen towards one of the
+numerous sleeping-huts.
+
+"I am giving my heart to God, Pollard," he said hoarsely, "and I'm
+writing to tell my mither about it this very nicht.  Ay, man, something
+has come into my life stronger than the power of whisky!"
+
+When Tom found his way to his own sleeping-hut that night, he was in a
+chastened frame of mind.  "I'm noan going to turn religious," he said
+almost sullenly, "but I believe he's got the reight on't."
+
+The next morning they were at Folkestone, where the big troopship lay
+in the harbour.  Before mid-day the ship was crowded with soldiers.
+How many men were there Tom had not the slightest idea; but they filled
+every part of it.  Generals, colonels, majors, non-commissioned
+officers, and privates were all huddled together.  All over the ship
+officers and men were alike; they were going to the field of battle to
+die if need be for honour, duty, and the liberty of the world.
+
+There were scarcely a score of civilians on board, and even they were
+in some way attached to the Army.  Nurses wearing the Red Cross,
+religious workers with a look of wonder in their eyes, a few sent by
+the Government on some particular mission, but all were taking part in
+the great War which was staggering the world.
+
+Perhaps a mile or more out at sea a great Destroyer proudly spurned the
+waves; she was to guard the troopship along her perilous passage.
+
+Presently they landed at Boulogne.
+
+"Where are we going?" said one of the soldiers in Tom's company as they
+entered a waiting train.
+
+"I don't know," said Tom, "but what does it matter?  We have nowt to do
+with that, we have just got to do our job."
+
+They spent all the night in the troop-train, which was crowded almost
+to suffocation.  Where they were going they didn't know, scarcely
+cared.  Sometimes they were drawn up to a siding where they would stay
+for hours, then the train crawled on again.  Presently the morning
+broke and Tom saw a flat and what seemed to him, after Surrey, an
+uninteresting piece of country.  Everything was strange to him, even
+the trees looked different from those he had seen in Surrey.  On and on
+the train crawled, until presently they had orders to alight.
+
+It was now early morning, and after breakfast they were formed in
+marching order.  Tom took but little notice of the country through
+which they marched, except that they were on a straight road, which was
+paved in the middle.  As the day advanced the sun grew hot and
+scorching, but the men marched on uncomplainingly; there was little
+merriment, but much thought.  Presently noon came, and again they
+stopped for food, after which there was another march.  By this time
+Tom realised that he was indeed in the zone of war.  He saw what looked
+to him miles of motor waggons filled with food and munitions, numbers
+of ambulance waggons marked with the Red Cross.  More than one body of
+horse soldiers passed him, and again he saw numbers of men bivouacked
+near him; but everywhere there were soldiers, soldiers.  Tom could not
+understand it, it was all so different from what he expected, neither
+could he see any order or purpose in that which was taking place around
+him.  There was activity and movement everywhere, but he could
+co-ordinate nothing, he was simply bewildered.
+
+Towards evening there was another resting-time, and each man gladly
+threw himself full length on the grass.  For a moment there was a
+silence, then Tom heard a sound which gave him a sickening sensation;
+he felt a sinking, too, at the pit of his stomach: it was the boom,
+boom, boom of guns.
+
+"Look at yon' airship in the sky!" cried one of the men.  Each eye was
+turned towards it, then they heard the boom of guns again, after which
+there were sheets of fire around the aeroplane, and afterwards little
+clouds of smoke formed themselves.
+
+"I am getting near at last," thought Tom.  "I wonder now--I wonder----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Tom discovered presently that his destination was the Ypres salient,
+one of the most "unhealthy" places, to use the term in favour among the
+soldiers, in the whole of the English battle line.  Here the most
+tremendous battle ever fought in our British Army took place--indeed
+one of the most tremendous battles in the history of the world.  A
+sergeant who was in a garrulous mood described it to Tom with a great
+deal of spirit.
+
+"Yes," he said, "you have come to an unhealthy spot; still it may be
+good for you.  The blessed Huns thought they were going to break
+through here about last September when the battle of Wipers was fought.
+They had six hundred thousand men to our hundred and fifty thousand.
+Then that blooming Kaiser made up his mind that he would break through
+our lines, and get to Calais.  Yes, it was a touch and go with us.
+Fancy four to one, and they had all the advantage in big guns and
+ammunition.  You think _those_ big guns?  Wait till you have heard Jack
+Johnson and Black Maria.  Talk about hell!  Hell was never as bad as
+the battle of Wipers.  I thought we were licked once.  I was in the
+part where our line was the thinnest, and we saw 'em coming towards us
+in crowds; there seemed to be millions of 'em; we had to rake out every
+cook and bottle-washer on the show.  Lots of our men were fresh to the
+job, too, and had never smelt powder, or felt the touch of steel.  But,
+by gosh, we let 'em know!  Four to one, my boy, and we licked 'em, in
+spite of their big guns and their boasting.  Aren't you proud of being
+a British Tommy?"
+
+Tom listened with wide, staring eyes and compressed lips.  There within
+a mile or two of the battle line he could picture all of which the
+sergeant spoke.  As he looked he could see the brown line of earth away
+in the distance, and could discern too, here and there, dotted along
+this brown line, clouds of black smoke.  All around him our guns were
+booming, while the distant sounds of the German guns reached him.
+
+"Ay, it's a bit unhealthy," went on the sergeant, "but you will get
+used to it after a bit.  There, hear that?"
+
+Tom listened and heard the screaming of a shell in the air; the note it
+made was at first low, but it rose higher and higher and then dropped
+again.
+
+"When the note gets to about B flat," said the sergeant, "you may know
+it's soon going to fall, and as soon as it has touched the ground the
+shell bursts and tears a big hole up."
+
+"Are many killed?" asked Tom.
+
+"Ay, there's a good lot of casualties every day, but not so much as
+there was at the second battle of Wipers.  That was fair terrible.  You
+see, the Germans could not drive us back nor break our lines.  That was
+why they started bombarding the city.  I was here and saw it.  Man, you
+should have heard the women screaming, and seen the people flying for
+their lives.  Whole streets of houses were burning, and all the time
+shells were falling and bursting.  How many people were killed here God
+only knows, but there must have been hundreds of women and children.
+But what did those dirty swine of Germans care!  They could not break
+our lines, and they had lost a hundred and fifty thousand men, so they
+turned their big guns upon the city.  'We can kill Belgian women and
+children, anyhow,' they said, 'and we can smash up the old town.'  Are
+you a bit jumpy?"
+
+"No n-n-no;--that is, a little bit," said Tom.
+
+"Oh, it's quite quiet now," replied the sergeant.  "I will walk through
+with you if you like and show you round.  This is the great square; one
+of the biggest in the world.  I saw it before it was bombarded; the
+Cathedral and the Cloth Hall were just wonderful; see what they are
+now! knocked into smithereens.  See the trees around, how they are
+twisted and burnt?  That house there I saw shelled myself.  I had got a
+bit used to the shelling by that time, but I tell you it gave me a
+turn.  It was the biggest house in the Square, and a great bomb caught
+it fair in the face; it seemed as though the whole world was shaking,
+and the noise fair deafened you.  The house went down as though it were
+cardboard, and other houses around fell as though to keep it company,
+while others caught fire.  Ay, they're sweet creatures, are those
+German swine."
+
+"Doan't you hate 'em?" asked Tom.
+
+"Hate 'em?" said the sergeant; "well, I don't know.  Mind you, they are
+fine soldiers, and brave men too, or at least they seem brave; but it's
+discipline does it.  They are just like machinery.  Once when I was
+right in the middle of it, they attacked in close formation, and we
+turned our machine-guns on 'em.  Ever seen a mowing machine in a wheat
+field? ever seen the wheat fall before the knives?  Well, that's how
+they fell.  Hundreds upon hundreds; but still they came on.  Just as
+fast as one lot was killed, the others, knowing that they were going to
+certain death, came on, thinking they would wear us down by sheer
+numbers."
+
+"Did they?" asked Tom.
+
+"No, that time they didn't," replied the sergeant, "but another scrap I
+was in they did.  That is their plan, you know; it is terribly costly,
+but when it succeeds it works havoc."
+
+"Have you been wounded at all?" asked Tom.
+
+"Yes, I have stopped two bullets, one in the foot and another in the
+shoulder, but I quickly got over it.  I have been wonderfully lucky.
+You will get used to it after a bit; you seem a plucky chap; you don't
+look like the sort that runs away.  Although, mind you, I have seen
+plucky chaps hook it."
+
+"No, I'm not plucky," said Tom; "but I don't think I would run away."
+
+"Wait till the shrapnel is falling around you; wait till great pieces
+of jagged shell mow men down on your right and on your left.  Still we
+have stuck so far, and we must stick to the end.  Still, from a
+military standpoint," and here the sergeant spoke judicially, "our
+holding Wipers is a bad policy.  You see, it's a salient and the
+Germans guns are all around us; but if we made a straight line we
+should give them Wipers, and that would have a bad effect.  Just look
+in here," and he pointed to a house, the front of which was completely
+blown away, but the rest of which remained comparatively intact.
+
+"There's the room just as those poor blighters of Belgians left it,"
+continued the sergeant.  "See the baby's shoes, and the kiddy's dress?
+There are one or two pictures on the wall, not of much value, or those
+blooming souvenir-hunters would have got 'em."
+
+"Do you think we shall lick 'em?" asked Tom.
+
+"Lick 'em!  Of course we shall," said the sergeant, who had served
+nearly twenty years in the Army.  "Mind you, it will be no easy job.
+Up to now they have had the upper hand of us, both in men and
+munitions; but we are gaining on 'em now.  What I can't stand is those
+blooming swipes, those shirkers who sit at home and who call themselves
+men.  I tell you I'm for conscription out and out.  This is no job to
+be played with; if we don't put forth our strength we can't beat 'em.
+But just think of those swine, who read the papers and talk about
+beating the Germans, who strut about with their patent-leather boots
+and fine clothes, and try to make out that they are gentlemen, but who
+won't face the music; that's what sickens me.  Who are we fighting for,
+I should like to know?  We are fighting for them, and for our women,
+and for the old country.  They think they can stop at home and
+criticise, and then when we have done the work, share the benefits.
+Great God!"--and here the sergeant indulged in some unprintable
+language--"I would like to get hold of them."
+
+"Isn't it dangerous here?" asked Tom, as another shrieking shell passed
+over their heads.
+
+"Not just now," replied the other; "their shells are falling on the
+other side of the town.  Of course," he added casually, "they may fall
+here any moment."
+
+"I asked you just now," said Tom, "whether you hated the Germans?"
+
+"Yes, you did," replied the sergeant, "and I went off on another tack.
+Hate 'em?  Well, it's this way.  At the beginning I don't know that I
+hated 'em so much.  Yes, what you call Belgian atrocities were hellish;
+but 'twasn't that, and as long as they fought fair that was all I cared
+about.  But when they got using that poisonous gas they came it a bit
+too strong.  No, lad, I never hated 'em till then.  But when they used
+that stuff and laughed about it, ay, and laughed to see our poor chaps
+writhing in agony, I felt I must kill every German I saw.  Of course,
+we've got over it now a bit, and we're all supplied with helmets, but
+when they used it first we had simply nothing to defend us.  Yes, I
+have done some rough bits of work in my time, but I never met with
+anything like that.  When you see your own pals getting bluer and bluer
+in the face, and coughing and gasping, oh, I tell you it made us mad!
+We didn't feel like showing any mercy after that.  Besides, they have
+no sense of fair play, the swipes.  I was in a scrap once, and after a
+hard tussle, and after losing lots of men, a lot of Germans held up
+their hands and shouted, 'We surrender.'  Our officer, a young chap new
+to the job, and knowing nothing of their tricks, instead of telling
+them to come to us, told us to go to them, they holding up their hands
+all the time; but no sooner did we get near them than they up with
+their pistols and shot two of our chaps.  They thought our officer was
+going to take it lying down, and when they were taken prisoners they
+laughed and said everything was fair in war; but our young officer saw
+red, and he said 'No, my lads, you are going to kingdom come.'  'What!'
+shrieked those German swine, 'will you kill men after they have
+surrendered?'  'You are not men,' said the lieutenant; 'men don't shoot
+after they've surrendered--only Germans do that."
+
+"And then?" asked Tom, "then----"
+
+"Ah well," replied the sergeant grimly, "there were no questions asked
+in the morning."
+
+"Great God!" said Tom, "what a ghastly thing war is!"
+
+"Wait till you have seen it, my lad," replied the sergeant.
+
+For some weeks Tom was in the neighbourhood of Ypres without taking any
+part in the righting.  During that time he got accustomed to the
+constant booming of the guns, and to the fact that any moment a shell
+might fall near him and blow him into eternity.  On more than one
+occasion, too, he roamed around the ruins of Ypres; and while he could
+not be called an imaginative lad he could not help being impressed by
+the ghastly desolation of this one-time beautiful city.  In many of the
+streets not one stone was left upon another, not one of the inhabitants
+who had formerly lived there remained; all had fled; it was indeed a
+city of the dead.  To Tom the ruins of the great Cloth Hall and the
+Cathedral were not the most terrible; what appealed to him most were
+the empty houses in which things were left by the panic-stricken
+people.  Bedsteads twisted into shapeless masses; clothes half burnt;
+remnants of pieces of cloth which tradesmen had been in the act of
+cutting and stitching; children's toys, and thousands of other things
+which suggested to the boy the life the people had been living.  Not a
+bird sang, not even a street dog roamed amidst the shapeless
+desolation; the ghastly horror of it all possessed him.  Great gaping
+holes in the old ramparts of the city; trees torn up by their roots and
+scorched by deadly fire: this was Ypres, not destroyed by the
+necessities of war, but by pure devilry.
+
+At last Tom's turn came to go up to the front trenches.  It was with a
+strange feeling at heart that he, with others, crept along the pave
+road towards the communication trench.  They had to be very careful,
+because this road was constantly swept by the German machine guns.
+Presently, when they came to a house used as a first dressing station
+close to the beginning of the communication trench, Tom felt his heart
+grow cold.  Still, with set teeth, and a hard look in his eyes, he
+groped his way along the trench, through Piccadilly, and Haymarket, and
+Bond Street, and Whitehall (for in this manner do the soldiers name the
+various parts of the zigzag cuttings through the clay): while all the
+time he could hear the pep, pep, pep, pep of the machine guns, and the
+shrieking of the shells.
+
+There was no romance in war now, it was a grim, ghastly reality.  After
+following the lines of the trenches for well-nigh an hour he was
+informed that he had now reached the front line and was within a
+hundred or a hundred and fifty yards of the Huns.  For the moment there
+was a comparative quiet, only occasionally did he hear the sound of a
+gun, while the shrieking of the shells was less frequent.  Danger
+seemed very far away; he was in a deep hole in the ground, and above
+the earthworks were great heaps of sand-bags.  How could he be hurt?
+The men whom his company was sent to relieve seemed in high good
+spirits too, they laughed and talked and bandied jokes.  "There seems
+no danger here," thought Tom.  An hour passed and still all was
+comparatively quiet.
+
+"I would like to see those blooming German trenches," said a Lancashire
+lad, "and I will too."
+
+He lifted his head above the sand-bags and looked towards the brown
+heaps of earth perhaps a hundred yards away.
+
+"Dost'a see any Germans?" some one asked.
+
+"I'm not sure," replied the lad, "but I believe I see the top of a
+German helmet."
+
+"Duck down quickly," said another, "thou'st been holding thy head there
+too long."
+
+"Nay, there's no danger," replied the lad, "it's all as quiet as----"
+But he did not finish the sentence; at that moment there was a crack of
+a rifle and a bullet passed through the poor boy's brain.
+
+"That will be a warning for you fellows," said an officer who came up
+just then.  "You must play no tricks; there have been hundreds of lads
+killed here who would never have been touched if they hadn't been
+careless and foolish.  Let's have no more of your Hampstead Heath Bank
+Holiday skylarking."
+
+Tom did duty at the front trench on several occasions, but nothing of
+importance took place.  The Huns seemed comparatively quiet, and while
+there was severe artillery work on both sides, Tom did not receive a
+scratch.
+
+The fourth time he went to the front lines, however, he felt that there
+was a change in the atmosphere, and he saw by the strained looks and
+the compressed lips of the men that something desperate was expected.
+The officers gave their orders with more sternness than usual; every
+one was alert.
+
+Tom thought he knew what intense artillery work meant, but he realised
+that day that hitherto he had seen and heard nothing.  Such a tornado
+of shells burst around him that it was like hell let loose.  Hour after
+hour the Germans bombarded our trenches, tearing great holes in the
+ground, and undoing the work of months.  It seemed to Tom that no man
+could escape.
+
+"Oh," cried the boy, "if they would be quiet for only a minute!  If one
+could only stop to take breath!"
+
+But there was no cessation; it seemed as though the Germans were
+determined to make a final and overwhelming attack; as though all the
+explosives in the world were concentrated on those few miles.
+
+The sights were horrible; he saw shells falling on groups of men,
+tearing them to pieces, while all around him were the shrieks and cries
+of the wounded.  Some of the men who were yet untouched yelled as
+though they were mad, others laughed, but their laughter was not
+natural; it was frenzied, wild, just as though they were madmen.
+
+"We can't stand it!  We can't stand it!" cried the boy.  "We shall all
+be blown into eternity.  Why do we stay here like this?"
+
+He spoke to the sergeant who had given him a description of the first
+battle of Ypres some time before.  The sergeant was comparatively cool;
+he had been through it before.
+
+"It's nothing to you whether we are doing anything or not," replied the
+sergeant, "besides, don't be a fool; our guns are giving them as hot a
+time as their guns are giving us.  Don't lose your head."
+
+"I wouldn't mind if I could do something," said the poor boy, trembling.
+
+"Do!  Unless I'm mistaken there will be enough for us all to do very
+soon.  There! firing has ceased!  Look out!"
+
+It was as the sergeant said; almost suddenly there was a calm, and a
+few seconds later Tom heard a command which made his knees knock
+together.
+
+What happened after that Tom could never describe; even if he could, he
+would not have done so.  As he has said to me more than once, "It was
+not something to talk about, it was a matter of bayonet work; it was
+fighting face to face, steel to steel."
+
+Tom didn't feel fear now; all that was gone.  His muscles were hard,
+his thoughts were tense, he saw red!  Presently he had a conviction
+that we were gaining ground, and he suddenly became aware of the fact
+that we had gained the better of the situation and had returned to our
+trenches.  A number of the enemy had been taken prisoners, and the plot
+which the Germans had hatched had come to nothing.  Immediately
+afterwards something happened which Tom never forgot.  A German officer
+lay wounded some little distance from the trench which the English had
+taken, and piteously cried for help.
+
+"Which of you chaps will volunteer to go and fetch him in?" cried a
+young officer whose bravery that day had been the talk of all the men.
+
+Each looked to the other as if for response; they were dazed and
+bewildered by all they had gone through.
+
+"I say," said another officer, "you can't expect any of the chaps to do
+that.  Directly the Huns see any one going to him they will shoot him.
+Besides, he may be nearly dead; better put an end to him."
+
+"But hear how he groans!" cried the young fellow.  "There, I'll do it."
+
+He leapt from the trench and rushed along the intervening space for
+perhaps about fifty yards; then lifting the German officer bodily, he
+brought him back to safety.
+
+"I am parched--parched!" cried the German, as if in agony, "give me
+water."  The young Englishman got a cup of water and held it to the
+German's lips, but even as he did so the German drew his revolver and
+shot him through the heart.[1]
+
+What happened to the German after that I will not try to relate.  Why
+am I describing this, and why have I mentioned this incident?  Only
+that our people at home may realise what heroes our lads are; what they
+have to face in order to save our country, and what kind of an enemy
+they have to deal with.  I am describing it to try if possible to raise
+a blush of shame on the faces of those shirkers at home who are a
+disgrace to the name of Englishman.
+
+Tom passed through this ordeal without a scratch, and by and by when
+his company was relieved, and he returned to a place of safety, the
+whole episode seemed but a ghastly dream.  And yet it caused a great
+change to Tom's life.  If he had been asked to describe it he would not
+have been able to do so; it was something subtle, elusive; but the
+change was there.  He felt as though he had a new conception of life;
+and he realised its tremendousness as he had never realised it before.
+
+He was by no means given to philosophising, but two things impressed
+him.  One was the tremendous amount of heroism that lay latent in the
+commonplace lads who had come out with him.  He knew many of them
+before they joined the Army; knew them just as they were.  Humdrum
+workaday boys who did not seem capable of anything like heroism; but
+the war had brought out new qualities, fine qualities.  He saw how
+those men were willing to sacrifice themselves for others; saw them
+doing all sorts of glorious deeds.  One fellow impressed him
+tremendously.  He himself was wounded, but not badly, for he could
+easily have crawled to a place of safety; and yet he remained with a
+comrade, holding his head on his knees and ministering to him as
+tenderly as a woman, in a spot where life could not be valued at a
+pin's purchase.  Deeds like that are common at the Front.
+
+The other thing which impressed him was the tremendous power of
+religion.  Before he went up to the firing line he had heard one
+officer say to another, "I wish the chaplains could be allowed to go up
+to the front line of trenches.  You see, when men have no religion to
+support them, the constant bombardment and danger make them jumpy."
+Tom realised what this meant after the action I have just described.
+He himself felt that he needed a Power greater than his own, to steady
+him.
+
+Tom had just heard that he was to go on duty at the front trench again,
+when passing along by the canal towards one of the officers' dug-outs
+he saw a staff officer talking with the major of his own battalion.
+Tom lifted his hand to salute, when the staff officer turned and spoke
+to him.
+
+"Ah, is that you, Pollard?"
+
+"Yes, Mr. Waterman--that is, yes, sir," stammered Tom.
+
+"I hope you are doing well," said Waterman.
+
+"I am still alive, thank you, sir," and then he passed on.
+
+"He's got a safe job anyhow," thought Tom, "he'll be at the Divisional
+Headquarters I expect; well, he's a clever fellow."
+
+That night when Tom returned to the first line he was put on sentry
+duty.  It was one of those silent, windless, starless nights, when
+under ordinary circumstances a solemn hush prevails.  Even the trenches
+were silent that night.  On both sides the guns had ceased booming; it
+seemed as though a truce had been agreed upon, and yet the air was
+tense with doom.
+
+Tom could not help feeling it as he traversed that part of the trench
+in which his especial duty lay.  Unimaginative as he was, his mind
+worked freely.  He called to mind the engagement of a few days before,
+remembered what he had seen and heard.
+
+Again and again he traversed the cutting in the earth; his rifle on his
+shoulder, and bayonet fixed.  How silent it was!  Not a man's voice was
+to be heard.  He knew that sentries were all around him, but he could
+not hear a footstep; he knew, too, that many of the soldiers lay in
+their dug-outs, sleeping as peacefully as though they were at home.
+And yet he felt all alone.  "Where's Jim Bates now, I wonder, and
+Arthur Wadge, and Bill Perkins, and George Wilson? they were killed,
+but are they really dead?" he said to himself.  He had known these lads
+well; in fact, they had been pals of his, and he wondered what had
+become of them.  Were they still alive?  What had they felt like when
+they had to cross the deep, dark valley?  What was death?
+
+He thought of his old Sunday-schooldays, thought of his old beliefs.
+"Ay," cried Tom aloud, "if I could only feel that Christ was wi' me now
+I shouldn't care a bit; but I gave Him up months ago.  Alice Lister
+believed in Him, ay, she did an' all.  I wonder where Alice is now?
+Does she ever think about me, I wonder? does she pray for me as she
+said?"
+
+He thought of what the man had said in the Y.M.C.A. hut on the night
+before they set sail for France.  He had told the soldiers that they
+needed a personal Saviour, and that that Saviour was ever waiting, ever
+watching, to give them help; that He would be near all those who
+stretched out their lame hands of faith towards Him, and help them,
+strengthen them, comfort them.  It was very unreal, it seemed a long
+way off too.  And yet was it?  Was Christ there just as the man had
+said?
+
+"Boom!"  The sound came from an enemy's gun, but he heard no shell
+screeching its way through space, saw no light of explosion.  It was
+not repeated, although he waited, listening tensely.  Minute after
+minute passed, still there was silence; evidently the English gunners
+were instructed not to reply.
+
+What was the meaning of it?  The silence became so tense that it seemed
+to make a noise; the air was laden with gloom.
+
+"I wonder what it means," said the boy, and a great fear possessed him;
+he felt as though he were on the brink of a fathomless chasm, a chasm
+which was as black as ink.
+
+Minute after minute he waited, and still no sound broke the silence.
+
+He tried to comfort himself by remembering pleasant things that
+happened at Brunford, but in vain.  It seemed to him as though he was
+surrounded by something fierce and terrible; was it a premonition of
+death, he wondered?
+
+Again he called to mind what the Y.M.C.A. man had said on the night
+before they started for the Front.  He had advised them to pray, and to
+put their trust in a loving God who had been revealed to them through
+Jesus Christ.
+
+He still tramped the bit of trench which it was his duty to guard,
+looking eagerly into the darkness as if to discern the outline of an
+approaching enemy.  "If I only could pray!" thought Tom, "if I only
+could!"
+
+But he had not prayed for years, the very thought of prayer had gone
+out of his mind and heart; but oh! how he longed for something to
+comfort and steady him!
+
+Well, why should he not pray?  It could do no harm, it might even do
+him good.
+
+Lifting his eyes towards the inky-black sky, he tried to formulate a
+prayer, but he could not, his thoughts could not shape themselves, his
+mind refused to work; he opened his lips and cried, "O God!"
+
+That was all; he could think of nothing else to say, but he repeated
+the words again and again:
+
+"O God!--O God!--O God!"
+
+That was all.  He had asked for nothing, he had indeed hardly thought
+of anything.  Nevertheless he was comforted; the words he had uttered
+meant infinite things, for at the back of his mind he had a confused
+belief that God saw, that God listened, that God understood, and the
+thought changed everything.
+
+"I wonder what Alice Lister is doing now," thought the boy presently.
+He did not know why it was, but somehow God seemed more real when he
+thought of the girl who had promised to pray for him.
+
+
+
+[1] This incident was described to me as having actually taken place as
+I have set it down here.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+What was Alice Lister doing on the night when Tom prayed?  If it had
+been a night of wonder to Tom, it had been a night of decision to Alice
+Lister, who had to face another crisis in her life.  While Tom had been
+offering his almost inarticulate prayer in the trenches in the Ypres
+salient, Alice Lister sat alone in her bedroom.
+
+More than a year had passed since the Sunday afternoon when she had
+told Tom that he must make his choice between her and the life he
+seemed determined to lead.  What it had cost her to do this I will not
+try to describe, for Alice had truly cared for Tom.  It was true that
+he did not quite belong to her class, and it was also true that her
+parents had done their best to dissuade her from thinking about him;
+but Alice had been fond of Tom: something, she knew not what, had drawn
+her heart towards him.  She had believed in him too; believed that he
+was possessed of noble qualities which only she understood.  Then as
+she saw Tom drifting, she knew that her decisive step must be taken,
+and she had taken it.
+
+Afterwards, when she was told how Tom had risen in the great crowd at
+the hall in the Mechanics' Institute, and had gone up to the platform
+and volunteered for active service, her heart had thrilled strangely.
+She did not understand much about the war, but she felt that Tom had
+done a noble thing.  In spite of the fact, too, that he had left her to
+walk out with Polly Powell, she had a sense of possession; it seemed to
+her that Tom belonged to her more than to this highly coloured buxom
+girl who had taken him from her.
+
+Then something happened which set the people at the church she attended
+talking freely.  The young minister was a bachelor, and it was evident
+he was enamoured with Alice; he paid her marked attention, and eagerly
+sought to be in her company.
+
+"That's something like," said many of Alice's friends; "Alice will make
+a splendid minister's wife."
+
+But when at length Mr. Skelton proposed to Alice, she had no difficulty
+in answering him.  He could offer her a far better position than Tom
+dreamed of; the work she would have to do as a minister's wife, too,
+would be thoroughly in accord with her tastes and desires.  But Alice
+cared nothing for Mr. Skelton.  Her heart was sad when she saw how pale
+he looked at her refusal, but she had no hesitation.
+
+The problem which faced her now, however, was not so easy to settle.
+Young Harry Briarfield was not a comparative stranger like Mr. Skelton;
+she had known him all her life, they had been brought up together in
+the same town, they had gone to Sunday School together, they had sung
+duets together at concerts, and although she had never looked at Harry
+in the light of a lover she had always been fond of him.
+
+Harry was in a good position too; his father was a manufacturer in a
+fairly large way, and he had just been admitted as a partner into the
+business.  He was twenty-four years of age now, was highly respected
+throughout the town, and was looked upon as one who in a few years
+would hold his head high among commercial men.
+
+During the last few weeks Harry had come often to Mr. Lister's house,
+ostensibly to talk about business, but really to see Alice.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Lister had nudged each other and smiled at Harry's
+frequent visits.
+
+"I knew our Alice would do the right thing," said Mr. Lister to his
+wife; "for a time she went silly about that Pollard boy, but she threw
+him over of her own accord.  Harry's a nice lad, and he's making a tidy
+bit of brass, while George Briarfield has about made his pile.  In two
+or three years Harry will have the business entirely in his own hands,
+and then there will not be a better chance in Brunford for her."
+
+Mrs. Lister sighed.
+
+"I don't think our Alice has forgotten Tom Pollard, though," she
+replied.
+
+"Nonsense," replied her husband, "what is the good of her thinking
+about Tom?  I thought he would have done well at one time, and if he
+hadn't taken up with that Polly Powell lot he might have got on; but he
+did, and then he went for a soldier.  What is the good of our Alice
+thinking about him?  Even if the war were to finish next week and Tom
+were to come back, it would take him years, even if he had good luck,
+to make five pound a week, while Harry's making a thousand a year if
+he's making a penny."
+
+"Ay, I know," replied Mrs. Lister, "but you can never judge a lass's
+heart.  You know how it was wi' us, George; at the very time you asked
+me to be your wife you were only making thirty-three shillings a week,
+and William Pott was making hundreds a year.  He was a far better
+chance nor you, George, and people said I was a fool for not taking
+him; but I couldn't."
+
+"That was a different thing," said George Lister hastily, "that Pollard
+boy went wrong.  Besides, we need not think about that now; Alice gave
+him up, and very likely he will be killed."
+
+On the night when Tom was alone in the trenches, Harry Briarfield made
+his way to Mr. Lister's house, and it was not long before Alice and he
+were left alone together.  Harry had made up his mind to make his
+proposal that night, and he had but little doubt as to the result.
+
+"Look here, Alice," he said presently, "I want to say something to you,
+something very particular.  You must have seen for a long time how fond
+I am of you, and perhaps you have wondered why I haven't spoken.  I
+wanted to badly enough, but I waited until father took me into
+partnership.  You see," he went on, "at the beginning of the war things
+were going bad with us; there was a boom in the cotton trade about a
+year ago, but when the war broke out there was a regular slump, and we
+thought we were going to be ruined.  Now, however, things are going
+very well again.  We have got some war contracts, and we are making
+money."
+
+Alice's heart beat wildly, although by an effort she appeared calm.
+
+"I wonder you have not joined the Army, Harry," she said; "every day
+there's a call for more men."
+
+"Not if I know it," replied Harry.  "At one time I did think of trying
+for a commission, but that would have been foolish: you see I might not
+have been able to have got it, and of course a man in my position could
+not go as a Tommy."
+
+"Why not?" asked Alice quickly.  "I am told that lots of men of every
+order join as privates."
+
+"No, thank you," replied Harry, with a laugh.  "I know one chap who did
+that; Edgar Burton.  Do you know him?  He joined at the beginning of
+the war, but he quickly got sick of it.  He said the life was terrible;
+he described to me how he had to wash up dishes, and scrub the floors
+of his barracks, and how he had to be pals with a lot of chaps who
+didn't know the decencies of life.  Besides, think of me on a shilling
+a day!"
+
+"Still, if your country needs you?" suggested Alice.
+
+"I am doing more important work at home," replied Harry; "they could
+not do without me at the mill.  It's all very well for boys like Tom
+Pollard, who used to be so fond of you, but for people like me it's
+different."
+
+There was a silence for a few minutes, and then Harry went on again:
+
+"Alice, you know how fond I am of you--in fact, I have loved you all my
+life.  You will marry me, won't you?"
+
+Harry was very disappointed, and not a little surprised, that Alice did
+not answer in the affirmative right away; but he had conceded with
+fairly good grace when she had asked for a few days to think about it.
+
+"It is all right," said Harry to himself as he left the house that
+night, "I am sure she means yes.  And she's a fine lass, the finest in
+Brunford."
+
+That was why Alice sat alone that night thinking.  She had promised to
+give Harry her definite reply in three days' time, and although she was
+very fond of him she could not bring herself to give him the answer he
+desired.  When he had left the house her father and mother had come
+into the room.
+
+"Well, Alice, have you fixed it up?"
+
+She shook her head, but didn't speak.
+
+"Come now, lass, you needn't be so shy.  I know he's asked you to wed
+him; he asked for my permission like a man, and then he told me he was
+going to speak to you to-night.  You can't do better, my dear.  Have
+you fixed it all up?"
+
+"No," she said.
+
+"What!" cried the father, "you don't mean to say you have been such a
+fool as to say no!"
+
+"I have said nothing as yet," was her answer.
+
+George Lister heaved a sigh of relief.  "Ay, well," he said, "it's
+perhaps a good thing not to say yes at once.  Hold him back two or
+three days and it will make him all the more eager.  When a man comes
+to me to buy cloth I never shows as 'ow I am eager to sell.  But of
+course you _will_ take him?"
+
+"I don't know," replied Alice.
+
+"Don't know!  Why don't you know?  You like him, don't you?"
+
+"I don't know, father," she replied, and then she rushed out of the
+room.
+
+"What's the meaning of this, lass?" said George Lister to his wife.
+"Has she told you anything?"
+
+"Not a word," said Mrs. Lister.
+
+"But surely she can't be such a fool as to refuse Harry!  Why, there
+isn't a better chap in Brunford!  He's an only son, and his father's
+brass will go to him when he dies."
+
+But Mrs. Lister did not speak a word; in her eyes was a far-away look,
+as though she saw something which her husband did not see.
+
+As for Alice, she sat for a long time thinking in silence.
+
+Harry's words still rang in her ears; the memory of the look on his
+face as he left her still remained.  Still she could not make up her
+mind.  Yes, she liked Harry, in a way she admired him.  He was a
+teacher in the Sunday School, he was a good business man, he was
+clever, and he was respected in the town; and yet she hesitated.
+
+Hour after hour passed away, and still she could not make up her mind.
+In spite of Harry Briarfield's words she had not forgotten the lad from
+whom she had parted months before.  Why was it?  She thought she had
+forgotten him.  He had been unworthy of her; he had taken up with a
+girl whom she despised, a coarse, vulgar girl, and she had heard since
+that Polly Powell had been walking out with a number of young men.  And
+Tom had preferred this kind of creature to her love.  Her pride had
+been wounded, her self-respect had been shocked, and yet even now,
+while she was thinking of Harry Briarfield's proposal, her mind
+reverted to the boy who had gone away as a soldier.
+
+The Town Hall clock boomed out the hour of midnight.  Alice found
+herself mechanically counting the strokes of the deep-toned bell.  Then
+she fell on her knees beside the bed, but the prayer which she had been
+wont to pray did not come to her lips.  Her thoughts were far away; she
+pictured a distant battlefield; she imagined the boom of guns; she
+heard the clash of bayonets; she thought she heard the cries of wounded
+men, too; then a prayer involuntarily came to her lips:
+
+"O God, save him!  O God, help him and protect him!"
+
+Thus it came to pass at the time Tom Pollard tried for the first time
+in many months to pray, and to formulate his distracted thoughts, Alice
+Lister was kneeling by her bedside also trying to pray.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Tom Pollard's mind was suddenly brought back to mundane things.  It was
+now nearly one o'clock in the morning, and the night was chilly; a
+breeze having sprung up, the clouds had rolled away.
+
+He distinctly heard a shout, and as far as he could make out it came
+from the German trenches, which were not far away.
+
+"Holloa!"
+
+"Holloa!" said Tom, "what is it?"  He thought one of the other men on
+patrol duty had spoken to him.
+
+"You belong to the Lancashires, don't you?"
+
+"Of course I do," replied Tom; "what of that?"  He was able to locate
+the voice now, and knew it came from a German trench.
+
+"I have got something to tell you," and the words were followed by a
+laugh.
+
+Whoever it was spoke in perfectly good English, although with a German
+accent.
+
+"I reckon it'll be lies," was Tom's reply.
+
+By this time another sentry, hearing Tom's voice, had rushed up to him.
+
+"What is it?  Who goes there?" he called out.
+
+"Listen," whispered Tom, "it's one of the Bosches speaking to me.  What
+is it?" he asked aloud.
+
+"Only this," and the German laughed as he spoke: "you Lancashires are
+going to attack us at six o'clock to-morrow morning, eleven hundred
+strong, and we're ready for you.  That's all," and again the German
+laughed.
+
+"What does he mean?" said Tom to the man who stood by his side.  "I
+know nothing about any attack.  Do you?"
+
+"I knows there's something on foot," replied the other, "but what it is
+I don't know."
+
+"Do you think we ought to tell one of the officers?"
+
+"Nay, it's not worth the trouble," was the reply; "besides, it's only a
+bit of bluff."
+
+Two hours later the English trenches were full of movement; evidently,
+as the other sentry had told Tom, something was on foot.  Orders were
+given in low, tense tones, and although it wanted some time to
+daylight, preparations were evidently being made for an attack.
+
+The words which the German had spoken weighed heavily on Tom's mind.
+Of course he was only a private, but might not the news he had received
+mean something?  The more he thought about it, the more he was
+convinced that the German who spoke to him told the truth.  Tom had no
+knowledge, and no warning, that an attack was to be made, and yet,
+within two hours from the time the German had spoken to him,
+preparations were being made for an attack.  He knew, too, that his
+battalion was eleven hundred strong, having been reinforced only two
+days before.  Seeing a young officer, he determined to speak to him and
+tell him what he had heard.
+
+"It is very funny," said the subaltern, "I can't understand it a bit;
+but it's too late now, we must go through with it."  All the same the
+subaltern found his way to his Colonel.
+
+Precisely at six o'clock that morning the attack was made.  From what
+Tom learnt afterwards, it had been conceived and prepared for in
+secret.  None but those in high command had any knowledge whatever of
+it.  But evidently the enemy knew.  As the German soldier who had
+warned Tom said, "they were ready for them," and when the attack was
+made they were met by a storm of bullets.  Indeed the whole adventure
+would have been disastrous had not the subaltern to whom Tom had spoken
+reported the conversation to a superior officer, who had hurriedly
+given orders for a number of the Black Watch to be brought up.  As it
+was, although our loss of life was heavy, we did not have to yield any
+ground.
+
+When the affair came to an end the Colonel of Tom's battalion sent for
+him.
+
+"Now, my man," said the Colonel, "tell me exactly what you heard."
+
+Tom told his story straightforwardly.  It was little he had to say, and
+although the Colonel cross-questioned him very closely he was not able
+to shake him.
+
+"This is very strange," said the Colonel to the Major when Tom had
+gone; "no one breathed a word about our plans, and as you know I laid
+everything before the General at the Divisional Headquarters.  They
+were good plans too, and if the Germans had not got hold of them we
+should have made a big haul.  What is the meaning of it?"
+
+The Major shook his head.
+
+"It was the biggest thing we had planned for months," went on the
+Colonel, "and I can't tell you how sick I am.  We had everything in our
+favour too.  There must be some treachery somewhere!"
+
+"Where can the treachery be?" asked the Major.  "You know what the
+Staff General said.  It was to be kept absolutely quiet; the men were
+to know nothing about it until an hour before the time, and all the
+junior officers were to be kept in darkness.  You know how careful the
+General is too."
+
+"But the fact is there, man!" cried the Colonel, "we have the evidence
+of this lad, who could not possibly have been mistaken.  He seemed an
+intelligent lad too; you saw how closely I cross-questioned him.  Who
+is he?"
+
+"I will send for his sergeant," was the Major's reply.
+
+A few minutes later Sergeant Ashworth appeared on the scene.  It was
+the sergeant to whom Tom had spoken when he first came to Ypres.
+
+"Tell me what you know of Private Pollard," said the Colonel.
+
+Sergeant Ashworth spoke freely about Tom.
+
+"A smart lad, sir," he said, "intelligent, and well-behaved.  I spoke
+to him about whether he would like his lance-corporal's stripe, but he
+didn't seem to want it.  He would make a very good non-commissioned
+officer, sir."
+
+"He seems a lad of some education," replied the Colonel.
+
+"Yes, sir, a lot of those Lancashire lads are very well educated; they
+are quick and sensible too, and Pollard is one of the best of them.  My
+opinion of him is that he is utterly trustworthy and intelligent."
+
+"Now then, Blundell," and the Colonel turned to the Major, "what do you
+think?"
+
+"Of course we must report it to Headquarters at once," replied the
+Major, "but for the life of me I can't see through it."
+
+The incident as far as the men were concerned was simply regarded as an
+affair which had missed fire.  How, they didn't know.  But there it
+was; a number of their comrades had been killed, and many more had been
+wounded.  Still it was what they had come to the Front for.  Many of
+their attacks had failed, and no one seemed to know why.
+
+As may be imagined, Tom thought a great deal about it.  He knew by the
+Colonel's questions, and by the tone of his voice, that the affair was
+regarded as serious.  Tom, although not brilliant, had a good deal of
+common sense.  He was able to put two and two together, and his
+Lancashire gumption led him to see further than many gave him credit
+for.  He kept his own counsel, but he had become alert to the
+finger-tips.
+
+Altogether that night was the most wonderful in Tom's history.  In a
+way he could not understand, it formed an epoch in his life; it
+affected him in many ways.  From that time he felt the reality of God.
+It was not an impression which came to him for a moment and then passed
+away, it was something which became permanent.  God was a personal
+Power ever present with him.  He was not simply some great Eternal
+Abstraction, but He was a great loving Father, revealed through Jesus
+Christ His Son.  All the teaching he had received in the Sunday School,
+all the addresses he had heard at the Y.M.C.A. huts, came back to him.
+He formulated no theories, he tried to shape no creeds, but there
+seemed to be a Spiritual Deposit in his life to which he had hitherto
+been a stranger.  He was a child of the Great Eternal Father, and Jesus
+Christ had told him what that Father was like.  He said nothing about
+it to any one, it was not something to talk about.  To Tom it was very
+real, and in a vital sense the knowledge made him a new man; a new life
+pulsated through his being.  What it was he could not tell, did not
+even care.  But it was there.  Indeed he had a greater love for his
+life than ever, but he was no longer afraid.
+
+It was not until two days later that Tom received news that Alec
+McPhail was among the wounded and had been removed to a hospital some
+little distance from Ypres, on the road leading to Cassel.  He had seen
+but little of McPhail since he had come to France, as the Scotchman's
+battalion of the Black Watch occupied the trench some three miles from
+where the Lancashires were situated.  They had met occasionally near
+Ypres, but had had little to say to each other.  When Tom heard he was
+wounded, however, he determined to go and see him.
+
+"He got it bad," said a friend of McPhail's; "they told me at the
+dressing station that he was in no fit condition to be removed, but
+they had to do it."
+
+"You don't mean to say he's going to die!" said Tom.
+
+"Nay, I don't think it's so bad as that," replied the other, "but he's
+got it bad."
+
+When Tom arrived at the little town where the hospital was situated he
+immediately asked for permission to see the wounded man.
+
+The nurse shook her head.  "I doubt if you can," she replied.
+
+"Is he very bad?" asked Tom.
+
+The nurse nodded.  "Very bad indeed," she replied; "he was wounded the
+other morning when the attack was made.  We seem to have lost a number
+of men."
+
+"Yes," said Tom, "I was there and I heard that the Black Watch were
+called up."
+
+For a few seconds there was a silence between them, while Tom scanned
+the nurse's face closely.
+
+"Do you mean to say he's going to die?" asked Tom, and his voice
+trembled a little.
+
+The nurse nodded.  "I am afraid so," she said.  "He's too ill to see
+any one, and I doubt if he would know you."
+
+"I am sure he would like to see me," said Tom pleadingly; "you see we
+were pals in Lancashire, and we saw a goodish bit of each other while
+we were in the camp in Surrey.  I would like to see him if I could, I
+would really."
+
+"Well, I shall have to speak to the doctor," was the nurse's reply.
+"Will you wait here?  I won't be long before I'm back."
+
+A curious feeling came into Tom's heart.  He did not know very much
+about McPhail, but he recalled the conversations that they had had in
+Lancashire, and he vividly remembered the night before they had started
+for the Front.  McPhail had been very much wrought upon then.  Tom had
+watched his face while they sat together in the Y.M.C.A. hut when the
+speaker was telling them about the deep needs of their lives.
+McPhail's face had become set and stern, although his lips quivered.
+Afterwards when they had gone to the canteen the Scotchman had uttered
+words which Tom never forgot.
+
+He wondered now if McPhail had meant what he said, wondered too if he
+had realised the same experiences which he, Tom, had passed through.
+It seemed awful that this tall, stalwart Scotchman was going to die.
+Why should men be killed in this way?  Why should that lonely
+Scotchwoman, McPhail's mother, have to suffer because of German sins?
+
+The nurse came back to him.  "He wants to see you," she said, "and the
+doctor says he may.  He's been asking for you."
+
+"Asking for me?" queried Tom.
+
+"Yes, I didn't know anything about it.  He's been telling another nurse
+that he wanted to see you.  Pollard is your name, isn't it?"
+
+A few seconds later Tom was admitted into the room where a number of
+men lay.  McPhail was in a corner of the room partially hidden from the
+rest.  The Scotchman gave Tom a smile of recognition as he came up to
+him.
+
+"I felt sure ye'd come," he whispered.  "They told me I couldna get at
+ye, but I had a feeling that I should see ye before I died."
+
+Tom hesitated a second before replying.
+
+"It may not be as bad as that," he said, "lots of chaps who have looked
+worse than you have got better."
+
+"Nay," said McPhail, "I'm pipped, I have got to go.  I'm not in any
+pain, though," he added quickly, "the doctor saw to that, but it willna
+be long afore I'm gone.  Tom, I would like ye to write a letter to my
+mither.  As I told you, she's a godly woman, and I've grieved her sair."
+
+"I will do anything you ask me, McPhail," was Tom's reply.  "Ay, but
+don't give up; you may get well yet, and have another smack at the
+Germans."
+
+"Nay," replied the other, "I have done my bit.  I would like to live a
+bit longer, but there, it's a' for the best.  I'm not afraid, Tom; do
+you remember that night before we came out here, when we left the
+canteen together?"
+
+"Ay, I remember."
+
+"I settled it that night," said the Scotchman.  "You remember me
+tellin' ye that I was always a thinking sort o' laddie?  Weel, when I
+got away by mysel' that night I made up my mind, and I just accepted
+the way o' salvation, which my mither explained to me when I were a wee
+laddie.  And it worked, Tom!  It worked!  I laughed at releegion when I
+was wi' you in Lancashire; but man, there's nothing else that stands by
+a man.  Ay, and it works, it does.  I want ye to write to my mither and
+tell her this.  Tell her that I gave my life to the Lord on the night
+before I left England, that I have not touched a drap of drink since
+then, and that I died with the love of God in my heart.  Will you tell
+her, Tom?"
+
+"Ay," said Tom, "I will."
+
+"Write down her address, will ye?"
+
+Tom's hand trembled and the tears coursed down his face as he wrote the
+address of the woman who lived away in the Highlands of Scotland.
+
+"It will comfort her," said McPhail when this was done.  "It will make
+her feel that her teaching and her example were not in vain."
+
+"Ay, but you must not die, you must not die," sobbed Tom.
+
+"Dinna talk like that, lad," said the Scotchman.  "I have been thinking
+it all oot sin' I have been here, and it's richt.  It's a'richt.
+Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, and you can't
+purge away iniquity without paying the price: I am a part of the price,
+Tom.  The Son of God died that others might live.  That's not only a
+fact, it is a principle.  Thousands of us are dying that others may
+live.  Christ died that He might give life and liberty to the world,
+and in a way that is what we are doing.  I can't richtly explain it,
+it's too deep for me; but I see glimpses of the truth.  Tom, have you
+learnt the secret yourself?"
+
+"I think I have," replied Tom.  "On the night of the attack I was on
+sentry duty, and while I was alone I--I prayed.  I could not say it in
+words like, they wouldn't come, but I am sure I got the grip of it, and
+I feel as though God spoke to me."
+
+"That's it, lad, that's it!" said the dying man eagerly.  "Tom, do ye
+think ye could pray now?"
+
+By this time the room had become very silent.  The men who had been
+talking freely were evidently listening to that which I have tried to
+describe, but the two lads were not conscious of the presence of others.
+
+"I don't know as I can pray in words," said Tom, "somehow prayer seems
+too big to put into words.  I just think of God and remember the love
+of Jesus Christ.  But happen I can sing if you can bear it."
+
+"Ay, lad, sing a hymn," said the Scotchman.  Tom knelt by the dying
+man's bed and closed his eyes.  For some time nothing would come to
+him; his mind seemed a blank.  Then he found himself singing the hymn
+he had often sung as a boy.
+
+  Jesu, Lover of my soul,
+    Let me to Thy Bosom fly;
+  While the nearer waters roll,
+    While the tempest still is high;
+  Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
+    Till the storm of life is past,
+  Safe into the haven guide,
+    O receive my soul at last.
+
+
+"Ay, that's it, that's it," said the Scotchman, "it's a hymn I dinna
+ken, but it goes to the heart of things.  Man, can ye recite to me the
+twenty-third Psalm?"
+
+"Nay," replied Tom, "I forget which it is."
+
+"That's because you were born and reared in a godless country," replied
+the Scotchman.  "No Scottish lad ever forgets the twenty-third Psalm,
+especially those who canna thole the paraphrases.  'The Lord is my
+Shepherd,' surely ye ken that, Tom?"
+
+"Ay," replied Tom eagerly, "I know that."
+
+Then the two lads recited the psalm together:
+
+"_The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want._
+
+"_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside
+still waters._
+
+"_He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for
+His Name's sake._
+
+"_Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
+fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort
+me._"
+
+"Stop there!" said the Scotchman.  "That's eno'.  It's a' there, Tom;
+that's why I'm not afraid now.  I'm in the valley of the shadow of
+death, but I dinna fear: the Lord is wi' me, and He's gotten hold of my
+hand."
+
+"You must go now," said the nurse, coming up, "the doctor says you must
+not stay any longer."
+
+"Good-bye," said the Scotchman, with a smile, "it's a' richt; you'll
+tell my mither, won't you?"
+
+"Ay, I will," said Tom.
+
+"And--and Tom," said the Scotchman almost eagerly, "although I shall be
+dead, I shall be near you, and mebbe----  Ay, but we shall meet in a
+better world, Tom.  It's a' richt."
+
+As Tom passed through the room where the sick and wounded men lay, he
+noticed that they looked towards him longingly, wonderingly.  The
+atmosphere of the place seemed charged with something sacred.  At that
+moment Tom knew the meaning of the word Sacrament.
+
+The next day the Scotchman died.  The nurse was with him to the very
+last, and just before he breathed his last breath he lifted his eyes to
+her with a smile.
+
+"It's a' richt, nurse," he said, "what my mither taught me was true
+down to the very foundations."
+
+"Ay, it was grand, it was grand!" said Tom Pollard when he heard the
+news.  "It doesn't seem like death at all, it was just victory,
+victory!"
+
+After that Tom did his work with a new light in his eyes.  It seemed as
+though his visit to the Scotchman had removed the last remaining cloud
+which had hung in the sky of his faith.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+"Yes," said Colonel Blount to Major Blundell, "there's treachery
+around; we may as well face it."
+
+"A man must be as blind as a bat not to see that," was the Major's
+reply, "but where is it?"
+
+"That's the question.  But we cannot close our eyes to facts.  Time
+after time our plans have been discovered, and not only discovered, but
+evidently revealed to the enemy.  I've talked the matter over with
+General Withers, and while he agrees with me that these constant
+mishaps are strange, he cannot see where the treachery can come in.
+Why, man, he has even guarded himself against his own staff officers!
+He keeps his plans to himself, and only makes them known to those who
+have to carry them out; he's taken every precaution a man can take, and
+you know what a keen fellow Withers is!  Yet before we can strike our
+blow, the Huns get wind of our intentions!"
+
+The Colonel sighed as he spoke.  The constant mishaps were getting on
+his nerves; he felt that his brother officers regarded him as
+incapable.  He wondered sometimes whether he would be relieved of his
+command, so unsuccessful had he been.
+
+And yet he had been known as a capable, far-seeing officer, and earlier
+in the war his name had been mentioned in the dispatches.  He had been
+spoken of in the General Headquarters, too, as an officer of more than
+ordinary ability, and yet for the last few weeks everything he had
+touched seemed to miscarry.  There had been no great set-back, but
+there had been no advance worth speaking of.  A spirit of restlessness
+and suspicion was felt in the whole regiment.  It seemed to them as
+though there was an Achan in the camp, yet no one knew who the traitor
+might be.
+
+Of course all these misadventures might have been owing to unfortunate
+accidents, or because the plans of the British officers were not well
+thought out.  All the same Colonel Blount could not understand it.  He
+was an old soldier, he had served in India, had been through the Boer
+War, and he felt sure that the plans he had submitted to the Divisional
+Headquarters had been sound and good.  He had been complimented upon
+them too, and yet they had ended in failure, and he had narrowly
+escaped disaster.
+
+"If I could see a glimmer of light anywhere," said Colonel Blount to
+his senior major, "I wouldn't mind.  But I can't.  Only General Withers
+at the Divisional Headquarters, the Brigadier, you, and myself knew the
+details of our last scheme, and yet the Bosches got wind of them.  It's
+maddening, maddening!"
+
+"Whoever the blighter is he's got brains," said the Major.
+
+"Ah, here are two staff officers coming now!"
+
+For some time after this Colonel Blount was more than ordinarily
+active.  He was constantly in communication with the commanding
+officers of other battalions, and there were frequent journeys to
+Headquarters; but no one knew what was on foot.  The presence of staff
+officers was constantly noted, and all felt that some big action was to
+take place, but when or in what way no one knew.  Even the Tommies in
+the trenches felt that something of more than ordinary importance was
+in the air, and they discussed it one with another.  They, too, could
+not help realising that things had been going bad with them, and that,
+to say the least of it, the Germans were not getting the worst of it.
+
+Tom Pollard felt this more keenly than any one.  He had been the man
+who had been questioned by the Colonel, and he had more than once
+fancied that he had been specially watched.  Indeed Tom had determined
+to keep both ears and eyes well open, and if possible to do a little
+detective work on his own account.  He entertained suspicions too,
+which he dared not breathe to any one.  They seemed so wild and
+unfounded that they would not bear the test of a minute's careful
+thought, and yet they constantly haunted him.
+
+Of course he knew nothing of what was being settled between the
+officers; he had not the slightest idea of the nature of the plans
+which had miscarried, he like the others only had a vague feeling that
+something was wrong.
+
+One day, while near the canal which runs round the foot of the old
+ramparts of the city, he noticed that the Brigadier and Colonel Blount
+were talking with two staff officers; one of the latter was a general,
+while the other was a captain.  Tom felt sure that the captain was
+Waterman, whom he had known in Brunford.
+
+Tom was reclining near a dangerous corner, close by the Potijze Road
+which runs straight to the beginning of the British communication
+trench.  German shells were constantly screeching their way through the
+air, and falling in various parts of the old town; but by this time he
+had become so accustomed to these ominous sounds that he had almost
+ceased to take notice of them.  There was only one chance in a hundred
+that one of them might fall near him, and as he had been so far
+fortunate, he, like hundreds of others in a similar condition, thought
+he might escape altogether.  Besides, although he stood near the
+dangerous crossing he was in a sheltered position, and as the day was
+hot he sat under the shade of a wall and looked out on the ruins of the
+old city.
+
+A few seconds later the group of officers passed close by him, and Tom
+immediately rose and saluted.
+
+"Oh, this is the man," said Colonel Blount as he caught sight of Tom.
+"Come here, Pollard."
+
+Tom did as he was commanded, not without some fluttering around the
+region of his heart.
+
+"Now, Private Pollard," said Colonel Blount, "repeat what you told me
+some time ago."
+
+Again Tom found himself submitted to a keen cross-examination after he
+had told his story, and he noticed that all the officers, including
+Waterman, listened very attentively.
+
+"There's something wrong," said Tom to himself; "they tried to shake
+me, but they failed; I know what I heard well enough."  And then he
+watched them as they quickly crossed the dangerous corner, and hurried
+into a sheltered position.
+
+That same night, after the staff officers had returned to their
+Headquarters, Tom, who was passing the Water Tower, saw, much to his
+surprise, the retreating form of a staff officer.  Of course this might
+mean nothing--he was utterly ignorant of the movements of those above
+him; all the same he felt as though hammers were beating against his
+forehead, so excited was he.
+
+The next night Tom's company was ordered to relieve a number of men who
+had been a good many hours in the trenches, and just as the shadows of
+evening were falling they crept along the Potijze Road towards the
+communication trench.  An hour later Tom had taken up his post in the
+zig-zag cutting with a feeling that something of importance was going
+to happen.
+
+Hour after hour passed away, and still Tom wondered at what he had seen
+and heard.  He had no definite data upon which to go, no tangible
+reason for his suspicions, and yet with that bulldog tenacity
+characteristic of the sharp Lancashire boy he kept thinking of what he
+ought to do.  Presently he heard a voice which he recognised; it was
+that of Major Blundell, in reply to something that had been said to him.
+
+"Yes, yes," said the Major, "I quite understand."
+
+"You are sure you have the instructions plain?"
+
+"Perfectly sure."
+
+"Then I will get along here and speak to Captain Winfield."
+
+"Let me come with you," said Major Blundell.
+
+"Oh no, certainly not.  I know the way perfectly well.  Good night,
+Blundell."
+
+"Good night, Waterman."
+
+It was a fairly bright night, although a few clouds hung in the sky.
+Tom heard approaching footsteps, and then hid himself in a sharp corner
+of the trench while Waterman passed him.  Tom followed noiselessly, all
+the time keeping out of sight of the man he watched.  This he was able
+to do with comparative ease, owing to the zig-zag nature of the trench.
+Tom knew that at this particular point they were only a little more
+than a hundred yards from the German lines, and that the German snipers
+were constantly on the watch for any one who might happen to show
+himself above the sand-bags.  He had not gone more than twenty yards
+when he saw Waterman stop and look around.
+
+Tom stopped almost instinctively, still hidden by a sharp turn in the
+trench.  The light was fairly good, and Tom's eyes were keen.  He saw
+that the man had adopted a listening attitude.  That particular part of
+the trench was for the moment deserted, although any moment a patrol
+might appear.  Evidently Waterman was keenly watchful; he looked each
+way with evident care, and listened attentively.  Then he took a piece
+of white paper from his pocket which seemed to be attached to something
+heavy.  Even in the dim light Tom saw the white gleam of the paper
+which Waterman had taken from his pocket.  Quick as a thought Waterman
+stepped on to the ledge of the trench, and then, leaning over the
+sand-bags, threw the paper towards the German lines.  This done he
+stepped back and hurried quickly away.
+
+For a second the lad was almost paralysed; then the meaning of it came
+to him like a flash of light, and before Waterman had proceeded half a
+dozen yards Tom had sprung upon him.
+
+"What do you mean, fellow?  Get away from me!" and Waterman struggled
+to free himself.
+
+But Tom held on like grim death.  "You are a German spy, that's what
+you are!" he said hoarsely.  "A mean, skulking German spy!"
+
+"This will mean death for you, my man," said Waterman, still
+struggling.  "You are enough of a soldier to know that for a private to
+strike an officer in war time means court martial and death."
+
+"It will not be I who will be court martialled," panted Tom.  "Ah, you
+swine!" for at that moment Waterman had pulled out his pistol, and had
+not Tom struck his arm a bullet would have gone through his brain.
+
+"I say, what's this?"
+
+"A German spy!" cried Tom hoarsely, "he tried to shoot me, sir!"
+
+"A German spy!" said the new-comer.  "You must be mad."
+
+"I am not mad, sir.  I saw him."
+
+"He _is_ mad!" said Waterman.  "I'm here on duty and the fellow
+attacked me.  Pull him off, Lieutenant Penrose, he's strangling me!"
+
+Tom recognised the new-comer although he had not seen him for months.
+It was Penrose who had been with him in Lancashire, and who had
+received his commission immediately after his arrival in Surrey.
+
+"You know me, sir!" cried Tom, still holding on to the other; "you know
+I would not do a thing without reason, sir!  Make him a prisoner, he's
+been giving information to the enemy!"
+
+"Prove it!" said Waterman.
+
+"Yes, I will prove it!" panted Tom.  "Make him a prisoner, sir; I tell
+you he's been communicating with the enemy.  I saw him not a minute
+ago!"
+
+"What has he done?" asked Penrose.
+
+"I saw him take a piece of paper from his pocket which was fastened to
+something heavy; then he threw it over the sand-bags towards the German
+lines.  I tell you, sir, I saw him do it!  Make him a prisoner."
+
+By this time others had come up, and Waterman, whom Tom had released
+somewhat, laughed uneasily.  "He's either a fool or a madman," he said;
+"he attacked me without a moment's warning, and without the slightest
+reason."
+
+"Hold him fast, sir," cried Tom.  "I'll soon prove to you whether it's
+without the slightest reason.  Promise me you won't let him go, sir?"
+
+Penrose, who had grasped the situation, replied quickly: "Of course I
+shall not let him go, but you must prove your accusation, Pollard.
+Where are you going?"
+
+"I am going to get the paper he threw towards the German trenches,"
+cried Tom.  "That's it, sir, hold him fast!"
+
+Tom was so excited that he had forgotten all about military rules and
+regulations.  He acted just as he would have acted had he caught any
+one doing an outrageous deed before the war.
+
+Waterman began to shout aloud, but Penrose was too quick for him.  He
+placed his hand on the other's mouth, and said quietly, "No you don't,
+sir."
+
+"Do you know what you are doing, Lieutenant?" said Waterman.  "You are
+attacking your superior officer.  Take away your men and let me go at
+once."
+
+"Not until I get at the bottom of this," said Penrose quietly.
+
+"I tell you the man is either a madman or a fool."  Waterman was
+stammering painfully now.
+
+"That will have to be proved," and Penrose gripped his arm tightly.
+"That's it, Jackson; take his revolver.  As it happens," he went on to
+Waterman, "I know Pollard; he's a level-headed lad, and he would not
+have done this without reason.  Ah, Major Blundell, will you come here
+a minute, sir," for by this time the Major, having heard the sound of
+voices, had rushed up.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+Penrose quickly told him what had taken place, and the young officer's
+words came like a bombshell upon this steady-going and rather dull
+officer.  If it were true, all the mystery of the last few weeks was
+cleared up.  But he could not believe it.  Waterman was regarded as one
+of the most capable and trustworthy of the staff officers.  He had
+shown zeal beyond the ordinary, and his intelligence and quickness of
+perception had more than once been remarked upon; indeed he had been
+mentioned in the dispatches as one who had rendered valuable service to
+the British Army; and now for an accusation like this to come fairly
+staggered the well-meaning faithful officer.
+
+The whole affair had been so sudden too.  Only a couple of minutes
+before, he had been discussing plans with Waterman, who had urged him
+to be more than ordinarily careful in carrying out the instructions
+from Headquarters, and yet here he was accused of communicating with
+the enemy, and seen by a trustworthy soldier to throw a missile towards
+the enemy's lines.
+
+"Where is Pollard?" asked Major Blundell, for Tom had disappeared.
+
+"He's gone to secure the paper he saw Captain Waterman throw," was
+Penrose's reply.
+
+A second later Major Blundell was leaning over the sand-bags, looking
+across the "No-man's-Land" towards the enemy's trenches.
+
+By this time a number of other men had gathered; as if by magic the
+news had flown, and for a moment even discipline was in abeyance.
+
+As will be easily seen, Tom's work was not easy, and the space of
+ground between the English and the German lines was dangerous in the
+highest degree.  Any one seen there was a target for both English and
+German rifles.  But Tom did not think of this, indeed the thought of
+danger was at that time utterly absent from him.  Just as at times the
+mind has subconscious powers, so there are times when the body is so
+much under the influence of excitement that ordinary laws do not seem
+to operate.  At that time Tom seemed to be living hours in seconds,
+because he instinctively felt that great issues depended upon what he
+wanted to do.  If he were right in his conclusions, as he felt sure he
+was, Waterman, who was naturally in the confidence of his superior
+officers, would have valuable information to impart.  It came upon him
+too, like a flash of lightning, that Waterman had uttered a peculiar
+cry as he threw the missile across the intervening space.  That was
+doubtless a prearranged signal between him and the Germans.  If they
+had heard it, as was more than probable, one of their men would
+naturally be sent to find the paper.  In that case the plans and
+arrangements which the English officers had made would be in the hands
+of the Germans.
+
+Tom had noted the spot on which Waterman had stood when he threw his
+missile, and had also noticed the direction in which it had flown, at
+least he thought he had.  But when he was in the open space he was not
+so sure.  As fortune would have it, this particular bit of ground was
+not wired, and he moved without difficulty.
+
+Tom looked around, bewildered; nowhere could he see the gleaming white
+paper which Waterman had thrown--in fact, nothing was plainly visible
+to him.  He saw, dimly, the outline of the German trenches; saw the
+mounds of earth with the sandbags on their summits, but nothing else.
+A hundred yards or so is no great distance, but it is difficult to
+locate a small object in such a space at night.  He could not tell how
+far Waterman had been able to throw the stone, or how near it might be
+to the German trench.  But his eyes were young and keen; every faculty
+was more than ordinarily tense and active, and Tom was in deadly
+earnest.  He had started to do this thing, and he would do it.
+
+Presently he saw a white spot on the ground, and he felt as though
+hammers were beating against his temples.  Crouching low, he made his
+way towards it, but he had only gone a few steps when he discerned the
+form of a man, apparently with the same object in view, creeping from a
+German trench.  Like lightning Tom made a dash for it, but the other
+was nearer than he, and by the time he had reached it the German had
+secured it.  As far as he could judge they were about half-way between
+the two lines, and he knew the danger of the task he had set himself.
+In a vague way he wondered whether the Germans had seen him, he also
+wondered whether the British were watching him.  But this did not
+trouble him much; the one thought which filled his mind was that he
+must at all hazards secure the paper which Waterman had thrown.
+
+Without hesitating a second, and without making a sound, he threw
+himself upon the German and well-nigh bore him to the ground.  Then
+followed a hand-to-hand struggle, the details of which Tom was never
+clear about.  As a lad he had been a football player and had made good
+muscle; he had played half-back for the Brunford football club for
+several seasons, and although he was by no means a giant, he was well
+built and strong.  During the time he had been in the Army, too, every
+muscle in his body had been developed to its fullest capacity: his
+severe training told in his favour now, and Tom never dreamt of giving
+in.  On the other hand, however, the German was a big, heavy man, and
+he also had undergone a severe training.
+
+Tom felt his antagonist weakening; he knew it by his gurgling breath
+and his weakening grasp.  He himself was also well-nigh spent, although
+he was not quite exhausted.  Then, fearing lest the apparent weakness
+of his opponent was only a ruse by which he might gain advantage, Tom
+determined on an old football trick.  A second later the German's
+shoulder blade snapped like a match, and Tom, seizing the paper, rushed
+back towards the English lines.
+
+He had only fifty yards to cover, but such a fifty yards!  His legs
+seemed of lead, too, while his head was swimming.  No sooner had he
+commenced to stagger back, than the Germans opened fire on him; a
+hundred bullets whistled by him, while he heard yells of rage coming
+from the enemy's trenches.
+
+He felt his strength leaving him, his head was swimming, his breath
+came in short, difficult gasps, and he knew he was wounded.  He
+suffered no great pain, but by the burning sensations in his left arm
+and in his right shoulder he knew that the German bullets must have
+struck him.  More than once he stumbled and fell.
+
+He felt himself going blind; he heard cries from the English trenches
+which seemed like cheers, but he could see nothing, and the cries
+seemed to be a long, long way off.  Still he struggled on.  "I must get
+in!  I must get in!" was the thought which possessed his bewildered
+brain.  Then he fell heavily; after that all became dark.
+
+When he returned to consciousness it seemed to him as though he saw a
+number of ghostly faces around him.  He had a sort of feeling that he
+was dead, and that those faces belonged to the spirit world; but in a
+few seconds they became clearer.
+
+"That's better, Tom, that's better!  You are all right.  You did it,
+lad!  You did it!"
+
+"Stand back there, and give him air.  Heavens!  There hasn't been a
+braver thing done by any man in the Army!"
+
+He heard all this, but not clearly.  They seemed to be stray sentences,
+uttered by many voices.  But it didn't matter; only one thing mattered.
+Had he done what he had set out to do?
+
+"Have you got it?" he gasped.
+
+"Got it!  I should think we have."  It was Major Blundell who spoke.
+"It's all right, Pollard, you've done the trick."
+
+"Have I, sir?" said Tom.  "I--I feel very strange."
+
+"You will soon get over it, you are only pumped!"
+
+"Ay," laughed another, and the voice was as sweet music to Tom, "I've
+seen thee worse nor this i' the Brunford Cup Tie match."
+
+"That thee, Nick?" he said, lapsing into the Brunford vernacular, which
+he had been trying to correct lately.
+
+"Ay, Tom, it's me; tha'st done a good neet's work to-neet."
+
+Tom's brain was clearer now; he knew where he was; knew, too, that he
+had succeeded.  Something was still hammering at his temples, and his
+head was aching terribly, but he didn't mind; his heart was light.
+
+"You have done well, Pollard."  It was Major Blundell who spoke.
+
+"Was what I got any good, sir?"
+
+"Good!  I should think it was."
+
+"And Captain Waterman, have you got him?"
+
+"That's all right, Pollard, he's safe enough," replied the Major.
+
+"Thank you, sir," said Tom, "I don't care now."
+
+What happened after that Tom didn't remember.  He had a confused idea
+that he was carried down a long line of trenches, and that he heard
+cheering words during his journey.  But nothing was plain to him,
+except a burning sensation in his left arm and in his right shoulder;
+for the rest he was faint, sick, and weary.
+
+"You are feeling better now, are you not, Pollard?"  It was the doctor
+who spoke.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am feeling all right," replied Tom; "there is not much the
+matter with me, is there?"
+
+"You are simply a miracle," replied the doctor, "only a couple of flesh
+wounds, that's all.  You have lost a great deal of blood, of course,
+but you will soon be as fit as a fiddle again.  I wonder that a hundred
+bullets did not go through you!"
+
+"They came mighty near," was Tom's reply.
+
+"You must be removed from here at once," said the doctor, "this
+region's too unhealthy for you."
+
+An hour later Tom found himself away from the screech of shells.
+
+As he reflected afterwards, it seemed to him a miracle that he had not
+been killed.  No sooner had he mastered the German and seized the paper
+than bullets showered upon him like rain, and yet beyond these two
+slight flesh wounds he was wholly untouched.  It was true he was very
+stiff and sore, but he knew that he would soon be as well as ever.
+
+On the evening of the same day Colonel Blount came to see him.
+
+"Pollard, my lad," said the colonel, "I felt I must come to see you.
+You have rendered the British Army and your country a great service,
+and you will get your reward."
+
+"Thank you, sir, but I never thought about reward," said Tom simply.
+
+"I'm sure you didn't," replied the colonel, "but this job's not at an
+end yet, my lad."
+
+"No, sir," said Tom, mistaking his meaning, "we have got a stiff job
+before we lick the Germans."
+
+"I didn't mean that," replied the colonel.  "I mean this Waterman
+business is not at an end yet."
+
+"No, sir," said Tom, "of course you will shoot him."
+
+"He deserves a worse death than that," replied the Colonel grimly, "but
+you will have to give evidence against him."
+
+"Yes, sir," replied Tom.
+
+"Will you be well enough to come to-morrow night?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The Colonel knew he was not acting according to strict regimental rules
+and regulations in speaking to a private in this fashion, but it was no
+ordinary case, and Colonel Blount was not a man to be tied down to
+military etiquette.  Private though Tom Pollard was, he had rendered,
+as he had said, a signal service, not only to the Army, but to the
+British Nation.
+
+The next evening Tom found himself in a large room amongst a number of
+officers, and standing at one corner, carefully guarded, was Waterman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The evidence against Waterman was so clear, so overwhelming, that there
+was not the slightest doubt about the verdict which would be passed
+upon him.  He had been caught practically red-handed in his deed of
+treachery; but this was not all.  Tom Pollard's action had led to a
+number of other facts coming to light.  He had by many cunning devices
+been in communication with the enemy; he had constantly made known the
+plans which he had learnt at the Divisional Headquarters, and had thus
+prepared the Germans for many of the attacks which we had made.
+
+Tom could not help being impressed by the fact that even although
+Waterman's guilt was as clear as daylight, it was the evident desire of
+those who tried him to act fairly, and even generously, towards him.
+Everything that could be said in his favour was carefully listened to,
+and noted; and on the faces of more than one present was a look of
+concern almost amounting to pain.  This, however, did not hide the
+truth that every man regarded him with horror, almost amounting to
+loathing.  They respected an enemy who fought openly and fairly, but
+for a man who was a staff officer in the British Army and who
+consequently learnt many of the plans of that Army; for a man who had
+taken the oath to be faithful to his King and Country, and yet to act
+as he had acted, was ignominy too vile for expression.
+
+But Waterman seemed to have no shame, no sense of guilt; he uttered no
+word of regret, but stood erect and almost motionless.  His face was
+hard and set, in his eyes was a steely glitter; it seemed as though he
+defied his judges to do their worst, and to mock at their evident
+disgust.
+
+Tom gave his evidence clearly, and without any waste of words.
+
+"You knew him before you went into the Army, then?"
+
+"Yes, sir," replied Tom.
+
+"Tell us where."
+
+Whereupon Tom told of Waterman's association with him in Brunford, and
+of the conversations he had had with the prisoner.
+
+"I didn't quite understand at the time," said Tom, "why he seemed so
+sure of the Germans getting the best of it.  He seemed to be glad when
+he told me of the tremendous strength of the German army, and the
+preparations they had made.  He said he had been to Germany to school,
+and had lived there a long time; that was how he came to know so much
+about it.  I could never quite make it out how an Englishman who loved
+his country could be so sure that the Germans would win.  Besides, he
+didn't talk about it as though it would be a calamity, but something he
+would be proud of; but I don't know that I thought much of it at the
+time, especially when he told me he was going to receive a commission
+in our Army; but later on, when I found out the Germans knew what we
+were going to do, I wondered how they'd found out, and that led me to
+put one thing to another."
+
+This was not strict evidence, and the officers knew it, but they
+allowed Tom to tell his story his own way.
+
+"That was why I determined to watch him," went on Tom, "and--well, sir,
+that was how things turned out as they did."
+
+When Tom's evidence came to an end he was told to retire.  The lad was
+sorely grieved at this, because he would have liked to remain to the
+end; but after all, he was only a private, and he was there simply to
+give his evidence.
+
+"Shooting's too good for him," thought Tom as he left the room.  "What
+a look he did give me!  If a look could murder a man I should not be
+alive now!"
+
+"Now then," said the President to Waterman, when Tom had gone, "what
+have you got to say for yourself?"
+
+"Nothing," replied Waterman.  He was no longer respectful or polite.
+His every word suggested insolence.
+
+"You admit, then, that you are guilty of the charges that have been
+brought against you?"
+
+Waterman shrugged his shoulders scornfully.
+
+"You admit that you, an officer in the British Army, have given away
+your country's secrets and become an ally to the enemy?"
+
+Waterman laughed.  "I have simply tried to serve my own country," was
+his reply, "the country which will soon conquer yours."
+
+Every eye was fixed upon him; the man's brazen confession almost
+staggered them.
+
+"Then you are a German!"
+
+"Yes," replied Waterman proudly.
+
+The President looked at him keenly, and then turned towards some papers.
+
+"I see that you claim English birth, that you were educated at an
+English public school, and that you went into an English house of
+business."
+
+"That doesn't make me cease to be a German," replied Waterman.
+
+"I find, too, that you boasted of being an Englishman."
+
+"That helped me to do my work," was the jeering answer.
+
+For some seconds there was a deathly silence save for the rustle of the
+papers which the President read.  Each man who sat in the room listened
+almost breathlessly; each was so intensely interested that no one broke
+the silence.
+
+"My father and my mother are German," went on Waterman; "when they
+lived in Germany they spelt their name German fashion, and there were
+two n's, not one, at the end of my name; but when they were in England
+they thought it would serve them best to spell it English fashion.  But
+they never ceased being Germans.  When I was a boy I was taught to love
+my country above all things; that was my religion, and I was always
+faithful to it.  When I went to your British school I was always a
+German at heart; the other boys used to say that I was not a sportsman,
+and that I could not play the game."
+
+"Evidently they spoke the truth."
+
+Waterman shrugged his shoulders carelessly.
+
+"Then you mean to say that you, born in England, educated in England,
+and receiving all the benefits of our country, were all the time a
+German at heart, and sought to act in Germany's interests."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"And you didn't feel that you were acting meanly, ungratefully?"
+
+"I thought only of my own country," was the reply.  "I knew that this
+war was coming, knew too that I could best serve my country by
+professing to be an Englishman, and by entering the British Army.  I
+proved myself in the right too," he added significantly.
+
+"But didn't you realise that such conduct as yours must inevitably end
+in disgrace and death?"
+
+"Disgrace?" cried the other.  "No, it is glory.  As for death, what
+does that matter?  My death is of no importance; the victory of my
+country is everything."
+
+"Then you have no sense of shame for what you have done?"
+
+"Shame?" laughed Waterman--"shame in feeling that I have served the
+Fatherland!"
+
+"What do you think about your action, then?"
+
+"I think what fools you all were and are," and Waterman laughed
+insolently.  "I and others have laughed when you have played into our
+hands.  Why," and here there was a touch of passion in his voice, "your
+country is simply riddled with friends of Germany.  Do you think that
+because a German becomes naturalised he ceases to be a German?  Do you
+think that, although he protests his loyalty to England, and his desire
+to help England, that he is the less a German at heart?  Do you think
+that a German, whether naturalised or not, stops at anything in order
+to serve his country?  You have hundreds of Germans in your army
+to-day, while your public offices are full of men, and women too for
+that matter, of German parentage and with German sympathies.  Yes, you
+may kill me," and he threw back his shoulders proudly, "but that will
+not stop us from conquering your country and being your masters."
+
+For a moment he almost seemed to dominate the room.  He stood erect,
+haughty, scornful; it might seem as though he were the accuser and not
+the accused.
+
+"Of course you know the consequence of your deed?" said the President
+presently.
+
+Waterman shrugged his shoulders.  "I have counted the cost, and am
+willing to pay the price," was his reply.
+
+When he was led away there was a silence in the room for some seconds.
+Whatever else he had done he had given his judges to see that he was a
+brave man; that to him the victory of his country was more than life;
+that for what he had called the Fatherland he had trampled under his
+feet all ordinary conventions, all accepted rules of honour and truth.
+Germany was first, everything else came afterwards.
+
+The Englishman always admires courage, no matter in what form it may
+appear, and there could be no doubt that Waterman was courageous.
+
+"It is no wonder," said the General, as if speaking to himself, "that
+they are such terrible enemies."  No man spoke, but each knew what was
+in the other's mind.
+
+Of course, there was no doubt about the verdict; Waterman had been
+guilty of the worst possible crime, and but for the quick wit and
+prompt action of the Lancashire lad he would doubtless have continued
+to help the enemy.  The paper which Waterman had thrown towards the
+German lines contained the details of the next plan of attack; details
+which, known to the Germans, would have nullified the British action,
+and possibly have led to disaster.
+
+"That young Pollard is a plucky young beggar," remarked the President
+presently, "he is a lad of brains, too, and has behaved splendidly.  Of
+course what he has done must not be lost sight of."
+
+There was a general assent to this.
+
+He ought to be recommended for his D.C.M. was the general verdict.
+
+Early next morning Waterman was led out to a wall not far from the room
+where he had been judged.  He walked steadily and proudly towards the
+place of his execution, and then stood erect like a soldier at
+attention.  He faced his dread ordeal with a look of pride on his face.
+
+"Fire!"
+
+Several shots rang out, and he fell heavily to the ground.
+
+"Yon' chap'll never do any more spying," said one soldier to another a
+little later.
+
+"If I had my way," said the other, "he should not have had such a death
+as that.  When I think of the dirty meanness of these German swine;
+when I think of spies like that; when I think of poisonous gas, and of
+all their treachery, I feel as though nothing's too bad for them
+Germans.  At first, when the war commenced I had nowt but kindly
+feelings towards the soldiers, as soldiers; but now----"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+It was late in November when the events just recorded took place, and a
+few days later the English newspapers contained special paragraphs
+headed "Heroism of a Lancashire Lad."  Few details were given about
+Waterman, but Tom's bravery was fully commented on.
+
+More than one journalist who had obtained details of what Tom had done
+made special reference to him and spoke of him in glowing terms.  Mrs.
+Pollard received many applications for Tom's photograph, and presently
+when she learnt that it appeared in newspapers all over the country,
+she gave expression to remarks more forcible than elegant.
+
+"Our Tom an 'ero, eh?" she laughed.  "Weel, I never knowed it afore.  I
+always looked upon him as a bit of a coward, but it's this 'ere
+sodgering as has done it, I suppose.  'Appen there's summat in th'
+uniform.  When a lad's got sodger's clothes on, I reckon as aa' it
+makes him feel cocky.  But it's a pity he's still such a fool as to
+keep on wi' Polly Powell.  I wrote him a letter a while sin' telling
+him as aa' Polly wur walking out wi' other lads, but she still boasts
+as aa' Tom's faithful to her, and that she's got him under her thumb."
+
+"'Appen he will give her the sack now," said a neighbour.
+
+"Nay, our Tom wur always a fool.  He might have had Alice Lister if he
+hadn't been such a ninny, but she's engaged to Harry Briarfield now.  I
+wrote and told him about it only last week.  I suppose George Lister is
+fairly suited about it."
+
+"I hear that Tom's going to have the V.C. or D.C.M. or summat o' that
+sort," remarked a neighbour; "dost 'a know what that means?"
+
+"Nay, I know nowt about it, but I hope as he will get a bit o' brass
+wi' it, onyhow."
+
+"Will he come home, dost 'a' think?"
+
+"Nay, I don't know.  Why should he leave his job for a thing like that?
+I expect if he wur to come home they'd stop his pay, and I hope Tom is
+noan such a fool as to lose his pay, but there, there's no tellin'."
+
+In spite of all this, however, Mrs. Pollard was in no slight degree
+elated.  She knew that Tom was the talk of Brunford, and that special
+articles were devoted to him in the Brunford newspapers.
+
+"He will be sure to come home," said Ezekiel Pollard to her one night
+after supper; "when a lad's done a job like that, he's sure to have a
+bit of a holiday."
+
+"Maybe, and I suppose tha'll be showing him around as though he wur a
+prize turkey.  Ay, but I am glad about this drinking order."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because else all th' lads in the town 'ud be wanting to treat our Tom;
+they 'd be proud to be seen wi' him, and they'd make him drunk afore he
+know'd where he wur.  Our Tom never could sup much beer wi'out it goin'
+to his head."
+
+"Our Tom has give up that sort o' thing," replied Ezekiel.
+
+"How dost tha' know?"
+
+"I do know, and that's enough," replied Ezekiel, thinking of Tom's last
+letter, which, by the way, he had never shown to his wife.
+
+I am not going to try to describe Tom's feelings when he was told that
+he had been recommended for the D.C.M.
+
+"Thank you, sir, but I've done nowt to deserve it," cried the lad,
+lapsing for the moment into the Lancashire dialect.
+
+Colonel Blount laughed.  Ever since Waterman's death he had felt as
+though a burden had been lifted from him.  He felt sure now that his
+plans would not be frustrated.
+
+"We are the best judges of that, my lad," he said.  "You can tell your
+father and mother that, as a Lancashire man, I'm proud of you."
+
+
+It was on a Saturday in December when Tom arrived in Brunford on leave
+of absence.  He had spent Friday in London, and caught the ten o'clock
+train at King's Cross Station.  There was no prouder lad in England
+that day, although, truth to tell, he was not quite happy.  Naturally
+he had read what had been written about him in the newspapers, and
+reflected upon what the people in Brunford would be saying about him.
+He imagined meeting people whom he knew, in the Brunford streets, and
+the greeting they would give him.  He knew it would be a great
+home-coming, and yet he had a heavy heart.
+
+It was several months now since he had left Brunford, and he could not
+help reflecting on the change that had taken place in him.  He still
+wore a private's uniform, and carried the mud of the trenches on his
+clothes.  But the Tom Pollard who had enlisted at the Mechanics'
+Institute was not the same lad who now made his way to his Lancashire
+home.  Since then he had been through strange scenes, and had realised
+wonderful experiences.  New facts and new forces had come into his
+life; day by day he had been face to face with death, and this had led
+him to touch the very core of life.  Thoughts which were unknown to him
+a year before now possessed his being; powers of which he had never
+dreamed had been called into life.
+
+Tom could not put these things into words, he didn't even clearly
+realise them, but he knew that he was different.  The very thought that
+he had looked into the face of death made him realise the wondrousness
+of life.  Tom did not feel that he had been a hero, and yet he knew
+that the life he had been living, and the work he had been doing,
+especially during the last few months, had called qualities, which lay
+latent in his being, into life and action.  The war had not made him a
+different man, it had only aroused dormant qualities within him.  The
+fires through which he had passed had cleansed him, and he knew that
+life would never be the same again.  But more than all that, he, like
+thousands of others, had learnt the great secret of life, and realised
+that it was only by opening his life to the Eternal Life that the
+highest manhood could be known.
+
+And yet he was strangely dissatisfied.  He had read his mother's letter
+telling him that Alice Lister was engaged to Harry Briarfield, and his
+heart was very sore at the thought of it.  Never before had he realised
+the meaning of the choice he had made, when more than a year before he
+had left Alice to walk out with Polly Powell.  "And yet I loved Alice
+all the time," he reflected, as the train rushed northward.  "I never
+knew how I did love her till now.  I must have been mad and worse than
+mad!"
+
+For a long time he had ceased to care for Polly Powell; when he was in
+Surrey his mother's letter had opened his eyes to the kind of girl she
+really was.  He saw her, coarse, loud-talking, and vulgar; a girl who
+had appealed only to what was coarse in his own nature.  And he had
+yielded to her blandishments; he had left a pure, refined girl for her,
+and he had lost Alice for ever.
+
+That was the bitterness in Tom's cup of joy.  He was proud of what he
+had done--what fellow situated as he was would not be?  His heart
+thrilled with exultation as he remembered what the Colonel had said and
+written about him.  He remembered with joy, too, what his comrades had
+said when he left for home, and the cheers they gave him.
+
+Oh, if he hadn't been such a fool!
+
+He thought of what his home-coming might have been if he had remained
+true to Alice; he fancied the look in her eyes as she greeted him; of
+the feelings which would fill his heart as he sat by her side in the
+church which she attended.  But that was impossible now; he had made
+his choice, and she had made hers.  Thus his home-coming would be
+robbed of half its joy.  If he saw Alice at all she would be in the
+company of Harry Briarfield, and Briarfield, he knew, had always looked
+down upon him.  "But there," he said to himself, "I'll bear it like a
+man.  I have done my bit, and that's something, anyhow."
+
+He had sent a telegram to his mother the day before, telling her of the
+time he expected to arrive in Brunford, and presently when the train
+drew into the station he looked out of the window eagerly expectant,
+and with fast-beating heart.
+
+Yes, there his father and mother were, waiting for him.  But what was
+the meaning of the crowd?
+
+No sooner did he set foot on the platform than a great cheer arose.
+
+"There he is!  There's Tom Pollard!"
+
+"Gi't tongue, lads!  Gi't tongue!  Hip! hip! hip! hoorah!"
+
+Tom, heedless of the cheering and shouting, went straight to his
+mother.  For a second this lady looked at him, and seemed to be on the
+point of greeting him with a caustic remark; then her mother's heart
+melted.
+
+"Ay, Tom, I'm fair glad to see thee," she sobbed.
+
+"And I am glad to see you, mother.  Ay, father, it is good to see you,
+it is."
+
+"And I am fair proud on you, Tom," and Ezekiel Pollard's voice was
+hoarse as he shook his son's hand.
+
+"But, Tom," cried Mrs. Pollard, wiping her eyes, "thy clothes be dirty;
+I shall have a rare job to get th' muck out of 'em."
+
+This was followed by a general laugh by those who had come to greet Tom
+and bid him welcome.
+
+"Ay, and thou look'st as though thou hasn't weshed for a week.  I
+thought as aa' sodjers kept theirsens clean."
+
+"I'll wash right enough when I get home, mother," laughed Tom.
+
+"Holloa, Tom.  I am glad to see you," and Polly Powell made her way
+through the crowd.
+
+"Thank you," replied Tom quietly; "have you brought one of your young
+men with you, Polly?"
+
+"I have not got any young men," was Polly's reply.  Whereupon there was
+a general laugh of incredulity.
+
+Polly, heedless of the crowd, and although angered at the remarks that
+were made, still held her ground.
+
+"You are coming down to the Thorn and Thistle, aren't you, Tom?" she
+said; "mother and father are expecting you."
+
+"No, thank you, Polly," said Tom.  "I am going home with my mother and
+father.  Besides, I don't want to play gooseberry."
+
+At this there was general cheering.  It was evident that Polly Powell
+was ready to give up her latest lover in order that the glory of Tom's
+lustre might shine upon her; but her power over him had gone.
+
+"Nay, thou'lt come down to the Rose and Crown wi' us, won't 'a'?" cried
+another.
+
+"No, I am not going to the Rose and Crown," replied Tom.
+
+"Nay, you doan't mean to say you've turned teetotaler?"
+
+"Ay, that I have," replied the lad, "you see I'm following the example
+of the King."  Whereupon Polly went away abashed.
+
+All the way Tom's progress down Liverpool Road was a great procession
+of people.  On every hand he was greeted and cheered.  Other soldiers
+who had gone out from Brunford had returned; some had been wounded, and
+many had done brave deeds, but Tom's action had laid hold of the
+imagination of the people.  To discover a German spy in Waterman, whom
+many in the town knew; to bring him to justice; to risk his life in
+order to render his country a service; to face almost certain death
+that he might obtain the plans which had been intended to help the
+enemy, made him a hero.
+
+Perhaps there are few parts of the world where the people are more
+hearty and more generous than the dwellers in those busy manufacturing
+towns in the North, and Tom was their own townsboy.  He had been reared
+amongst them, had gone out from them, and so they gave him a great
+welcome.
+
+No words can tell the joy which Mrs. Pollard felt when she found that
+Tom was going straight home with her.  As she said, she had got the
+best dinner in Brunford for him, but she was afraid that Tom would
+yield to all the inducements which would be held out to him.
+
+"Never mind," she said to the neighbour whom she had asked to get
+everything in readiness by the time she returned, "we'll have
+everything as though we were sure he wur coming 'ome.  Nobody shall say
+as 'ow I didn't prepare a good dinner for my boy when he returned from
+the War."
+
+Thus when Tom had refused the invitation to go to the Rose and Crown,
+and declared his intention of going straight home, her joy knew no
+bounds.
+
+"Dost 'a' really mean, Tom, as thou'rt coming straight home with thee
+feyther and me?"
+
+"Ay, I do," replied Tom, "there's no place but home for me to-day."
+
+"Ay, then I mun kiss thee agean," she sobbed, throwing her arms around
+his neck.
+
+Throughout the whole of the afternoon and evening Ezekiel Pollard's
+house was besieged with visitors.  Reporters came from the newspapers
+in order to hear any details which had been missed concerning Tom's
+exploits.  Relations whom Tom had not seen for years came to bid him
+welcome, while the neighbours thronged the doors.
+
+"Ay, it's good to be home again," said Tom, standing on the doorstep
+and watching the last visitor depart that night, "I never thought that
+it would be like this."
+
+"Art 'a' tired, lad?" asked his father.
+
+"Just a bit," said Tom.  "I couldn't sleep last night, I was thinking
+all the time about coming home, and now----"
+
+"Ay, lad, I'm proud of thee," said his father for the hundredth time.
+
+"Thou art a fool, lad," said his mother, "but thou'rt noan such a fool
+as I feared.  Thou'st done vary weel too, vary weel."
+
+"Father," said Tom when they had entered the house and closed the door,
+"do you ever pray now?"
+
+"I hadna prayed for years," said Ezekiel Pollard, "till thou went to
+the Front, but every night sin' I have asked God to take care o' thee.
+I have asked nowt for myself," he added almost proudly.  "I didn't
+deserve it; but I've asked God to take care o' thee."
+
+"So have I," said his mother.  "I never towd anybody about it; I wur a
+bit ashamed, I reckon, but I have prayed twenty times a day."
+
+"Then," said Tom, "let us kneel down and thank God for His goodness."
+
+And the three knelt down together.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+It was nearly midday when Tom awoke.  The church bells had ceased
+ringing for nearly an hour, indeed at nearly all the churches the
+congregations were being dismissed.  The Town Hall clock chimed a
+quarter to twelve, but all else seemed strangely silent.  Tom rose in
+his bed, and rubbed his eyes.
+
+"Where am I?" he gasped; "this is--this is--ay, where am I?  Why, I'm
+home!  I'm home!"
+
+Immediately he jumped out of bed, and pulling up the blinds looked out
+upon the smoky town.
+
+"Dear old Brunford, dear old Brunford," he said; "ay, this is a change!"
+
+"Art 'a' got up, Tom?"
+
+"Ay, mother."
+
+"Make haste, then, I'll have dinner ready for thee by the time thou'rt
+ready."
+
+"Ay, it's good to be home," said Tom, and then he sighed.  "I wonder
+now, I wonder----" and then he sighed again.
+
+"I mean to go to chapel to-day," he said to his mother when he
+presently appeared.
+
+"Chapel!" said his mother, "I thought thou'd given up going to chapel."
+
+"I am going to-day, anyhow," said Tom.  "It would be grand if you and
+father would come with me to-night."
+
+"Then us will," said Ezekiel quietly.
+
+That night Tom, together with his father and mother, found their way to
+the church which he had attended years before.  Many eyes were upon him
+as he was shown into the pew.  All the town had heard of Tom Pollard's
+return, but few expected to see him at church that night.  For some
+time Tom was very self-conscious, and it is to be feared that he
+thought little of the service; more than once, too, he caught himself
+gazing furtively around the building, but he did not see the face he
+longed yet feared to see.  Since his return he had asked no questions
+about Alice Lister, and neither his mother nor his father had
+volunteered any information about her.
+
+"Well," said Tom, "I must drive her out of my mind.  What a fool I was!"
+
+How beautiful it was to be singing the old hymns again!  The Sunday
+before he had been in Ypres, and instead of church bells he had heard
+the boom of guns; instead of the music of hymns, the shrieking of
+shells; instead of the scenes of home, and the loved ones, were the
+blackened ruins of an ancient town which had been ruthlessly destroyed.
+Oh, how Tom wished the War were over!  How he dreaded the idea of going
+back again!  Yet he knew he must go, knew that he and thousands of
+others must fight on, until those who had made war should be powerless
+to make it again.
+
+Presently the service was over, and Tom made his way towards the
+vestibule of the church.  Scores of hands were held out to him,
+hundreds of greetings were offered to him.  Many congratulated him on
+his bravery, and on his distinction.
+
+Then suddenly Tom's heart ceased to beat, for standing before him was
+Alice Lister.
+
+Tom felt his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth.  He could not
+speak, while Alice seemed almost as much wrought upon as he.
+
+He looked around as if in expectation of seeing Harry Briarfield, but
+Harry was nowhere present.  What did it mean?
+
+Afterwards Tom wondered at his temerity; wondered that he should dare
+to speak to her at all.  But some power which was stronger than himself
+compelled him to do so.  He held out his hand to her.
+
+"How are you, Alice?" he said.
+
+Alice gave him her hand, but did not reply, save that her fingers
+trembled in his.
+
+A thousand hopes, fancies, and fears flashed through his mind and
+heart; then Alice shyly lifted her eyes to his.
+
+"May I walk home with you, Alice?" he stammered.
+
+"Yes, if you will, Tom," and the two walked away, side by side.
+
+They walked up Liverpool Road together for some time without speaking a
+word.  On every side the crowd passed them, but Tom did not heed, his
+heart was too full for words, his mind too occupied with wild,
+turbulent fancies.  Presently they passed into a quiet lane where they
+were apparently alone.
+
+"Alice," said Tom at length, "I'm fair ashamed of myself, I--I'm just
+a----"
+
+"No," and Alice interrupted him, "you are a hero, Tom, you have done
+wonderful things."
+
+"Ah, but that is nothing," was Tom's reply, "I could not help doing
+that, no decent lad could.  But the other now--ay, Alice, I am ashamed
+of myself.  I was such a fool too!"
+
+Alice did not speak; perhaps she was delighted at Tom's
+self-condemnation, or perhaps, which was more likely, she was eagerly
+waiting for him to say more.
+
+"Is it true what mother told me?" he asked, after what seemed a long
+silence.
+
+"What did she tell you?"
+
+"That you are engaged to Harry Briarfield."
+
+"No!" replied the girl eagerly, "I never was!"
+
+"Then is it that young parson?"
+
+"No, Tom; who could have told you such lies?"
+
+Lancashire people are very undemonstrative in their love-making, as in
+most of their things, and although Tom was nearly swept off his feet
+with joy at what Alice had said, he still walked on by her side
+quietly, and for some seconds did not speak again.
+
+"I never really cared about Polly Powell," he said presently, "even at
+the time I--I----"
+
+"I knew, Tom," and the girl almost sobbed as she spoke, "I knew all the
+time you could never really care for her, and--and that you would come
+back to me.  That was why----"
+
+"Why what?" asked Tom.
+
+"Why there was never anybody else but you, Tom."
+
+"Do you mean it, Alice? do you really mean it?" and Tom's voice was
+hoarse and tremulous.  "Can you forgive me?  I chucked Polly Powell
+long ago, and I let her know it yesterday when I came home.  She met me
+at the station with the others, and I never knew what a fool I had been
+till I saw her just as she was.  Ay, I must have been mad!"
+
+"I heard all about it," replied the girl, "but it didn't need that to
+tell me that you would come back to me, Tom."
+
+"Ay," said Tom, "but I feel so ashamed.  I feel as though I have
+nothing to offer you.  I am only a poor Tommy with a bob a day, but
+will you wait for me, Alice, till the war is over?--and then if God
+spares my life I will work for you night and day, and I will give you
+as good a home as there is in Brunford."
+
+"I can't help waiting for you," sobbed Alice.
+
+"Can't help!  Why?" asked Tom.
+
+"Because--because---- oh, you know."
+
+
+It was not until an hour later that Tom and Alice appeared at George
+Lister's house.  During that time Tom had told Alice the story of his
+life since he had parted from her.  Told her of the influences which
+had been at work, how he had been led to pray, and how his heart had
+all the time been longing for her.  In spite of Alice's repeated
+questions he had said very little about his hour of peril, when he had
+risked his life to serve his country; that seemed of little importance
+to him.  His one thought was to make Alice know that he was ashamed of
+himself for leaving her, and that he loved her all the time.
+
+"Ay," said George Lister to his wife when Tom had left the house, "our
+Alice is a fool."
+
+"'Appen she is," replied Mrs. Lister, "but yon's a grand lad, a fair
+grand lad!"
+
+"He may be a grand lad," retorted her husband, "and I don't deny that
+he has behaved vary weel, but how can he keep a wife?  What sort of a
+home can he give our Alice?"
+
+"A lad that can do what he has done," replied Mrs. Lister, "will make
+his way anywhere.  If God spares his life, he will come back when the
+war's over, and you will not have any reason to be ashamed of him.  He
+is not earning any brass now, and that's right, for he's serving his
+King and Country, and doing his duty like a man; but wait till we have
+licked the Germans, then Tom will let you know."
+
+"I don't deny that he's a sharp, capable lad," said George, "and it's
+easy to see that our Alice is fair gone on him.  That's why she had
+nowt to do wi' the young parson, and wi' Harry Briarfield.  Well, I
+want Alice to be happy, and marriage without love is a poor thing,
+however much brass you may have.  'Appen I can put Tom in the way of
+getting on when the war's over.  Ay, he's a grand lad, as you say, and
+it was real plucky the way he nabbed that German spy and got the
+papers.  No wonder the King thinks such a lot of him."
+
+Upon this George Lister filled his pipe slowly, and there was a look of
+pride in his eyes.
+
+As for Alice, she sobbed for very joy when she went to her room that
+night.  "Oh, thank God, thank God," cried her heart, "and he is coming
+early in the morning too!"
+
+
+"Well, mother," said Tom when he reached home, "I have made it up with
+Alice Lister."
+
+"Tha' never ses!" and Mrs. Pollard's voice was very caressing.  "That's
+one for Polly Powell, anyhow.  She wur never thy sort, Tom--a lass wi'
+a mother like that can never be ony good."
+
+"Ay, and she's the finest lass i' Brunford, is Alice Lister," said
+Ezekiel contentedly; "and is she willing to wait for thee, Tom?"
+
+Tom laughed joyfully.
+
+"Maybe they will make an officer of thee," said Mrs. Pollard.
+
+"No," said Tom, "I shall never be an officer, I don't belong to that
+class; perhaps I will be a sergeant, or something like that, but that's
+as may be; anyhow, I'll do my bit."
+
+When Tom's leave was up, George Lister said he had business in London,
+so Alice accompanied him.  Truth to tell, the business which George had
+was only a secondary matter; he saw that Alice wanted to accompany her
+lover as far as she could, and the business was a pretext.  I also made
+my way to Waterloo Station to see Tom off; that was only a few days
+ago, and what I saw and heard is fresh in my memory.  But however long
+I may live, I shall never forget the look in Tom's eyes as he stood on
+the platform with Alice by his side.  A great light was burning there,
+the light of love, and duty, and faith, and chastened joy.
+
+"Don't fear, Alice," said the lad, "I will come back again all right."
+
+"You--you are sure you will take care of yourself, Tom," and Alice's
+voice was husky, although she was evidently making a great effort to be
+brave.
+
+"Ay, that I will," said Tom.
+
+Crowds of soldiers thronged the platform, while hundreds of their
+friends who came to see them off made it difficult to move; many of the
+Tommies were shouting and cheering, while others found their way into
+the carriages as if anxious to be quiet.
+
+"They seem splendid fellows," said Alice, "but some of them are very
+rough, aren't they?"
+
+"Just a bit rough," replied Tom, "but they are all right.  Some of
+those very chaps who look rough and common are just heroes, you know;
+they would face any kind of danger to do a pal a good turn.  Perhaps
+you may not think it to look at them, but their hearts are true as
+gold.  This war has made a wonderful difference in them."
+
+Alice pressed his arm convulsively.
+
+"You know that book you lent me the other day," went on Tom, "that book
+of Kipling's where there is a story about a ship that found herself.
+It means a lot, does that story.  That's what this war has done for a
+lot of us chaps, it's helped us to find ourselves."
+
+The guard blew his whistle, and there was a slamming of doors.
+
+"Good-bye, Alice," and Tom held her close to his heart.  "The war will
+be over soon, and then, please God, I will come back again."
+
+"Yes, yes, Tom, and--and you know I will be always thinking of you, and
+praying for you."
+
+"Ay, lass, I do, that's why I'm not a bit afraid.  It's not good-bye,
+Alice, it's only au revoir as the French say.  You will be brave, won't
+you?"
+
+"Yes, Tom," she spoke bravely, although her voice was husky; "and--and,
+Tom"--this with a sob--"I shall be loving you--loving you all the time."
+
+Slowly the train left the station.  At the carriage windows hundreds of
+men stood waving their hands, and shouting.  They were going back to
+the grim, cold trenches, going to danger, and possible death; but they
+were going with brave hearts and the light of resolution in their eyes.
+Amongst them was Tom.  He, too, was waving his hand, although his lips
+were tremulous.
+
+"God help me to do my bit, and then take me back to her," he prayed.
+
+Will he come back again, or will he be one of those who give their
+lives for the defence of honour and home?  This I know: he with a great
+host of others will fight on, and hold on until victory is won, the
+victory which means peace.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tommy, by Joseph Hocking
+
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