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diff --git a/33278-8.txt b/33278-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1f41fc --- /dev/null +++ b/33278-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5185 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Black Watch, by Scout Joe Cassells + +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: The Black Watch + A Record in Action + +Author: Scout Joe Cassells + +Release Date: July 28, 2010 [EBook #33278] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK WATCH *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +THE BLACK WATCH + + + + +[Illustration: SCOUT JOE CASSELLS OF THE BLACK WATCH] + + + + + THE BLACK WATCH + + A RECORD IN ACTION + + BY SCOUT JOE CASSELLS + + _One of the few survivors of that + "contemptible little army"_ + + + _Frontispiece_ + + + GARDEN CITY NEW YORK + DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + 1918 + + + + _Copyright, 1918, by_ + DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + + _All rights reserved, including that of + translation into foreign languages, + including the Scandinavian_ + + + + +FOREWORD + + +From Mons to the Marne lies the bloodiest trail of sacrifice in history. +In all the records of war, there stands forth no more magnificent and no +more melancholy achievement than that of the British regular army, which +bled its heroic way in ever-diminishing numbers from the challenge to the +check of the initial German sweep upon Paris. It could not hope for +decisive victory; it could only clog the wheels of the Juggernaut with +lives and lives and lives, sold bravely and dearly. Before a countless +superiority of numbers and an incalculable advantage in enemy +preparedness, it could only stand, and fall--and stand again, and +fall--until the end; when the cause of the Allies was saved for the hour, +and of French's hundred thousand there remained barely a little leaven of +trained men for the British forces then assembling to learn the trade of +warfare. + +The ablest pens writing of the Great War have paid tribute to this +splendid deed which changed the course of its beginning. French's retreat +from Mons has been a topic to inspire the highest eloquence of the +patriotic historian and the most profound admiration of the militarist. +Everything, from the point of the onlooker, has been said of it. And +everything that has been said retires into the perspective of the +academic, when one reads, in this volume, the words of a trained British +soldier who experienced and survived it. For stark and simple strength, +for realism of detail, for a complete picturization of the desperate and +heroic resistance of the sacrificial army, this soldier's tale is, and +will remain, unequalled and unique. This prefatory emphasis is not vain or +extravagant. It need not fear the fact that there is but the turning of a +page between promise and performance. Here is a writing which is _of_ the +war, and therefore differs from all writings which can only be _about_ the +war. It conveys to the reader an almost paralyzing sense of wonder at the +steadfastness of Britain's military traditions, put to an unexampled +test. It shows how marvellously well a soldier may learn his business in +advance--when his business is to die. Concerning one of the most +noteworthy accomplishments of the arms of Britain, there will survive in +print no more compelling and convincing narrative than this, the utterance +of one whose trade was fighting and not writing. + + + + +THE BLACK WATCH + + + + +THE BLACK WATCH + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + + +For more than two years now, I have been trying to forget those first +months of the war. The months when the Black Watch and other regiments of +the immortal "contemptible little army" marched into the unknown against +the fiercest, most efficient military power the world, up to that time, +had known; the months when hidden enemies struck swiftly mystifying blows +with strange weapons, the more terrible because we did not understand them +and had never imagined their power and numbers. + +For more than two years I have habitually sought to keep my mind upon +other subjects, yet I can recall those days now in the minutest detail. I +can hear the sudden thrum of the masked machine guns like giant partridges +drumming; can hear the singing roar of the Prussian airplanes to which, in +those days, because of the scarcity of British planes, there could be +practically no answer; and I can live again the frightful nights when we +made our stand upon the Marne, and, sneaking into German outpost trenches, +slew the guards with jack-knives, thrusting gags into their mouths and +cutting their throats to prevent outcry. + +Those were the days of picturesque and shifty fighting. There was +movement, the rush of cannon from the rear, the charges of cavalry, the +perils of scouting and patrolling. It was little like the slow trench +warfare which followed. + +The Black Watch--the regiment to which I belong--was one of the first to +cross the Channel. War was declared August 4th, which was Tuesday. The +first-class reservists, of which I was one, received their mobilization +orders the next day. + +We assembled at Queens Barracks, Perth, the historic headquarters of what +we proudly maintain is the world's most famous fighting organization. +Twice before, since 1742, the Black Watch had outfitted in Perth to fight +in Flanders. Almost constantly since that date, battalions of the +regiment have been fighting for Britain in some far-off quarter of the +globe. For the third adventure in Flanders, which was to see the existing +personnel of the regiment practically wiped out in an imperatively +necessary campaign of blood sacrifice, our preparations were brisk and +businesslike. Within three hours of my arrival at the depot at Perth, I +was one of a thousand men, uniformed, armed, and fully equipped, who +entrained for Aldershot to join our first battalion stationed there. + +On the thirteenth of August, after a week's stiff training, we boarded the +steamship _Italian Prince_ and the next day disembarked at Havre. + +What awaited us there was much like the reception later given to the first +American troops to land in France. What followed was quite different. The +American troops, and millions of their friends and relatives, are all +wondering what awaits them--what war really will be like--what they will +have to do and the conditions under which they will do it. + +It is an axiom of war that the first troops almost invariably suffer the +greatest losses. The first American units to go into the trenches have +suffered a low average of casualties. In one respect they are far better +off than were the first British and French troops to meet the Germans. +They know what they are going up against. Modern warfare is a determined +quantity. They know the methods of the men they will fight against and +they have allies able to instruct them in the art of fighting as it is +practised to-day. + +We had nothing like that. It was as though we were groping in the dark +while an unseen foe was striking at us. For days we tramped through France +and Belgium hearing the roar of the German guns, feeling the sting of the +shrapnel, but not seeing our foes. Then came the shifty, open fighting, +now almost forgotten, which will not be resumed until the Germans are on +the run. When it comes it will be a welcome relief to the men who have +been battling, like rats, in trenches not fit for human beings to inhabit. + +Well, to get back to what happened to us, the first "contemptible little +army," in France and Flanders. + +The 19th of August found us billeted in a town called Boué. We had to +remain here a few days because the roads were blocked with transports +going toward the front. The entire regiment was allowed to go swimming in +a near-by canal and, as my chum and I were dressing, an old Frenchman gave +us each a half-franc piece, saying that it would give us good luck and +bring us through alive. It was the first money he had made as a boy and he +had kept it ever since. The last I heard of my chum was that he had been +discharged from active service because of wounds, and so it would appear +his half-franc piece really did bring him through, just as mine did me. + +We left Boué on the twenty-first at three o'clock in the morning, and we +marched until three o'clock the next morning. All the time we could hear +the muffled booming of the German heavy artillery. It sounded just like +the noise they make on the stage when a battle is supposed to be in +progress in the distance. It excited the men and buoyed them up +wonderfully, but twenty-four hours is a long time to march without sleep, +and whenever we halted the men lay down in the mud of the road and lost +consciousness--but not for long. Within a few minutes after every halt, +the officers would come among us and rouse us, saying that we were badly +needed up where the guns were growling. It was hard, tiring work, but it +wasn't half so bad as what we got later, when we were retreating. + +We didn't know it, but we were on our way to Mons to hold the left flank. + +It was during a short halt in Grande Range that we had our first sight of +a German airplane. We were billeted in the houses and stables of the +village, and every one came running out to look at the plane when the +thrumming of the engine was heard. When it was right over our heads it let +fly a rack full of steel darts and they came clattering down into the +village streets. One stuck into the pavement in front of our quarters. It +was so deeply imbedded that not a man in the company could pull it out. [I +have seen one of these missiles go right through a house from roof to +cellar. They have been known to go through a horse and then bury +themselves in the ground.] + +These steel darts were from eight inches to a foot long, cut so that they +would fall point downward. Dozens of them were contained in a single +rack, which the aviator released when he was over his target; the speed of +the machine caused them to scatter. They would go through anything they +hit, but they were found to be too inaccurate and not so economical as +explosives. + +After the plane had passed we were rushed to the outskirts of the village, +where we began to entrench. By morning, we had nearly finished the shallow +trenches which, in that day, were regarded as sufficient protection for +infantry in the field. At daybreak our High Command had information that +our position along the highway would prove untenable. Wearily enough, we +marched to a range of wooded hills where we again entrenched. German heavy +shells found us there, so we were compelled to retire to another village, +near which we entrenched once more, on still higher ground. The German air +scouts were watching us, however, and in this new position a heavier fire +from long-range artillery found us. + +All of this was on August 25th, two days after our forced march of +twenty-four hours. The weather was extremely hot and we were well-nigh +exhausted by the work of digging three sets of trenches. We lay and "took" +the German fire. We had already had some casualties, the wooden steeple of +the church in the village on our right was in flames, and several houses +had been destroyed by the German shelling--and we hadn't _yet_ seen a +German, except the airplane scouts. But they were not long coming into +view. + +As we lay in our shallow trenches, a big shell every now and then falling +amongst us, another regiment, retreating under heavy fire, broke into view +from the woods, a mile or more in front of our line. We soon made them +out--the Scots Guards, hotly pursued by a superior force of Uhlans, and, +as the German commander fondly believed, near capture. We, in our +trenches, were in a fever to get our fire on the Germans but they were so +close upon the Guards that we dared not fire a shot. The Guards, putting +up a stiff fight directly in front of our position, checked the Uhlans +sufficiently to enable their own organization to continue its retreat, +swinging over in the direction of our left flank. This gave us our chance +and we poured a hot rifle and machine-gun fire into the pursuing force. + +We were in action against the Boches, at last! and, furthermore, we had +the satisfaction of seeing that our fire was effective. The Uhlans, whose +attention now was forcibly distracted from the hard-pressed Guards to us, +immediately advanced in our direction, dismounting at 1,200 yards distance +and returning our fire. Leaving their horses behind a ridge, they crept up +on us to within 500 yards. + +At this point, a water cart belonging to the Guards, which had been hidden +in a thicket, popped out, and was being driven in the direction of their +regiment. A party of about thirty Uhlans galloped after it. We turned some +of our fire on them. I think they were all toppled over, horses and men +alike. Then another party of about five thousand Uhlans made toward us at +a gallop and charged, but there were few of them that got to within one +hundred yards of our single shallow trench. By this time the Scots Guards +had got into position and opened fire on the Boche cavalry. + +Three times the Germans tried to secure the water cart, thinking no doubt +it was an ammunition wagon. When the cart was about one hundred and fifty +yards from our trench the horses were shot down by the Uhlans. One of the +men on it was wounded through the arm, and the other coolly filled his +water bottle and bathed his comrade's wound, regardless of the Huns who +were still peppering away. We shouted to the two boys to hurry and come +into safety. The wounded one's answer was: + +"Safety be damned! Some of you Jocks come out here and give us a pull with +the water cart." + +Men of our _H_ company, nearest to the cart, asked permission to go to the +rescue. Their officers acquiesced and sixteen of them rushed out, cut the +cart loose from the dead horses, and dragged it to safety behind the ridge +which we were holding. Three of the sixteen were hit. There were especial +reasons for this bit of valour. Our own water bottles were empty, our +water cart drained dry, and we were choking with thirst. + +It was now the time of the Scots Guards to help us. They kept a steady +fire on the Uhlans while we retired behind the ridge to fall in on the +main road to Hautmont and retreat to the next spot where we could make a +temporary stand. While we were falling back to the main road, a man from +each section filled three water bottles from the rescued cart. We didn't +know when we would get water again, nor how far our tired feet must carry +us. In this exhausted state we began the furious fatal struggle against an +overwhelming and irresistible enemy which is known in history as the +Retreat from Mons. + +Of that fearful time, I have lost track of dates. I do not want to +remember them. All I recollect is that, under a blazing August sun--our +mouths caked, our tongues parched--day after day we dragged ourselves +along, always fighting rear-guard actions, our feet bleeding, our backs +breaking, our hearts sore. Our unmounted officers limped amongst us, blood +oozing through their spats. With a semblance of cheeriness they told us +that we must retreat because the Russians were on their way to Berlin and +we must keep the Germans moving in the opposite direction. When we got a +few minutes' respite there would be an issue of "gunfire"--the +traditional British army term for tea served out to men in action. It was +of a nondescript flavour, commingling the negative qualities of +"bully-beef stew" and the very positive taste of kerosene oil, the cooks' +hurricane lamps being stored in the camp-kettles during each of our +retirements. Invariably--and I mean in twenty instances--the shells would +begin to drop amongst us before we could finish our portions, eating, +though we did, with ravenous haste; and when it was not artillery fire +that stopped our feeding it would be a charge of Uhlans, compelling us to +drop half-emptied mess-tins and seize rifles. + +We had no artillery to speak of, and very few airplanes. If we had had +more of the latter, there might have been another story. The Germans +seemed to know every move we made, but we were blind. We dropped into a +field and killed a bullock, skinned it and were cooking it. There came the +roar of a powerful engine; a German plane circled over us and went sailing +back, signalling our position. A few minutes later shrapnel fell among us +and we went on, some of the men in ambulances. Those that were killed we +hurriedly buried, but there was not time even to put improvised wooden +crosses at their heads. + +One of our slightly wounded, in the broad accents of lowland Scotch, +cursed the Germans--not for wounding him, but for knocking over his +canteen of tea. A hail of flying shrapnel struck down a cook; the men of +his section cursed in chorus for the misfortune which meant that hunger +would be added to their other miseries. + +Not once alone did we spring up from eating to fight the Uhlans with rifle +fire and bayonet. It happened a dozen times. Whenever the Uhlans came, we +fought them off, but always we had to retreat in the end, for the German +reserves were numberless while ours scarcely existed. + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + + +Most of the time while we were dragging our exhausted, diminishing numbers +ahead of the German wave of shot and steel, I was on scout duty. For a +while, I was "connecting file" between the Black Watch and the Munster +Fusiliers who were in rear of us and _almost constantly_ in touch with the +enemy. I had more than one narrow escape from capture or death. + +On one occasion the regiment had been deployed to beat off a flank attack. +When we resumed the march I was sent back to get in touch with the +Fusiliers. My orders were to go to the rear until I got in touch with +them. I was proceeding cautiously along the road when suddenly around a +curve something appeared before me. My rifle was at my shoulder ready to +fire. Then I recognized what had been a uniform of the Fusiliers. + +Have you ever read Kipling's "Man Who Came Back"? If you have, you will +have a better idea than I can give you of what this human being looked +like. His face was covered with blood. One arm hung limply. Just as he +made toward me, he fell exhausted by the roadside, like a dog that is +spent. Literally, his tongue hung from his mouth. His shoes were cut up +and his clothes dangled in ribbons beneath which red gashes showed in his +flesh where he had torn it in the barbed-wire fences he had encountered, +crossing fields. + +I asked him what had happened. His lips moved and his breath came in more +difficult gasps, but no word could he utter. I wiped his face, and then I +recognized in him an officer who had been a crack athlete when the +Munsters were in India and against whom I had competed more than once. I +pressed my water bottle to his lips. After a few moments he was able to +speak. + +"They are gone!" he gasped; "all of them are gone! By God, they died like +men; but--they--died." + +"Let me understand you, sir," I begged him. "Tell me just what happened." + +"Where are you going?" he almost shouted. + +"I am going back to get in touch with the Munster Fusiliers," I said. + +"You can't make the journey," he panted. "You'd have to go to heaven--or +to hell. They caught them in a pocket. Shrapnel and machine-guns. _There +are no Munster Fusiliers any more._" + +He was right, practically. The Germans had caught them between fires and +the regiment was cut to pieces. + +Helping the officer as best I could, I hurried forward to catch up with my +own regiment. When I got in touch with it I left the Fusilier officer with +the commander of the first company I met. Then I hurried to the Company +commander. + +"What are you doing here?" he asked. + +"I am here, to report, sir," I said. "There is no use trying to get in +touch with the Fusiliers. They have been cut off." + +"Your orders were to go back until you got in touch with them," he said +gruffly. "Consider yourself under arrest." + +A non-commissioned officer and two men, with fixed bayonets, were put on +guard over me. I had disobeyed orders, technically, and during those +first days in France many a stern act was necessary, for the army had to +learn the discipline of war. + +I would have been tied to a spare wheel at the back of an artillery +caisson, but as they were leading me away I asked to speak to my sergeant. +I explained to him what had happened and he told my company commander, who +found the officer of the Fusiliers. The latter, meanwhile, had been taken +care of by our officers and was now in condition to talk. He spoke to the +colonel (Col. Grant Duff), explaining just what had happened and telling +him that he had directed me to return to my regiment. I was liberated, but +it was a mighty close escape from disgrace, which, after all, is worse +than death, especially to a soldier. + +After that I was sent out to scout on the left flank with my partner, +Troolen, who was of a daredevil disposition and worked in a noisy fashion, +and so when I saw something moving in the brushwood on a ridge we were +approaching, and heard a sound like the trample of horses on the other +side, I cautioned him to remain where he was while I explored it. Troolen +swore he could hear nothing and was for muddling ahead and running into +anything that might be there, but I was in command and I ordered him to +wait. Sneaking from stone to stone and from tree to tree, I worked myself +to a little pocket which seemed scalloped out of the crest of the ridge +and found the ground there all freshly trampled, with other signs that +horses had left it recently. There were no wheel marks, so I knew that it +was cavalry, not artillery. From the marks of the iron shoes I could tell +that they were of a different type from ours. + +Uhlans had been there. + +I signalled to Troolen and he joined me. Climbing to the crest of the +ridge we saw the enemy in large numbers moving toward the road on which we +were marching, and they were ahead of us. As we hurried toward our +regiment we heard others in the rear. + +As fast as I could, I made my way to the Company commander and reported +what I had seen. Almost at the same moment we were fired upon. The rifle +fire was immediately followed by artillery shelling. Patrols on the other +flank had made sketches of the country and orders were issued for the +regiment to take cover in a gully which was across some fields and the +other side of a small woods. The men ducked through a wire fence which was +at the side of the road and sections of it were torn to let the combat +wagons through. + +As we retreated we kept up a steady fire, forcing the Uhlans close to +their cover, but the artillery continually sprayed over the field. + +Thus began for us the Battle of the Oise. + +We had little hope of any support. We knew we had to fight it out alone, +and there was little enough ammunition. I was running and ducking for the +next bit of cover from behind which I could use my rifle, when a shell +exploded behind me. It threw me from my feet but I was unhurt and as I +jumped up I heard a crashing and splintering a few feet away. One of the +horses on an ammunition wagon had been struck. He was plunging on the +ground, terrifying his team mate and kicking the wagon to pieces. The +transport officer, C. R. B. Henderson, drew his revolver and shot the +animal. + +The Uhlans must have had reinforcements for they were getting bolder. The +bullets were cutting up little spurts of dust and turf all about us. They +were singing overhead like a gale in the ropes and spars of a transport at +sea. The Germans were firing at the ammunition wagon in the hope of +blowing it up. + +I was just about to run for cover again when I saw Lieut. Henderson--he +who had shot the transport horse--walk calmly up (leading his own animal) +and cut the dead one from the traces. I didn't care about being killed, +but I couldn't leave this officer, who was standing there as though he +were on parade, except that his hands were working ten times as fast as +they ever did at drill. Together we got the dead animal free and harnessed +the lieutenant's horse to the wagon. We used one of the lieutenant's +spiral puttees to mend the cut and broken harness. The driver of the +ammunition wagon was holding the head of the other horse, shaking his fist +at the Germans, and swearing at them with a heavy Scotch burr. + +Men were running past us like rabbits. Some of them were tumbling like +rabbits, too, when a steel-nosed bullet found its mark. I saw others +stoop, just long enough to get an arm under the shoulders of a comrade and +then drag him along. A few lay still and a single look into their faces +showed that it would be useless to carry them. The running men dropped +behind stones, hillocks, trees--anything that was likely to afford cover +and stop bullets--and their rifles snapped angrily at the Germans whose +fire was getting heavier, but who still did not dare an open attack. + +At last the harness was ready. The ammunition driver leaped to his seat +and the wagon went careening toward the ravine, swaying crazily, with a +storm of shots tearing up the turf around its wheels. We needed that wagon +badly. In a moment it would be over the crest of the rise and we would be +sure of that much ammunition to fight with. + +"Get on to the wagon, sir," I shouted to the officer, as it dashed +forward; but he did not heed me. + +"In a second we shall be where we can fight them off," was all he said. + +A Uhlan's horse, with empty saddle, galloped up to us. I seized the +dangling reins. + +"Mount him, sir," I shouted. He took the reins from my hand and attempted +to leap into the saddle. The horse was cut and bleeding, and unmanageable +from terror. He backed toward the ammunition wagon, which had not yet made +the ridge, dragging the officer with him. I followed. + +Just as we thus neared the wagon, a shell exploded close at hand. The +wagon humped up in the middle as if it had been made of whalebone. It +rocked from side to side, almost upsetting. Then it settled back upon its +wrecked wheels. A high explosive shell had struck directly under it. The +two horses fell, dead from shrapnel or shock, and the driver toppled from +his seat, dead, between them, a red smear across his face. + +The small-arms ammunition in the wagon had not been exploded. The doors of +the wagon were thrown open by the concussion of the shell, causing the +bandoliers of cartridges to scatter. The officer motioned to me to help +distribute the ammunition to our men as they ran past; upon finishing this +task we joined the last of our party and were very soon over the crest. +We had only a few machine guns, but we got them in place. The Uhlans were +charging across the field. + +A shrill whistle blew.----The machine guns began to rattle. Down went +horses and riders, plunging about where some of our own men lay. Our rifle +fire, too, was getting stronger, better controlled, more co-ordinated. We +were sheltered; the enemy was in the open. His artillery was useless, for +we were coming to grips. Line after line, they broke into the field, +lances set. The horses were stretching out low over the turf--over the +turf where a moment later they were to kick out the last of their breath, +pinning under them many a rider to whom we were paying the debt of the +Munster Fusiliers. + +A bugle sounded.----Those that were left of the Uhlans galloped off. The +little machine guns had done their work. + +Our attention was then attracted to a heavy fire, directed from some +unknown quarter upon a near-by field in which was confined a large herd of +light brown cattle, their colour identical with that of our khaki +uniforms. The animals were milling about madly; a dozen of them already +were down and others were falling each moment. Here was one of the humours +of war. We laughed, believing that the Germans were firing upon the dying +beasts, mistaking them for us--"The Ladies from Hell," as they called us. + +The Scots Greys, which regiment had come up at this critical moment to +occupy the high ground on our right flank about six hundred yards away, +through the fierceness of their enfilading fire, managed to keep the enemy +at a standstill and so allowed the Black Watch to retreat to safety. + +We owed our lives to kind fate in bringing the Scots Greys to our timely +aid, and to them all honour! But for them we should have met the fate of +the Munster Fusiliers. + +Crawling on their bellies, some of our men went out and brought in those +of the Black Watch who were lying wounded. The others we left, for their +own men would be there presently. For us, it was retreat again. After +traversing ditches, ravines and barbed-wire fences, we finally assembled +on the road. The artillery was beginning to pound once more. We had to +trudge on, watching for the next attack, planting one bleeding foot before +another, with nobody knew how many days of forced marching before +us--marching (so we thought) to let the Russians get to Berlin. I don't +think anything else would have induced us to resume our retreat after the +brush with the Uhlans. + +At evening we found ourselves at the village of Oise about six miles from +the abovementioned scene. As we arrived at the bridge over the River Oise, +the engineers who were on the other side, and who had fused the bridge, +shouted to us to keep back, but our colonel gave us the order to double. +We had cleared the bridge by about only two hundred yards, when it blew up +into atoms! + +After trudging, mostly uphill, in a downpour of rain, we reached a place +called Guise at 2 A.M. Here we managed to get some food. I was glad enough +to throw my waterproof sheet over me and fall asleep. On being awakened, I +felt as though I had slept for weeks, but found it had only been for one +hour and twenty minutes. We then received some "gunfire" and our _first_ +issue of rum. We resumed the march. On arriving at La Grange, the +Camerons, or what was left of them, joined us, taking the place of the +annihilated Fusiliers in our brigade. + +We were so tired that night that I could have slept on a bed of nails, +points up, but we had not been in our billets very long when we were +ordered out, as the outpost had reported the approach of Uhlans in +considerable numbers. + +We were half asleep as we ran down into the street to our allotted posts. +One of the first persons we encountered in the town was a Frenchman, +raving mad. We asked him what was the matter, but he could not reply. He +jibbered like an ape; his twitching lips slavered and foamed. Some of his +neighbours took him in hand and led him away. One of them told us his +story: + +"The Prussians came in here yesterday. There was no one to resist them. +They posted sentries. Then those who were not on duty broke into cellars. +Casks of wine were rolled up into the streets, and, where squads gathered +together, there were piles of bottles. The soldiers did not stop to pull +the corks. They knocked off the necks of the bottles and filled their +aluminum cups with red wine and white, mixing one type with another, and +swilling it in as fast as they could drink. Dozens of them fell in the +gutters, drunk. Others reeled through the village, abusing and insulting +men and women alike. If a man resisted, he was shot. This poor fellow, +whom you have seen, was in his door yard with his wife. A Prussian seized +her about the waist. She struggled. He crushed her to him with his brutish +arm. His companions, all drunk, laughed and jeered. The woman's clothes +were ripped from her shoulders in her struggle. Meanwhile others bound the +husband to one of his own fruit trees, so that he could not escape the +horror of it. One--more drunken, more bestial than the others--slashed off +the woman's breasts and threw them to a dog. The woman died." + +This of itself was enough to have made us rage against the enemy whom +hitherto we had regarded as an honourable foe, but it was not all. I, with +other members of my own company, came upon a nail driven into the wall of +a barn from which hung, by the mouth, the lifeless form of a baby. The +child was dead when we found it, but it had died hanging from the rusty +nail. I know it had, because I saw upon the wall the marks of finger-nails +where the baby had clawed and scratched. And besides, a dead body would +not have bled. An officer ordered the removal of the child's body. + +I do not tell these things for the sake of the horror of them. I would +rather not tell them. I have spent months trying to forget them. Now that +I have recalled them, I wake in the night so horrified that I cannot move. +But to relate them may serve one useful purpose. There are those in +America, as there were in England, who believed that war to repel invasion +was justified, but who were not enthusiastic for war abroad. America +entered the war after her patience was absolutely exhausted, and Americans +should be devoutly thankful that they can fight abroad and not have to +endure the presence of a single Prussian soldier on American soil. What we +saw and learned in Guise galvanized our weary bodies to new efforts +against the vandals whom we were fighting. With clenched teeth and curses +we turned to fight again. + +The Uhlans got into the outskirts of the town and cut down a number of our +men, but, inch by inch, as they drove toward the centre of the village, +our resistance became stiffer and stiffer. It was like a nightmare. The +charging horses, the gruff shouts of the enemy, the groans of the men who +fell beside me, were like their counterparts in a dream. My finger pressed +the trigger of the rifle feverishly. Even when I saw the men I fired at +topple from their saddles and sprawl on the cobblestones, I had only a +dull sense that I had scored a hit. + +Just as we were throwing the enemy back in some confusion, a party of +British worked round a back street and fired on them from the rear. A +second later a machine gun began strewing the ground with horses and men. +Squads of them threw up their hands and cried: "_Kamerad! +Kamerad!_"--which was not a new cry on the part of the Prussians. A young +fellow by my side stopped firing for a moment, but the rest of us knew +better. The Camerons had lost a score of men the day before because they +had taken the Germans at their word, and, when they went to make them +prisoners, a whole company of Prussians had risen from behind the crest to +a hill and shot the Camerons down. So bullets from our rifles answered the +cries of "_Kamerad!_" + +A few of the enemy escaped down side streets, and a number of them +remained lying where they had been shot. While we were on our way back to +quarters, a Frenchman came up out of his basement and motioned us to +follow him. We went into the cellar and found half a dozen Prussians lying +there dead drunk. We made them prisoners and sent them to headquarters. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + + +I had about got settled in the stable where I was billeted, when orders +came to "stand to." No more sleep that night. We took the road and left La +Grange behind us just as the sun was pinking the sky. It was Sunday, and, +although we knew war was no respecter of the Sabbath, we had not been in +the field long enough to get the idea quite out of our heads that Sunday, +somehow, in the nature of things, was a little easier than other days. +When we halted in a ravine at about ten o'clock in the morning, after +marching four hours, we thought after all that it was going to be an +easier day. I was on outpost duty on a side road a little way from the +main thoroughfare we had been following. + +Suddenly an infernal racket broke out over to our left. First there came a +few scattered cracks of rifle fire. Then I could hear clip firing and the +rattle of machine guns. I learned later that the Scots Greys and the 12th +Lancers had come across about seven thousand Germans resting in a wide +gully. The Greys and the Lancers, catching them unawares by cutting down +their sentries who had no opportunity even to give the alarm--charged +through them, then back again. Three times they repeated their +performance, while some of our brigade got on to the flanks and poured in +such a rapid fire that the Prussians had no opportunity to re-form to meet +each repetition of the attack. The details do not matter, but they made up +for the annihilation of the Munster Fusiliers. + +In the newspaper accounts of the campaign this incident was described as +the "Great St. Quentin Charge," in which, it was asserted, the Black Watch +(foot soldiers) participated, holding onto the stirrups of the Scots +Greys. This bit of colouring was an inaccuracy. We aided the Greys and the +Lancers with rifle and machine-gun fire only. When the firing ceased and +the Greys and the Lancers came cantering past, we learned from them the +details of the Battle of "St. Quentin." + +At nightfall our section was still guarding the road at a point from +which a cart road branched off at right angles to the main thoroughfare. +It was here that the outpost received instructions in a few French +phrases, the main one being "_Votre passe, s'il vous plait_." ("Your pass, +please.") This was because the road was open to refugees who were fleeing +from the Boches, and who had to show passes before being allowed to go on. +The absence of the pass meant that the person would be sent to +headquarters for examination. + +It was quite natural that some of us Scots should find it difficult to +make ourselves familiar with these phrases. However, we were all willing +to try. One strapping Highlander, weary and footsore but daunted by +nothing, practised the phrases dutifully, though the French words were +almost lost in the encounter with his native Scotch. We chuckled, but he +merely glowered at us indignantly, and then went to take his place on +sentry go. Two Frenchmen came along in a wagon. The Highlander blocked +their way and sternly uttered what he conceived to be the phrase he had +been told to use. The Frenchmen sat mystified. There was a roar of +laughter when the Highlander, losing patience, shouted: "Pass us if ye +daur!" Then his sergeant came to the rescue. + +These two Frenchmen in the wagon were the last refugees to pass. Soon +afterward, from my station farther down the road, I heard a clatter of +hoofs and caught a glimpse of Uhlans' helmets. I had barely time to pass +the word to the man on the next post and to jump behind a log before they +came into view. They were riding, full gallop into our lines, apparently +having abandoned ordinary scouting precautions in their eagerness to +strike where and when they might against our worn and lacerated forces. +We, now, had fought so long that we fought mechanically. Over my +protecting log, I aimed at the leading horseman as precisely and carefully +as if I had been at rifle practice. When I pulled the trigger he tumbled +into the road, rolled over awkwardly, and lay still. I did not feel as if +I had killed a man. I felt only a mild sense of satisfaction with the +accuracy of my aim. Bitter hate for the Huns had sprung in the heart of +every one of us after what we had that day seen of their savagery. + +I had got my Uhlan at, perhaps, seventy yards. His fall checked the +squad's advance for a moment only. The man nearest grasped at the bridle +of the dead man's horse but missed it. On they all came, galloping +recklessly and yelling, the riderless horse leading by a half dozen +lengths. As they rode, they fired in my direction, but their bullets went +wide. I felt real compunction as I aimed at the head of the leading +horse--the one whose rider I had shot down with only a sense of +satisfaction. I could hear our men crashing through the bushes by the road +as they came to my support. I fired. My bullet must have struck the +riderless horse in the brain, for he fell instantly, sprawled out in the +path of the galloping Huns behind. The horses of the leaders stumbled over +the fallen animal. A rattle of shots from our men completed the confusion +of the Uhlans. They turned their horses and galloped away--some back along +the road, others across the fields. Several fell under our fire; how many +we had no time to ascertain. + +After that little affair we organized our position for a somewhat better +defence. Leaving a few scouts, far advanced, we stationed our men in easy +touch with each other and then cut down a number of trees and telegraph +poles and barricaded the road with them. There were sixteen of us in the +post near this barricade, concealed from view and able to communicate with +each other in whispers. The hours dragged on to midnight and past. We were +weary to the bone--half dead for want of sleep--but we dared not relax our +vigilance for an instant. + +The surrounding country was dense with woods. The moon was almost new, so +consequently the poles were quite invisible a few yards away. + +At about one o'clock in the morning I heard something crackling through +the brush on the side road. My bayonet was fixed and I was ready to fire. +The crackling came nearer. I crept stealthily forward to meet whatever it +was. Presently a man stepped into the road. "Halt!" I cried. He halted at +once, and gave the word "Friend." It was one of our sentries with a +message that Uhlans were coming along the road. Three men were farther +down the road; they had hidden so that the Uhlans would pass them, the +sentry said. + +A section of us concealed ourselves--and waited. Presently the Uhlans came +into sight, proceeding cautiously. Half of us were instructed to withhold +fire until the Prussians should reach the barricade. The remainder began +to fire. The horsemen scattered to each side of the road and returned the +fire, but as we were not discernible, the shots went wild. I judged that +they numbered about fifty. We dropped a few of them. They were becoming +enraged--their fire ineffective. They mounted; and the leader spurred his +horse, and, followed by the others, galloped in our direction. Their +carbines spat red flashes into the night. Their bullets were coming closer +now, because they could determine where we were lying in the ditches at +the side of the road from the flashes of our rifles. + +"Will they see the trees across the roadway?" was the thought that darted +through my mind. If they should, it would probably be all up with us. As +they came very close to the barricade, they did notice it. They made a +bold leap across, but having underestimated the number of logs there, they +found themselves in great confusion. Some of them were pinned under their +fallen horses. At this point, we opened fire, which completed their +discomfiture. Above the sound of our rifle firing we could hear the +now-familiar cry of "_Kamerad!_" "_Kamerad!_" It only served to infuriate +us and made us shoot all the faster. + +This might well arouse against us the criticism of those who never +witnessed atrocities committed by the Huns, but you must remember that our +blood had not come down to normal from the effects of the sights we +ourselves had come across. + +At last, we leaped out to make prisoners of the trapped Uhlans. Those who +could, bolted back in the direction they came from, but it was a sure +thing that twelve of them were missing when the roll was called. + +One might consider that a night's work, but it wasn't. + +It was now my turn for sentry go on the main road, which was still open +for vehicles of our staff. This was a post where it was thought that, to +use an American phrase, there would be "nothing doing"; yet it was here +that I came face to face with one of the war's finest examples of Teutonic +over-assurance--boldness that would have been splendid had it not been +stupid. + +After I had been at my new post an hour, it then being near three o'clock +in the morning, a motor car came swiftly toward me. I had been warned that +I might expect staff officers to pass, and this, I thought, was +undoubtedly some of them--otherwise the car would have advanced slowly. I +stepped into the road and awaited its approach. As it neared me I saw that +the two officers it contained wore the uniforms of the British staff. I +could see the red tabs on their collars. + +There were two telegraph poles across the road near my post. Remembering +this, I showed myself and called for the chauffeur to halt. He checked the +car's speed but brought it ahead slowly. I shouted for the countersign. I +was waiting for the occupants of the car to give it, intending to explain +to them that they would have to stop until I called some one to help me +remove the telegraph poles, when there was a sudden grinding of gears and +the car shot ahead, full speed. I yelled a warning about the poles but the +words left my lips at about the moment when the car bounced over them. + +Until that time I had no suspicion that the occupants of the car were not +what they seemed. Even then, the manner in which they "rushed" my post +seemed to me only due to some inexplicable misunderstanding. But I had +marched, and fought, and gone sleepless and hungry until I was little more +than a mechanical soldier. I was able to realize only that somebody, for +some reason, had ignored my challenge and rushed a sentry post. I swung my +rifle in the direction of the car, aimed accurately (in an automatic way), +and pulled the trigger. The noise of an exploding tire followed the crack +of my weapon. The car skidded, twisted for a moment, and then went +on--faster than ever. + +My shot aroused our outpost. The alarm was given to the first of the +connecting sentries and passed along quickly until it reached our company +headquarters, on the roadside opposite to a château in which Brigade +Staff headquarters had been established. Men half awake, tumbled into the +roadway preparing to fire on something or somebody--they didn't know what. +It was useless for the car to attempt to rush the crowd. Again the +chauffeur checked it, this time bringing it to a full stop. One of the +occupants (who, it will be remembered, were in staff uniform) demanded +sharply of the sentry in front of the château: + +"What is the meaning of this? Are there nothing but blockheads about here? +We have been fired on while looking for Brigade headquarters. Somebody +should be court-martialled for this." + +The sentry saluted them and admitted them to the grounds of the château. + +Their car had disappeared within the gates when I came running down the +road and informed my company commander what had happened. He instantly +ordered our men to surround the château and rushed in himself, following +the car up the avenue leading through the grounds. The "staff officers" +had abandoned their car in the shadow of a clump of trees and were +seeking to escape over the garden wall when our men captured them. One of +them, speaking English without a trace of accent, still tried to "bluff" +our men who seized him, and his assumed indignation was so convincing +that, but for the direct orders from the company commander, the men might +have released him, believing him really an officer of our forces. Each of +the two wore the uniform of a staff major with all the proper badges and +insignia. It was found that they were German spies with rough maps of the +disposition of our retreating forces and other valuable information in +their possession. I was informed, later, that they were shot. + +Before dawn, we got orders to retire again. It was always retire--retire. +We were ready to fight ten times our number if only we could stop +retiring. + +Shortly after leaving this position we saw an airplane overhead. A few +minutes later shrapnel began bursting in our direction. We scattered to +each side of the highway, keeping under cover as best we could. + +We marched all day--God knows how far--and finally, between one and two +the following morning, reached a place which we believed to be Pinon. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + + +As we neared Pinon, the sound of artillery fire could be heard, and the +inhabitants were all leaving the town in any way that they could. Here I +saw further effects of Prussian atrocities. + +At this spot, a French woman, supporting her mutilated husband as best she +could, passed us in a buggy. The sight was awful! His face and body were +almost entirely covered with gashes from the Prussians' bayonets. His +wife's face was as white as death except where three cruel cuts had laid +it open. Neither of this pitiful pair was less than sixty years old. Fine +"enemies" for soldiers' weapons! + +Beyond this last village we lay in the open for a few hours' rest. We were +so utterly exhausted that officers and men alike threw themselves upon the +ground and instantly were asleep. My last waking recollection was of the +sight of an officer of the guard striding wearily to and fro. He was +afraid even to sit for fear sleep might conquer him. And my next +recollection--seemingly coming right on the heels of the one I have +mentioned--was of being shaken by the shoulders and having the warning +shouted into my ear that we had got orders to force-march instantly. + +"They say some of the blighters have got round us by the flank," said the +man who shook me. "Make haste!" + +We had rested less than three hours. Off we went on another "retirement." +This time under the drive of urgent necessity for speed. + +We must have marched at an extraordinary rate, because it was not yet noon +when we arrived at the outskirts of Soissons. From the high ground on our +right flank, we could see cavalry and artillery in great numbers, but +whether ours or the enemy's, none of us knew--not even the officers. As we +arrived in the town we were greeted with artillery fire; then we knew who +it was that awaited us. + +We got into a lumber yard and returned the fire, but I don't think either +side did much damage. Their bullets sang through the lumber gallery. The +melody was one that had become familiar to us. + +Retreating through Soissons, we kept up a stiff fight, arriving intact at +the farther end of the town. Here we came upon fresh and terrible evidence +of the ruthlessness and wanton cruelty of the foe which we had first +confronted but a few days before, then believing that the traditions of +honourable warfare still existed. We came across scores of refugees--old +men and women--who had been beaten and driven from their homes without +cause. We had passed the dead bodies of many townspeople--killed, +seemingly, by artillery fire, yet, in some cases, exhibiting suspicious +wounds, as if bayonets or lances had been used. It was not, however, until +we were marching through the throng of refugees, outside the town, that +indisputable and utterly shocking proofs of the inhumanity of the Huns +came to our eyes. In perambulators we saw wailing children with mangled or +missing hands. I know that it has been hotly disputed that such dastardly +crimes as these were committed by the Germans. I know also that the +disputants who contend against the truth of these reports never marched +with us the weary and awful miles amid the fleeing and miserable people of +Soissons. + +These mutilated children I, myself, and my comrades saw. Two at least, I +recollect with bloody stumps where baby hands had been, and one whose foot +had been severed at the ankle. _I saw these things._ I saw them; and I +live to say that others with me saw them--brawny Highlanders whose tears +of pity flowed with those of the mothers who wept for heart-break and with +those of the babies who wept from the pain of the wounds which had maimed +them. Ay, there were witnesses enough; and witnesses remain, though many +of the Black Watch who that day saw and cursed the cowardly brutality of +the Huns were to lie, but too soon, with their voices hushed for ever, so +that they may not speak of it. But we who still live may tell of it--and +dare a challenge of the truth of what we say! And those who saw, and +died--paying the toll of that bloody passing from the Mons to the +Marne--have told it, no doubt, ere this--before that Court whose judgment +can impose the eternal punishment that the soulless crimes demand. + +There were thousands in the unhappy throng of refugees. Some few rode upon +hay carts, surrounded by such of their belongings as they had been able +hastily to gather. Others pushed handcarts containing their goods and +household articles. Most of them however, went afoot, trudging wearily +along and carrying what they might. There, in that sickening scene, it was +as it is everywhere. The grotesque and the humorous mixed incongruously +with the pathetic. For instance: Alongside one perambulator with a wounded +child in it rolled another one loaded with huge rings of bread, on top of +which perched a parrot, screaming at every one who passed. + +One old lady was trudging along carrying a baby which could not have been +more than two and a half years old, though the weight of his chubby frame +was bending her almost double. I could not speak her language, but I made +her understand that I would carry the child a mile or two and leave him by +the side of the road. The laughter and baby antics of the child brought a +ray of sunshine to our section, and especially to fathers who had left +tots behind them in Scotland. About an hour later I came to a group by the +roadside, who recognized the baby, and I left him with them, making them +understand that the old lady would be along later. + +One of the last things I remember in leaving Soissons was an old man who +was carrying his furniture and household goods to what looked like a +modern dug-out in an embankment and covering it with earth so that it +would not be discovered. The boys made a lot of fun of him, but the laugh +was not on their lips very long. + +We had just reached the top of a hill on the farther side of the city, +overlooking the railroad yards and repair shops, when we came into direct +view of the German artillery observers, and shrapnel began to storm down +among us. It was like the sudden burst of a thunder cloud. There wasn't a +moment's warning before the smoke puffs began appearing overhead and the +ugly steel splinters and slugs whizzed over our heads. + +The regiment deployed in a corn field at one side of the road and +scattered, moving some distance from the highway. The enemy continued to +sprinkle the corn with shrapnel but we lay flat on the ground until the +firing ceased. The company's cooks meanwhile, at some little distance +ahead of us, had prepared "gunfire," and the various companies lined up in +file to receive their well-earned and much-desired quota of it. As the +cooks had to keep ahead of the regiment, there was no time lost in +disposing of the tea, and many of the men had to drink it on the run. + +A little farther on we halted for a few hours' sleep, and at ten minutes +to three we found ourselves again on the move. We marched all that day +through a large and dense forest. Now and again we were surprised by +occasional artillery shots at the more open sections, but the trees helped +a great deal in protecting us from the enemy's airplanes, and proved a +hindrance to their tactics. But with the cavalry it was a different +matter. Uhlans harassed us every hour of the day. We had only about two +machine guns to a battalion, and they were worked so steadily and so hard +that they repeatedly jammed. Once we were almost cut off. A party of +Uhlans came clattering down on our heels driving the rear guard in on the +support, and for a few moments there was what approached a modern barrage +fire of artillery on the road in our front. Luckily for us, the artillery +fire slackened for some reason and we got ahead before the Uhlans could +envelop us. + +Later in the day I was serving in the rear guard. Suddenly we heard the +roaring of a motor. We took cover at the sides of the road. Our +"point"--was in the rear, and, if there was anything wrong, we knew they +would inform us. The roaring of the motor grew louder. We were so tired +that our nerves jangled. I had never felt so jumpy. There it came around +the bend with a Red Cross flag flying from it, but it was not one of our +ambulances. It had great, heavy, double wheels and there were Red Crosses +painted on its sides in addition to the flag flying from the front. Our +impression was that it had gone off its course. The chauffeur had released +the muffler cut-out and the engine was running very quietly now. A man +sitting beside the driver and leaning far out over the side was yelling in +broken English that they were lost, and he gesticulated toward the body +of the car in such a way as to make us think that he had badly wounded men +with him. + +We began scrambling back onto the road. Our war was not against the +wounded and suffering, so we would let them pass. + +Suddenly the ambulance stopped; the sides of it quickly rose; machine guns +showed their ugly muzzles. + +"Br-r-r-r-r t-t-t," they began to sputter. + +I leaped backward and fell headlong into the ditch. Everybody was jumping +for cover. The bullets lashed the road and ricocheted far upon it. +Scarcely a man of us was hit, but we were in wild confusion. I cannot +describe the scene. No one seemed to think of putting his rifle to his +shoulder. The horror of it--the passionate anger against such vile +trickery--drove us into a rage; but--for the moment--it was an impotent +rage. We seemed to be at their mercy. + +Then the platoon commander's voice rose above the rat-a-tat of the machine +guns: + +"Steady, men! Fire at will, but pick your men carefully." + +We had heard him speak in the same tone on parade. It brought us to our +senses. The edge of the ditch on each side of the road fairly flamed with +the sputter of rifle fire. The "ambulance" was riddled. A Prussian officer +toppled into the middle of the road. Half a dozen men sprang from the +ditch and rushed at him with bayonets. They killed him like a rat. There +was no compunction about it. + +There was now heard the thrumming of more motors approaching. Round the +turn in the road they came. This time it was transports--laden with German +troops. There was no attempt at disguise with this mob. They thought that +their camouflaged battery would by now have done its dirty work. Sweating +and tugging and straining, we managed to topple the "ambulance" over in +the road. The trucks came dashing up as we retreated--retreated only to +get in touch with our support. The men cheered wildly as two of our own +machine guns came up. We turned the wee fellows loose on the Germans--gave +them a taste of their own medicine. + +Some of them came running toward us shouting: "_Kamerad! Kamerad!_" We +shot them down as they ran--shot them without hesitation--after the +dastardly trick they had played on us. Probably they were even then trying +another ruse. + +The fight surged backward and forward. The Germans tried to press ahead. + +Then something happened which we had not expected. A burst of shrapnel +sprayed over the Germans. In a few seconds there was another. Then two +shells exploded at once--three--four! A rain of fire, as the French say, +was upon them. We were getting support from our own artillery. That was +something new and it put heart into us. + +The regiment re-formed and proceeded with an orderly retirement, while the +artillery, like a barrier of steel, held the enemy at his distance all the +rest of the day. We were near to exhaustion and some of the men dropped +out of the ranks only to die of the strain. Although our pipers were as +weary as the rest of us, they sensed that we needed encouragement, and +with great effort struck up a march. Very soon we had left the forest +behind us. + +It is impossible to describe the effect of the skirl of those pipes that +day. It was like a message from Heaven. We had not heard them since Mons, +and now they were leading us out of a forest that was a picture of +weirdness itself; leading us out into the beautiful open country. What joy +we felt! + +At this time we were retiring almost directly toward Paris. For seventeen +hours we marched with halts only when it was absolutely necessary. We had +been in France four weeks, though it seemed like four years. + +One of our chief discomforts was the lack of water. Toward evening we +halted alongside a cucumber patch. The men simply went wild, running into +the field and sucking the juicy young cucumbers. I "drank" twelve myself, +but we had not had time to satisfy ourselves when the Prussian artillery +got the range again and we had to get out of the field--those of us who +could. I have heard some "cussing" during my career in the army, but I +don't think I ever listened to anything quite like the brand that +accompanied our departure from that field. + +After marching a considerable distance, we were billeted in barns in a +small village. This was a cheering circumstance, as the farmer gave us +chickens and allowed us to get vegetables to make up a _real_ warm meal, +which I can assure you was enjoyed royally. We expected to stay here some +time, so we made for the barns and lay down among the hay. + +I don't think you could possibly form an idea of the _utter_ weariness of +the men or of the manner in which we were incessantly harassed. We never +got a decent chance to eat, drink, or rest. The incidents of the cornfield +and the cucumber patch are typical. Many men died of sheer exhaustion. +When we entered the barn I was so absolutely petered out that I went to +sleep almost before my body touched the hay. + +We had been in the barn only about two hours when there was a great +commotion. I waked up half suffocated, but I didn't care. Somebody kicked +me in the ribs as I was turning over to sleep again. + +"_The barn's on fire!_" he yelled. + +There was an odour of paraffin. It seemed that some German agent had +started the fire. Probably it was the owner of the place, using German +"kultur." Germany had left scores of such spies planted in the country, +after 1871. + +After the fire in the barn we got a couple of hours more sleep, then moved +off again about three o'clock in the morning. We were on the Metz road +going east, but did not know it until our officers informed us that we +were heading toward the Franco-German frontier. They were ever optimistic +and helped to lighten the burdens of men who were on the last lap by +carrying sometimes the rifles of four of them at one time on their +shoulders. In the afternoon we came to Coulommiers. Most of the +inhabitants were leaving, and a herald--such as existed in the Middle +Ages,--was going through the town beating a kettle-drum and crying to all +the civilians to take everything they could carry and leave the place. But +this herald was a middle-aged woman. + +About two o'clock that same day, we were on the banks of a stream and the +whole regiment began making preparations for a swim. Some were already in +the water, but had scarcely got entirely wet when the German artillery +began churning the water with shrapnel. The bodies of many of my comrades +went floating down stream. + +That night my company guarded a road protected by barbed-wire +entanglements and lined with poplar trees; just the kind of road you so +often see pictured in France or Belgium. The main body of the regiment was +dug in the side of a hill overlooking this road. It was again the luck of +my section to protect the road some two hundred yards in advance of the +regiment. We entrenched ourselves on each side in such a manner that one +could advance within ten yards without detecting our position. We placed a +few strands of the barbed-wire fencing across the road a little distance +ahead of us. + +About midnight, I was awakened by someone tugging at me. It was the +sentry. He pointed far up the road, and, as there was a certain amount of +moonlight, I could see something moving between the tall poplar trees. He +asked me what it was and I told him that it was our cavalry. However, I +told him he should inform the section commander; and then I rolled off to +sleep again. + +Presently I felt a second tug at me. On looking up I found it was our +sergeant; he whispered: "Be ready to spring up at a moment's notice." The +others were already in position. In the dim light I could see the +queer-shaped lance-caps that the Uhlans wore. + +"Halt! Who goes there?" shouted the sentry. + +"Freunden," said a voice in reply. + +With that they were almost on the barbed-wire, and we greeted them in the +way such "friends" should be greeted. There was a tremendous turmoil. All +but two fell into our hands. To be exact, fifteen were captured and three +killed. Three of the captives were officers. + +One of the officers, when searched, was found to have in his possession a +novelty mirror with the photograph of a girl on the back. He made no fuss +about giving up anything but the mirror. This, however, he insisted upon +having back. Finally the examining officer, Major Lord George Stewart +Murray, became suspicious and decided that the Boche's sentiment was not +on the level. He stripped the photograph off the back. Under it he found a +thin sort of skin and, underneath that, pasted to the back of it, a paper +covered with writing. He returned the mirror to the German officer, but he +retained the paper; and the writing gave the staff much satisfaction. + +All night long we were troubled by similar parties of Uhlans. They were +evidently feeling out for an attack, but, not being able to gauge our +strength, they never made it. Some of our boys crawled out from the +trenches to rescue a trooper with a broken leg, and they said that only a +few paces away they could not distinguish the trench or tell how many men +were there. If the Uhlans had only known the facts they could have swarmed +over us. In the morning we collected souvenirs from the field. One of the +fellows picked up a lance with two bullet holes clean through the steel +tubing shaft. + +Our next stop was at Neslês. We drew up alongside a field of beets just +before going into the village, and most of the men fell out of ranks and +lay down alongside the road. Some were in the ploughed earth between the +rows of beets. The artillery had been firing at us most of the day, but +they hadn't found the range. There were some heavy guns hammering at us, +as we could tell from the explosions of the shells. + +As usual, when it came time for a rest, the Germans began to locate us. +One of the heaviest shells I had yet seen exploded in the field and +scattered beets all over the surrounding country. A member of our company +right near me was stunned for a few seconds. + +Before any one had recovered himself enough to go to his aid, he sat up +unsteadily, his head wobbling, his face a mass of red. A few yards behind +him was his forage cap. He put his shaking hand up to his head; withdrew +it, then looked at his fingers which were dripping red. + +"Ah weel, lads, Ah've got it noo!" he lamented. "Ah'm sair-r-r-tainly din +fur 'cause Ah dinna feel a theng. Ah on'y wesh Ah could 'a got ane o' the +deevils tae me credit afore this!" + +By this time two or three of us had run forward and were wiping his head +and face. There was no evidence of a wound. Then suddenly some one roared +with laughter. The man was covered with the red juice of beets and was +entirely unhurt. He had only been stunned. This is the way Mars jests. His +humour is always mixed with grimness. + +We learned that we were to stop at Neslës overnight, and this, coupled +with the fact that we had commenced advancing, put new enthusiasm into us. + +Before we arrived there were large vineyards at each side of the road +leading up a hill overlooking a beautiful little town, on the south bank +of the Petit Morin River. We had a few minutes' halt within reach of the +lovely French grapes, which hung most temptingly in clusters, so it was +quite natural that some of the boys who were extremely thirsty and warm +from the scorching sun, should partake of this inviting fruit. + +Discipline in the British army is second to none; and we were commanded to +observe it strictly while on the retreat. One of our orders was "not to +pluck fruit," as it came under the category of "Looting." Very soon the +few fellows who had disobeyed that order were rolling on the ground, +holding their stomachs. Later we were told that the grapes on both sides +of the road had been poisoned by the Germans. This was punishment enough +for those who had eaten the fruit, and a lesson that every one of us "took +home." + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + + +As we--the other scouts and I--advanced, firing details, which had been +left behind under close cover by the Germans, did a good deal of execution +amongst us. The hay-stacks, particularly, gave us a great deal of trouble. +More than once, one of them would be disrupted as though by some sort of +explosion from the inside, and machine guns would begin spraying our +skirmishing lines. So it became an important part of our scouting +operations to search all hay-stacks and farm houses. And continually we +were under what, ordinarily, would be termed heavy fire. + +The ground over which we were passing had been the scene of sharp +fighting, earlier. We came across scores of dead Germans and a few French. +In the midst of a field dotted with a particularly large number of +hay-stacks was a farm house. When we were about thirty or forty yards from +it and on opposite sides, we leaped up and dashed toward it as hard as we +could run. It is a fact that this is the safest way for patrols to +approach a house. If any of the enemy are inside, they become excited when +they see men rushing toward them and are likely to open fire--instead of +waiting until the scouts get inside and then killing them noiselessly. +Their aim is also more uncertain at a running man than it is at one +sneaking along slowly, and, most important of all, whether the scouts are +killed or not, the noise of the rifle fire alarms the main body and the +party in the house is detected. + +Troolan (my scout partner) and I arrived at this particular farm house on +a dead run without having drawn any fire or detected the least sign of +life. We tried all the doors; they were locked. The windows, too, were +bolted from the inside. Troolan smashed one in, got inside, and opened the +door for me. We searched the building rather hurriedly and discovered no +sign of any one having been there. Just as we were going out, I had a +premonition that I ought to look further. + +"Wait outside and watch," I said to Troolan, "and I will take another look +around." + +He posted himself outside. Very cautiously I stepped down the cellar +stairs. The boards seemed to squeak and groan like a lumbering farm wagon. +It was dark as pitch, but I did not dare to make a light. It would have +been fatal if any one really was lurking there. Something scurried across +the floor. I felt the hot blood surge under my scalp. For a second I +expected to see a red flash in the utter darkness and feel a bullet smash +into my body. Then I discovered that it was only a rat. + +I thought I heard breathing. I stood stock still, and strained my eyes on +every side till they ached as if they would burst from their sockets. I +was trying to catch the reflection of some stray beam of light from the +eyes of a man or the barrel of an automatic, but I do not believe that so +much as a pin point of light was diffused in that whole black pit. +Suddenly I almost laughed aloud, although I knew that to do so might mean +instant death. The breathing that I heard was my own. Cautiously I thrust +out my foot to descend another step. + +There was a shout outside. + +"Run to the door quickly," Troolan was yelling. + +I leaped up the stairway regardless of what might be behind me and dashed +toward the kitchen door to get outside the house. Just as I did so, I saw +a shadow flit along the ground past the kitchen window. Guessing where the +man must be who cast it, I fired through the wooden wall of the kitchen at +about the height of the average man's breast. Then in a couple of bounds I +was outside. There stood Troolan looking very much surprised and grieved +when he saw me. His rifle was half drawn up to his shoulder, and he was in +the attitude of getting ready to fire. + +Perspiration broke out on my forehead. I realised that the shadow had been +Troolan's and from the look of him I had come very nigh to killing him. + +"What the h---- was that for, ye muckle galoot?" he threw at me. + +"I saw a shadow," I said, "and let drive." + +"Ye're an auld wife, that's what ye' are," said Troolan disgustedly, +"a'firin' after shadows." + +"Never mind now," I said, "what did you see?" + +"I saw a big boche," said my scouting partner, "or, at least, I thocht I +did. Maybe I've been takin' you fur him the same as you did me." + +"Maybe," I said, "but the best plan is for you to watch this house while I +go and report." + +"All right," said Troolan. I started away. I had not gone a dozen paces +when I heard scuffling behind me. I turned round and started to run back +at the same instant. What I saw lent speed to my feet. The helmet of a +German officer was just coming through a window. Troolan, who had +evidently been concealed from the German's view, was aiming a blow at his +head with the butt of his rifle. + +As usual, Troolan had lacked finesse. He had rushed so clumsily to the +attack that both the officer and I had heard him. The German dodged just +in time to evade the blow, and Troolan's rifle banged the window sill. + +How the boche did it, I do not know, but it seemed as though he was +propelled by strong steel springs under his feet. He fairly shot out of +the window like a dart from a catapult and landed on Troolan's neck. Both +men went down. I dared not fire. They were rolling over and over one +another, kicking and striking with their fists. The boche was fouling +Troolan in a way that would be prohibited in wrestling. I jumped into the +fray and tried to find the German's throat, but the men were so entwined +that it was hard to get a hold on him. Suddenly a heavy boot struck me in +the pit of the stomach, and I rolled over and over to find myself gasping +for breath a dozen feet away. + +Painfully I got up and staggered toward the struggling men, but I was too +late to be of any use. After a particularly frantic struggle Troolan +managed to get on top of his adversary, with his right arm free. His +mighty fist came smashing down full in the other's face. The German +staggered to his feet, but Troolan leaped clear of him, seized his rifle, +and, this time, brought the butt down with a thud on the other's skull. +Then Troolan burst into some of the most profane Scotch it has been my +doubtful privilege to hear. + +"What are you cursing about?" I asked him. + +"I want to mak shair that Deevil's deed!" he said. + + * * * * * + +Later that day we were relieved by other scouts. + +Toward nightfall troops began to arrive on either side of us in great +numbers, and dispatch riders with various insignia continually dashed up +on their speedy motorcycles to our brigade headquarters. Everyone realized +that we must be approaching something big, for previous to this we had +been fighting, for the most part, isolated engagements. As a matter of +fact, it developed that we were preparing for the Battle of the Marne. + +We remained at this spot all night. At dawn, orders were given that we +were to take the high ground the Germans were occupying a few miles ahead +of us. Our brigade marched in skirmishing order, followed by the cavalry +and artillery. We passed scores of dead--some French but the majority +German. Dead horses were intermingled with the bodies of men. + +We were under heavy shell fire until we descended into the shelter of a +gully. Here we met a few of the French Chasseurs. Four or five farms were +clustered together, and the sights we encountered in the yards and on the +roads were the worst we had yet seen. Pools of congealed blood; bodies of +dead soldiers partly covered with sacks and straw; the barns so filled +that the feet of dead men were protruding. The Chasseurs appeared very +pale and silent. + +The ridge was densely covered with hazel-wood. We got the command to fix +bayonets and extend into skirmishing formation. The Black Watch with the +Camerons were to take the ridge, while the Coldstreams and Scots Guards +were to be in reserve. + +An incident occurred during the ascent of the ridge which illustrated the +reckless, devil-may-care spirit of the men in our battalion in a way +which impressed even me. The front-line men came upon a lot of blackberry +bushes. They began plucking and eating the berries, shouting gleefully to +one another to signal the discovery of an especially well-laden bush. +Until the officers sternly warned them of the peril they invited by such +noise and incaution, you would have thought they were schoolboys on a +lark. + +I was one of the scouts sent up the ridge to try to locate the position +and number of the enemy and report at once. Wriggling along on my belly +like a snake, I made my way foot by foot. I could hear our fellows +shouting, and it rather disconcerted me as I felt they would attract the +enemy's attention, but I continued on my way nevertheless. + +I never knew that so many sharp stones could be scattered in so short a +distance. It seemed as though some of them were forcing themselves clean +in between my ribs. + +Presently I came to a hastily constructed barbed-wire entanglement at the +edge of a thicket. Ahead of me was a clear rising space of about fifty +yards which did not show from below. Beyond this was a plateau. Before +advancing farther I peered through the thicket and scanned the crest. + +Suddenly I heard a familiar, unmistakable rattling. It was the opening and +closing of rifle bolts. My skin prickled all over. I knew that it meant +troops getting ready to fire and I had no doubt the Germans had discovered +me and were preparing to shoot. I wriggled backward a few feet into the +thicket, expecting every second to hear the crash of a volley and to pass +into oblivion. But the crash did not come. Evidently they had not seen me. + +Under cover of the underbrush I crept forward again until I could see the +helmets of German troops in the woods atop of the ridge. They outnumbered +our troops. I crawled to the left until I came to a point where I could +command a view of the crest, where they were in waiting, but apparently +unaware of our near approach. I crawled back until I was out of sight. +Then I leaped to my feet and ran as if I were once more on a cinder track +in the old barrack days. Brambles tore my hands and face and lacerated my +bare knees, but I did not heed them. + +I had seen enough, and the sooner we could make the attack the better. +Besides, they might even yet see me, and I preferred the scratching of +brambles to the bite of a steel bullet. + +In safety I got back to our lines. The boys could see from my excitement +that something was up. + +"Did you find them, Joe?" they shouted. + +"Where is the adjutant?" I demanded. Somebody told me, and I hurried to +him. + +"How many of them are there?" he asked when I told what I had seen. + +"All I can say, sir, is that they outnumber us and are waiting," I +answered. + +Orders were given for an immediate attack. + +I went forward again, but this time in my own place in the company, with +men either side of me, and with real business ahead. We made our way in +silence through the woods toward the terrace. Still the Germans did not +fire. We wondered whether they were really unaware of our approach, or, +just holding their fire for close range? This was the first time we had +been in a big attack of this kind and we knew that bayonet work would be +the end of it. + +The answer to our questioning soon came. It was in the form of a burst of +fire from the ridge above us. Twigs fell all around us and here and there +a man dropped too. + +We could not do much in the way of returning the fire, for we had not yet +reached the open. The blood was pounding through my arteries. I felt much +as I used to before the start of an important race. The second platoon to +my right went forward, while our fire covered their advance. Crouching +low, the men dashed on at full speed. Here and there one of them toppled +backward. Then the platoon nearest to us advanced. It would be our turn +next. We ceased firing and prepared to rush. Our lieutenant looked at the +commander, whose whistle had just blown a shrill blast. He signalled for +us to go forward. + +Like one man, we leaped to our feet. The thin line swept out onto the open +terrace. Each man had but one friend then, his rifle with the bayonet +fixed. + +We had arrived at the point where I had previously encountered the barbed +wire. Throwing ourselves flat on the ground, we returned the enemy's fire. +After cutting the barbed-wire, we awaited orders. The word came to charge. +With one mighty shout, we made for the crest. When one goes out with the +bayonet he goes to kill or to be killed, but with the former in mind. + +The German fire thundered out as though it had been tripled. The trees and +bushes were cut as by scythes, but they were only shooting in a +direction--they could not see us clearly. Up, up we went. Loose stones +rattled under our feet, and went tumbling down the slope, but we picked +ourselves up and pushed always forward and upward. At last we saw the +Germans who were firing at us over their trenches. Our men were yelling +like demons. + +Then the German fire stopped as though every man had, on the instant, been +struck dead. An instant later, they leaped out of their trenches, with +bayonets fixed, and dashed toward us. Every man among them looked a giant. +One of our boys was ahead of all the others. He was a bow-legged little +fellow, and, even at that moment, he looked ludicrous with his bare knees +and kilts. A big German was over him. The little fellow seemed to drop his +rifle. He had caught it in both hands, close under the handle of the +bayonet. He straightened up, heaving his shoulders, brought up his +forearms with a jerk, and the steel blade drove through the soft spot in +the German's throat--just under the chin. The Prussian's last cry was +drowned by the fierce yell of the little bow-legged man. It was the spirit +of the bayonet which made him yell like a savage. + +There was no time to see what was going on around me any more. We were +fighting knee to knee. I can but faintly recall the actual close fighting, +but I seemed to make good use of my bayonet. Sometimes I was knocked off +my feet, but the next instant I was up again. I was not thinking of what +might happen to me. It was fight, fight, and keep on fighting. One seemed +imbued with a superhuman strength. + +One of our boys seized a German's rifle, and wrested it from him by a +trick which seemed to break his arm. A little farther away two Germans +were rushing upon one man. Mechanically, I leaped into action. The butt of +my rifle felled the nearest boche. Somebody knocked the rifle out of my +hands. Somehow I ducked a thrust made at me and ran in on the German who +made it, and smashed my fist on the point of his jaw. + +They began to waver now. They did not seem to care for our company with +our kilts and our steel--we whom they later learned to call the "Ladies of +Hell." (Because of our kilts.) At last they broke and ran. We were after +them. A machine gun rattled away at the head of a path down which some of +our boys were dashing. It almost wiped out _B_ company before we could +silence it. + +Just over the crest of the ridge we came upon their combat wagons and a +field gun. Three men and an officer were trying to save the gun. The men +who were hitching the horses to it broke and ran. The officer did not +hesitate a second to shoot them in the backs. Then _he_ fell with one of +our bullets through his head. We captured the gun. + +By this time I was regaining my proper senses. A feeling of exhaustion +seemed to envelop me; my legs wobbled. Then I dropped to the ground. Every +bone, muscle, and nerve ached, and I felt as though I had just been +through a tough wrestling match. + +When we had counted up, we found that two company officers, Captain +Drummond and Captain Dalgleish, had been killed. We picked up about fifty +German rifles and broke them over the trunks of trees. Our casualties were +one hundred and fifty killed and only God knows how many wounded. + +Our prisoners amounted to about one hundred and forty. Among them was a +man who had worked in London as a watchmaker. In very broken English, he +asked if he could get his job back if he were sent to London. We told him +that he would get a job all right, but that somebody else would see to the +watchmaking. + +After capturing the crest, upon looking from the far side, we could see +great numbers of German cavalry and infantry in retreat. The plateau was +strewn with I should judge about five hundred dead bodies of the enemy. +Their horses that had been wounded were left behind--left to die. We let +go a few volleys of long-range fire to hurry the boches on their way. + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + + +We had very little rest after the fight I have just described. We were +getting down to the real business of war. It was fighting, and not the +incessant retreating, which had been sapping the life out of us for weeks. +You must remember, also, the weight that each man carried during all those +long wearisome retreats. Each of us had his heavily plaited kilt; his pack +containing great coat, flannel shirt, two pairs of socks, waterproof +sheet, extra shoes, and towel; his canteen, rifle, entrenching tool, +bayonet, and ammunition--the whole totalling ninety pounds weight. + +Immediately after the fight, in shallow, narrow trenches, we began to bury +our dead. Before the work was finished, a detachment of Uhlans fired on +us, but one of our companies drove them across a rivulet and over the +crest of the next ridge. + +One of our pipers--Dougall McLeod was his name--had lost his chum in the +fight. McLeod was a sentimental sort of chap, with little heart for the +work of killing. He was sitting on the ground fastening together a couple +of strips of wood to make a little cross for his chum's grave--or rather +his chum's share of the one long grave. The tears were trickling down his +grimy, bloody cheeks, and he wasn't ashamed of them, nor of the furrows +they cut in the caked dirt. It was just before he finished his work that +the Uhlans opened fire. McLeod threw the loose pieces of the cross to the +ground, and sprang to his place in the firing line. I had never seen the +passion of hate in his eyes before. All that the Germans had made him +suffer had never aroused him, but now that they interrupted him in the +work of making a homely mark for his friend's grave, he was fired by the +will to kill. I was only a few paces from him in the firing line, and, +with the tears still streaming down his face, I could hear him mutter +every time his rifle crashed: + +"Damn you! You will, will you?" + +We again took to the road. All that day we marched under occasional shell +fire. Along the sides of the roads, we passed the wrecks of scores of +German combat wagons and supply trains. Sometimes there was a field piece +amid the débris. Toward evening we heard terrific firing on our right, but +we were not called to enter the engagement. Later we learned that a French +division had been pretty badly cut up in running the boches out of a +strong position. + +Their wounded passed us on the road. You cannot imagine a more pitiful or +a more noble sight. Limping along, supported by their comrades, came +scores of men, whose every step was costing them agony but who smiled at +us as we cheered them. Straggling down the road, as we swung along, came +groups of wounded, each supporting the other as best he could. In one case +in particular, a man who had been badly maimed and was using his rifle as +a crutch, was also supported by a comrade who had been blinded. If there +had ever been doubt in our minds as to the mettle of our allies, it was +dispelled now, as the lame and the blind hour after hour filed past us. + +We billeted that night at a place, the name of which sounded like +Villers. I remember that a detachment of French were there before us, and +a peasant pointed out to me a row of trees where they had hung fifteen +Germans captured there, because, when the Uhlans had taken the town +fifteen of them had brutally assaulted and outraged a farmer's wife and +his daughter, twelve years of age. The ropes were still dangling from the +trees. + +Volunteers were asked for, to go down and get the mail. Practically every +one offered his services. To get mail from home gave the same sensation as +scoring a victory, and we were all eager to do our bit. This was about +10.30 P.M. and the rain was coming down in torrents. About two miles +behind us lay the mail strewn around the road. The ambulance carrying it +had been struck by a shell. Our volunteer mail carriers gathered the +letters up, and, needless to say, there was much excitement among us on +their arrival. Nothing else was thought of for the moment except the news +from home. + +The next few days were uneventful. Toward evening on the thirteenth of +September, I was scouting on our left flank. The German heavy guns had +been keeping up a steady searching fire all day, but little damage had +been done. + +I had got so accustomed to the roar of the explosions that they did not +bother me very much. After a while a man gets so used to the sound of a +shrieking shell in the air that he can tell by instinct when one is coming +his way in time to throw himself flat on the ground. I had not yet reached +this stage of proficiency. A shell did come my way. How close it came I +will never know, because all of a sudden I felt as though my head were +bursting. I seemed to be tumbling end over end and being torn to pieces. +My ear drums rang and pained excruciatingly. I thought to myself "I am +dying," and I wondered how I kept feeling a sort of consciousness although +I must be already torn to bits. + +Then I found myself sitting up on the ground with a man from my patrol +supporting my head. + +Now, this is the strange thing. I was instantly and absolutely oblivious +when the shell exploded. All the sensations I have described came when I +was recovering consciousness. Surgeons have told me since then that they +were exactly what the shell caused when it exploded, but that my brain did +not register them until my senses returned. My clothes were scorched and +even my hair was singed. I do not know why I was not killed, but in a few +hours I was ready for duty once more. The man who picked me up said that +the shell had burst some little distance overhead. If it had struck the +ground close to me, it would doubtless have sent me "west." + +The game had now been turned about. We were the pursuers. Most of the +fighting was between the enemy's rear guard and our contact patrols--until +we reached the Aisne. The Huns crossed the river, but they blew up the +bridges behind them. The last of the retreating troops were scarcely +across before the detonators were set off. + +We were held up for a while on the Aisne while our engineers constructed +pontoon bridges. The Germans had the range, and they almost wiped out our +entire battalion of engineers before our troops could cross. + +I saw a working raft swing out into the river with about twelve men on it. +A single burst of shrapnel exploded in their midst and there wasn't a man +left standing. One of them crawled to the stern and began pushing the raft +toward shore with a pole but he was so weak that the current kept swinging +him down a stream. A sniper got him. + +The raft was drifting away. Nobody expected to see the men on it again, +but, in the face of shrapnel and a nasty fire from snipers, three men, +stark naked, jumped into the stream and struck out for the raft. The water +around them was whipped by bullets, but our boys located the snipers and +got the range and quieted them. The first man reached the raft. His hands +were over the edge. He had just pushed his head and shoulders over the +side when a rifle snapped and he slipped back into the water; then I saw +the German who had fired at him topple out of a tree. A dozen shots must +have struck him. The two other swimmers were alongside the raft now and +climbed upon it. I could see that one was bleeding at the shoulder. Our +men pulled the wounded man upon the raft, and brought it to shore. Their +heroism saved the lives of five men who otherwise would have drifted away +and probably died. + +Soon our own artillery began to locate the German guns, whose fire +diminished. Then our infantry began to cross the river at a dozen points. +On the opposite bank was a village by the name of Bourg. Up and down hills +we worked our way, forcing the enemy off the ridges. The details of the +operations would not be of interest. We wanted to close with the bayonets, +but the boches weren't ready for that, and they dropped back foot by foot, +keeping up a hot fire. + +On this side of the river were numerous stone quarries, and in these we +found tons and tons of ammunition for the heavy German guns. The type and +manufacturers' marks showed that some of it was made as far back as the +Franco-Prussian war. It had been lying in caches in the quarries for +years, the Prussians having bought titles to some of the land through +spies who posed as Frenchmen. They had been making use of this ammunition +against us. It shows how long ago the war was planned and by whom. In some +of the quarries we uncovered re-enforced concrete fortification and +emplacements for cannon. + +Our commander, Colonel Grant Duff, was in the thickest of the fighting. I +saw him distributing bandoliers of ammunition along the firing line. His +men tried to make him go to the rear, but we were having a tough time to +keep fire superiority, and we needed every man in the line. Suddenly +Colonel Duff staggered and slouched forward on his hands and knees. The +bandoliers he was carrying, scattered. Several men rushed to him but he +got to his feet himself and ordered them back to their posts. An ugly red +stain was spreading over his tartan riding breeches and leggings, but he +staggered onward with the ammunition. He had not gone a dozen steps when +both his arms flew up into the air and he fell backward. This time he did +not move. He had been shot straight through the heart, and another +commander of the Black Watch had gone to join the long line of heroes who +had so often led this regiment to victory. + +Many of our company commanders were picked off by the enemy because of +their distinctive dress, their celluloid map cases affording excellent +targets. + +My memory of this fight is somewhat fragmentary. There are phases which +are all but blanks to me. Others stand out with startling clarity. + +We were advancing in skirmishing order through a wood. A pal of my old +athletic days, Ned McD----, fighting a few yards from me in our scattered +line, fell with a bullet through both thighs. I made him as comfortable as +I could in a nook about twenty paces back from where our men, lying on +their stomachs, were keeping up a steady rifle fire through the +underbrush. I had hardly returned to the line when the whistle of our +platoon commander sounded shrilly, and we were ordered to retire to the +farther edge of the plateau, where our men could have better protection +from the enemy fire. I hurriedly placed McD---- under the edge of a bank, +where, at least, he would not be trampled on by men or horses. + +"Don't attempt to leave the spot, Ned," I said. "I'll get back to you +to-night if there's an opportunity." The chance did come, but when I +reached the spot he had disappeared. Our subsequent meeting--the story of +which I shall tell--is one of my few agreeable recollections in the train +of the tragedy of our campaign. + +But to go back to the fight. + +Soon after leaving the spot where McD---- lay, I joined in a charge on a +line of hidden trenches. We were upon them, and it was steel and teeth +again. I saw an officer run in under a bayonet thrust, and jab his thumbs +into a German's eyes. The boche rolled upon the ground, screaming. How +long we fought, I do not know. When it was over we began to pick up the +wounded. It was night. The Prussian guns were still hammering at us, and +some of the shells set fire to a number of haystacks in the field where we +had crossed the open. It was Hell. In the red glare of the fire the +stretcher bearers hurried here and there with the dying, while others who +had been placed behind the hay-stacks for shelter burned to death when the +stalks caught fire. The few who could, crawled away from the fire. Those +of us who were able to do so, pulled others to safety, and many a man had +his hands and face badly burned, rescuing a helpless comrade. + +The next morning we went at them again. In the first rush, I felt a sudden +slap against my thigh. It did not feel like anything more than a blow from +an open palm. I thought nothing more of it until after the fight, when +some one told me I was bleeding. A bullet had struck the flesh of my +thigh. The slight wound was dressed at the regimental station, and I was +ready for duty again. + +That night I was assigned to outpost duty between the lines. The German +artillery had so covered the roads and the bridge, that for two days the +supply wagons had been unable to come up. I was almost starved. My stomach +ached incessantly from sheer hunger and I was weak from the bleeding of my +wound. It seems terrible, looking back at it, but, during the night, while +my partner watched, I crawled out and searched the dead for rations. I +found none. Fifty paces from our post lay a dead artillery horse. We had +to eat--or drop. What could we do? Wriggling on my belly like a snake, I +drew myself toward the smelling carcass, cut off enough with my jackknife +to do the section, brought it back, and we ate it. + +There followed days of lying in the trenches. Every time one of us showed +a head above the surface of the earth a single shot would ring out, and +more than once it accomplished its mission. Two or three times I almost +caught it myself. At last I made up my mind that the sniper must be in a +sugar factory building which showed clearly above a ridge on the right +front of our position. Jock Hunter and I volunteered to go there and +investigate. Working our way under cover of a wooded patch, we reached the +factory yard where we encountered an old Frenchman who seemed to be the +owner of the place. + +"What do you want?" he demanded. + +"Have you seen a sniper anywhere about here?" I asked. + +"No," he answered in a surly manner, "and you get out of here." + +"We'll get out," I retorted, "and _you'll_ get with us." + +I searched the factory building from cellar to roof but wasn't able to +discover anything incriminating. I didn't know much about sugar +factories, but there was a lot of machinery in the place that didn't look +to me as if it had anything to do with sugar. + +Back to our lines we went, with the supposed Frenchman making a lot of +noise, but walking about two inches in front of the points of our +bayonets. When he was searched we found notes to the value of fifteen +thousand francs sewed in his clothes, but most important of all, there +were papers upon his person which showed that he was a German spy left +there by the Prussians in 1871. He held title to many acres of land, +including some of the quarries where shells had been hidden. + +I told the company officer of the suspicious-looking machinery in the +factory. He sent us back there with a subaltern of the engineers. The +three of us approached the building by different routes. Suddenly, from a +narrow window in the tower of the structure, a rifle cracked, and I saw +the subaltern duck behind a bush. Hunter and I each began to run toward +the factory. Zip! A bullet whistled past my ear, and a few seconds later +Hunter was fired at. + +We all reached the place together. As the firing had been from the tower, +we hurried to the upper storeys, but the subaltern saw at a glance that +the machinery I had noticed was a wireless plant. Afterward we found that +the numerous "lightning rods" on the factory were in reality wireless +antennæ. We went to the top of the tower without finding a single soul, +but in a little room in the cupola, there were a few bread crumbs +scattered over the floor. A corner of the linoleum covering on the floor +of this room looked a little uneven. The subaltern posted each of us in a +different corner with orders to fire three rapid rounds from our rifles +into different points of the floor. He himself was to discharge his +revolver in a like manner. At his signal we all opened fire, splintering +the floor in several places. Then we heard a groan. + +"Come up here!" called the subaltern, in English. There was no answer. He +repeated the command in German. Very slowly the linoleum in the corner of +the room where it was uneven began to hump up. We all stood ready to fire. +A trap door was lifting. Presently the corner of the floor covering was +pushed back completely and a man's face appeared. It was a very white, +drawn face, and, as the shoulders rose above the floor level, we saw that +the man had been struck by at least one of our bullets. His left arm hung +limp by his side. We patched him up. + +The officer told Hunter and myself to cut all wires, which, after some +search, we found had been laid at the bottom of the walls and cunningly +concealed by the grass. Then we took our prisoner back to our lines. An +hour later our howitzers had demolished the factory. Up to this time, the +boche artillery had been planting one shell after another on our +positions, no matter how often we shifted. After the factory was destroyed +we made one more move and no shells found us. + +We dug ourselves into the ground, and the almost continual rain made mud +holes out of the trenches. Our force was not large enough in those days to +allow of the elaborate system of supports and reserves that exists to-day. +The men in the firing trenches had to stay there, and there was no going +back into bomb-proofs for a rest. At night we lay down all in our muddy +clothes with a waterproof sheet beneath us and our greatcoats around us. +The sheet didn't do much good, because after lying in it for a while, it +got pressed down into the mud and slime, which came all over the edges. +Every one had a cold, and many of the men suffered from rheumatism, but no +complaints were heard. It is only when things are going smoothly and +"fags" are lacking that the British Tommy kicks. + +Owing to the lack of supplies, the issues of cigarettes were so few and +far between that the dry tea that was sent up as part rations was used to +make "fags." Tommies would roll the tea in paper in the form of cigarettes +and smoke it. As much as five francs would be offered for one "Woodbine" +when our supplies were exhausted. A "fag" was a most precious thing, and +guarded jealously. A fellow would get into a corner, take a couple of +puffs, "nip" it, then hide it away in a safe place on his person for fear +of thieves in the night! In one instance, I watched a scene that would +have brought forth laughter as well as pity from a civilian. One Tommy +was observed in a corner finishing a half-inch butt, holding it by a pin +which was stuck through it. Three others immediately pounced upon him and +his treasure. After a short argument they formed a truce in the following +manner: each man in rotation was to take one puff. A cockney with a Walrus +moustache was last on the line, and with great sadness on his face and a +sob in his voice said: "Bli' me! w'ere the 'ell do _I_ come in?" + +Out in front of our trenches the mud was full of the bodies of the +dead--mostly Germans, but a few of our men. At night, we went out to bury +them, but the enemy fired on us, so we had to leave them there. The wind +was blowing our way, and they knew the odours of the battlefield were as +hard for us to bear as was their artillery or rifle fire. This scheme they +had learned from the Russians, who practised it during their war with +Japan. + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + + +Our trenches were pretty effective against rifle fire, but we had not yet +learned to make them deep and narrow enough in proportion to protect us +against shrapnel, which is not of much use against troops in the +present-day trench. Our defence lay in leaning up close against the front +wall of the trench, which caused most of the force of the shrapnel burst +to go over our heads. One morning I was hugging the wall of the trench as +close as I could stick, when a "coal box" burst near by. It tore down a +long section of trench wall, killing a number of men. I saw the explosion +and the next thing I knew I heard some one saying: + +"Ah'll bet ye' Joe's snuffed it noo', puir lad." + +I stuck my head up out of what seemed to me to be a ton or two of rock and +dirt and yelled: "No; not this time!" + +You should have seen their faces. Some looked frightened and others +relieved. In a second they began to laugh. Two or three of them helped me +to my feet, and then the laughing became more boisterous. + +"It isn't so d---- funny as you think," I said, getting a little peeved. + +They turned me round and one of them held up the front part of my kilt in +such a way that I could see the whole rear of the garment had been torn +off. Certain portions of my anatomy were as guiltless of clothes as when I +was born. A splinter of the shell, about fourteen pounds in weight, had +given me a close crop. Then I had to laugh too, though I was somewhat +battered and sore, but that night it wasn't so funny. I was almost frozen +while on sentry go, and the next day it was just as bad. + +As I have already told you, the transports were scarce, and we had little +to eat, and absolutely nothing in the way of new equipment. It was all we +could do to get ammunition. After shivering all day, I determined to have +some clothes. Right in front of our position, about twenty-five yards from +the trench, lay a dead member of _H_ company whose name was Jock +Drummond. Under cover of darkness, I sneaked out, and was almost beside +the body, when a flare rocket went up. All of No Man's Land was lit up +like day and I had to lie among the dead as if I had been one of them. It +almost turned my stomach, but I did not dare to move. The Germans were +searching the muddy ground and the least motion on my part would have +brought a dozen or so bullets my way. + +Presently the light from the flare bombs died away, and I wriggled closer +to what had been Drummond. I got my arm under the shoulders of the body, +and started to crawl back to the trench. Twice a rocket went up, and I had +to lie still for minutes with my ghastly companion. The second time, a +German must have seen us move. Three bullets spattered against the ground +a few inches from me, and one struck Drummond. I suppose I was twelve or +fifteen minutes crawling back to the trench. It seemed fifteen years--an +interminable time. I was not yet thoroughly hardened to war, and it went +against my whole nature; but--I had to have clothes. We took the kilt +from Drummond's body, and I wore it for weeks. Drummond, at least, got a +decent burial, and a letter we found in his pocket we mailed to his +mother, to whom it was addressed; so perhaps the deed done with a selfish +purpose bore some good fruits after all. I may add that the stench of the +dead lingered with me for a good many days. + +The night after I got Drummond's kilt, the Germans attacked us. We had +erected barbed-wire entanglements in front of our position. We had empty +jam and bully-beef tins, also empty shell cases from field guns, strung on +the wire in such a way that the least touch would attract attention. + +In this manner we were notified that the Germans were in the act of +striking at us. Now they were coming--hundreds of them. There was a thin +edge of humanity first, like the sheeting of water which precedes a +breaker up a gently sloping beach. Behind it came units--more closely +bunched, and, still farther back, was a mass of soldiery almost like a +battalion on parade. + +It was murder to fire into that wall of misty grey--but the men who made +it were bent on murdering us. I was firing as fast as I could. On my right +was a lad of nineteen, who was one of the 3rd battalion militia of the +Black Watch--a detachment sent to replace our losses. + +"Pray God they may not pass the wire," he half sobbed with every breath. +He was afraid, but he would not run. Every man is afraid in his first +battle. The recruit's face was drawn and white--his lips a thin, pressed +line--but he fired calmly. He did not mind the bullets, but he had not yet +the "spirit of the bayonet," and he dreaded that they should pass the +wire. + +The first of the thin line was at the entanglement. Most of them dropped +before they touched a wire, but others cut a single strand before a bullet +found its berth. They died; but they had succeeded in their mission. A +thread of life cut to sever a strand of wire! + +The wave had risen and was breaking over the entanglement. They were +beginning to get through. Here and there a man lumbered up the gentle +slope toward our trenches only to fall before he reached them. The mass +of them was worming through the wire now. + +A shrill whistle blew. From our trenches came a sound like the beating of +a hundred pneumatic hammers. It was the music of Hell. The machine guns +and artillery were making it, and they were spitting out death in streams +to the accompaniment of their devilish music. God was answering the prayer +of the little lad. The Germans were dropping at the wire; they would not +pass. + +The wee death engines were playing just a foot or so above the bottom of +the wire, and they were literally cutting the legs from under the mass of +grey-clad men. The back wash from the wave which broke against the wire +was thinner than the wash that had preceded it. + +"Thank God!" gasped the boy; "I did not have to use my bayonet." + +"It's guid steel wasted," growled a ginger-whiskered old-timer on my left, +as he wiped the dampness from the blade with his sleeve and dropped the +bayonet back into its scabbard. + +[To-day such an attack on the British lines would invariably be followed +by a counter attack to show the Germans that the initiative lies--always +must lie--with the Allies; but, in those days, we had not the men. Our +lines were often so thin that, had they been pierced at a single point, we +would have been crumpled up like paper.] + +After this fight, we were relieved by an East Yorkshire regiment and told +that we would go to billets about three miles in the rear, but we had +scarcely left the trenches when we received orders to get to billets and +hold ourselves in readiness to occupy a new position in the line. The +Black Watch at that time was again brought up to strength by the addition +of a re-enforcement of five hundred men. + +A party of us was sent to guard a bridge that our engineers were +repairing, it having been blown up the previous day by big shell fire. I +had just got off duty and was sitting before the log fire in the +block-house with a few other fellows, when in popped a little Algerian, as +black as the ace of spades. On recognizing that we were Scots, he held out +his hand and said: + +"My name's MacPherson; what's yours?" + +He made himself right at home, and we shared our bully beef and biscuit +with him. We had just been warming it. Our black "Scotsman" insisted on +staying with us, and so we adopted him as a sort of mascot. + +Shortly after we took up our new position in the line, a German sniper +began to annoy us, and continued to do so almost ceaselessly. Every time +anything showed so much as an inch above the crest, it drew fire, and a +number of our men were shot passing traverses. There was a wood near our +position, and we were pretty sure the fire was coming from there although +we could not locate it. The Algerian was a crack shot, and wanted to prove +it, so he went to our lieutenant and said: + +"Me get sniper, if you like." + +"Go ahead," said the lieutenant, half jokingly. + +It seemed ridiculous to think of "MacPherson"--with his tiny body and his +face of a black angel "getting" anybody. + +The little Algerian disappeared. At the end of three hours, after we had +all given him up as lost or strayed, he returned, clutching a small +untidy package rolled in a French newspaper. + +"Well, then, he didn't eat you up, did he?" some one asked. + +The little Algerian understood English poorly, but he generally got the +gist of things. This time he evidently thought he had been asked whether +he had eaten up the sniper. + +"Ugh!" he exclaimed; "me no _eat_ sniper, but _git_ him. Look here." + +Very gingerly he unrolled his sheet of newspaper and, as evidence that he +had landed his man, exposed to view a human ear. He wanted to present the +ear to the lieutenant, but the officer declined the honour.[1] + +There was much night-patrol work to do on the Aisne. Often we ran into +German reconnaissance patrols. One night I was scouting with another man. +Five or six hundred yards from our lines, we came upon a boche sentry. He +was a big, heavy fellow, and I remember thinking that he looked as if the +hard army life had not yet worked the surfeit of beer out of his system. +He was leaning on the parapet, and appeared to be asleep. We wanted to get +beyond, as he was on the German advance listening post, but, as a +reconnaissance patrol must conceal from the enemy all evidence of its +proximity, we dared not shoot him. So we crawled to one side of him, and +my partner, who was slightly ahead, gave him a thud on the side of the +neck, which only, as we thought, made him sleep the more soundly. He +dropped into the trench. The next moment a head bobbed up and the dose was +repeated with the result that the boche (whom we had mistaken for the +first man) slid back again. We looked over to see whether the second blow +had done its work; there were two forms instead of one. My partner took a +helmet as a souvenir. He kept it for one day and then abandoned it as +inconvenient to carry. He found that a souvenir the size of a boche's +helmet could not be put between the leaves of his St. John's Gospel. + + * * * * * + +Being about the only Black Watch scout left of those that had first landed +in France, I had been almost constantly on duty during the fighting at +the Aisne. You can imagine then how happy I was when we were relieved from +the trenches and billeted a short distance in the rear in hay lofts, +cottages, and stables. + +On our way to billets we were looking forward to a "cushy" time, a good +rest, a decent meal, and a wash, and hoping that the next section of +trench we took over would be much quieter. It did not seem, however, as if +I had had much more than the proverbial "forty winks" when we were sent +back to support the Cameron Highlanders. + +It was the Camerons who had just relieved us and their headquarters were +in a quarry where ours had been. A few "coal boxes" had landed in the +quarry, and reduced it to a mass of débris. Only one officer and bugler +had survived. It was here that Sergeant-Major Burt, of my native town, was +killed. He was reputed to have the "best word of command" in the British +army. We reached the scene in time to help the Scots Guards dig out some +of them. It was a gruesome job. Some of the men had been pinned under +heavy rocks for hours without losing consciousness. + +There was, in particular, one instance of an officer [I cannot recall his +name] whose legs were crushed and pinned down. His head had been cut by a +shell splinter. When we tried to dig him out, he ordered us to attend +first to a private, a few feet away, whose ribs had been smashed in and +who was bleeding from the nose and mouth. + +In all, about thirty officers and men lost their lives here. + +We were called from this scene of carnage to defend a trench line against +the Prussian Guards who were threatening to break through. The machine-gun +and shrapnel fire was terrific, and for a time we were glad to squeeze +ourselves close against the parapet. Then suddenly everything seemed +uncomfortably quiet. Wounded were screaming and groaning all about us; +men, who had not been struck, were muttering to themselves--driven half +mad by the bombardment; but, the instant the roar of the guns and shell +explosions ceased, all seemed still. The Prussians were undoubtedly +preparing to charge us, but they must have been slow in getting started. +We got hurried orders to get ready to go over the top and surprise them. + +I thought of but one thing as I ran forward; that was--"Blighty." On going +to billets it had been my intention to write to the folks at home the next +day after getting a rest, but our stay had been so short that to do so had +been impossible. And now my thought was: "Perhaps I sha'n't return." + +The Prussians seemed surprised by our quick attack, and the offensive was +wrested from them. We became the assaulters. How I got through the +entanglement I cannot tell. All I know is that I left part of my kilt +dangling amid the wires. However, before we reached their trench line, the +Prussians had scrambled over their parapet to meet us. In the general +mix-up I found myself locked in the arms of a bear-like Prussian Guardsman +who evidently had lost his rifle and bayonet. His knee was at my knee--his +chest pressed against my chest. Our faces touched. + +I slid my hands up along the barrel of my rifle until they were almost +under the hilt of the bayonet. Very slowly I shoved the butt back of me +and to the side. Lower and lower I dropped it. The keen blade was between +us. All the Hun seemed to know about wrestling was to hug. He dared not +let go. Had he known a few tricks of the game, I should not be writing +this to-day. + +Instinctively I felt that the point of my bayonet was in line with his +throat. With every ounce of strength in my body, I wrenched my shoulders +upward and straightened my knees. The action broke his hold, and my +bayonet was driven into his greasy throat. His arms relaxed; I was +drenched with blood, but it was not my own. I staggered away from him, +wrenching my rifle free as he fell. + +The thrust I had used has come to be known as the "jab point"; they are +teaching it to the American army to-day. It developed naturally from just +such situations as I have described. + +It was an awful _mêlée_. There were men swinging rifles overhead; others, +kicking, punching, and tearing at their adversaries; while others again, +wrestling, had fallen to the ground, struggling one to master the other. +One Highlander, who had been struck by a bullet just before reaching the +enemy parapet, grasped his rifle, and crawled as best he could the +intervening distance, waiting his chance to get his man. At last it came. +His bayonet found its mark, before the bulky Hun could ward off the +unexpected stroke from the wounded lad. In a moment they were both lying +prone on the earth. The Highlander, I am sure, died content--content that +he had got his quota at least. + +It was the wildest confusion, but its impressions were absolutely +photographic. I can see it all, again, this moment. + +The Prussians were finally obliged to retire to their reserve trenches. We +took their firing trench, but had to vacate it because it was subject to +an enfilading fire from the enemy. As we retreated in company squads, we +kept up a steady fire. + +While making for our trenches, I shouted to one of the fellows on my left +to keep down as we were drawing the enemy's fire. The sentence was hardly +completed, when something hot struck me on the left jaw. It seemed as if I +had been hit with a sledge hammer. I spun round, stumbled, and fell to +the ground. I realized that it was a bullet and tried to swear at the +boches, but all I could do was to spit and cough, for the blood was almost +choking me. The bullet, entering my cheek and shattering some of my teeth +in passing, made its exit by way of my mouth. My warning, however, had +saved the life of the lad I had shouted to. He flopped to the ground just +in time to avoid a sweep of machine-gun fire, and managed to crawl to our +trench, which was a very short distance off. + +I was sent to the regimental dressing station. There were scores there +more seriously wounded than I, and they were, of course, attended to +first. By the time it was my turn, my face was so completely smeared with +congealed blood that the orderly couldn't locate the wound. He wiped my +face with a bunch of grass and applied a dressing. I was relieved to hear +that it was a clean wound. + +In the dressing station, suffering as I was, I noticed two men forcibly +controlling a wounded comrade. After a moment I recognized him as the +little recruit who had prayed that the Germans might not pass the wire +and come to bayonet fighting with us. His features were so changed that he +seemed aged a dozen years and--believe it or not, as you will--his hair, +which had been sleek and black, was entirely white. He had been only +slightly wounded but the heavy bombardment had driven him entirely mad. He +was continually crying for his mother. I afterward learned that he and his +mother, who was blind, had lived together and had been warmly devoted to +each other, but at the outbreak of the war, his mother felt it her duty to +send him to fight. The boy recovered his mental faculties a month or two +after being sent home. + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + + +After the first dressing of my wound, I was sent to our transport station, +a short distance behind the lines, being told that in a few days I would +be fit for duty again. There was a farm here. By the time I reached the +farm house the pain of my wound was terrific. It was like a toothache all +over my head and down into my neck and shoulders. Nevertheless, I threw +myself onto a pile of straw in the barn and, after tossing about a while, +managed to fall asleep. + +When I awoke it was daylight again, the entire night having passed. +Leaning over me was a little French girl--she must have been about eight +years old--with a pitcher of milk, which she held out toward me. In spite +of the condition of my mouth, I managed to swallow the milk. I was almost +starved and very weak. I tried to persuade the little girl to accept a +franc for the milk, but she shook her head, and skipped off. Following +her out of the barn, I met her mother to whom, also, I offered payment; +she, too, refused it. + +We could hear the rumbling of big guns; shells were exploding not far +away; then came the noise of transport wagons approaching the farm. I +turned back toward the barn and had not gone more than ten paces when +there was a crash overhead. Splinters and shrapnel spattered into the farm +yard. I ducked and hastened my pace. Then there was a thud behind me, as +if a bag of potatoes had been dropped from a lorry. Almost simultaneously +came a scream from the little girl. + +I turned just in time to see the mother of the child fall, roll down out +of the doorway in which the two were standing, and lie ominously still. +The little girl stood gazing in terror at the fallen woman. Her little +hands were raised shoulder high before her and she shrieked--hysterically +and helplessly. As I hastened toward them the child seemed to realize the +awful thing that had happened and threw herself upon her mother's body, +pressing her face against the dying woman's. I felt the tears trickling +down my cheek and smarting in my wound as I heard the child's heartbroken +exclamations--terms of endearment they seemed, and pitifully eloquent +enough, though the tongue in which they were spoken was unknown to me. + +A lad of ten, barefoot and in overalls, came running from the house. He +knelt and stared into his mother's face, then he turned a dumb, +questioning glance at me. I could not meet his eyes. As I got my arms +under the shoulders of the fallen woman and started to drag her body into +the house, I could hear the little fellow sobbing softly but he didn't +speak. Hoping that it still might be of use, he helped with all his little +strength to move his mother's body. Inside the house, we pushed the +tumbled hair back from her face. A shrapnel bullet had entered her +forehead. It was useless to ask if human aid could serve her. Death had +been almost instantaneous. Then I saw a sight that spoke a volume on the +cruelty of war and the heroism of the sturdy French blood could I but tell +it. + +The little lad gathered his sister in his protecting arms and +sat--speaking, manfully, words of comfort to her--beside the dead body of +their mother, shells meanwhile bursting all about the home which had been +their childhood haven of love and safety, and brick and plaster falling +about them from its shattered roof. The children were in serious danger, +but they steadfastly refused to leave their mother. I did not know enough +French to reason with them, and it was not until some French muleteers +sought shelter behind the building that I was able, through them, to +persuade the boy and girl to go farther to the rear, with them. + +After this experience, like one in a dream, I made my way back to the +trenches, heedless of the shells whizzing overhead. The sight I had seen +haunted me. + +Upon reaching my trench, I was brought back to my senses by some of my +"muckin'-in" pals, who threw all sorts of questions at me in a jesting +fashion, such as: + +"Hello, Reuter, been tae Blighty an' back? Ye're a better sprinter than Ah +thocht"; "Hoo's aw wi' th' fokes at hame? Did ye remember the fags?" + +It was some time before I was sufficiently myself again to be able to +answer them in the proper strain. My head looked like a cotton-and-bandage +demonstration, and I was a sorry looking sight altogether. I lived for the +next few days on bully beef biscuits, softened, and oxo cubes dissolved in +water. + +In a few days we were relieved by French troops, and we force-marched +north to stem the German thrust at Calais. + +After some stiff marching, we entrained "somewhere." Our "camions" were +coal trucks, which had been only partially unloaded. Some of my more +hygienic mates who were under the impression that they did not have as +much grime-caked mud sticking to them as the rest, suggested that our +truck be cleaned out, but the general eagerness for a corner "doss" put +this suggestion out of consideration at once. There was a scrambling +match, and when our allotment got entirely in, the quartermaster was +soundly "cussed." It seemed as if the whole regiment had been detailed to +this car. Even in these circumstances, the whimsical philosophy of the +private soldier asserted itself. A little chap, jammed in a corner, said +he wanted a place by the side door, so that he could "see the scenery"! + +We travelled all night, and on the following morning drew up at a junction +where a body of recruits joined us. They regarded us with staring eyes, +and I suppose we did look like a lot of cave men, being unshaven, +long-haired, grimy, and black as sweeps with the coal dust. We did not +mind this half so much as the recruits. At the junction, we got a sandwich +and a canteen of coffee which had a most exquisite flavour of rum. This +was so pronounced that some summoned their nerve sufficiently to go back +for a "double attack," but were met with "Napoo." + +Conditions have changed now, so that Tommy is able to keep himself shaved +and personally neat, even in the mud of the trenches. It helps keep up our +morale and shatter that of the boches. There is a distinct psychological +effect on the enemy when clean-shaven, tidily-dressed men come up out of +the earth and fall upon them. + +Very soon we commenced our journey again. How long we were on the train I +cannot recall, but finally we reached a large town where we got off. On +our arrival we could hear the incessant rumbling of guns, and knew we were +going to have another hot time of it. My face was better, but my beard! I +had not had a shave since before Mons! While on the retreat, most of us, +in order to lighten our loads, had thrown away the little items of our +equipment that we did not urgently need. We kept only our greatcoats and +such articles as we required for warmth. + +We force-marched until early morning, when we halted for a rest, as the +feet of many of our men were skinned and in bad shape. For myself, I was +walking on my uppers, as the soles and heels of my shoes were completely +worn out. + +We resumed the march. We understood that we were in the vicinity of Ypres. +We force-marched for all we were worth, and late in the afternoon we came +to a village. Here we were billeted on the side nearest us. After getting +rations, we needed no coaxing to sleep. + +It was still dark when we got orders to fall in and march at top speed. +The village was being shelled. + +This seemed to have been a spot for concentrating for we met with other +regiments there--one of them the King's Royal Rifles. Beyond the far side +of the village at a certain distance one could see trees scattered here +and there, but farther on the country was flat. It was in this direction +we marched. + +Orders were whispered along the line that we were to maintain strict +silence and no "fags" were to be lighted, as we were near the enemy, and +were attempting to move without his knowledge. Our officers gave us the +encouraging news that we were about to be up against some hard +fighting--harder than we had so far experienced. Our commander, Major J. +T. C. Murray, expressed the hope that we would keep the name of the "Black +Watch" where our predecessors had placed it--in the foremost rank. And so +we advanced in darkness, with our minds on serious things. + +We were in two lines of skirmishing order, one pace apart. Our object was +to reach the flat ground beyond the trees and dig ourselves in before +dawn. We did this. The digging was an easy matter as the earth was marshy +and our entrenching tools proved fit enough for the task. Shells were +flying overhead continually, making an awful humming noise, and some of +them passed so low that the air disturbances blew caps from off the heads +of our men. + +There was not a murmur or a word of complaint from our wearied and worn +ranks. We had almost completed our shallow trenches when the boche opened +fire at us with his field guns. It was hardly dawn. We kept on digging, +crouching in all positions to keep under cover from the bombardment. + +I suppose that every one under shell fire, at one time or another, in some +manner, prays. I know that I often have done so, although not so +ostentatiously as some of the men. I have seen them, when the shells were +rocking the earth and splinters were whistling past our ears, drop to +their knees and swear to their Maker that, if they were spared, when they +returned home they would go to church regularly and be kinder to their +wives and children. + +Some of our men ceased digging after reaching what they thought a safe +depth, and crouched against the parapet for safety. Others of us started +making what are known to-day as dug-outs. Jock Hunter and I made one to +hold both of us. We dug away under the parapet so that we could crawl in +with only our feet sticking out. This not only sheltered us from the +unceasing shrapnel, but from the rain also. Some of the boys lying in the +trenches had been killed and some wounded from the shrapnel bursting +overhead, so the officers gave orders that we were all to make these +dug-outs. + +A man from each company had been detailed for look-out duty, at which we +all took turn of an hour each. It was noon before we heard any response +from our artillery, but then it checked the German fire considerably. + +The rain came down heavily, flooding us out of our dug-outs, and we were +obliged to stand in the trench like a lot of half-drowned rats, our +greatcoats on and our waterproof sheets over them. At first we were +standing on earth, but before long the muck had reached over our ankles. + +There was at least one virtue in the rain--it softened our bully-beef +biscuits, which we ate standing in the trenches, wet to the skin and with +water dripping from our greatcoats and kilts. + +Toward night the rain ceased. We had expected to be attacked at any minute +that day, but for some reason or another we escaped it. We got a rum +issue. Then volunteers were asked for, to go and fetch some hot "gunfire." +(It was hot when the ration party got it, but quite cold when it reached +us.) + +That night I was given orders to go on night reconnaissance. While I was +away on this duty, the engineers came up and our fellows dug in again in +advance of the old trenches. The engineers then constructed a barbed-wire +entanglement in front of our position. + +Wet and cold, and covered with mud, I went off on patrol duty, and many a +shell hole I stumbled into to make me wetter. The enemy's position was +about seven hundred yards from ours. + +When moving between the lines, I noticed the outline of a big man. I don't +know why I didn't fall down upon seeing him. My instinct told me to go +ahead to make sure who it was. We were making straight for each other; as +we met we almost brushed sleeves; then, with no more than a glance at each +other, we passed on; but you may be sure that I had my jackknife in the +proper hand. I could not say even now whether or not he was a German. + +I returned to our lines and, after reporting, helped to finish the +trenches. I heard the following morning that one of our patrols had +captured a German. I wondered if he might be the big fellow I had passed +in the dark. + +We received the order to "stand to" at dawn. Other troops had dug +themselves in some distance behind us during the night. We got another rum +issue just before "stand to"; it was highly appreciated. + +At dawn, the Germans attacked in mass formation, but our rifle and +artillery fire made big gaps as they advanced. They did not reach our +trenches. They retired, leaving piles of dead. The nearest of their dead +were not more than one hundred yards from us. + +This time we had very few casualties in our battalion--largely on account +of our having dug in ahead of our old position, the range of which the +enemy had. Their fire constantly over-reached us. + +After this attack was over, we heard the buzzing of airplanes, and +although we had been instructed not to look up--the white of faces being +very conspicuous from above--we ventured to do so, and saw a British plane +smash headlong into a boche machine. Both went end over end to earth, and +the pilots undoubtedly were killed. The Englishman, in giving his life, +had saved perhaps hundreds of us in the trenches. + +In the afternoon, after a heavy bombardment, which tore up some of our +barbed wire, the enemy made another charge. This time they came over in +wave formation. The order was passed along to "fix bayonets," and, as soon +as the Germans reached the barbed wire, to spring out and meet them. This +we did. + +We fought off line after line. The Black Watch suffered many casualties +here, but not so many as the Germans. This crowd had less love for the +bayonet than their brothers at the Aisne. Soon we were chasing them out +beyond the barbed wire. We took many prisoners. If it had not been for the +officer's whistle to retire, I think we would have driven them to Berlin, +the way we felt that day. However, back we had to come. + +The enemy's artillery fire began to pound on us as we were making for our +trenches, and some of our fellows were bowled over as the result of it. As +many of the wounded as we could bring, we brought back with us. + +One fellow was lying about fifty yards away from the trench. Two of his +mates volunteered to go out for him, but in the attempt they were wounded +and forced to come back without him. Two others then went out; these +managed to bring him in--but he was dead. He was a young lad--one of the +latest to join our battalion. His equipment was practically new. I was +given his shoes; they were much too big for me, but nevertheless I was +grateful for them. + +That night I helped to carry back more of the wounded, and, with the rest, +assisted the engineers to fix up the barbed wire. This, coupled with the +fighting of the day, well nigh exhausted me, but I didn't get the rest +which I so much desired and expected, as I was detailed as one of our +company ration party, comprising six men and a non-commissioned officer. + +Owing to occasional shell fire, we were obliged to crawl close to the +ground while on our way to the supply station. When we were coming back, +the boches used flare lights which made us visible to them. I had a box of +biscuits on my head. It made a fine target, and when I reached our +trenches I found that bullets had pierced it. + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + + +For a day or two after this we had comparative quiet. Only bursts of shell +fire threatened us, but these were so common as to be hardly noticed. The +stench of the dead was terrible--worse than we had yet experienced. Men +turned sick and were positively useless for hours, many being sent to the +base hospital for treatment for their violent nausea. Others developed +rheumatic fever from sleeping in the mud and water. + +Shortly after this, during the night time, we were relieved by an English +regiment, composed of men who had not yet seen the worst of the fighting. +They were fresh and inclined to be jovial. They asked rather carelessly +about conditions as we had found them; we told them plainly what they had +to expect. That seemed to sober them somewhat but not greatly. So we +extended to them the conventional wish for the "best o' luck" and left +them to find out for themselves that they were in a campaign which could +only be called one of present desperation and ultimate sacrifice. + +Upon passing through an unidentified village, we found it deserted and +nothing but a heap of ruins. The surrounding country as far as the eye +could see resembled the lid of a pepper box, being full of shell holes. +Many an oath came from the fellows, in the dark, as they stumbled into the +shell holes full of water. + +At last we reached our billets. Here, at least, there were signs of life. +Troops and transports were passing us continuously, but we knew +nevertheless that we were near the firing line, for we could hear the +bursting of shells and see the flashes. The country was a little more +hilly here, as far as we could see in the semi-darkness. We were more than +glad to get into a stable or barn; it meant a chance to get dry and to +stretch our overworked limbs. + +After a little while we lined up in the farm yard and got some hot +bully-beef stew in our canteens, a two-pound loaf among eight of us, some +jam (needless to say "apple and plum"), and a "daud" of cheese; also a +quarter-pound tin of Golden Flake cigarettes between two, and, as a sort +of dessert, we got the mail from Blighty! Happy? why the word doesn't +express it! We were simply elevated a million feet in the air--tired as we +were. + +We discussed and played the different football league games over and over +again as they were described in the newspapers we had just received. We +imagined ourselves once more among the spectators at a cup-tie match +between the Celtic and Dundee at Ibrox Park. + +For a time war was entirely forgotten; but only for a time! With a sudden +"jerk" we would be brought back to our senses and our present whereabouts +by the voice of the orderly corporal asking whether Private McNeil, or +Lance-Corporal Watson, or perhaps Corporal McGregor had been seen down the +line wounded; or was he dead? It was war, all right, and not football we +were playing at! + +Jock Hunter and I were still "muckin'-in" pals, sharing our rations and +troubles alike. Very soon the party broke, each man making for his +allotted place to rest. I can recall so vividly the feeling that came +over me as I lay down on that straw. It was identical with that which I +had felt after coming back from a charge that had been a touch struggle! I +fell asleep sighing and wondering how soon it would be when my letters +would find no claimant for them! + +We passed the next day writing letters, scraping the mud off our clothes, +and at rifle inspection. More men joined us. One of the new arrivals lent +me his razor, and I performed, what was, to me, the awful task of shaving. +It made me feel like a new man, and they said I looked it. We were told +that we would no doubt have a few days' rest, and then move to Dixmude or +some town with a name like that. We were instructed not to leave our +billets, and told that whenever we heard a boche plane overhead we should +make for cover, or stand perfectly still with our backs to the walls of +the farm houses, without stirring, until the machine was out of sight. +That day we noticed a few of Fritz's sausage balloons in the direction of +the firing line. + +That night our officer, Lieutenant McRae, came round fully equipped; one +look at him was enough; we knew there was to be no more "dossing" in the +soft straw for us. + +"Fall in at the double, men! We have to take over a new section of +trenches not far from here." Such was the greeting he gave us. We got into +"harness" all right, but how we grouched and "cussed"! + +After lining up on the muddy road with the remainder of the battalion, the +usual order was issued: "All fags out; no talking!" + +We started off, wading through mud; with every now and then an occasional +halt and more grouching in the ranks. With three hours of this to our +credit, we found ourselves zigzagging round little hillocks along narrow +muddy cart roads. We passed a concealed battery of small howitzers. Some +of the English chaps noticed that we were "jocks" (the name the English +give the kilties) and began cheering us up with: + +"Down't wish y' enny 'arm--but ye'r gowin' ta 'ave an 'ell of an 'ot tyme, +you Jocks!" + +We had ploughed our way through the mud only a few hundred yards beyond +the battery when my nostrils sensed that there must have been some +killing going on in the vicinity. A little farther on we came to an open +section and turned to the right just before making a small incline. I +could see a few wrecked transport wagons and dead horses. We remained +behind a hillock and were told that we were near the enemy. We were about +to enter trenches which lay quite close to the German lines our officer +told us, adding that we could have reached this point from our billets in +half an hour, but that it was necessary for us to make the exceedingly +long détour. Most of us knew that this was the direction in which we had +seen the sausage balloon, which brought back the memory of the heavy +firing. + +We got into the natural ditches, which served us as trenches. We did not +relieve any troops at this place, and there were no signs of any having +been here, but on both flanks at some distance off, there were regiments +entrenched. The situation was not one in the least to be desired. We were +practically on an open space. + +We were just in the act of starting work with our entrenching tools when +all at once--"s-c-ch-eew!"--and the sky was alight with a flare rocket. +There was no necessity for orders to hug the earth; we just simply flopped +on our faces. Then it seemed as if the whole of the German artillery +opened fire. We did not dare even to look up for quite some time. However, +it seemed that we were not the party at which the firing had been +concentrated; one by one our boys ventured to peep over in the direction +of the flashes. The whizzing and groaning of the shells overhead was +terrific, but they passed high. During the flashes, I looked over the open +space in front of us. We were occupying a sort of high ground with slight +mounds. To our right flank the country seemed more regular. + +So far none of us had been struck, and we prepared to dig in properly. We +had hardly levelled out our parapet, when an infernal noise of machine-gun +and rifle fire let loose on our right flank some hundreds of yards off. +Some of our look-out sentries seemingly got a bit nervous and commenced +firing too--at nothing. Then the whole line took it up. This racket kept +up fully twenty minutes--and we had not seen as much as a shadow. Shortly +after this, Major Murray, our acting Commanding Officer, came along the +line and gave orders to strengthen our position as the Germans were +expected to make a big charge along the whole front in the morning. I was +then told to select a man from my company (_D_) and go out between the +lines to secure all the information possible with regard to the distance +of the German lines from ours. Particularly, I was instructed to locate +the places where they could crawl up in our direction without being seen. + +There was no use asking for a volunteer for no sane person longed for this +risky job, so I approached a strapping young fellow by the name of Lawson +and accosted him with: + +"Lawson, coming with me?" + +"I'm with you," was his reply. Taking up his rifle, which had been leaning +against the parapet, he added, as an afterthought: "But, whaur are ye +bound fur?" + +"We're bound for the German lines, to get information," I answered. I +added that he had better hand over his keepsakes to a chum--the keepsakes +that he'd want his mother or his lass to receive--as we might not come +back again. + +Dark as it was, I yet could see his chin fall and his face pale. With a +very serious look and without another word he emptied his pockets. Very +thoughtfully he took two packets of "Woodbine" cigarettes out of his +haversack and handed them over to a chap sitting on the fire step with: +"Here, Donald, ye ken what tae dae wi' these if Ah'm not back afore +mor-r-nin'." + +We crawled out for about fifty yards, then, as there were little mounds in +front of and behind us, we got up to our feet. + +We proceeded very cautiously, round the many little mounds, stumbling +through shallow ditches, and crawling over the higher spots. + +"Y' seem tae hae th' heng o' thees," said Lawson, as he stumbled and +crawled behind me. "Ah'll dae ma' best tae follow your lead. It's a braw +new beesness tae me." [He was referring to my method of keeping to natural +cover.] + +"I've been trained in scouting," I replied. "Just do as I do, and with +anything like luck we'll come out all whole." + +Memory took me back to the days I had spent in scouting practice in India, +under Major Bruce, the famous scoutmaster of the 2nd Battalion, Fifth +Gurkhas--forty days, once, from Dunga-Gully up to the borders of Cashmere +and back. Little did I think, in those days, that I'd ever find myself +sneaking my way through the flats of Flanders, hiding from enemies in the +air as well as on the earth. + +Now and again we heard a rifle shot--at times quite a distance away; then +again, quite close. Often we'd hear the "swish" until at last, the bullet +found its mark, with a "click." + +We must have been out for over two hours, before we neared the German +position. At last we could hear an occasional mumbling of hushed voices, +and make out the dim outline of wire entanglements. The German position +seemed to be on a little plateau. + +While we were lying on our bellies, my partner could turn his face and +look at me, but neither of us dared utter a word. + +Fifteen minutes seemed like a century. I was more used to it than my +partner, but even at that I must admit that I was as nervous as a man that +is about to have a death sentence pronounced on him. It is the feeling +that possesses every man that patrols "No Man's Land." + +I motioned to Lawson, and we crawled away like worms that had been +overlooked by a hungry crow. We reached our trenches quickly after getting +into the broken ground; it was not until we had actually entered them that +he opened his mouth. Then, approaching his friend, Donald, he demanded his +fags. In a whisper, he triumphantly announced that we had been near enough +to hear the Germans talking in their trenches. + +I went to our officer and reported. + +It was in the morning after "stand down," when our rum issue had been +passed, that we learned what the racket had been the previous night. The +Germans had tried a night attack on the King's Royal Rifles. + +The morning was cold and misty. It was easy to see that we were about six +hundred yards from Fritz's trenches, and that his, like ours, were on +slightly higher ground than that which lay between the lines. There was a +farm house here and there, behind us. + +I could see a line of trenches on either flank but the one on the right +was most easily perceptible. There was an open space at the end of our +battalion line on the right flank, and our left flank was bent back +slightly. We also learned that we had moved into this position without the +Huns knowing that we were near. I could see the boche balloons some +distance behind the enemy lines. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + + +It was still morning when it was reported by one of our look-out men, who +had been scanning the boche lines with a pair of field glasses (only his +head showing above the top of the trench made for observation purposes), +that the Germans were walking about the tops of their trenches in a +careless fashion. + +Naturally some of the last batch of men to join us wanted to have a pop at +them, but our officers said no--to let sleeping dogs lie. Most of us +peeped over and saw them. Doing so, my eye caught a large number that had +concentrated behind a mound to our right front--directly in advance of the +English troops that held a section of trenches on our right flank. I +should judge that there were about a hundred of the enemy,--some holding +up white handkerchiefs in the lead, and a mass of them a little distance +behind. My heart was in my throat, and I wondered whether the K. R. R.'s +were aware of their presence. I had heard stories of Germans with flags of +truce. But so, evidently, had the commanders of the Rifles, for soon there +was enacted before me a tragedy which I shall never forget. + +About one hundred of the Rifles went forward to bring in this batch of +Germans who were advancing apparently to surrender. They advanced very +slowly and cautiously. Just when they were within short range, the Germans +in front, bearing white flags but no arms, threw themselves onto the +ground, machine guns began firing over their heads and those with rifles +began firing point blank into the ranks of the British. + +The K. R. R.'s were ready for them. They opened up like a fan, their +machine guns and rifles began crashing and the Huns were thrown into +confusion. They dropped like clay pipes in a shooting gallery. The crews +of the boche machine guns were picked off by the riflemen, and the K. R. +R.'s machine guns kept on pouring lead into the mass. It was dreadful! I +saw piles of Huns, dead and wounded, the latter waving like a shock of +hay with some one underneath it trying to get out. Their officers, in the +rear, shot down man after man who tried to run. They drove them forward +like bullocks to the slaughter, for many of the Germans were too confused +to shoot and scores had thrown away their rifles. Suddenly the K. R. R.'s +machine guns became silent. For a few seconds the rifle fire became faster +and more furious. Then it stopped. Steel bayonets glinted as the K. R. +R.'s charged. There was no mercy shown. There were no prisoners taken. Of +the five thousand Germans, who had gone out to do murder in cold blood, I +do not believe five hundred got away. They were practically annihilated. +The bayonets finished the work that the machine guns and rifles had +started. What would you have? Men would not spare a nest of venomous +snakes. It was a just retribution, but my stomach turned at it. None who +had not seen it could even picture the sight. + +For the next few days we had it "cushy," except for boche shrapnel +showering our trenches at intervals, daily. + +The cold, however, had increased enough to cause much discomfort. It was +always cold, and especially so when there was a fierce wind and the rain +drenched us. It was the common thing for the men to be up to their knees +in water and slush. + +We had been almost two weeks in this position when we noticed queer +happenings in a farm house a few hundred yards behind our lines. The +watchfulness of our officers revealed the significance of some apparently +trifling things. + +In the daytime, the shade on a window facing the German line would +frequently be moved. Sometimes it would be drawn the full length of the +window; then, if the German artillery had been pounding away at our right +flank, immediately it would switch in the direction of our batteries. +Sometimes the shade would be only half way down. More than once I saw a +woman at this same window; and sometimes she would be leading a cow about +some distance behind our lines. At night a light would be seen now and +again moving past the window. + +Agents of the British Intelligence Department, summoned to the front by +our officers, discovered that a complete system of signalling was carried +on between the people in the isolated farm house and the Germans. Three +men and a woman were marched out of the house and taken away. After that, +our concealed batteries, in new positions, hadn't a single casualty for +days, whereas, previously, they had been almost constantly under heavy and +accurate fire! + +During the few days following the "white flag" affair, when the boches' +shelling was not quite so steady, we passed our time playing cards. +Occasionally one of the fellows, who had split a piece of wood at one end, +would insert a card in it and hold it over the parapet. Nine times out of +ten a German sniper--there were many of them in the vicinity--would put a +hole in it with a bullet. + +These snipers caused us a great deal of trouble, particularly when we +wanted water, which was procurable only at a little brook on our left +flank. To get it was such a risky proposition that there were no "detail +parties" formed in the daytime, and any one who went in quest of it, did +so at his own risk. Many a one who did so venture paid for his daring +with his life. The snipers were always busy, even at night, and seemed to +have a line on this spot. + +A few of the fellows, rather than risk going to the brook, filled their +water bottles from a duck pond--full of a dirty, green, slimy +liquid--situated behind our line. The result was sickness to most of those +that drank it and nearly all had to be sent to hospital. + +Late one afternoon our section (thirteen men) was all together. Four of us +were playing cards in an effort at distraction, for we were nearly insane +from the lack of drinking water. For two days we had had to eat our bully +beef and biscuits dry. We made it up that we should play a game of "phat" +(a common card game among the Tommies), and that the one with the lowest +count would have to take the section's water bottles and fill them at the +brook. This--to use a Yankee expression--was a "cinch" for me, or at least +I thought so at the beginning of the game; and so did the others, who, +because of my record as a winner at the game were of the opinion that I +couldn't lose. + +However, toward the middle of the game I became nervous. So far I had +taken only two tricks. Things got worse as the playing progressed, and it +wound up with me the loser. + +Without a word, they collected the thirteen bottles and hung them on my +left shoulder like decorations on a Christmas tree. + +Silently I made off. I reached the brook without mishap. + +I had almost half of the bottles filled when--zip--a bullet struck very +close to me. I tumbled into the water, pulling the bottles with me, and, +in a lying position, continued filling them. This was not what one might +call a comfortable or a convenient position in which to fill water +bottles. They filled very slowly indeed. + +As soon as they were full, I placed them on my shoulders; rose, dripping, +from the water; and made for our line. I had not gone more than twenty +paces when a bullet struck close at my heels. I jumped and looked upward, +hoping to fool the sniper into thinking he was firing too high, causing +him to set his sight for a shorter range. The next shot fell shorter +still. I looked up again and hastened my pace. A third shot visibly +struck a rock and enabled the sniper to correct his range. + +Almost immediately after came another bullet, which I knew had got +something about me. Instantly I flopped down and lay still. There was more +scattered firing from the German lines and I was trembling with "nerves." + +At last, I could not stand it longer. I was afraid the sniper would fire +at me again--not an uncommon practice with the boche sniper, who, when he +drops his man, usually sends over a make-sure shot. So I sprang to my feet +and rushed for the trenches, arriving there in safety. + +When I got into our section I found my pals sitting around and looking +very gloomy. Upon seeing me they greeted me with: + +"Ye've been a h---- o' a time awa'. We were juist beginnin' tae think we'd +lost our watter bottles." + +When I unloaded my cargo I found that two of the bottles had been pierced +by a bullet. Each man of the section made a thirsty effort to lay hands on +his own bottle. I was left with the two damaged ones besides my own. Then +they told me how a shell had exploded and killed two of the card +players--the owners of the damaged bottles. The water that was left in +these was distributed among the others. + +Patrol work, mostly at night, continued to be my chief duty. On one +occasion I lost my bearings, and presently found myself almost upon one of +the boche listening posts. + +"So long as I have come thus far, I will edge in and take a chance," I +said to myself. + +I knew it would be almost as dangerous to go back as to go forward, for at +any moment a man might crane his neck above the parapet, see me moving, +and fire. Then there was the momentary chance that a star bomb would light +the heavens and all the earth between the lines, in which case a thousand +rifles would begin sputtering at everything that moved or seemed to be +alive. Each second I expected it to come. My nerves felt as if they were +drawn taut--taut as the barbed wire which the boches string so tight that +if it is cut in the night it will twang like the string of a violin. But +the quick shot in the night did not come, and I wriggled forward through +the wire. + +I was almost at the edge of the parapet of the listening post. I heard +voices whispering in German. Some one was scrambling up over the parapet. +How was I to get away? I could not, so I lay on my belly and buried my +face in the earth--the earth which should be wholesome and life giving, +but which stunk with unspeakable things. + +Three heads appeared above the parapet. Shoulders followed, and cautiously +a patrol of three men wriggled out from the listening post and then +separated. One of them, in getting out, slipped, and I could hear him +"strafing" under his breath, as he vanished into the night. Another head +thrust itself above the parapet. I was sure a pair of eyes were staring at +me, though I could not see them in the dark. + +Once more I lay as if dead. "What's the difference?" I thought; in a few +moments, probably, I would be, and then I should not mind the sight or the +odour of what was around me. + +The man in the listening post reached down for something at his feet. I +was sure that he was going to hurl a grenade in my direction. Something +came hurtling through the air. I sunk my teeth into my lip to keep from +crying out, and wondered how the explosion would feel--whether there was +any anguish in being torn to bits instantaneously. The dark object plumped +onto the ground at my side and bumped against my ribs. How long it took +for it to explode! Then I knew it was only a stone. I continued to lie as +still as one dead. + +Another stone struck my shoulders. The sentry did not wish to rouse the +whole line and start a wastage of ammunition by causing a thousand rounds +or so to be fired uselessly into the night, as would probably be the case +should he discharge his rifle or throw a grenade. He crawled up over the +parapet and wriggled toward me. I tried to prepare myself to spring up +when the time came, but I dared not so much as move a foot to get a better +grip on the ground. He himself did not dare to rise. He knew that his +silhouette would draw fire from the trenches. It would be like a battle +between snakes, both of us on the ground there, fighting each other on our +bellies. + +I saw the dull gleam of his bayonet. Still I did not dare to let him know +I was alive. He was only inches from me. I could hear his deep breathing. +He was not sure whether or not I was a corpse, but he was going to take no +chances. He lunged with the steel. I managed to jam the butt of my rifle +against his head. It disconcerted him, but there was not enough force +behind the blow, struck from my awkward position, to stun him. He rolled +upon me. I felt for his throat. He was a big, greasy boche and my fingers +could scarcely encircle his neck, but I squeezed and squeezed, for my life +depended upon my eight fingers and my two thumbs. If I did not throttle +him, he would kill me. + +He was getting weaker. I felt his muscles relax. I could see his eyes. I +do not think I shall ever forget them. They bulged from their sockets and +it seemed that they would pop from his head and strike me in the face. It +sickened me, but it was his life or mine. He was clawing frantically but +weakly. Now he was still. It was brutal, but war is brutal. + +After emptying his pockets I crawled to the edge of the dugout listening +post. Inside were three men, two lying in the bottom of the hole, the +third sitting with his back against the wall of the excavation. The boche +I had just left probably had disobeyed orders in crawling out without +awakening one of them. The error cost him his life and saved mine. + +For a second as I peered over the edge of the hole I had thoughts of a +daring deed, but it was better to get back to our lines with the contents +of the first man's pockets, which no doubt afforded information for our +staff, and so I returned--battered and torn and exhausted. + +After this, in recognition of my work as a scout, I was offered the rank +of a non-commissioned officer, but I did not wish it. They were picking +off the non-coms too fast to suit me, and there was danger enough in the +work I was doing. + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + + +After spending a few more days in this last, very warm position, we moved +to billets a little way off behind our left flank, and we certainly needed +the rest. There was no indication that these billets had been used before +by our troops. Jock Hunter and I were assigned to a barn, and you may be +sure I was delighted at the prospect of literally "hitting the hay" as the +Americans say. + +As there were chickens running around, even over every part of the +thatched house, Jock and I went in search of eggs, for oh! how we longed +for a change of diet! For weeks it had been bully beef and biscuits, and +then biscuits and bully beef. In our search, we climbed up the ladder to +the attic, which we found to be very spacious, with heaps of straw on the +floor here and there. The walls of the structure, I should judge, were +about four feet thick, and there was a space that wide where the parapet +of the wall and thatching came near together. + +On reaching the attic we could hear the voices of our fellows in the farm +yard below. The noise came through the opening between the parapet and +thatching which was supported by beams. The aperture must have been about +a foot in height. Approaching this--with the intention of playing a trick +on the boys by throwing a piece of stone from the top of the wall--I +noticed, dangling over the edge, a black leather strap. Carelessly I gave +it a sharp tug, when out came a "Colt," the handle of which I instantly +caught. I scarcely had it in my hands when a man's head popped up and I +found myself facing a German soldier. He started to reach to his side but +I had him covered. I do not know whether he or I was the more greatly +surprised. + +"Hands up, ye swine!" I shouted, holding him cowed with his own revolver, +although I was entirely ignorant of its mechanism, and did not even know +how to release the safety catch. + +He slid out of the recess under the thatch which he had been occupying +and stood on the floor. With his hands up, he kept muttering: + +"Mercy! _Kamerad! Kamerad!_" + +Jock seemed stunned at this sudden and unthought of "find." + +I asked him to tie the boche's hands, which he did with his rifle +pull-through, and we marched him down to the officers' quarters. The +officers were just preparing to eat, and were astounded at the sudden +appearance of the boche in the doorway, as we made him walk in first. We +left the prisoner and his Colt with the officers. Then we returned to +search the loft. + +In the deep recess over the wall we found a French rifle, a British rifle, +several days' rations, ammunition, and a warm blanket--which Jock and I +snuggled under that night. It was a sniper's post and afforded an +excellent view of part of our lines, especially the spot at the brook +where so many of our boys "went West" in the act of getting water, and +where I had had a narrow escape. + +The next morning, after reveille, a corporal and three men who had done +guard over the sniper got orders to take him to a given place, which was +about three miles behind our lines. Also they were ordered to report back +within "fifteen minutes from starting time." + +We were promised a few days' rest here, but the following day, toward +nightfall, we were shelled out of the place by the boches' heavy +artillery, the "coal boxes" landing all around the place. We had scarcely +time to get out of it. Luckily enough, no one "clicked." We then moved to +trenches near La Bassée. Here also was a great number of troops +concentrating. + +We had heard that our native troops from India were to hold part of the +lines near us. Also we had been told of the great work the Canadians had +done recently around this section, and we were looked upon to do the same. +It was now December, and the sleet and rain poured on us for the first few +days without cessation. + +In the trenches here, in some parts we were knee deep in slush, and this +had a very dispiriting effect. It, together with the continuous downpour +of rain and sleet and Fritz's shelling--which never ceased--reduced us to +a state of positive misery. We fared badly enough, but we wondered how the +native troops (who were now on our left flank), used to a warm climate, +could stand it. + +We got more tinned rations and in greater variety, here, than I can +remember ever having before. There was "Maconochie"--a soup with +directions to boil fifteen minutes before opening the tin;--which, of +course, was merely satirical. The "Maconochie" was never warmed until it +had reached our stomachs. However, it proved a very acceptable change from +our "bully beef." That is, it did when it came. It didn't come often. We +also had tins of _muckin_ (butter) which Tommy says is a very good +quality. + +Another tinned product, but not a ration, reached us here. It was the +famous jam-tin hand grenade which came into use at about that time. + +Preparations were now in progress for an attack of greater magnitude than +any we had yet taken part in. With a number of other scouts, I was sent +out to examine the terrain over which our men would advance. The party +was discovered by German snipers, and we ran back to our lines as fast as +we could go. A piece of a ricochet shot struck my left ankle, but only +slightly injured it on account of my heavy spats and leather shoes, so +that by having a tight bandage applied at once I was able to take part in +the attack. + +Hitherto most of our engagements had been more or less surprise +affairs--that is, we would get word of the enemy just about in time to be +ready for him when the actual charge came. This time it was different. We +had been told what time we would go over at them. We had to sit around and +wait. Some of the men were carefully cleaning their rifles. Others ran +their thumbs along the edges of their bayonets. Many were writing letters. +But almost every face that I could see was pale. The greater part of them +were nervously puffing away at fags, very often unlit. + +Here and there a man would glance at his watch--furtively, as if afraid it +would be thought that he was hoping the time had not yet come. Others were +swearing softly and grumbling because they could not charge at once. + +Occasionally a man would joke or tell a funny story. Those who heard him +either looked as if they hadn't heard or laughed rather thinly. It is one +thing to go at them with steel and rifle, but quite another to sit around +and wait for the short blast of the whistle which sends you out to kill or +to be killed. + +Our artillery was pouring shells and shrapnel upon the Huns and their guns +were replying. The combat wagons with the ammunition and the wagons with +the rations had to reach us through a curtain of fire. One hundred extra +cartridges were distributed to every man, also extra tins of "bully." I +was on my way to regimental headquarters with a message, when a shell +squarely struck a transport wagon. It was obliterated. Men were torn into +shreds. I saw the whole fore-quarters of a horse blown high into a tree +and caught there in a crotch. The stretcher bearers picked up some of the +men. Some they could not even find. I was soon back again in the firing +trench. We had gouged out little footholds to help us over the top. + +At last it came--the little shrill metallic blast we had been waiting for. +It could be heard distinctly above the roar of the artillery. The blood +surged back into the faces of the pale men. We were fighting now. It was +different from the waiting and thinking--the thinking of what we may be +leaving behind us for always. + +I was the first man out of the trench--not that I was brave, but because I +had already learned that it was the last man up and the last man down who +usually are shot. I sped ahead of all the platoon; for in that lay safety. + +It is a fact that men in trenches will fire at the mass in rear rather +than stop to aim at a single runner out ahead. Each man seems to feel that +he is sure to hit someone if he fires into the mass and that another will +pick off the leader. + + * * * * * + +We were back again in our own trenches. What had happened in the charge I +did not know. I can honestly state that my mind is a blank for the period +of time which elapsed after I ran the first fifty yards toward the +boches. + +I was sitting on the fire-step. We had taken their trenches and had been +recalled after our troops from the rear had gone forward to prepare the +captured position against the counter attack which would surely come. + +My chum, Jock Hunter, was sitting near me. + +"Blow 'Coffee up,'" he said to me, laughing. I thought he had lost his +senses. I stared at him blankly. + +"Blow 'Coffee up,'" he repeated, pointing to my side. + +I glanced down at my hip. There was a battered bugle hanging from a cord +over my shoulder. I was more bewildered than ever, but I unslung the +instrument and we examined it. It was a bugle of the Potsdam Guards and +there were thirteen bullet holes in it. + +Jock would not believe that I did not know how I came by the thing, and +you may find it difficult, too, to accept my statement, but it is a fact. +I do not know how I got it. The period of the charge is a slice of my life +which is completely gone from my memory. I do not know what sights I saw +nor what sounds I heard. + +On our first Sunday in this position, the German artillery became quiet +about ten o'clock, and, about half an hour later, we heard strains of +music from beyond the slightly risen ground on Fritz's lines. They were +holding a Sunday service. But as soon as it was over, we were greeted with +a couple of hundred shells from their artillery, so we came to the +conclusion that the sermon must have been rotten. + +The weather conditions here were so bad that a number of our fellows were +sent to the base hospital with frost-bite, or what is known now as "trench +feet." They suffered excruciating pain. I saw one fellow who had to have +his shoe cut off; the foot swelled up instantly to very great size and was +almost entirely black. + +As a supposed protection against the conditions which had caused so many +cases of "trench feet" some bureau expert over in England had a supply of +rubber boots forwarded to us. I have seen many things which were useless +supplied to soldiers but never anything to equal these boots. They were so +loose and clumsy that they materially interfered with the action of +walking and they were just of a height to be entirely submerged in the +trench mud, leaving the wearer with an individual and separate bucketful +of the stuff to lift with each foot. I heard many a pair wished on the +Kaiser's feet. Big ladles with long handles also were distributed among us +to be used in scraping out the water from the trenches, and each of us +took our turn in acting as "chef," that is, ladling the water out behind +the trench wall. Occasionally where a fellow, slow in throwing it over, +would hold the ladle up a few seconds too long--ping!--a bullet would go +through it. If we wanted to sit down the only thing we could do was to +place our packs and equipment on the fire-step and sit on them. + +Our position was somewhat lower than that of the Germans, as they occupied +a sort of ridge. For days and nights at a time we did nothing but wait, +with an occasional raiding party or artillery encounter, with now and +again a heavy bombardment, to break the tedium. + +We were sitting around in the mud one day when, all of a sudden, a heavy +rifle and machine-gun fire swept along our trench. Then we heard a dull +muffled roar as if some tremendous weight, padded heavily with bales of +cotton, had fallen a great height. That is the only way I can describe the +sound. Instantly, I wondered what had happened. I do not suppose it was a +second later before I knew, but it seemed as if it were a full minute. The +earth seemed to rock. There was a swashing, hissing noise. Mud, water, and +stones poured down all around us. Muddy water cascaded into our trench. +Clambering out of it and through a storm of bullets, we made for our +reserve trench. Many of our men fell in the act of fleeing for shelter. +This was the result of the Germans having dammed up their own trench which +was filled with water, and dug tunnels in our direction as far as they +possibly could without our being aware of it. They opened the dams just +after commencing the firing. Their intention was to catch with the fire +those that escaped drowning, and thus annihilate us, so that they could +break through our lines at this point. No doubt it was a clever ruse, +but--it did not work. + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + + +Our regiment was now shifted from the position where the Germans had tried +to drown us out to another section near a place which we afterwards +christened "The Glory Hole." The German lines and ours were very near to +each other here. On the night of our arrival we could hear the Huns +talking, and after we had settled ourselves in our trenches, we could hear +them now and again whistling "Highland Laddie." It was evident that they +knew who we were, as that is the tune to which we "march past." + +I was now initiated into the use of the hand grenades. The kind we got +were later termed the "hair-brush." Now and again, the Germans would take +a mad turn and lob a few of their grenades over at us, and in turn, we +returned the compliment. This form of fighting was then in its infancy, +and we nearly all had our own ways of doing it. I used to tie two or three +of the bomb handles together with a rope; get hold of the end of it, +which was knotted; and, in the same way as an American athlete throws the +hammer, I would swing the bombs over my head and let go in the direction +of Fritz. In this way I could accomplish a few yards more than anyone who +threw in the ordinary way. Sandbags were piled about three feet high on +top of the parapet with loopholes through which we fired our rifles. When +I wanted to throw the grenades in the fashion I have just described, I +would go to the more level ground at the back, throw them, and jump back +into the trench where I always had ample room, as the others, with varying +criticisms of my enterprise, gladly cleared the way before I started +operations. They fully expected me at some time to make a mistake and land +the grenades among them instead of in the boches' trench. + +As we did not have one common system of throwing these grenades, a few of +the non-coms and men were selected to practise--a little way behind the +lines--the proper method. Our Acting-Colonel, J. T. C. Murray, and three +men were killed when a lance-corporal, in swinging a grenade, +accidentally struck the ground with it, causing it to explode. + +At times we were treated to some lyddite shells by the boches (at least we +believed them to be lyddite, though I have since learned that they were +gas shells). I was never caught in the fumes myself, but I saw many men +who had been. This particular gas simply snuffed the life out of the men +without their even knowing what had happened. As they lost consciousness, +they turned a yellow-brown colour, and never made any attempt to +stir--just went to sleep and did not awaken--while those who got just a +slight touch of it, would stagger about, as if deeply intoxicated. + +Volunteers were asked, one day, to go to a V-shaped sector where the +British and the German lines were so close that grenades could be easily +thrown from one trench to another--and they were! Thinking that it would +be an easier job than what I had been doing, I gave in my name. I think +nearly half of my company volunteered, but I was among the first eighteen +to be picked. We were armed with grenades enough to do an hour's bombing. +Two of the men were detailed to keep renewing the sandbags as they were +torn down by the boches' constant bombing. The German grenades, set with a +time fuse, exploded a few seconds after leaving the thrower's hand. The +boches were evidently nervous about these grenades, for they almost +invariably cut the time fuse too long or threw the bomb too soon after +cutting it, so that our men frequently caught the unexploded grenades and +hurled them back at the Germans. + +The first two to go "west" when our volunteer party got into action were +the sandbag men, and at the end of that hour there were only four of us +left to come out of that Hell, ten being killed and four badly wounded. +After our turn, volunteers were entirely out of the question, so each +section had to take an hour at it. The trench point where the bombing +occurred was called the "Glory Hole," and it was well named. + +Upon getting back to the trench, I swore off "bombing," and decided that I +would stick to scouting, although almost all the old scouts had been +killed. Why I was not, is still a mystery to me. After a few days at the +"Glory Hole" we were sent to the rear to billets. + +You will remember that there were thirteen bullet holes in the Potsdam +bugle which I brought back from the charge on the German trenches near La +Bassée. How many of them were made after the bugle came into my possession +and was put in my pack, I do not know, but, at any rate, I believe that +thirteen is my lucky number. This is the reason: After a short rest in +billets, we were returned to a portion of the trench near a part we had +occupied before. The regiment had been recruited up to full strength +again, and I can tell you that there were very few of the original Black +Watch left. In fact, the personnel that we now had was almost a third +regiment. In order to reach the high broken ground to our right, where +there was a great deal of patrolling and scouting to be done, it was +necessary to cross an absolutely exposed strip of ground about thirty +yards long. So many men had been killed here that we called it "crossing +the bar" when we had to traverse this neck of land. You must remember, we +did not have a decent air fleet in those days and infantry patrolling and +scouting were much more important than they are to-day. From the high +ground to the right, much information of the movements of German troops +could be gained. Whenever they saw even a single man "crossing the bar," +the Huns would let loose a salvo of artillery fire. + +I usually waited until it was dark enough to see the flashes of their guns +before crossing this strip, and whenever I saw the first flash I would +sprint a few paces toward it and then flop down. The Germans had the range +exactly. By sprinting, I stood a good chance of getting in ahead of the +burst, and as shrapnel carried forward, the ruse worked nicely. In order +to show a party of the new scouts the way across the bar, I was sent out +with twelve of them, _thus making a party of thirteen_. Before we started +I drew a rough sketch for them and told them, as exactly as I could, just +what to do when we were fired upon. That we would be fired upon was a +certainty. + +About the centre of this open strip was the dried bed of a stream between +deeply worn banks and this afforded the only protection on the way across. +When the light was just right, we moved out to the edge of the bar. I gave +my men a few last instructions. It was time to go. I took one last look +across the ground which was literally covered with shell splinters and +deeply furrowed. + +"Rush!" I yelled. We went forward in a thin line. + +I saw the expected flash of the guns. + +"Straight toward them!" I shouted; and we all ran madly in the direction +from which the shells were coming. + +"Down!" I roared with every bit of voice that was in me, at the same time +flopping down flat on my face. + +There was a terrific crash! It seemed all around me. I could not tell +whether it was in front or behind. I was surprised that I was not hurt. I +heard groaning behind me. One of my men was wounded. There was not another +sound. I thought the others must have kept on running despite my +instructions, and were now in the little bed of the stream waiting for +me. I dared not move. I had to lie as one dead or the guns would have +begun crashing again and they would get me and the wounded man behind me. +Flare rockets illumined the sky. I prayed that the man who was hurt would +lie still. If he hadn't done so it would have been all over with both of +us. + +Half an hour I lay there in the mud until the rockets were no longer going +up and I thought it safe to move. I crept a few feet over the ground. My +hands were upon the body of a man, but he was not groaning. Yet the +groaning continued from nearby. I realized that one of my men had been +killed. I crept farther in the direction of the groaning. I bumped into a +huddled mass. It was another body. + +Still I groped around. I had found three now. At last I reached the man +who was hurt. He wasn't moving, only groaning. I thought that there were +others of the little party who needed help. In the darkness I wriggled +here and there. I found another body. That made four. Then +five--six--seven--and so on till I found eleven. There were only two of +us left--the wounded man and myself! + +I stood up despairing and like one lost. I almost wished that I had been +one of the eleven who had "crossed the bar" once for all. I got the +wounded man onto my shoulder in the style which is known as "the fireman's +carry," and started back with him, walking erect. I had forgotten the +danger of shells. Luckily it was inky dark and I was not seen. + +I staggered against a part of our barbed wire entanglements. I called for +help. Four men crawled over the parapet to meet me. They dragged the +wounded man to the edge of the parapet. He was still groaning faintly +though he lay as one dead. As we lifted him over the edge of the trench, +the groaning ceased. He was dead! _I alone of the thirteen had come back +alive!_ + +While we were laying out the corpse, we heard the look-out sentry halting +some one. I jumped onto the fire-step and plainly saw a figure +straightening up on our side of the barbed wire, with his hands over his +head, coming right forward. He dropped into our trench, of course with the +sentry holding his bayonet pointed at him. It was plain to be seen that +the young German was giving himself up, no doubt being sick of the +fighting. He made a motion as if to put his hand inside his coat, but the +man with the bayonet was taking no chances and made a lunge at him, which +greatly frightened the lad. So he made us understand as well as he might, +still holding his hands aloft, that he had something in his pocket he +wanted to show us. The sergeant stepped over and took out the contents of +the pocket. He did not have any firearms at all. Among the few things in +his pocket was a worn plain envelope, and at this he pointed. Inside was a +sheet of paper and on it was written in good English: + +"English soldiers, please be kind to my boy." + +The sergeant asked me to take the boy back to the officers' quarters with +him, as I had yet to report my sad experience in "Crossing the Bar." The +case of the boy prisoner proved an extraordinary one. An officer of the +engineers attached to the Black Watch, who could speak German, questioned +him. The boy had not the least idea what the fighting was about. He told +the officer that his mother had given him the letter as she felt sure that +the English would be kind to him. She had told him that he should give +himself up at the first opportunity. He was her only son. + +We learned from him of preparations for an attack by the Germans at dawn, +which corroborated the information our staff already had. He was treated +very kindly. He seemed very much taken aback at the kind treatment +accorded him, and asked if it was the custom of the English to treat +prisoners kindly before torturing and putting them to death. Upon hearing +this, the officer he was speaking to laughed uproariously for fully a +minute, and the others wanted to know the joke. He told them and some +joined in the laugh. The officer patted the boy on the back; gave him his +letter, telling him at the same time to treasure it; and said that he +would no doubt meet his mother again. + +The boy fell upon his knees and tried to kiss the officer's hand, sobbing +like a child. But the officer nearly turned a backward somersault, getting +away from the hand kissing, and swore as if he would eat the lad up. + +Sure enough, the next morning the attack came off, but we were prepared +for it. Just at "stand to" before dawn, our artillery opened fire and kept +pounding at them until about eight o'clock; the enemy replying very +vigorously. They attempted to get over their parapet, but gave it up until +about noon. They tried it again. Our artillery opened up on them, and some +forces along our line charged the Germans. + +The Black Watch had supports up and were to make a charge at two o'clock +that day, but the sleet came on with an awful wind, and this prevented it. +Instead, the regiment in support came up and took our place in the +trenches. We moved along some distance to the right flank. The sleet and +rain continued, also the wind. We were cold, miserable, and grousing in +good style because we found we had to take another part of the trench, +instead of going, as we thought, to billets. However, we got an extra +issue of rum. + +This place was pitted with big shell holes. It looked extremely weird. +One _sigarree_ (fire box with charcoal) was issued to a company, and we +would take our turn in getting warmed up from it. This lasted only a few +days, for very soon the Germans sighted the smoke, which drew their shell +fire, and so we were glad to abandon the _sigarrees_ and suffer the cold. + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + + +We were by no means well acquainted with our new position, and one night +shortly after our arrival, two of the men who had been sent out to +reconnoitre, were captured by the enemy, who let them go, however, after +stripping them to the skin. + +When they returned they had big bayonet wounds in their hips, and were +suffering greatly both from the wounds and exposure. You can imagine our +feelings at such wanton cruelty. + +Previous to this for some time I hadn't been given any scouting duty and +had been resting, but a few nights after this occurrence, shortly after +dusk, I was sent to a listening post, which was situated to the right +front of our open flank. The ground was very broken and the temperature +was touching on the zero mark. Before starting out, we had just got our +night issue of rum. A lance-corporal accompanied me, and after lots of +manoeuvring and stumbling through shell holes half filled with slush, we +arrived at the place where I had to listen for movements of German +artillery, transports, troops, etc. + +We crawled to the edge of the bank, which overlooked a creek or canal. We +knew the German lines were just across that short space. The +lance-corporal said he would see that some one should be sent to relieve +me in half an hour; then he departed. He had not gone more than a hundred +paces, I should judge, when the German artillery let loose. It seemed as +if a thousand hells had erupted. I was dumbfounded. I wiggled backward on +my stomach, until I slid into a shell hole full of water and mud. I did +not mind the cold; it helped to brace me--to realize fully the situation +in which I was placed. The shell fire was lighting up the heavens; +splinters, slugs, and bullets filled the air. + +I began saying my prayers. (I thought this would be my last listening duty +on earth.) I crouched as low as the slush in the hole would allow me. Even +while in this position, bullets and shrapnel embedded themselves so near +me that, had I lifted my head, I should have been plugged instantly. + +The hellish bombardment seemed unceasing. I was cramped and numb. How long +the firing lasted I do not know. At last, however, I became conscious that +the clouds were clearing away and I discerned a pale moon. I tried to drag +myself out of the freezing slush, but couldn't. All the power in my body +seemed gone. The shelling had ceased and there was a dead silence. I knew +I was freezing to death. I once even tried to place the muzzle of my rifle +under my chin and blow my head off, but I was unable to feel for the +rifle. My hands had lost sense of touch. My lower limbs were insensible. I +gave up all hopes of help or of ever leaving the shell hole--alive. + +What seemed a long time after I had deemed myself lost I heard some one in +the vicinity. I wasn't able to lift my head. I tried to speak. I was as +one dead, with the exception of my brain. + +The next thing I knew something was being poured down my throat. Some one +was attending to me but I was unconcerned. I wanted only to die. If I +could but have spoken, I would have begged the men who were attending me +to put me out of my agony. After a while, I recognized them as our men. +They were rubbing and slapping my body for all they were worth. Now and +again one of them put his water bottle to my mouth. At first I could not +make out what he was trying to pour down my throat, but at last I +recognized it as rum. I forced myself to drink it. Then they rubbed my +abdomen and legs with some of it as briskly as they could. One of them +exchanged his kilt for mine; then they both wrapped their greatcoats +around me, and, between them, managed to carry me back to the trenches--to +safety. + +The jolting on the way back started my blood circulating. It is beyond me +to explain exactly the feeling. My stomach began aching as if it contained +boiling lead; then a feeling as if a million electrically charged wires +had commenced to burn in the lower part of my abdomen and down to my lower +limbs. I had the desire to shout out loud; whether or not I did, to this +day I cannot tell. I must have gone completely insane with the pain for a +while, for later I found myself struggling with a group of men, and they +were urging me to keep quiet. They poured lots of rum into me, and I began +to feel much better; in fact, more like myself, except that my legs and +feet were like lumps of lead. + +During this time--since my rescue from the shell hole--the Germans had +made a charge and were repulsed. The Black Watch had taken a line of their +trench and were holding it. Two men had been sent out to find what had +happened to the lance-corporal and myself, as the company commander had +been expecting our report. They found the lance-corporal, riddled with +bullets, not far from where he had left me. When they came across me I had +done an eight hours' stretch of duty. + +I stayed in the reserve trench until we went to billets, a couple of days +after this. We were looking forward to spending Christmas in billets, but +were disappointed. + +We had hardly been "cushy" three days, when we were sent to hold a +position on the left flank of an English battalion of what we believed to +be the Sussex Regiment. It was just two days before Christmas when we took +up this position. + +It was much quieter here. Snow had fallen during the night, giving the +ground a sort of peaceful appearance, except for a few dark patches where +some "Jack Johnsons" or "Black Marias" had landed toward dawn. (It was +Christmas Day.) Just after "stand down," our mail was issued. It consisted +mostly of parcels. Our part of the trench was very fortunate. Every man +had at least two letters and as many parcels. I received three in the same +handwriting and a two-pound box of chocolate almonds. Parcels containing +socks, mittens, scarfs, etc., were pounced upon by all hands, as these +articles were very much needed at this time. Next in importance came the +cigarettes, of which we received a goodly supply. + +I need hardly say that we all tasted one another's luxuries--shortbread, +chocolates, and currant cakes (which had to be eaten mostly with a spoon +because of the rough handling they had had)--and we exchanged confidences +about our letters whether they were from Miss Campbell, Mrs. Low, or +Uncle Sandy. + +Every Tommy, every Jock, learns to know and to love his trench mate as a +brother. The men in the "ditches" feel as if they all belonged to the one +mother, sharing each other's confidences, both pleasant and sad. There is +no selfishness--not even a thought of it--"over there." + +We were all sitting round the fire-steps of our trenches, thinking, ever +thinking, and wondering how many of us would live to see the same sun rise +on another Christmas Day. The sun was red. It appeared to be +dripping-red--with blood, when a slight commotion started up along to the +right. I grasped my rifle and at the same time looked round the little +traverse. I saw a few chaps with their heads over the parapet--which +seemed unwise and extremely dangerous. I thought we had been surprised by +the Huns, and took a glance in the direction of their trenches, which +looked as quiet as our own. But I could see thin lines of smoke rising up +at irregular intervals from the fires they had built. Almost at the same +instant my eye caught sight of a figure some six hundred yards to our +right proceeding in the direction of the boches' trenches; and, to crown +all, he was a British Tommy! + +I thought the man must have gone out of his mind, and when I looked at +where he came from, it seemed as if the whole regiment was viewing the +daring proceedings of this solitary individual "between the lines." At +that part the trenches were much nearer than at ours. They seemed there +about two hundred yards apart, while ours were about five hundred yards +distant from Fritz. + +I saw the solitary Tommy walk right on to within a few yards of the German +entanglements and pause a minute; then a boche's head could be seen. At +this, Tommy picked his way over the entanglements very cautiously. + +My heart was in my mouth! I could scarcely keep from shouting when he +reached the edge of the enemy parapet and--disappeared! + +By this time our regiment was practically all on the fire-step, +breathlessly watching and ready for what might happen after the +disappearance of this "madcap." + +Five minutes more elapsed. Then a head bobbed up at the same spot we had +been watching, and out of the trench came--the selfsame Tommy. He was +carrying something in his hand. My eyes kept steady on him until he +reached his own parapet, where he stood a moment flourishing this article; +then, clasping it to him as if prizing it, he got down into the trench. +While he had stood there for a moment, his fellow trench-mates threw out +their arms to take his precious bundle from him, but as I say, he seemed +to hold tightly on to it. When I looked back at the place he had just +left, the Germans were waving their helmets, with heads above the parapet. +It was Christmas all right! and we certainly got a Santa Claus surprise in +watching these unusual proceedings. + +They were getting bolder on both sides at this part of the line, and a few +men began walking on their parapets, finally coming closer and then +meeting men from the enemy trench. Then followed a football match with +regimental shirts tied up. To see those Tommies charging with their +shoulders and explaining the game to the Germans, who were not so well +acquainted with it, was a Christmas festival in itself that will never be +forgotten by those who witnessed it. + +[We found out afterward that "Spud" Smith--who had just received a lovely +"currant bun" from home and was overjoyed with it--was jumping round and +making so much noise about it, that the fellows dared him to take it over +to the Germans and wish them "A Merry Christmas." He at once threw off his +equipment and made toward them, where he received his Christmas present in +the form of a bottle of "schnapps." "Spud" Smith was the madcap of his +regiment.] + +A few minutes after midnight, we were brought back to war again by the +Germans shelling us all along the line. + +Everything was tolerably quiet, with the exception of an occasional +shelling from either side, until New Year's Eve, when an infernal row got +up and on New Year's Day we had about one hundred and thirty casualties. +The shelling grew worse, and we discovered that the Saxons had been +relieved by the Prussians. Twice they charged us in mass formation, and we +were forced to retire to our second-line trenches. It was their idea and +intention to break through our lines to get to Calais in time for the +Kaiser's birthday. This was the beginning of their big drive. Although we +got a severe cutting up, we managed to hold all the ground we had, despite +their mass formation, which is a stern and dreadful thing to face. + +One morning, about the middle of January, the coal boxes, Jack Johnsons +and Black Marias were just simply shaking the earth. The German airplanes +had been very active these last few days, and it seemed they were giving +their heavy artillery the proper range on our lines. The Jack Johnsons +were landing to the right of our regiment and were gradually working their +way up toward us. We could see them tearing up parts of the +trenches--smashing up men, whose limbs were sent flying up through the +air. The sight was really too frightful to recall. + +Orders were given that the Black Watch should stand to its post and that +no man was to retire. But as the heavy shells drew nearer, smashing +everything up, they proved too much for the recruits who had joined us +only within the last few days, and they made for the reserve trenches. By +this time the Germans were beginning to make their advance in waves. Word +was passed along that our regiment should retire to its reserve trenches, +but it came too late for a few of us,--as we were already pumping it into +the Germans. Those who had retired were firing over our heads at the +advancing Huns, thus making it dangerous for us to withdraw. + +Just as I had made up my mind that we must get back somehow, Sergeant +Johnstone crept to my side and said; "Cassells, let's stick it out. This +might last only a few minutes more and then it'll be all right again." + +"All right, Johnstone," I said; and we shook hands. + +Our own shells were bursting so close to our front that they were +showering us with earth and stones. + +I saw the nearest Germans about a couple of hundred yards away. + +Then suddenly a dark curtain dropped before my eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN + + +I seemed to awake from a long sleep, only to discover that instead of +being in a trench or a billet I was in a hospital; one of the kind made of +canvas. There were two great marquee tents, with nurses flitting about +quietly--like angels they seemed to me, for the moment. + +The pain that racked my body was awful. I lay there trying to determine in +what part of me the pain was located but it seemed to be all over me. I +noticed that either a nurse or an orderly was constantly in attendance at +my cot. + +As my comprehension of things about me became clearer, I realized that my +neighbour was a German. His moaning, coupled with his muttering of "_Ach, +mein Gott in Himmel!_" got on my nerves, but I decided to say nothing, as +I had not yet learned whether it was an enemy hospital or one of our own. +I decided that if it was the former, the quietest way to die was the +best, if die I must. During one of the moaning spells of my neighbour, I +seemed to lose consciousness. When I "came back," a soft voice whispered +in my ear: "It's all right; keep still; we are only taking a plate of your +leg." + +An _English_ voice!--and with such kindness in it! Our own hospital! Not a +prisoner! I just wanted to cry out, from sheer happiness. + +When next I found myself in my cot, that awful pain was unnerving me, but +the doctor, Captain Allen, assured me that I would be all right after a +few weeks' rest in Blighty. I immediately asked when I was to go. His +reply was: "When your temperature goes down. It has been 104 for about a +week." + +I said I would like to write home, and my soft-voiced nurse thereupon +brought me paper and envelope. I moved to extend my right hand for the +paper, and with dismay found it in splints and bandages, with a strong +resemblance to a huge boxing glove. Quickly I glanced at the left hand, to +find with relief that it, at least, was whole. + +I had of course never learned to use my left hand for writing. Observing +my need of assistance, the nurse sat on the edge of my bed and took pen +and paper to write for me. I had not even to ask her to do this service. +The tears came into my eyes at her willing, quiet helpfulness. + +After she had finished writing my letter, I asked her about my condition. +She seemed reluctant to tell me, but as I urged her to do so she finally +said: + +"Your leg will probably have to be amputated, as it has been completely +turned round and the knee badly shattered. Some splinters of shell still +remain in it." + +She left me--but not for long. She had gone for the plate with the +impression of my knee. This she held up to what light could get through +the roof of the yellow canvas, and the picture I saw quite startled me. I +counted four little black specks around the joint, and to one piece in +particular she called my attention. It was about the size of a one-carat +diamond pointed at both ends and was embedded in the knee cap. This tiny +object was giving me nearly all of my pain. + +The medical officer on his rounds approached us and greeted me with "You +certainly had a miraculous escape." + +Later, one of my mates in the hospital, who was with my regiment, told me +how I got mine. He had witnessed it. A Jack Johnson striking about fifteen +yards in front of the trench I was in, exploded, caving the trench in for +a length of about thirty yards. I, with Sergeant Johnstone, who had come +up the previous day with reinforcements, was buried completely. Then the +Germans charged over the trench at our fellows, who retired to their +reserve trenches. However, the enemy was repulsed and had to retire to +their own lines again. This fight started about 2 P.M., and it was not +until about nine o'clock that night that our company came up and began to +re-open the trench. It seems that one fellow was about to use his pick +when another close by with a shovel noticed something in the form of a +head. He stayed the hand with the pick just in time. It was a head--and +mine at that. They completely unearthed me, and, as I looked to be dead, +placed me to one side with a waterproof sheet over me, to be buried later. +Luckily enough, a medical officer examined me and found there was still a +little life left. He used artificial respiration, put my legs in splints +made up of empty ration boxes, bandaged my damaged right hand, and sent me +to the Rouen Hospital, unconscious, but with a spark of life still in me. + +Even after two weeks' stay in the hospital my condition was still very +critical, but I had the courage and optimism peculiar to the Scot and my +hopes for recovery endured stubbornly. The moans of my German neighbour, +mixed with cries for "_Das Ei_," didn't allay my fever at all. No one knew +what he wanted. Latterly one of our wounded fellows called the nurse over +and suggested very earnestly that perhaps he had a glass eye and it needed +some attention. The nurse at once examined his eyes, but found them all +right. + +However, the next medical officer on duty understood German and acquainted +the nurse with the fact that the patient had been calling for an egg. He +marked on his chart that he should be given two fresh eggs every morning. + +This German was accorded first attention, while our own boys had to be +content with being next in line. We could not kick, however, as the +doctors and nurses stretched their ability to do for others to the utmost. +After our prisoner had had his hunger appeased with the "Ei," he seemed +content to die, for that is just what he did. From what I could learn, his +injury had been a bad one, a large piece of shell having pierced his +chest. + +I felt sure, when I saw him carried out, that my turn was next. Then I +discovered that the number of my cot was _13_, so--recalling the many +escapes from death I had had and how this number had been concerned in +them, my hopes for recovery went soaring high. + +Now I was recovering enough to take an interest in other cases in the +ward, and one in particular, a Royal Irish Fusilier, in the cot opposite +me. He had forty-eight bullet wounds in his body. He had already been in +this ward six weeks, so I knew then I wasn't the worst case there. My +temperature had now dropped to 100, and I was informed that an orderly +would bring my clothes and get me ready for a journey. This meant +Blighty! + +A couple of the Royal Army Medical Corps men came into the tent and very +gently laid me in a stretcher, then carried me out along narrow pathways +bordered by neatly whitewashed stones and rows of double-linked marquee +tents with similar neat arrangements of stones at the entrances. There +seemed to be a city of tents on the Rouen _Champ de Course_ (race course), +and outside of it too, as far as my eyes could see. + +At the end farthest from the cook-house huts, I noticed a large boiler +arrangement with a funnel sticking up at one end and on the door some +large print, but I could not read the lettering. I asked one of the men +what the object was. I was informed that it was used for disinfecting +Tommy's clothes and exterminating the cooties that they sheltered. Tommy +gets a change to hospital clothing as soon as he enters the base hospital. +On taking a second look at the sign, I made out "Germ-Hun Exterminator." +So when Tommy gets his clothes out of "dock" (hospital), and grumbles at +the R. A. M. C. orderlies when he finds his collection of souvenirs +depleted, they promptly put the blame on the "Germ-Hun." + +As soon as I was placed in an ambulance, a tag was fastened to my lapel +and I was ready for the road along with other lucky chaps. It seemed as if +we were hardly settled when we arrived at the railway station. An +ambulance train was waiting here for us, and before many minutes had +elapsed we found ourselves en route for Le Havre. We arrived here the same +night and were placed aboard the S.S. _Asturias_. + +When we were about mid-channel, a torpedo from a German submarine just +cleared the bow of our ship by a few feet. Even a hospital ship is a +target for the missiles of the enemy. + +We arrived next morning at Southampton without further occurrences of +moment. + +Each patient was asked where he wished to be sent. It was natural that +each should give his home district. We were placed in rows in the large +shed on the wharf, and our destination marked on our tickets. We were now +ready for our next part of the journey. + +Suddenly my attention was attracted by vigorous exclamations. From the +patient in the stretcher next to me I heard vociferous "bly'me-ing" in a +very strong cockney accent. I asked the disturber what he was making all +the row about. + +"Bli' me," he said, "they've gawn an' gyve me a ticket to th' bloomink end +o' Scotland!" + +"Is it a mistake?" I asked. + +"Mistyke!" said he. "Is it a mistyke? Hit's a mistyke that tykes in th' +whole bloomink ge-hography of Britain." + +He communed with himself a moment in eloquent but inelegant language. Then +he asked: + +"Where've they ticketed you to, myte?" + +I hadn't thought of looking at my ticket, but now I noted that I was +destined for "Chelsea, London, S. W." So he outlined a scheme to which I +readily agreed. We exchanged tickets. + +I adopted his name "Bill Mortimer" of the Rifle Brigade and soon I was +making for "th' bloomink end o' Scotland," while he was en route for +Chelsea under his assumed name. + +When I arrived in an Aberdeen Hospital, they were a good few days trying +to account for me, as my papers had naturally gone to Chelsea. Ultimately +they came to the conclusion that there must have been an error at +Southampton; and sure enough, my record was finally located at the London +hospital. + +It was one of the best errors that could have happened, for very soon I +found myself in the "Craigleith Military Hospital" within commuting +distance of my relatives and friends. I never heard any more of my friend +"Bill Mortimer," but I have no doubt the "error" proved a good one to him +also. + +Two medical officers looked me over very carefully the first day. The next +day they came back accompanied by the chief medical officer, Colonel +Cottrill. After the latter examined me carefully he said that "an +immediate amputation would be the wisest plan." He asked me whether other +examining physicians had told me the same thing. + +I said: "Yes; but I think it will be all right. See, I can wiggle my +toes." And I pointed out that this was a sure sign of hope for a recovery +without amputation. + +Then commenced a daily routine of bandaging which stretched into months; +every conceivable treatment for my betterment was given me; a +plaster-of-Paris cast was put on my knee, and after it was on a week or +two, the effect was simply wonderful. + +By this time, my hand could be used a little, but I found myself minus a +finger and with two others broken. They, however, healed to normal. + +Every week, during our long stay in the hospital, entertainments were +given for us by professional actors and actresses. Visitors were permitted +to call Wednesdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 P.M.; on other days from 1 to 3 +P.M. I cannot describe the generosity and kindness of the people of +Edinburgh. + +Every day came armfuls of flowers--the most soothing offering a +convalescent Tommy can receive, outside of the occasional kiss some dear +wee lass would imprint on his cheek. Both are wonderful in their ability +to cheer a lonesome Tommy, who, perhaps, finds himself far from his home +folk! Every day the ladies and young girls of the town came to sit by our +cots and read to us or write our letters. It was an enormous hospital, +having often as many as 1100 patients and every man in it, even those who +were strangers in Scotland, had daily visitors in plenty. English and +Welsh soldiers, too far from home to receive the attention of their own +people, were given even more favours than the Scots. Every day, a flock of +big motor cars drew up and carried away those who were far enough toward +recovery for a ride. We had many delightful hours rolling swiftly through +the picturesque city of Edinburgh, along the banks of the Forth and up +through the beautiful Pentland Hills. + +Our lockers were well filled, and we never wanted for such dainties as +chocolates and fancy biscuits, and we had magazines, and--above +all--cigarettes. + +A party of our lady visitors brought us wool and volunteered to teach us +the art of knitting to while away our idle time. Most of the boys took +kindly enough to it, but I wanted to learn embroidery. It caused no end of +merriment that a man should want to sew. However, I persuaded them to try +me, and one of them offered to do so. + +In India I had done quite a little at sketching, and my teacher found me +an apt pupil in this allied art. Very soon I had mastered the art of +making long and short stitches, French knots, border and buttonhole +stitches, etc. I was so highly commended that I received many requests +from these ladies for cushion covers, doilies, etc. They brought the +materials and I plied the needle. It was such enticing work that very soon +two other fellows "joined in." + +We had many other ways of passing the time. Visitors would ask us to write +or sketch something in their autograph books, which we did with much +pleasure, and I can tell you that some very, very funny local sketches and +poetry--composed on the spur of the moment, with fellow mates, nurses, and +doctors as the subjects--were carried away from that hospital. They were +highly prized by the recipients. We had also a monthly _Gazette_ recording +the events of the daily life of the hospital in a breezy and interesting +way. + +I saw many a bad case brought in, get well, and sent home, but still I +remained, and so Corporal Charles Palmer, who had been there the longest, +promoted himself to be "Commander-in-Chief" and took me as second in +command, I being next to him in length of time there. One of his legs had +been blown off six inches above the knee and the pain he suffered at times +was excruciating. Another lad, a German, sixteen years of age, had had +both legs blown off below the knees by one of the Germans' own shells just +as he was about to give himself up to the British. He spoke very good +English and was surprisingly cheery. The fair sex found him very +attractive and he always got an ample share of the dainties they brought. + +I was still in the hospital when the awful "Gretna Green" disaster +happened. Perhaps you remember it. A regiment of the Royal Scots was on +its way to the front. Their train collided with another at Gretna Green +near the Carlisle Junction, resulting in the loss of more than one hundred +lives. Some of those that required medical attention were sent to +Craigleith, and among the few that found themselves in our ward was a +very broad-spoken Scot. He was on seven days' leave, but being "full of +happiness," somehow or another got mixed in at Edinburgh station with the +lads of the wreck. He spied an empty cot which he immediately made for and +fell asleep upon it. Soon afterward, Colonel Sir Joseph Farrer, Commandant +of the hospital, came along to see the Gretna lads. When he came to this +cot he slowly uncovered the face of the presumed patient and asked: "How +are you?" The Scot, so rudely aroused, sat up, exclaiming: "Fine, mon; +hoo's yersel'?" The colonel was nonplussed for the moment, but hastily +recovered himself however, and shook the extended hand of the erstwhile +patient, much to the amusement of the rest of us. + +Among the "padres" to visit the hospital was a Major Chaplain of the +Church of England. He seemed particularly interested in our ward (G ward) +and made as many as three visits a week. + +Thursdays, after tea, was prayer meeting for us, as well as for a few of +the other wards. Of course, it was impossible for all the wards to have +the meeting on the same evening, owing to the large number of them and the +scarcity of clergymen, so many of whom were with the boys in France. On +one Thursday evening in particular, the Church of England chaplain I have +just mentioned was about to commence the service when the absence of the +organ (which was a little portable one, such as is used by the Salvation +Army) was discovered. + +A couple of men who could walk volunteered to go in search of the organ, +but they couldn't find it. Then Sister Brian, a most accommodating nurse, +whose Cockney accent was an unmistakable mark of her early upbringing, +went out to locate the missing organ. After a few minutes she returned and +startled the ward by announcing, from the doorway: "You men 'ad hall +better go to 'Hell' (meaning _L_ ward). Th' horgan's in 'Hell,' an' th' +services habout to begin." + +There was a general roar of laughter and the reverend gentleman +strenuously refused the invitation. + +When the patients were well on the road to recovery, they would be sent to +one of the many mansions opened by the owners as homes for convalescents. +Here they would remain for a few weeks, perhaps a month, before being sent +to their homes. This stay will be among the pleasantest memories of those +who experienced it. The beautifully-laid-out and spacious grounds and the +auto rides! How it all helped to hasten recovery! + +I cannot conclude without trying to express the praise which most +certainly belongs to the medical officers of "Craigleith." At the outbreak +of the war, Colonel Cottrill had been retired ten years, but he was found +ready when the first note of the nation's rally sounded, and there he +remained when I left, serving his king and country in relieving, by his +expert skill, the sufferings of those who come under his care. He was over +seventy years of age, but he most truly was seventy years young. + +Of the nurses and sisters I could not say enough. Sister Lauder, for +instance; I have seen her do thirty-six hours' duty at one stretch, +without the slightest rest, at a time when streams of wounded were pouring +in day and night. Once she collapsed in the middle of the ward. Such +devotion, such wonderful spirit these women exhibited! + +I was discharged on August 5th, 1915, being "no longer physically fit for +war service." (Para. 392, XVI, K.R.) + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN + + +On a day in February, 1916--a week prior to the sailing of the S.S. +_Tuscania_, on which I had taken passage to the United States--I had left +the office of the Anchor Line and was proceeding up the High Street, of +Cowdenbeath (across the river from Edinburgh), bent on an errand +pertaining to the preparations for my departure, when I noticed across the +way something familiar in the appearance of a tall man in khaki. Twice or +thrice I gazed at him, with a sense of dim recollection, and then I went +walking--or, rather, limping--on my way. There were uniforms everywhere +and one, even though it seemed in some way distinctive, could not hold my +attention. I started to cross the street but when I was in the car track, +in the middle, a sound arrested me. + +"Reuter! Reuter!" called a voice which was strangely familiar. + +Who, thought I, is this, calling me by my nickname? I turned and saw the +tall soldier whom I had noticed, limping toward me at the best gait his +lameness permitted. I perceived that he wore a Black Watch forage cap. As +I stood, awaiting his approach, I suddenly recognized him as my chum, Ned +MacD----; the same Ned whom I had left in a hollow, in a wood, in France, +grievously wounded, and who had mysteriously disappeared when I found +opportunity to return in search of him. + +I had long believed him dead, for his name had appeared in our casualty +lists among those of the killed. I was so overcome at seeing him that I +stood as one struck dumb. In a moment, however, we were clasped in each +other's arms like a couple of bairns, the tears trickling down our faces. + +There we stood, speaking to each other as Scots will, in excitement, in +the broad Scotch of our childhood days, until a sharp clang awakened us. +It was from a tramcar bell. We were standing in the middle of the single +line, and completely blocking traffic. Linking our arms together we made +for the pavement. + +"I'm mighty glad I met ye, Joe," was his first comment. "I've been trying +to find out your whereabouts. To think that Fate should have been kind +enough to put you in my way, like that; man, it's just grand!" + +I told him of my mission in Cowdenbeath. + +"Weel, I'm glad I've caught ye in time, ye bounder, cause I dinna think I +could have followed ye to the States to make a visit on ye," he said. + +By this time I had fully recovered myself and scrutinized him carefully. +"You've got the same smile, Ned, but my how you've grown! You look at +least two inches taller than when I saw you last." + +"And that I might," he replied; "come on and I'll tell ye all about it." + +So we limped into Cook's tea rooms, secured a table in a quiet corner, and +he told me his story. He spoke in a halting manner, for it brought back +many of his sufferings, but to me it is so striking that I felt, in +finishing the tale of my war experience, you would like to know about a +war romance--for romance it surely was--with as happy an ending as any +novelist might conceive. I will tell to you, as nearly as possible in his +own words, the remarkable story he unfolded to me. + +"Do ye mind when ye left me in the nook after bandaging my wounds?" he +asked. "Weel, I lay there thinking and wondering. Ye ken, Reuter, what I +was wondering about--about ye're coming back; or maybe someone else might +find me and take me back to the lines. But no help came. Then I got to +thinking of the lass, and I managed to take her letters, as well as a few +fags, from my haversack. I smoked the fags one after the other, and read +her dear kind words over and over again. My mind kept dwelling on what was +to have been our marriage day. Reuter, remember I told ye about it. It was +to have been on the 7th of August, and then on account of the war, we put +it off until after I should come back. + +"And now, I thought to myself, maybe I'll never get back. All sorts of +possibilities passed through my mind, and between this and the awful pain +that throbbed all over me, I felt like as if I'd go mad. + +"It began to get dark and my patience got exhausted. Then the idea came +into my head that I could maybe drag myself along with my hands a wee bit +nearer our lines. I thought of your promise, Reuter, but I couldn't stay. +A few of the lads around me pegged out one after the other, and it made me +feel fair frenzied. + +"Do ye remember Stanley Stenning, an English fellow of C company? Weel, he +crawled out a wee while before me. I've heard since that he was home, but +minus a leg, but I haven't heard so far of any of the other wounded +fellows that were in the nook with me. + +"Weel, to get back to my own experience. It was awful--the pain--it racked +me through and through, as I tried to move ahead by the aid of my hands. I +would take a grip on anything I could get hold of and drag myself on a wee +bit at a time. I had managed to do about a hundred yards, when I seemed to +sense that I had taken the wrong direction, and oh! how weak I was about +that time--it's past telling. I just simply had to lie there--I couldn't +drag myself another inch. + +"I remember seeing a few bushes about fifteen yards ahead--it seemed so +far!--and at first I wished I could manage to get to them, thinking I +might get out of the way of the enemy, should any of them come along. But +after a few minutes I decided it was perhaps as well that I was exhausted, +because if I got there and should lose consciousness, ye might not find +me, and that it was just as weel I was in the open. So I tried to content +myself, but it was maddening. + +"In dragging myself to this spot I passed here and there one of our +lads--then again I would make out one of the Camerons--and Reuter, they +were so--still! But I crawled on, and as the vision of the lass came to +me, I felt braver, and made up my mind to hold out as long as I possibly +could. + +"By this time it was night--the time seemed to drag so! Then I remember +hearing the sound of some one moving about, and I was just in the act of +calling for help when the thought flashed through my brain that maybe they +were Germans; so I kept still. The sound soon died away. My! how often, +since then, I've wished I _had_ called out. + +"I lay there wishing and hoping that I might be found before morning, but +the hours dragged on. I was growing fainter and fainter, and more +feverish. + +"At last, I dimly distinguished the presence of a party. Then I saw them +turn over some of the dead Highlanders as they came across them, give each +a kick, and pass on. By this time I could see they were +stretcher-bearers--and Prussians, at that. I was already on my back and +therefore hoped they would pass me--praying all the time that they would, +I kept staring up at the stars. The Huns _were_ passing, but it was over +my body. The carrier at the front of the empty stretcher stepped over me, +but the man in the rear stepped directly on one of my wounded legs. The +pain caused me to groan out. At this they halted and spoke, gruffly, in +German. + +"They took the contents out of my pockets and haversack, opened the +stretcher, laid it alongside of me, rolled me very roughly onto it, and +picked it up. Every once in a while during the journey to the dressing +station which was quite some distance over broken ground, they would stop +and drop the stretcher on the ground, which caused me to groan more and +more. There were hundreds of wounded Germans at the station. + +"Here I was rolled out of the stretcher. I could feel that the pleats of +my kilt were soaked with blood. Presently a little insignificant-looking +German with spectacles on looked at me, and asked in English: 'What is the +nature of your wounds?' + +"I told him. He looked at them very hastily, then said: 'You are lucky. +They should have been eight inches farther up.' With a grunt he went to +attend to the Prussian patients. + +"With that, the Hun lying next to me--he had been wounded through the arm +and foot--noticed me and commenced spitting on me and cursing in German. I +made no protest. I was too utterly weak and exhausted. + +"At last ambulances drew up near by, and the wounded Germans, after having +their wounds dressed, were placed in them. My turn came to be carried onto +the ambulance, without, however, any attention having been given to my +wounds. After a great deal of jolting about, our ambulance drew up near a +railway siding, and the German patients were served with some hot coffee, +then we were all put on board a train. By this time it was daylight. +Almost as soon as I was put on the train it began to move off. + +"Shortly afterward, a tall, lean German doctor came over and looked at me, +then renewed my dressing, which was the first since yours, Reuter. He +asked me in broken English if I had had anything to eat. When I answered +in the negative, he walked away and looked over the other patients and +talked to them. After quite some time, a German orderly came to me with +some hot milk and a sandwich of black bread and very bad-smelling cheese. +I was given the same treatment as the others while on the train. The +doctor told me there were more English wounded on the train, but that was +all he said. I cannot say how long I was on the train, but at last, after +a lot of shunting, it halted, and all the German wounded were taken off. + +"An armed guard of two men came in and took their posts beside me. I was +given coffee and more black bread and cheese. I was transferred into a +sort of truck, the guard being with me. They cut a few buttons off my +jacket as souvenirs. + +"After another considerable journey, I was put into a motor ambulance, +which brought me to my destination. It was dark when I reached this place +and I could not see my surroundings. I was carried into a hut-like +arrangement, where I found others, German and British soldiers, and some +French also. + +"I was only a few minutes in this 'hut' when a big fat, over-fed, +severe-looking German officer came in and growled out something in a rough +voice. A nurse rushed up to his side. He growled out something else, and +she immediately went out. In less time than it takes to tell, she came +back with what no doubt he had been growling for. It was a sheet of paper +and he commenced reading from it. It was to the effect that the English +prisoners would not be allowed to disobey any of the officers, soldiers, +orderlies or nurses--that if they should do so they would be instantly put +to death. If they wished to make complaints they were to do so through +the orderlies. However, if the complaint should not be a proper and +truthful one, the prisoner making it would be liable to be put to death. +He also strongly emphasized the fact that if any prisoner was caught +attempting to smuggle or write letters, the sentence of death would +instantly be imposed on him. At this point he went away.[2] + +"My heart sank. I got so homesick and much weaker; my hopes gave out +entirely. I had been thinking that, on reaching my destination, I would be +allowed to write home; and now----? + +"I must have lost consciousness, for it was day time when I awoke, to find +two doctors examining my legs, with a number of young students standing +around me. One of the doctors, an old man, who spoke excellent English, +said that both my thighs were badly fractured and that it would be +necessary to operate on me the next morning. Then he commenced explaining +to the young doctors. After the explanation was over, they all walked +away. + +"The next morning I was taken to the operating theatre, which had a +gallery all 'round packed with young German students. On the floor there +were only a nurse, the old doctor who had spoken to me the previous day, +and a few attendants. I was lying on a sort of high-wheel stretcher. The +young students were laughing and jeering, when suddenly the old doctor +turned on them furiously, using some hot German language, and instantly +there was quietness. Then a cap was put under my nose. + +"When I came out of the chloroform there was a cage arrangement over my +legs and I had no pillow for my head. At the moment I thought it was a +very mean trick to do me out of it, but after some experience in the +hospital I learned that it was to prevent me from getting sick upon +recovering from the effects of the anaesthetic. + +"There were about eighteen patients and two nurses in the hut where I was. +The nurses took turns of night duty week about. The day nurse during my +first week there was a very severe and sour-faced creature. She could +speak a little English, and I'm sure she did not speak to me more than +twenty times, and not once kindly. The night nurse was a woman about forty +years of age. She could speak only a very little English, but she was +pleasant and good-natured. She took more care of me than any of them and +would bring me a glass of milk now and again when the guards were not +looking. She also informed me that this was the place that students came +to, for practising and experimenting on the wounded prisoners, and added +that I would have a lot more operations--which I had. + +"Conditions became worse as months dragged on. It was now summer of 1915, +and still my legs were not allowed to set. One operation followed another. +I saw an iron plate with rusty screw nails an inch long, that had been +used to patch up my thigh bones. I suffered much physically--but worse +than that was the mental suffering I experienced, worrying about my folks +at home. + +"Every other day, young sarcastic doctors would come in, take the splints +off, and commence squeezing and turning my broken legs in a painful +fashion. Some would shout: 'English swine, why don't you cry out?' but I +don't remember doing so when any of them were near me. + +"The food got worse and worse toward winter. I got three meals a day. +Breakfast consisted of weak coffee and a slice of black bread with some +kind of lard spread on it. Dinner was herring bone or potato-peel soup, or +ham-bone soup with a slice of heavy potato bread. Supper was a repetition +of breakfast except that very often the lard was absent. + +"There were two German patients who got the best of attention. I learned +though, that they were wounded in the act of deserting, and were to be +court-martialed upon recovery. After they were able to sit up they would +get a large jug of beer with their midday meal and this was a keen torture +to me. + +"I became determined to find some way of communicating with my sweetheart +and friends at home, to let them know I was still alive. The night nurse +told me she expected to go near the firing line for duty, so I asked her +if she could try to smuggle out a letter for me so that it would reach my +friends. At first, she very positively refused, saying that should the +effort be found out, she would be instantly shot, but after I explained my +case to her and pleaded with her she brought me a pencil and note paper +and watched a chance when all was quiet. She put a screen round me and +whispered in my ear to praise the commandant, and the doctors, and write +in the brightest manner of everyone there. Thus, she said, the censor +might allow the letter to go through. + +"While she watched the guards, I scribbled, doing all she told me to. I +described the place and commandant something in the following manner: + + This is a most beautiful place. I think it's the prettiest hospital + in the great German Empire. It is even more elaborate than the + wonderful Peterhead sanatorium at home, and the commandant is the + nicest old gentleman. The staff, here, is also superior. We get the + best of food and plenty of it and all kinds of recreation. Even + visitors bring English magazines and treat me like a relative. + +"After finishing it, I gave it to the nurse to read. I had written all the +sheet could contain. She looked it over and seemed very pleased with it +and said that it would pass the censor all right. She sealed it, then +affixed a stamp, and hid it away in her dress, promising to post it next +morning. + +"I thought it was rather neat, my working in the Peterhead prison in +Aberdeenshire, as a sanatorium. + +"After the nurse's departure, I slept peacefully and with an easy mind, as +if a great burden had been lifted from it. + +"When the usual batch of sarcastic young German students came next morning +and started in jeering at me, I smiled. One of them instantly leaped +forward and gave me a stinging blow on the face with his open palm. I +managed to contain myself--but how I did it, I don't know. + +"That same evening, the commandant came in raging. He nearly ate me up, +while in the act of producing the letter I had written the previous night. +I longed so for the ground to open and swallow me up. He said the penalty +for the offence was death. At first I denied that I knew anything about +the letter, but he shouted: 'Do you not remember giving the same address +upon coming here?' + +"I did, only too well. + +"After blazing out on me, he left, cursing in German. I made up my mind +that I was doomed, but decided to lie as long as I could on my cot, as I +felt that I would no doubt be shot as soon as I was able to get out of +bed. That night a big masculine-looking nurse came on duty, and she was a +perfect virago. + +"I learned with deep regret that the kind nurse was moved--perhaps shot. I +watched my chance, and at night, when no one had eyes on me, I twisted in +such a fashion that my thigh bones could not possibly get a chance to knit +together. The agony I suffered was fearful, but I did not care. In the +morning my temperature would go up and further operations would follow. I +continued doing this for a week or so but at last I could not stand it. I +just had to lie still. + +"In December I began to get up for a few hours daily. It was torture to me +when I tried to move around. I was so very weak and all the-muscle and +flesh had left my body. I was reduced to almost skin and bone. + +"I was not even given a stick to support me. I limped about for a few +weeks, then received my uniform and was moved to the prisoners' enclosure, +where there were one thousand British prisoners. Like myself, none of +these fellows was allowed to write home, and I don't suppose they will +be--until they are set free. We were crowded into tents. The food was +terrible; I have seen pigs get better. But we ate it just the same. + +"The next morning after breakfast, we were all marched out to make roads, +chop wood, and do all kinds of convict work. Some of the men had a leg +off, others had an arm off as well as being otherwise crippled; but they +all had to work. + +"I wasn't able to keep up with the rest while marching out to the place +where I was to work and one of the German guards started poking the butt +of his rifle into my ribs. This was his way of making me keep up with the +rest of them. I tried hard and finally managed to reach the spot where our +men were working. I was given wood to saw. + +"I managed to stick to it about half an hour, then I fainted. When I came +to myself again a big dirty Prussian was kicking me and telling me to get +on with my work. But I couldn't. Upon seeing this, a man from our squad +was ordered to wheel me back to camp in a barrow with a German walking +alongside with his rifle slung over his shoulder, smoking a long pipe and +jeering all the way. I was at once classed as 'worthless.' + +"Our officers had to work like the other men, but the special job given +them was road-sweeping. I was given some dirty work to do around the +prison camp for a few days, until at last I had to be put in the hospital +again on account of weakness. One of my legs was shorter than the other, +owing to the manner in which they had practised on me. + +"This time I was in the hospital only about two weeks. Then I got my +clothes, and the commandant came in and informed me that he got orders to +supply six worthless English prisoners from the camp for exchange. 'You +are the first on the list,' he said. 'You are no good to anybody. You +cannot even work for the food you get.' + +"I could hardly realize my good fortune. I wept with joy. To think of +being sent home as an exchanged prisoner! + +"I 'fell in' along with five more fellows, one was stone blind; his face +was an awful sight--all dark blue as if it had been tattooed. The other +four had body injuries. We were placed in a motor truck which conveyed us +to a railway station, then we were packed in trucks with a few sentries +over us. + +"One of the sentries, out of pity, gave one of our men a cigarette. The +poor fellow had just lighted it off the stump the sentry was about to +throw away, when a German officer rushed forward and knocked it out of his +mouth with his glove, and had him taken away at once. The sentry who had +given him the fag was ordered to take off his equipment, and two of the +German guards marched the British prisoner and German sentry away. + +"Two nights later we landed at a port and were marched on to a steamer. I +think it was a Dutch boat, as I did not see any Germans on board until we +were out at sea, when we were gathered together, and a German staff +officer of the navy gave us a lecture. He finished up by saying that we +were not free of the German Government until we landed in England, and +should any of us disobey while on board, we would at once be sent back to +Germany. You may depend upon it that we obeyed. + +"After we boarded the boat we were given some Capstan Navy-Cut +Cigarettes--and got a good meal, the first since I had been taken +prisoner. I was so overjoyed that I sat in a corner and did not utter a +word until I landed on British soil, then I prayed silently and thanked +God for bringing me back to a civilized country. I think there were over +six hundred exchanged British prisoners on the same boat. + +"When we landed in England, we were taken to a hospital, and those of us +who were able to travel were asked if we wanted to go straight home for a +few days, and report for medical treatment in our own districts. I think +all those who weren't able to do much more than crawl said they preferred +to go straight home. Next morning at 8 o'clock I was given two sovereigns +and a furlough, pending discharge. + +"After receiving the money, I boarded the first train for Auchterarder, +where 'the lass' lived. She had opened a millinery business in my absence. +The train left at 10 A.M., and I arrived at Auchterarder depot at 8.15 +P.M. It was about a mile from the station to Jeanie's house. I wanted to +get there as soon as I could, and walking was out of the question. So I +managed to coax a teamster to go a little bit out of his way and let me +off near her home. I wanted to surprise her, so went on upstairs in her +house quietly. + +"As I climbed up I could hear the sound of much merriment coming from the +upper rooms. The first thought that struck me was that perhaps she had +been already notified and was preparing a surprise for me. Yet it seemed +strange, as I had sent no word ahead of me--not even a telegram. + +"I felt real nervous upon reaching the door, and wondered what I should +say on entering it. At last I summoned up courage and opened the door. I +stood still. The sight that met me dazed me. I couldn't believe my own +eyes. + +"In the room there were many young ladies--most of them dressed in white. +I recognized some of their faces. Jeanie was standing in the centre, +dressed as a bride with a bouquet clasped in her arm. + +"I was beginning to think that it surely was a most heavenly surprise. But +they caught sight of me and it seemed as if they all made for the farthest +corners of the room. They looked at me in what seemed to be terror. + +"Jeanie stared at me for a moment. She was very pale. I wondered why she +didn't rush forward and greet me--as I felt she ought--with outstretched +arms. At that I started to make for her side. She gasped out 'Ned'--and +sank to the floor in a faint. + +"While I was leaning over her, there was a commotion at the door. I looked +around and saw the clergyman enter, with one of my old-time chums dressed +as a bridegroom. Upon recognizing me the bridegroom looked bewildered, but +the next moment he had recovered himself. He approached me and shook +hands, telling me, with an odd and embarrassed manner that my arrival was +timely. He added: 'If you had been delayed half an hour, Jeanie and I +would have been married by now. It seems as if Fate has taken a hand in +this.' + +"He told me that Jeanie had been worrying and was continually talking +about me, and that she didn't believe I was dead, although I had been +reported 'killed or missing' since September, 1914. He had told her that +she was foolish to keep up this thought, and finally had persuaded her to +become engaged to him. The date for the marriage was fixed for the night +on which I arrived. + +"During this time the bride was being attended by some of the other young +ladies and had been revived. + +"The intended bridegroom went to her side and asked if she still cared for +me. Her answer was: 'If he loves me, _yes_.' He approached me again, +asking whether I cared for her still. Oh, I wanted to say how I loved her +and how anxiously and hurriedly I had made my way to her on reaching +British soil, but I was too overcome for words; I could only nod an +assent. Do you know, Reuter, what this old pal did? He withdrew, giving +me his place, and he acted as Best Man. + +"Since then I've wondered whether, if it had been any other man, he would +have stepped aside so. He loved her as I did, no doubt, but it seems she +couldn't forget me, no matter how he tried to make her do so; so, +realizing all this at the time, he did what he thought would give her the +greatest happiness. I had suffered sorely, Reuter, but surely I was well +rewarded. The pal who had expected to have my place gave us a hundred +pounds as his gift to help us along in business. We were married that same +night--only three days ago. So you see, Reuter, I lost no time in trying +to find you to tell you of my complete happiness." + + * * * * * + +We left the tea rooms, and I accompanied Ned to the railway station, where +he took the train for his home town. As we parted he wished me the best of +success in America, and hoped that he would hear of my getting married +very soon, for he assured me he was so happy that he wished to know that +such happiness was mine also. + +I made for home then, and in less than a week's time I was on my way to +the States. + +Ned's good wishes for me have certainly been fulfilled. I have since +married, and it is my wife who has proved my sole inspiration and help in +writing this book. + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN + + +No doubt, if I had been trained in writing rather than in the tactical +requirements for service in the British army, I should call this the +appendix of my book. I prefer not to do so, having found in my own +experience that readers may be inclined to view the appendix in literature +as similar to the appendix in surgery--something which is unnecessary. + +I cannot so regard this chapter. It is to me a component and interesting +part of the whole, for it goes to the source of the splendid and unique +traditions of the regiment in which I have been privileged to serve as a +soldier of my country. + +A great deal has been written about the Black Watch. Even poets have been +inspired to sing of its deeds in stanzas which are undying. Men of +Highland birth, glorying in its history, have set down the facts of its +achievements under England's banner. Yet most of these records are +composed of dry facts, with no expressed sense of the romantic and the +unusual which enter so largely into the history of the most famous +fighting organization in the world. And most of them, also, might be +written from the viewpoint of a century ago. They do not bring the recital +of the achievements of the Black Watch into the atmosphere of to-day, with +due regard for the interesting and almost startling effect of contrast. + +This thought came to me one day when I was riding on a trolley through one +of the busy districts of that part of Greater New York which lies east of +the bridged river, and suddenly realized that I was passing over the very +ground upon which the Black Watch had its first important engagement in +the war of the American Revolution--the Battle of Brooklyn. I recalled +that on this very spot, where clanging trolleys, quick motor cars and +hurrying pedestrians made a confusing rush of traffic, the men of the +Black Watch fought, in the fashion of their forefathers, with broadsword +and pistol, against the sturdy pioneers whose descendants are now the +allies of our nation in a war for world freedom. In the annals of our +regiment, the use of the broadsword and pistol in the Battle of Brooklyn +is duly recorded, for it was after this engagement that the regiment was +required to lay aside these mediæval weapons--a fact which occasioned such +discontent among the veterans of the Watch that there was even fear that +the Highland stubbornness might manifest itself as markedly in protest as +on the occasion--in England, in 1743--when the men of the regiment, +confronted with orders issued in ignorance of the Highland characteristics +and customs, departed quietly, in a body, without the knowledge of their +officers, and marched as far as Northampton with the intention of +returning to their Highland homes, relinquishing the purpose only when +prolonged negotiations had made the facts of the situation plain to their +stubborn minds. + +On the whole, however, this disposition on the part of the men of the +Black Watch could hardly be called surprising, in view of the ignorance +regarding the Highland character then prevalent in England. Three years +before, King George the Second, having never seen a Scotch +Highlander--although the Black Watch had already been organized in the +Highlands as the Forty-third regiment of the British army--asked to have +some examples of the race sent to appear before him and his court. Two +Highlanders, Gregor MacGregor and John Campbell, appeared in response to +the King's command. (A third, John Grant, began the journey to London with +them but died on the way.) MacGregor and Campbell gave exhibitions of +their dexterity with the broadsword and the Lochaber axe, in the presence +of the King and his Court. When they had finished the King gave each a +gold guinea as a gratuity. They gave the coins as a tip to the porter, on +their departure. The King had not understood that his guests were Highland +gentlemen. + +Sitting at the window of the house where I now pass the peaceful and +uneventful days of the soldier who has fought until wounds incapacitate +him for further service afield, I smiled, one day, at another thought in +which the past and the present incongruously came into association. From +this window, I viewed the populous, close-built residential stretches of +Washington Heights, typical of the city life of to-day. And, amid all +this, my eye could seek out the very spot where occurred the grimly +humorous adventure of Major Murray, most corpulent of the officers of the +Black Watch, when the command was fighting against Washington's rebellious +patriots. Having to scale the heights which were later to become famous as +the habitat of the hardy goats of Harlem, Major Murray was at a great +disadvantage because of his weight and girth. "Soldiers, would you leave +me behind?" he appealed, pathetically, when he needed assistance. And then +his husky Highlanders would boost him upward toward the fray. It was, +consequently, in a somewhat breathless and confused condition that the +valiant major attained the spot upon the heights where the conflict raged. +Rushing forward to close with some antagonist in the Colonials, Major +Murray discovered that his only weapon, his dirk, had got twisted behind +him in the strenuous struggles of the ascent and that, because of his +excessive fatness, he couldn't reach it. The records of the regiment, at +the home station, Perth, state that the major, on this occasion, tore a +sword from the grasp of one of three Colonials who attacked him and put +all three to flight. With no thought to cast aspersion upon the major's +valour, I have always been inclined to the belief that the writer of the +regimental reports may have compensated in a certain generosity of +statement for his earlier description of the major's comic predicament. + +Study of the history of the Black Watch, gathered, largely, in a +fragmentary way, has always had a fascination for me. I have felt in the +greatest degree the pride of membership in the organization--and the world +knows that the men of the Black Watch have always made much of the name. I +feel that tradition had well prepared the regiment for its sacrificial and +almost superhuman efforts between Mons and the Marne. For hard fighting +and long fighting--in every quarter of the globe and with opponents of +almost every race--civilized and uncivilized--no organized fighting force +has ever had a record to equal that of the Black Watch. + +The regiment got its name in 1729, when six companies of Highlanders which +had constituted a sort of military police along the highland border, were +joined together into a more or less homogeneous command. Four of these +companies had been in existence for a few years. Two were of organization +of that year. They were called the Independent Companies of Highlanders +but it was their purpose to co-operate to preserve order among the +turbulent spirits of the border and to enforce the disarming act. +Highlanders from the broken clans flocked to the banners of the +Independent Companies, as this gave them the right still to bear arms. +Many of them were Highland gentlemen, who came with their servants to +carry their arms and belongings. The companies were commanded by Lord +Lovat, Campbell of Lochnell, Grant of Ballindalloch, Campbell of Fonab, +Campbell of Carrick, and Munro of Culcairn. Approximately, there were a +hundred men in each company. They wore the dark tartan of the clan +Campbell, and thus came to be called the _Freaceadan Dubh_, or Black +Watch, as distinguished from the _saighdearan dearg_, or red soldiers. + +For ten years, these six companies served on the border, constituting a +slender but effective bulwark between two neighbouring but utterly +different peoples. In this day--when it is but a pleasant outing to motor +from England into the Highlands--it seems almost unbelievable that the +laws, language, customs, and social usages of the Highlanders should for +centuries have remained utterly different from those of England and the +lowlands, and that the people of the lowlands should have almost no +knowledge of neighbours so near. The sturdy and soldierly qualities of the +Highlanders of the six companies, however, couldn't escape the notice of +England's generals, ever seeking new drafts for England's fighting forces. + +In 1739 it was decided that a foot regiment of Highlanders should be added +to the regular establishment of the army, the six Independent Companies +being augmented by four new companies to constitute the regimental +strength. + +In 1740 this regiment--commanded by the Earl of Crawford and Lindsay, as +colonel--was paraded for the first time on a field, near Aberfeldy. Until +then, the Black Watch had been uniformed only in the fact that each member +wore the _philleadh mor_ or belted plaid, of the Campbell tartan. No one +but a Highlander could ever adjust this dress. It consisted of twelve +yards of tartan, two-thirds of it gathered in pleats, held by a belt round +the waist, and the other third folded around the body and clasped with a +buckle, on the left shoulder. + +The uniform and individual equipment of the new regiment, which was called +the Forty-third Foot, is described in detail in an old order of the day. +It consisted of "scarlet jacket and waistcoat, with buff facings and white +lace; the _phileag beag_, or little kilt; a blue bonnet, with check border +of red, white, and green, and a tuft of feathers; musket, bayonet, pistol, +broadsword, dirk and target." The first march of the regiment was from +beside the waters of the Tay--where it had encamped for more than a +year--to Perth, in which city the home station of the regiment was then +established and still is maintained. + +When I outfitted there, with my contingent of first reserve men, at the +outbreak of this war, the thought came to my mind that, three times +before, the Black Watch had moved from Perth to fight in Flanders. + +I have never seen a succinct summary of the activities of the Black Watch. +Though far abler writers than I have described its separate campaigns, +each of these writers has given but a limited view of the long vista of +sturdy fighting which visualizes the regiment's history. From such sources +of information as I have had, the following summary has been extracted. +Surely it will tell a story of interest to every man who is interested in +the traditions of Britain's "far-flung battle line." + +The regiment marched from Perth to London, in 1743, and, after a +mutiny--due to tales of scandal-mongers that the Highlanders were to be +sent to the American plantations--made its first journey overseas, going +to fight in Flanders under the command of the Earl of Stair. After +Fontenoy, the regiment covered the British retreat and lost, among their +officers, five Campbells. In this battle they were commanded by Sir Robert +Munro. + +The Black Watch, then called the 43rd Highlanders, was transferred to +England, and most of the companies were kept in Kent, during the Jacobite +uprising. Three companies were engaged in Scotland in putting down the +insurrection, and one was at the battle of Prestonpans. I quote from a +story of the Black Watch written by Lauchlan MacLean Watt in saying that +"the other two companies had an unwilling share in the deplorable outrages +in the Highland Glens after Culloden, which made the name of the Duke of +Cumberland worthy to be placed amongst those of his blood who have won +similar distinction in Belgium, to-day." + +The Black Watch was sent to France, in 1746, thence to Ireland and back to +Flanders in 1747. + +In 1749 it was returned to Ireland where it remained eight years. In this +year the regimental number was changed to the 42nd. + +In 1757 the regiment was a part of the expeditionary force sent to America +for the French and Indian war. At Ticonderoga it served so valiantly and +suffered such terrific losses that the name "The Royal Highlanders" was +conferred upon it. + +The regiment next fought at Martinique and Guadaloupe, returning to fight +again in Canada and take an important part in the battle which compelled +the surrender of Montreal. Altogether, it served seven years in the West +Indies and North America. It was only at this period that company +sergeants were given carbines instead of the Lochaber axes which they had +always carried. + +In 1775 the regiment returned to Scotland, having been absent 32 years. + +In April, 1776, the regiment embarked again for America, this time to +fight in the revolution of the American colonists. They were disembarked +on Staten Island, and, as I have said, they were engaged and suffered some +losses in the Battle of Brooklyn. They also suffered heavily in the Battle +of the Brandywine. + +The Black Watch next fought against Hyder Ali, in India, in 1782. + +In 1795 it took part in the defence of Nieuport, in Flanders, and suffered +much in the Gildersmalsen retreat, in that campaign. + +Back again, the regiment went, after this, to the West Indies and in this +campaign the men were first given a uniform suitable to wear in the +tropics. Its principal features were white duck trousers and round hats. +The mutations of world warfare had had their effect. The Highlanders were +willing to put on pantaloons. There were but five companies of the +regiment on this expedition. The whole regiment was reassembled, however, +in the following year, at Gibraltar, and fought as a whole in the capture +of Minorca. + +The year 1800 found the regiment, under Sir Ralph Abercromby, in Egypt. +During the fighting with Napoleon's armies, there, the regiment lost its +commander in action. + +In 1808 the Black Watch was among the British forces in the Peninsula and +suffered extreme privation and heavy losses on the retreat from Corunna. + +In the following year the regiment was on the ill-fated expedition to +Walcheren, returning with less than one-third of its original strength. +Three years later they were in Portugal again. + +After the escape of Napoleon the regiment fought through to Waterloo, +though without playing an important part in that last great battle. + +It then fought through the campaign of the Crimea as a part of Sir Colin +Campbell's Highland brigade. + +Within a year it was in the lead of the force of six thousand men which +Sir Colin led against twenty-five thousand mutineers at Cawnpore. + +Its next hard fighting was in the Ashanti campaign, under General Sir +Garnet Wolseley. + +In 1881 it was combined with the 73rd Highland regiment (formerly the 2nd +battalion of the Black Watch) and in the next year was back, fighting in +Egypt. Through the whole of that war in Egypt it was in the fore-front, +fighting with distinction up to the end of the expedition which was +organized for the relief of Gordon at Khartoum. + +The regiment suffered its most terrific losses--up to those of the retreat +from Mons--in the South African campaign. The slaughter of the Black +Watch, at Magersfontein, when the Boers ambushed it in close formation, +was the most shocking news that came to England from the Cape. + +The story of the 2nd Battalion of the regiment and its deeds is a separate +one, through several decades. It sailed to India in 1780 and was in action +in all of the big and little Indian wars of that early and troublous time. +In 1809 it was made a separate regiment and called the 73rd Highlanders. +As such it served at Waterloo, and it remained a separate unit until 1881, +when it was reunited with the original 1st Battalion. + +The Black Watch, as now organized, might almost be called a small army. +There is a depot battalion at Perth, four territorial battalions in +Scotland and six service battalions. + +In 1905, I enlisted in the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch--the same +"Royal Highlanders" that had won its designation at Ticonderoga. In 1907, +I was transferred to the 2nd Battalion, which had been known as the 73rd +Highlanders. I joined them at their station at Peshawar, near the mouth of +the famous Kyber Pass, in Afghanistan. In the athletic contests for which +the regiment was famous, I met as a competitor, Ned MacD---- the same Ned +MacD---- whose romantic story I have told in a previous chapter. After a +time we were the regimental champions, and, many a day in India, we +strenuously upheld the honour of the Black Watch in competition with the +men of other regiments. + +My athletic days and my fighting days are over. But ever my blood will +quicken with the thought that I have played my part and done my service +and shed my blood in the ranks of the Black Watch, fighting for Right and +for the Freedom of Mankind. The pain of old wounds will ever vanish, the +regrets for departed comrades will ever fade into forgetfulness when I +read, again, the verses which paraphrase the title conferred by the bodies +upon the Black watch--upon us! + + There's a toss o' th' sporran, + A swing o' th' kilt, + A screech frae th' pipers + In blood-stirrin' lilt; + They step out together + As pibroch notes swell-- + Oh, they're bonny, braw fighters, + "The ladies from Hell." + + They're far frae th' heather + An' far frae th' moor; + As th' rocks o' their hillsides + Their faces are dour. + Oh, Th' Campbells are Comin' + Frae corrie an' fell-- + What a thrill to their slogan! + These "Ladies from Hell." + + As they charged at Culloden + Like fire o'er th' brae, + Their brothers are charging + In Flanders to-day. + One lesson in manners + The boche has learned well: + 'Tis: Make way for the ladies-- + "The Ladies from Hell." + + +THE END + + + THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS + GARDEN CITY, N. Y. + + + + +Footnotes: + +[1] Since my discharge and residence here in America, I have heard several +other cases of this kind, but the one narrated above is the only one I +actually came in contact with. THE AUTHOR. + +[2] This was Ned's individual experience. Prisoners in other hospitals and +prison camps may have been allowed to write home even at that time. In +talking to others I have learned that the prison camps in Germany vary a +great deal.--THE AUTHOR. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +The following misprints have been corrected: + "in in" corrected to "in" (page 33) + "sightest" corrected to "slightest" (page 211) + +Other than the corrections listed above, inconsistencies in spelling and +hyphenation have been retained from the original. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Black Watch, by Scout Joe Cassells + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BLACK WATCH *** + +***** This file should be named 33278-8.txt or 33278-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/2/7/33278/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive/American +Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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