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diff --git a/old/52450-8.txt b/old/52450-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 894905a..0000000 --- a/old/52450-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7624 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Test of Scarlet, by Coningsby Dawson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Test of Scarlet - A Romance of Ideality - -Author: Coningsby Dawson - -Release Date: June 30, 2016 [EBook #52450] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEST OF SCARLET *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - - - - - - - - -THE TEST OF SCARLET - -A Romance of Ideality - -By Coningsby Dawson - -New York: John Lane Company London - -1919 - - - - - -THE TEST OF SCARLET - - - - -I - - -THE raid is over. The frenzied appeal of the Hun flares has died down. -Flares are the deaf and dumb language of the Front. Sometimes they say, -"We are advancing"; sometimes, "We are beaten back." Most often they -say, "We are in danger; call upon the artillery for help." Tonight they -seemed to be crying out for mercy--speaking not to friends, but to us. -We were silent as God, and now they too are silent. - -In the welter of darkness one can still make out the exact location of -the enemy's front-line by the glow of his burning dug-outs. Our chaps -set them on fire, standing in the doorways like avenging angels, and -hurling down incendiary bombs as he tried to rush up the stairs. A -horrid way to die, imprisoned underground in a raging furnace! Yet at -this distance the destruction looks comfortable as the reflection of -many camp-fires about which companions sit and warm their hands. The -only companions in those trenches now are Corruption and his old friend -Death. - -I can see it all--the twisted terror of the bodies, the mangled redness -of what once were men. I see these things too clearly--before they -happen, while they are happening and when I 'm not there. It is only -when I am there that I do not see them, and they fail to impress me. -It was so tonight as I crouched in my observation post, my telephonist -beside me, waiting for the show to commence. As the second-hand ticked -round to zero hour, I had an overpowering desire to delay the on-coming -destruction. I peopled the enemy line with imaginary characters and -built up stories about them. I pictured the homes they had left, the -affections, the sweethearts, the little children. God knows why I should -pity them. And then our chaps--they are known personalities; I can paint -with exact precision the contrast between what they are and what they -were. I see them always with laughter in their eyes, however desperate -the job in hand. Their faces lean and eager as bayonets, they assemble -in some main trench, as likely as not facetiously named after some -favorite actress. On our present front we have the Doris Keane, the -Teddie Gerrard and the Gaby. A sharply whispered word of command! They -move forward, shuffling along the duckboard, come to the jumping-off -point and commence to follow the lanes in the wire which lead out -from safety across No Man's Land. They crouch like panthers, flinging -themselves flat every time a rocket ascends. Within shouting distance of -the enemy, they drop into shell-holes and lie silent. All this I see in -my mind as I gaze impotently through the blackness. My turn comes later -when the raid is in full swing; it consists in directing the artillery -fire and reporting to the rear what is happening. - -I consult the illuminated dial of my wrist-watch--five seconds to go. -Some battery, which has grown nervous, starts pooping off its rounds. -A machine-gunner, imitating the bad example, commences a swift -rat-a-tat-tat: Destiny demanding entrance on the door of some sleeping -house. In the wall of darkness, as though a candle had been lighted -and a blind pulled aside, a solitary flare ascends--then another, then -another. North end south, like panic spreading, the illumination runs. -With the clash of an iron door flung wide, all our batteries open up. I -look behind me; flash follows flash. The horizon is lit up from end to -end. The gunners are baking their loaves of death. The air is filled -with a hissing as of serpents. Shells travel so thick and fast overhead -that they seem to jostle and struggle for a passage. The first of them -arrive. So far no eye has followed their flight. Suddenly they halt, -reined in by their masters at the guns, and plunge snarling and golden -on the heads of the enemy. Where a second ago there was blackness, a -wall of fire and lead has grown up. Poor devils! Those who escape the -shells will be destroyed by bomb and bayonet. Pity there is none; this -is the hour of revenge. We shall take three prisoners, perhaps, in order -that we may gather information, but the rest.... Our chaps have to think -of their own safety. There is only one company in the raid, consisting -of not over a hundred men. They might easily be surrounded. Their -success depends on the element of surprise and the quickness of their -get-away when they have done their work. If they took too many prisoners -they would be hampered in their return. If they left any of the enemy -alive behind them, they would be fired on as they retired. So the order -is "No quarter and kill swiftly." - -Now that the attack has started, I cease to be concerned for the Hun: -all my thought is for our chaps. I knew so many of them. Silborrad, the -scout officer of the nth Battalion is there; a frail appearing lad, with -the look of a consumptive and the heart of a lion. It was he who with -one sergeant held up sixty Huns at Avion, driving them back with bombs -from traverse to traverse. Battling Brown is in charge of the company; -he's the champion raiding officer of our corps and, with the exception -of the V. C., has won every decoration that a man can earn. Curious -stories are told about him. It is said that in the return from one raid -he had brought three prisoners within sight of our lines when suddenly, -without rhyme or reason, he lined them up and shot them dead. The moment -he had done so he fell to weeping. This particular raid had been put -on to gain identifications of the enemy Division that was facing us. By -killing his prisoners he had failed in the purpose for which the raid -bad been planned. You cannot wring answer? from the dead. Having seen -his men safely back into our trenches, he set out alone across No Man's -Land. What he did there or how he did it, he has never told to anyone; -but by dawn he came padding back through our wire, driving three new -prisoners in front of him. For every Hun he shoots he makes a notch -in the handle of his revolver. He has used up the handles of three -revolvers already. He's tall and slim as a girl, with nice eyes and a -wistful sort of mouth. When he came to the war he was barely eighteen; -today he's scarcely twenty-one. War hasn't aged him; he thrives on it -and looks, if anything, more boyish. It's only in a fight that his face -loses its brooding expression of thwarted tenderness. Of a sudden it -becomes hard and stern--almost Satanic. There never was such a man for -clutching at glory. - -And then there's big Dick Dirk. When he first joined our Brigade, he got -the reputation for being yellow because he talked so freely about -being afraid. He has no right to be in the raid. It isn't his job; he's -supposed to be deep underground in the Battalion Headquarters' dug-out, -carrying on his duties as liaison-officer. None of the artillery know, -except myself, that he intended to go over the top with the infantry -tonight. When our Colonel learns of his escapade, he'll give him hell. - -Dick is six-foot-three, slow in speech, simple as a child and so honest -that it hurts. He stoups a little at the shoulders, falls forward at the -knees and is as gray as a badger. His expression is worn and kindly, and -his lower lip pendulous. You would set him down as stupid, if it were -not for the twinkle in his eyes. I don't think Dick ever kissed a girl; -he would not consider it honorable and, in any case, holds too humble -an opinion of himself. Since he's been at the Front he's managed to get -engaged to one of his sister's school-girl friends. She's a Brazilian. -He knows nothing about her, has never seen her, but like all of us, -dreads the loneliness of "going West" without the knowledge that there -is one girl who cares. She started the friendship by adding postscripts -to his sister's letters. Then she asked that he would send her a photo -of himself. For some time he dodged her request, and afterwards spent -weeks of wracking nervousness lest his looks should fall below her -standards. Now that he's engaged, he treats the entire war as though it -were being fought for her. He still talks of being afraid. He refuses -to lie about his sensations. The more he sees of shell-fire the stronger -grows his physical dread. Because of this, he continually sets traps for -his cowardice. Tonight he set another trap. I suppose he got to thinking -how he'd hate to be an infantryman in a raid, so he decided to go over -the top with them. At the present moment he might be in England, but -cut his leave short, returned from Blighty and was sent up forward as -liaison-officer. It was only yesterday that he surprised me by raising -the gas-blanket and pushing in his head. - -"You!" I exclaimed. "I was picturing you in Piccadilly. What's brought -you back from Blighty six days ahead of time?" - -He flushed, but his eyes mocked his confusion. "It was devilishly lonely -in London", he said slowly; "there were too many girls." And then, with -an embarrassed smile, "I wanted to go straight because of her." - -So because he wanted to go straight for her, he's out in No Man's Land -tonight, re-testing his worth and taking his life in his hands. There's -a woman at the back of each one of us who inspires most of our daring. -With some of us she's the woman whom we hope to meet, with others the -woman whom we've met. Whether she lives in the future or the present, we -carry on in an effort to be worthy of her. And when it's ended, will -she be worthy? Will she guess that we did it all for her? We shall never -tell her; if she loves us, she will guess. - -A sunken road, rotten with rain and mud, runs twenty yards to my left. I -shall know when the raiders return, for I shall hear the weary tread of -the wounded and the prisoners as they pass this point. A little higher -up the road I can already hear the muffled panting of an ambulance, -waiting to carry back the dead. Should I miss them, the quickened beat -of the engine will warn me. The enemy knows that this is the route by -which they must return; he's lobbing over gas-shells and searching with -whizz-bangs. A messy way of spending life Did God know that it was -for this that He was creating us when He launched us on our adventure -through the world? - - - - -II - - -IT'S morning. We're always safe when the light has come. The most -dangerous hour in the twenty-four is the one when day is dawning -Throughout that hour the infantry always "stand to" with rifles, bombs -and Lewis guns, on the alert for an attack. S. O. S. rockets are kept -handy, so that help can be summoned. At every observation-post an -especially keen look-out is kept; at the batteries the sentries stand -with eyes fixed on the eastern horizon to catch the first signal of -distress. - -The anxious hour is over and morning has come. For another day men -breathe more freely; till night returns, death has been averted. The -narrow slit, just above the level of the ground, through which I spy on -the enemy, reveals a green and dewy country. The little flowers of the -field are still asleep, their faces covered by their tiny petal-hands. -I want to shout to them to wake up and be companionable. After watching -many dawns I have discovered that poppies are the early risers among the -flowers and that dandelions are the sleepy heads. - -The ridge fans away from where I am. Beneath the slope, directly in -front, there is a village destroyed by shell-fire. To the right there is -another village equally desolate. Still further in front there are -two more villages which have been trampled into dust by attacks and -counter-attacks. Every tree is dead. Every wood has been uprooted. Every -Calvary, with its suffering Christ, has been knocked down. When the -morning clears I shall be able to see for miles across all the intricate -trench system of the Huns, defence line behind defence line, to the -barricade of cities on the eastward edge of the plain. In those cities -life seems to follow its normal round. The clock in the town-hall of -Douai is so accurate that we can set our watches by it. Plumes of smoke -puff lazily from chimneys and drift across the red roofs of houses. -Through a telescope one can pick up lorries speeding along roads and -trains steaming in and out of cuttings. Throughout the day we search -hollows and woods for the flash of guns, taking bearings to them -when they have been found. Early morning is the time to spot infantry -movement. The men approach out of the distance in twos and threes. They -may be carrying-parties or they may be runners. By careful watching you -get to know their routes and even the places to which they are going. -You telephone back the target to the guns and keep them "standing to" -until your victims have reached a favorable point, then you send back -the order for one gun to fire. You observe where the shell lands, send -back a rapid correction and, when you've got the correct line and range, -bring all your guns to bear upon the target, adjusting the range and -line of your shots as they run. In the dull round of an observing -officer's life these little spells of man hunting are the chief -excitement. There is another, however--when the enemy has spotted you -and sets to work to knock you out. Neither of these diversions is likely -to happen for some time yet; it's too early. Long scarves of mist are -swaying low along the ground. The more distant landscape is a sea of -vaporous billows, above which only the blackened fangs of trees show up. - -One day the greatest excitement of all may happen: camouflaged in a pit -to my right we have an anti-tank gun; in the dug-out below me I have -a specially selected detachment of gunners. Should the Hun make up his -mind to break through, he would certainly employ tanks--perhaps some of -our own, which he captured further south. Any one of these fine mornings -when night is melting into dawn, our great chance may come. Then our -gallant little thirteen-pounder, which has held its tongue ever since we -dropped it in the trench, will start talking and we shall have a merry -time, taking pot-shots over open sights, till the enemy Is beaten back -or we are all dead. - -How many days, weeks, months have I sat here gazing on this same stretch -of country? I know it all by heart--every blasted tree, every torn -roadway, every ruined house. We have names for everything--Dick House, -Telephone House, Lone Tree; all the names are set down on our maps. -Through summer, winter and spring, ever since we first stormed the -ridge, we have watched the same scene till our eyes ache with the -monotony--and now again it is summer. Every now and then they have -withdrawn us to put on an attack in a new part of the line, but always -they have had to bring us back. This ridge is the Gibraltar of the -entire Front from Yprès to Amiens; if the British were thrown back from -here it would mean a huge retreat to the north and south. The Hun knows -that. Directly we march out and another corps takes over from us, he -begins to make his plans for an offensive. In the spring, when we were -away, he put on an attack and gained a dangerously large amount of -ground. As soon as we re-appeared he fell back. He has learnt the cost -of provoking the Canadians--the white Gurkhas as he has called us--and -prefers to express his high spirits elsewhere. So here we sit guarding -our fortress, with orders to hold it at any price The most we can do is -to annoy the Hun when we're itching to crush him. - -Each day we hope that our turn has come. The line is being pressed back -to the south of us. Amiens and Rheims are threatened. Big Bertha is -shelling Paris. Our nurses near the coast are being murdered by airmen. -We hear of whole divisions being wiped out--of both the attacking and -the attacked being so spent with fighting that they cannot raise their -rifles, and crawl towards each other only to find that they have no -strength in their hands to strangle.... And here we sit watching, -always watching. It is because we are so fed up that we send out raiding -parties. The damage they do doesn't count for much when compared with -the total damage that the enemy is doing to us; but it's consoling. It's -our way of saying, "You think you're top-dog; but the Canadians are here -with their tails up. You haven't finished with the British yet--not by a -damned sight." - -The enemy settled his account with some of our boys last night. It -appears that our party got safely to their rendezvous in No Man's -Land, where they had to lie in hiding in shell-holes till the artillery -started. Everything was going well and it was only a few seconds to -zero hour when a returning enemy patrol stumbled across them. Our chaps -didn't dare to shoot lest they should warn the garrison in the Hun -front-line. They had to use their bayonets, trip them up and choke them -into silence. While this was in the doing our barrage came down and -then, since noise no longer mattered, they made short work of the patrol -In this preliminary scrap Silborrad, the scout-officer, was killed. -He was hugely popular with his men, for he had a reputation of always -recovering his wounded. His death made them see red. When our barrage -lifted and they stormed the Hun trench, they killed everything in sight; -it was only when nothing living was left that they remembered that they -had taken no prisoners. The proper thing to have done would have been -to have come back. Their orders were not to remain in enemy territory -longer than fifteen minutes; there's always the danger that the enemy -supports may move up for a counter-attack and his artillery is almost -certain to place a wall of fire in No Man's Land to prevent the raiders -from getting back. It was Battling Brown who decided the question. -"We'll take a chance at their second-line", he said. "If we don't find -anyone there, we'll poke about in their communication-trenches till we -do find someone." - -They found the second-line strongly held by machine-gunners. There was -bloody work, but they secured their prisoners. The problem now was how -to get back with their dead and wounded. The green lights which the men -in our front-line were shooting up to guide them, showed very faintly -and were often lost to sight on account of the rolling nature of the -country. The return journey was made still more difficult by snipers who -picked them off as they retired. They had already entered our wire, when -word was passed along that one of our men was missing. Dick must have -heard it; when they were safe in our trench and called the roll, it was -discovered that he too was absent. This much I learnt in the early hours -from the wounded who limped up the sunken road to my left. It wasn't -until dawn that I heard the rest of the story: that was when they were -bringing out the dead. The engine of the ambulance had quickened its -beat, getting ready to climb the hill. I ran out and found them lifting -something wrapped in a blanket. - -"'E was some man", one of the bearers was saying; "but 'e's too 'eavy. -They 'adn't ought to 'ave brought 'im out." Then I caught sight of -Dick's gray hair Beneath his half-shut lids his eyes still seemed to -twinkle, mocking at anything good that might be said about him. - -They told how, when within reach of safety, he had gone back to find the -missing man. He had been gone two hours, when something was seen moving -behind our wire. Just as they challenged, they recognized him by his -great height. He was half-carrying, half-dragging the missing chap who -had lost his way through being blinded in the encounter with the patrol. -They went out to help him in with his burden. When they got to him, he -said, "Boys, I'm done." After he'd spoken he just crumpled up. Blood -was trickling from his mouth and, when they unbuttoned his tunic, it was -sticky. Before they could bind him he pegged out. - -As I gazed down at him in the early morning twilight I could guess -exactly what had happened--just as surely as if his lips had moved to -tell me: he had been frightened to go back, so he went. - -He had wanted to go straight for her. Because he'd feared that his -loneliness might trap him into beastliness, he'd come back six days -ahead of time to meet his death. I wonder how much she'll care. Out here -one continually wonders that about the women men spend their hearts on, -idealizing them into an impossible perfection. Would she have, turned -her pretty back on him if he had lived to meet her? No matter, Dick; to -have gone straight, even for the sake of a delusion, was worth while. - - - - -III - - -The larks are singing above the melting mists and there's a sense -of peace in the air. One by one the signallers tumble up the dug-out -stairs; they stand in the trench yawning, stretching themselves and -breathing in the golden coolness. Very lazily they set to work preparing -breakfast. They have to be careful lest any smoke escapes and gives -away our post to the enemy. If once the Hun suspected we were here, it -wouldn't take him long to knock us out. They'll be bringing me in some -stewed tea presently; I can hear the bacon sizzling. I wish there was -some water to wash with; but we gave must of ours to the wounded last -night. - -I was in England this spring when the big Hun drive against Paris -started. I'd just recovered from being wounded and directly I heard the -news, commenced moving heaven and earth to get back. Heaven and earth -didn't require much moving--men were too badly needed. I reported back -to my reserve depot on a Wednesday and within the hour was told that I -could proceed on the next draft leaving for France. I was given a two -days' leave to collect my kit, and permission to join the draft at the -London station. - -That London leave is curiously blurred in my memory. It was only my body -that was in England; my soul was in France. I rushed from tailors to -bankers, from bankers to bootmakers, from bootmakers to lunches and -theatres; I met people and laughed with people and said "Good-bye" to -people, but there was nothing real in anything that I saw or did. In -imagination I saw myself on the Amiens road fighting. "Our backs are to -the wall", Sir Douglas Haig had told us. "The Canadians will advance -or fall with their faces to the foe"--that was how my Corps Commander's -special order had run. Every moment that I was not there with the chaps -seemed shameful. If we were beaten back it seemed that it would be my -fault--one more man in the line might make all the difference. - -How little I was noticing the world about me was emphasized by one small -incident. I had been taxi riding all over the map in a frenzied effort -to collect my gear. In these war-days London taxi-drivers have developed -short tempers, especially for fares who keep them waiting. My man -had been extraordinarily docile. At the end of two hours, when I had -deposited some of my baggage at Victoria, I said to him, "I suppose I'd -better pay you off now. I've got to go to Battersea; you won't want to -go there, so I'll have to go by train." - -"My time's yours", said the man. "We can't get any jobs since this -offensive started; all the officers have left for France." - -It was true, and I hadn't noticed it. The restaurants were empty, except -for a few civilians. You could get seats for any theatre and as many as -you wanted. Almost over night the soldier-men had departed. - -I remember with peculiar vividness the attitude of my friends towards -me. They treated me as a person who tomorrow would be dead--the way we -treated men in khaki in 1914, before we had learnt that not every man -who goes into battle stays there a corpse. My two brothers got leave -from the Navy and came to see me off. I left them to do the booking of -rooms at the hotel: when we went up to bed the night before I started, I -found that instead of booking three rooms, they had booked one room with -two beds. I didn't comment on it. - -It was dark when we rose. While we dressed, we talked emptily with a -feverish jocularity. In the midst of a hurried breakfast four friends -appeared, who had given me no previous warning of their intentions. -They were people who liked their comfort; they must have travelled -by workmen's trains to get there. Chatting with a spurious gaiety, we -walked over to the station through the damp raw half-light. I wasn't -allowed to carry anything. As though their minds were clocks ticking, I -could hear them repeating over and over, "The Canadians will advance, -or fall with their faces to the foe. Our backs are to the wall--He'll -fall", they kept repeating; "he'll fall." - -The platform was dense with khaki. Here and there one saw a frail old -lady seeing her son off; there was a sprinkling of girls, who clung -to their men's arms and made a brave attempt to laugh. Then, before -anything sincere had been done or said, everyone was taking his seat -and the doors were being locked. There was no khaki on the platform -now--only the drab of civilian costume, which made its wearers look like -mourners. I leant out of the window. Suddenly one of my women friends, -who had never done such a thing before, drew herself up by my hand and -kissed me. The wheels began to revolve. "When you get there, keep your -heads down", the men on the platform called "Cheerio, old things," we -answered. The girls tried to say something, put their hands to their -throats and choked. Their smiles became masks. Then we were out of the -station, speeding past housetops, with the wheels singing triumphantly, -"The Canadians will advance--advance--advance." - -We were all Canadians in my carriage. We had all been wounded--some -once, some oftener. "Well, we can't get there too soon", one said. To -parade our assumed indifference, we began to play cards. Farther down -the train, above the roar of our going, we could hear the cheery voices -of the "other ranks" singing, - - "Good-bye-ee - - Don't cry-ee - - Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee" - -We were trying to bluff it out to all the sleeping country that we -didn't care and rather liked dying. - -The base-port across the Channel at which we landed was in strange -contrast to London's haggard smiling. It not only did not care, but it -totally ignored the fact that "our backs were to the wall." Nothing had -changed since we had seen it last. People were no cheerier, no duller. -They had the same bored air of carrying on with what they obviously -regarded as "a hell of a job". The dug-out Colonels and Majors, who -handed us our transportation, were just as fussily convinced as ever -that they alone were conducting the war. On the journey up the line the -only signs of menace were trench-systems hastily thrown up far back of -where any had been before, a rather unusual amount of new ordnance on -trucks and the greater frequence of hospital trains, hurrying towards -the Channel. The idea that we were soon to be corpses began to fade; we -played cards more assiduously that we might keep normal. Now and then, -as we passed towns, we looked out of the window. We began to recognise -the names of stations and to guess at the part of the Front to which we -were going. We ceased guessing; we knew at last. - -"So he's attacking the Viny Ridge", we thought. - -It was a year since our Corps had captured it: if the capturing of it -had been a bloody affair, the defending of it against overwhelming odds -would be twice as bloody. In imagination I could smell the horror of the -unburied dead of Farbus and see the galloping of the shells, like the -hoofs of invisible cavalry, up the road from Willerval. The fallen -victors of last year's fight would be stirring in their shallow graves -and pushing their bones above the ground in protest. - -All this I saw as I journeyed and played cards.... And when I got here -I found that it was to this I was returning--to this intolerable inertia -of watching. "The Canadians will advance or fall with their faces to the -foe". Brave words! But we have neither advanced, nor fallen. In utter -weariness, but with purpose unbroken, other men are crawling into battle -on their hand and knees before Amiens, while we sit still, with the -indignity of not dying upon us. - - - - -IV - - -THE Major has just phoned me to say that there's an officer coming -forward to relieve me, and that he won't be one of us. That sets me -wondering; does it mean that we're going to be pulled out to take part -in the fight? There have been all kinds of rumours going the rounds this -summer--rumours to the effect that when Foch has let the Hun advance far -enough our Corps is to be made the hammer-head of the offensive which is -to push him back. There would seem to be some truth in the report, for -every time we've been withdrawn from the line it's been to practise -open warfare. We've rehearsed with tanks and aeroplanes, and fought sham -battles in which nearly all our work has consisted in coming into action -at the gallop. We've been nicknamed "Foch's Pets", which may not mean -very much; but it at least seems certain that when the Allies' drive -starts we shall be in it. The thought is intoxicating: it means the end -of waiting. - -But what will become of Bully Beef and his mother if we sail off into -the blue on a great attack? Bully Beef and his mother need explaining; -they have no official standing--they are members of our battery whom -the Army does not recognize. Bully Beef is a little boy in skirts, about -four years old I should hazard. His mother is a French girl of not more -than twenty; she is not married. Bully Beef introduced himself to the -battery about two months ago when we were out at training. He used to -hide himself in the hedge of a deeply wooded lane which climbed the -hill to the sergeants' mess; from this point of vantage he used to -throw sticks and stones at anyone in khaki. He had long hair down to -the middle of his small fat back; this, taken in conjunction with his -skirts, left all the battery fully persuaded for a week that he was -a girl. On account of his supposed sex he was not chastised for his -stone-throwing. We called him "Little Sister". - -Our wagon-lines lay at the bottom of the hill in a meadow the length -of which a tiny river ran. Along the sides of the river bushes grew -in tangled profusion. It was here that we held our watering parades, -leading our horses close to the edge of the bank so that they could -dip their noses in the ripples. In the woods near by our men had their -bivouacs, creating the appearance of a gipsy-camp At the top of the -meadow our guns anti wagons were parked; behind them in three straight -lines our horses had their standings. In the bowl of the valley, as far -as eye could stretch, the wheat grew yellow. Round the lip of the bowl, -where the hills touched the sky, the coolness of woods drew a thick -green line. It was a very quiet spot, mellow with nightingales, and lazy -with summer. It gave no hint of battle, except at night when the bombing -planes came over to destroy us and the chalky fingers of searchlights -unravelled the clouds and suddenly pointed. When they pointed, every -Archie for miles round would open up at an intense rate of fire. - -I say it gave no hint of battle. That is not quite precise. What I mean -is that the country itself gave no hint of unrest in its own appearance. -Among the people the signs were plentiful. There were ourselves for -instance. Every village was parked with storm-troops, being fattened -up like turkeys for killing. There were Chinamen building new -railways through the grain in preparation for the retreat which seemed -inevitable. All kinds of new trench-systems were being dug, that we -might dispute every inch of territory. Down the gleaming roads little -processions of refugees were continually passing, led by an old horse, -tied together with rope and string, and harnessed into a creaking -dilapidated wagon. The wagon was invariably overloaded with things which -looked absolutely worthless. On the shafts of the wagon a disconsolate -man would sit, staring vacantly at everything and nothing. -Following behind on foot would come a dog, some dirty children and a -draggle-tailed woman. The woman seemed to be the least important part -of the man's possessions. Only the mouldy skeleton between the shafts -seemed to hold any place in his affections; it helped him to escape. -Every day such processions crawled through the sunshine. Our men laughed -and shared their rations with the children. Ah, how merry we were and -how much we laughed while we waited for death to call us! The refugees -were fleeing towards life--a life which they dreaded. We had nothing to -fear from living--life had done its worst. - -Not for an hour in the day or night did the guns cease their distant -chiding, lowing like cattle and bidding us return. That we would return -dramatically and without warning we were well aware. We were only -ignorant of the place and time. We had cut down our kits to what was -absolutely necessary; everything superfluous had been returned to -Blighty. Our brigade held itself in readiness to march at a two hours' -notice. Most significant of all, every day both officers and men -spent hours at the ranges, learning to be marksmen. This in itself was -prophetic of close and desperate fighting--it meant that the enemy was -expected to be up against the muzzles of our guns. Who ever dreamt until -now of training artillery to be riflemen! - -These were the conditions under which we made Bully Beef's acquaintance. -The sergeants' mess was in the cottage where his mother lived; he soon -made friends with the Sergeant-Major. It wasn't long before he began to -appear upon parades, his grubby hand held fast in the big brown fist of -one of the drivers or gunners. It was bad for good order and discipline, -but none of us officers had the heart to forbid him. He soon learnt -to obey the orders "Shun" and "Stand at ease", and would hold himself -steady with "eyes front" to be inspected. It was about a fortnight after -we had been billetted in the village that we discovered that we could no -longer call him "Little Sister": he fell into the river when the horses -were watering and had to go naked while his clothes were drying. - -His parentage was a problem. Some said that he was the child of a rich -married Frenchman; others that his father had been a quartermaster in a -Highland battalion. We rather clung to the legend of his Scotch origin; -his sturdy habit of throwing stones at people bigger than himself seemed -to prove that he was British. - -His mother is difficult to describe. She's a pleasant, sun browned -girl, with a happy smile and kindly ways of showing her contentment. She -rarely looks at you; her eyes, which are gray, are always demurely cast -down, and yet you feel that all the time she's watching. Her head -is always bare so that her hair, which would naturally be brown, is -bleached to the colour of honey. Whenever you pass her she is humming a -little song, and sometimes she laughs beneath her breath. Her hands are -interminably busy, doing something for Bully Beef or some of our men. -She devours her little son with a hungry passion and pushes him away -from her in pretence that she does not care. Everything that she does -she clothes in an atmosphere of tenderness. What her name is none of us -know for certain, but we call her Suzette. - -When we received the order to march out from her village, we thought -that we were going into an attack, instead of which at the end of the -long night march we found ourselves again on the Ridge. Because it was -night when we moved, nobody noticed that Suzette was following. I don't -believe she walked; I suspect that she rode in a G. S. wagon with the -connivance of the Captain and the Quartermaster-Sergeant. When we found -her at our new wagon-lines in the morning, no one felt like reporting -officially on her presence. - -Since then she has made herself the mother of our battery; it's to -Suzette that we all go when we've lost a button or our clothes need -patching. And it's to Suzette that we go when the letters from our girls -aren't up to scratch. We just sit a little while and look at her; after -that we renew our faith in women and feel better. - -The men have built her a little bivouac a short distance away from -theirs, yet within ear-range if she should need them. Woe betide any -blackguard who tries to molest her. It's happened twice; the men lay -cold for the best part of an hour. They were strangers from another -unit. - -How does she exist on active service? The cook feeds her on the sly from -the battery-kitchen. The men share with her the boxes that are sent -to them from home. Our first thought on looking through a present of -comforts is, "Ah, that will do for Suzette". - -For the rest, the Quartermaster supplies her with necessities and -blankets. Of late she has taken to wearing a Tommy's tunic and a khaki -shirt. - -Suzette has become an institution; the Colonel and General are aware of -her; they both wink at her presence. They may well, for she keeps our -men straight; there's been no drunkenness since she came among us. -She'll be the last woman to be seen by many of our chaps; the casualties -in our counter-offensive are bound to be heavy. - -What I'm wondering is will she be allowed to accompany us if we go into -open warfare; we can scarcely have a woman with us then. I'd bet the -shirt off my back, however, that the Captain will manage it. He never -speaks to her or of her--never seems to notice her; but if you watch -him closely, you know that he listens for her laughter and her footstep. -He's a man to whom something shattering has happened--something not -done by shells. He was badly wounded last year at Vimy; we none of us -expected to see him back. He rejoined us suddenly in the spring. He's -come back to die; we all know that. By this time next year, if he can -contrive it bravely, he won't be listening for Suzette or any girl. - - - - -V - - -THE officer who's going to relieve me has just arrived and gone forward -to battalion headquarters with one of my linesmen. He's poking round the -Front just at present; as soon as he comes back, he'll take over from me -and I shall report to my Major at the guns. - -Queer, the places men go to in this war and the circumstances under -which they meet! This chap went to school with me in London, I discover. -I remember him chiefly by one of those inconsequential incidents of -childhood; he had a hoydenish sister who laid me out by throwing -a snowball with a stone in it. She's a married woman with children -now--the wife of one of the props of the upper-middle-classes. - -Her husband has a seat in Parliament; before the war she owned a Rolls -Royce and everything else that was respectable. She's been going up -in the social scale ever since she threw that snowball. It's by the -snowball that she recalls me, her brother tells me, whenever my name is -mentioned. - -This chap's been to the east; he was present at the taking of Bagdad. He -speaks of all that magic country as though it were just as commonplace -as this desolate plain of ruined villages on which I gaze. - -Tonight we pull our guns out. Where we're going nobody knows. Our -infantry are already marching out in sections and the Imperials are -taking over from us. Staff officers with their red tabs go up and down -the trenches. Brass-hats pass down the sunken road and pop their heads -in at my observation post to enquire their direction. There's mystery -and excitement in the air. They can't be withdrawing us for a third time -merely to go into training. It must be for the counter-stroke which we -have so long expected. But when are we going to strike and where? - -I'd like to see our Captain at this moment. The whole impatience of our -corps through this summer seems to be summed up in his person. Like all -of us, only more so, he has listened since the spring with a kind -of agony for the galloping of the black horseman who rides alone. He -himself is a man who rides solitarily. His eyes have a steady forward -gaze, quiet and firm and unflinching. I shouldn't say he was a good -soldier--not in details or in the ordinary sense; he came into the war, -as most of us did, too late in life for that. In peace times he was a -painter and a dilletante, noted for many oddities which do not matter -now. He was successful and courted and on the crest of the wave. -When war broke out, he downed tools at once and offered himself for -cannon-fodder. In August 1914 a new way of valuing men came into -fashion. Death is the sincerest of all democrats. It did not matter who -we were, what our attainments, wealth, position: the chimney-sweep and -the genius were of equal worth. Kreisler's bow-arm was only of service -to his country for firing a rifle. A man might have the greatest singing -voice in Europe; his voice would not help. We required of him his body; -it would stop a bullet. When we reached the trenches, we learnt even -more dramatically that nothing that we had been counted. Only the heart -that was in us could raise us above our fellows--or to use the more -colloquial army term, "the guts". Guts would enable a man to fight on -when hope had retreated, until hope in very shame returned. A man who -hadn't guts was shot at the back of the line by his comrades as a -deserter. A man who had was shot up front as a white man with his face -towards the enemy. There was no appeal from these alternatives; birth, -talents, money could not disturb the sentence. There was only one -standard by which our worth was estimated---the measure of our -sacrificial courage. - -Of course we were all inefficient. We had never dreamt of being soldiers -till the deluge of brutality poured out of Germany and threatened to -destroy the world. We were specialists in various small departments of -human knowledge; our special knowledge, unless it was military, was no -longer of service. That was the hard part of it--that many of us who had -known the pride of being specialists, were now called upon to approve -ourselves in an effort for which we were totally unfitted. Of all the -qualities which we had cultivated so carefully the world asked for the -one to which we had paid least attention--our courage. So the Captain -laid down his brush, turned his canvases to the wall, joined as an -artillery driver and went to grooming horses. When his training was -ended and he was shot out to the Front, he learnt almost over-night the -tremendous lesson that it's the spirit that counts--the thing that a -man is essentially inside himself and not the thing which his social -advantages make him appear to other people. A man cannot camouflage -under shell-fire; in the face of death his true worth becomes known to -everybody. When war started, Judgment Day commenced in the world for -every man who put on khaki. God estimated us in the front-line, and -God's eyes were the eyes of our fellows. - -I believe the Captain had expected that he would prove himself a -coward--most of us expected that for ourselves. When he found that he -could be fearless, the relief was so triumphant that he became possessed -by an immense elation. He took the wildest chances and was always trying -to outdo in heroism his own last bravest act. Promotion came rapidly; -at the end of eight months he was a sergeant and before the year was -out had gained his commission. He joined our brigade as an officer -in September of 1916, when we were waiting on the high ground behind -Albert, preparatory to being flung into the cauldron of the Somme -offensive. He was treated with suspicion at first; no one expected much -from a chap who had been a painter. The Colonel sniffed contemptuously -when he reported at the tent which was brigade headquarters. - -"What were you before you became a soldier?" - -"A painter, sir." - -"Of houses?" - -"No. Of landscapes and portraits." - -To a hustler who has flung railroads across continents, outwitting -nature and abbreviating time, to have been a painter seemed a sorry -occupation--an occupation which indicated long hair, innumerable -cigarettes, artists' models and silken ways of life. The Colonel himself -had been in the North-West Mounted Police and had lived furiously, -tracking outlaws and rounding up Indians. - -"So you've been a painter, Heming", he sniffed. "Out here we don't do -much that's in your line. We deal in only two colours: the mud-brown -of weariness and the scarlet of sacrifice. We don't copy landscapes--we -make them." - -Heming was attached to a battery whose Major was noted for his "guts". -He either made or broke his officers in the first week that they were -with him. He didn't have to wait long to be put to the test. The whole -of our brigade was crowded into the narrow valley, know as Mash Valley, -which parallels the road which runs along the ridge from Albert to -Pozières. It was a direct enfilade for the Hun. The batteries were -strung throughout the length of the valley at about two-hundred--yard -intervals, so that when we weren't being pounded by the enemy, we were -being wounded by prematures from the friendly guns behind us. When a -strafe was on, it was as though two contending gales had met above our -heads and were pushing against each other breast to breast. In those -days we _made_ landscapes at a tremendous rate. There met at the Somme -the most ingenious artists in the science of destruction which the world -had seen till that date. They found a pleasant country of windmills, -snuggling woods, villages with tall, clear spires, nests of embowered -greenness upheld by hills against the sky, and they trampled it with -shells into dust and mixed the dust with tire blood of men, till as far -as eye could stretch it was a putrescent sea of mud. - -In the first week of September 1916, when we crept into our positions -under the heavy morning mist, the clay was baked to the brittle hardness -of pottery; two months earlier the rains and carnage had washed away all -signs of friendliness and greenness. Hands, heads and stockinged feet -of the dead stuck out where the mud had dried up; one tripped over them -and, at touching them, shrank back with a thrill of horror. It was a -good place from many points of view to test a man's capacity for "guts". -It was especially good at night, for directly darkness had fallen the -Hun drenched the length and breadth of the valley with gas-shells You -could hear them coming over with a whistling sound, like an army of wild -geese. You waited for the explosions and, when you heard nothing but -stealthy thuds, you knew that it was time to run along the gun-pits and -give the alarm for the wearing of gas-helmets. The helmets with which -we were issued in those days were rather horrid affairs. They were like -gray flannel shirts drenched in treacle and sewn up at the top so that -you could not push your head through. You pulled them on and tucked -the shirts in under the collar of your tunic. Then you shoved a rubber -mouth-piece between your teeth, peered out through the goggles in the -side of the gray flannel and slowly suffocated. Seeing that we were in a -valley, all the gas from the shells drifted down to the low ground -where the gun-pits had been dug and hung there ready to stifle your men -directly the suffocation of their helmets became too much to bear. Mash -Valley was most excellently chosen as a place in which to test one's -guts. - -Heming had been with us two days when the Major took him up with him to -make a reconnaissance of the front. At that time I was corporal of the -B. C. party, so I went ahead to lay in wire in order that we might keep -in touch with the battery should the Major wish to register the guns. At -the head of Mash Valley there was an engineers' dump, known as Kay, and -it was at this point that the main trench-system began. We ran our wire -in as far as Kay and were met there by the Major and Heming at three in -the morning. - -A Scotch mist was drifting across the desolation. The air was piercingly -cold and a watery moon looked down, I think the first thing that -impressed one about the trenches of the Somme was their desertion. The -dead far outnumbered the living, and the dead were for the most part -unburied. One wondered from where the men would spring up to -fight should a Hun attack commence. The walls of the trenches were -honey-combed with little scooped out holes. In those holes, with -their knees drawn up to their chins and the mist soaking down on them, -unshaven haggard men slept. They were polluted to the eyes and wearied -to extinction. Sometimes their feet stuck out across the duck-board. -You stumbled across them, but they did not waken; they only moaned. When -they did not moan, you were puzzled; until a man made some motion or -spoke, you were never certain whether he was living or dead. The slain -defenders and those who had taken over from them huddled side by side, -keeping guard together. - -Here and there one of the kennels had been crushed in by a shell and the -inmate had been killed while he slept. His putteed legs and heavy army -boots were still thrust out across the duck-board; they were the only -reminders of his sojourn there. - -As one drew nearer to the front-line through the winding labyrinth of -trenches, he noticed that the sides were walled up with the dead. Men's -bodies had proved cheaper than sandbags; moreover, they had saved labour -in spots where no unnecessary men ought to be asked to jeopardize their -lives. The bodies, where they showed through the mud, had flaked off -white like plaster exposed to the wind and sun. Flies rose up in clouds -as one passed; their wings filled the air with an incessant buzzing. - -Horrors multiplied as the world grew grayer and the dawn began to break. -We came to a ditch levelled nearly flat by the Hun barrage, in which -Jocks and coloured troops had fought side by side. They were buried to -the waist; in the process of decay the black men had turned white and -the white black. - -I watched the effect of all this on Heming. The Major watched hun. -Perhaps most closely of all the signallers watched him. When a new -officer joins any unit, the men are overwhelmingly eager to find out -whether he has guts. They know that the day is always coming when their -chance of life may depend on his judgment and courage. - -Heming's face was the face of a dreamer. He never was nor could have -been a man of action. He imagined too far ahead. He visualized and -fought the horror which lurked behind each traverse before he came to -it. A thousand times that morning he must have seen himself mutilated -and dead. His expression was tense and excited, but an amused smile -played about the edges of his mouth. His eyes beneath his steel-helmet -were brilliant and forward-looking. He seemed to contemplate his inward -struggle against terror with the unimpassioned aloofness of a spectator. - -Trenches were becoming shallower. It was some time since we had passed -any sentries or working-parties. A horrible, brooding silence was over -everything, broken only by the secret dripping of rain and the scuttling -of rats among corpses. The Major became more frequent in the examining -of his map. At last he ordered us to crouch down while he stealthily -peered over the lip of the trench in an effort to get his bearings. It -began to dawn on us that we had come too far and were lost in No Man's -Land. - -While we waited, behind the mist we heard talking. The mist parted and -we saw, not fifty yards away, the smoke-gray uniforms and red-cross -armlets of a party of Hun stretcher-bearers. The Major was standing up. -The Huns dropped the stretcher they were carrying; at the same instant a -rifle rang out. The Major toppled backward, tearing at his breast. - -Then we learnt once and for all whether Heming had guts. His face leapt -together--these are the only words in which to describe his sudden -change of expression. The entire man became knit in one purpose, to -out-daunt the challenge of the danger His eyes were merry when he turned -to me. "There are just enough of you to carry the Major out. He may -live if you get him to a dressing-station. Work your way back down this -trench; you'll strike our front-line somewhere in that direction." - -"But what about you, sir?" I asked. - -He was examining his revolver to see whether it was clean and ready. -"I'm going forward," he answered. "If I can get in a few pot-shots, I'll -divert their attention and help you to make good your getaway." - -It was the damnedest bit of folly--one man with a revolver, going -forward to stir up an unknown number of the enemy He was an officer, so -we had to obey him; besides, there were only just enough of us to carry -out the Major. Just as we had started, Heming came crawling back to me -on his hands and knees. - -"Corporal," he said hurriedly, "if anything should happen to me, just -drop a line to this address and let her know that I wasn't yellow. I -don't suppose she'll care, so you don't need to be sentimental. Just -state the fact, and say that I did everything that she might feel proud -of--of our friendship." - -The address which he slipped into my hand bore the name of a married -woman. I recognized her name, for I had seen her portrait often in the -London Illustrateds. I wondered whether it was true what he had said, -that she would not care. - -There wasn't much time for wondering; the mist was lifting. It was easy -to see one's direction now and easy to be seen by the enemy. The trench -was shallow; it was exhausting work, crouching to take advantage of -every bit of cover and dragging at the body of the wounded man. We -hadn't been gone ten minutes before a barrage came down on the spot -where we had been discovered, setting up a wall of fire between -ourselves and Heming. In the brief silences between the falling of the -shells, I could hear the ping of rifle-bullets. They were passing far -over to our left; I could picture how Heming was exposing himself to -draw the fire away from us. - -It took us two hours to get the Major back to our lines. The last part -of the way we grew reckless and carried him overland. Our infantry saw -us and came out with a stretcher to help. At the dressing-station the -M. O. who attended to the wound broke the news abruptly, "He hasn't an -earthly." - -The Major's eyes opened. He repeated the words, "Not an earthly." And -then, "Tell Heming he's all right, and say--say I'm sorry I doubted." - -The Major went west one hour after that and we returned to the guns to -report to Brigade what had happened. The report went in across the wire, -but the Colonel at once sent for me to give him the details in person. -When I had ended, he sat twisting his moustaches thoughtfully. Then, -"That fool painter," he said, talking more to himself than to me, "I -suppose he knew I thought he was afraid." And then to me, "But he's all -white, Corporal, and it's up to us to get him out. D'you think you could -find the way back?" - -I told him I could by following the wire which we had laid to that -point. - -When we again reached Kay Dump and Tom's Cut, which was the main trench -leading to the frontline, we found that the usual morning "hate" was in -progress. The wounded of the night before were being carried out; as the -bearers, carrying the stretchers on their shoulders, reached the high -ground, the Huns caught sight of them and started to mow them down with -enfilade fire. Our guns opened up in retaliation; by the tine the strafe -had died down the morning had become too clear for anyone to approach No -Man's Land without being observed. It was in the first dusk of evening -that Heming came back. We were in the front-line waiting for him, when -the Hun snipers opened up. We saw him come running in zig-zags through -the rusty wire and shell-holes. When he jumped into the trench beside -us, he was laughing. "I've had a simply ripping time, Corporal," he -commenced. Then, seeing the Colonel, he stood stiffly to attention and -saluted. - -"What doing?" the Colonel asked. - -"Making landscapes", said Heming, with a twinkle, "and letting daylight -into Huns." - -So that was how our Captain proved that he had guts; he's done nothing -but add to the reputation which he then earned. It was on the way down -to the battery that he asked me to give him back the address. "And you -must never mention her name, Corporal. Promise me that." - -Today I am an officer with Heming in the same battery, and we have never -referred to the matter. I am sure he is in love with her and I believe -he was in love with her before she married. Why he missed her or what -are their present relations, I cannot guess; all I know is that he is -out here to die and that she is the inspiration of all his reckless -courage. Now he knows that the counter-stroke is to be struck and that -the big chance of death has come, his heart will be singing. The men as -they go about their packing up will be following him with their eyes and -whispering, "The Captain's mighty cheerio. He's all for it." In watching -him they will feel a thrill of excitement; they, too, will become "all -for it." They will go with him anywhere--if need be, to hell. - -_Mighty cheerio and all fur it!_ That's the way the entire Canadian -Corps must be feeling at this moment. All through the sunny days of -spring and summer we have had to sit tight and watch while other men -marched out to meet their death. Thank God, our turn to sacrifice has -come. The indignity of not dying is at last removed from us. - - - - -VI - - -IT was growing dusk before the observing-officer of the relieving -battery returned from his reconnaissance of the Front to take over from -me. The Hun planes had already come out like monstrous bats from their -hiding-places, and were dipping their wings in the aquamarine and -saffron of the fading sky. Our machine-gunners and riflemen for miles -round were busy taking pot-shots at them, trying to drive them back so -that they should not detect the unusual movement of troops behind our -lines. - -One may say what he likes about war, but it has moments which possess a -surpassing and enthralling beauty. One such moment came this evening -as I watched what is likely to prove to be my last sunset over the Vimy -plain. I know it all--every charred tree, every hollow, every shattered -ruin. I ought to know it for it has made me suffer; Death, mounted on -his black stallion, has waited for me behind almost every bit of cover -within sight. I have felt him when I could not see him; there have been -times when across the distance I have caught the gleam of his shrouded -eyes. Because of these things, because of the friends who have died -here, because of the risks we have taken and shared, because of the -ice-cold nights, the poker-games, the brief escapes into cleaner -country, the letters from a certain girl and the home-sick dreams which -have wiled away tedious hours in dug-outs--because of all these things, -in an obstinate kind of way I love the scarred, forsaken horror of this -country. "For the last time", I told myself as I watched the sunset glow -grow fainter upon the enemy domes and spires of Douai. - -If I live through the war I may come back to this ridge which has been -my home for over a year; but, if I come back, it will not look the same. -All the challenge to one's daring will have vanished. There will be no -gassing, no shelling; one will be able to expose himself as much as he -likes. Everything will be desperately and conventionally safe. Curious -how one learns to admire danger! - -While I watched and the light faded, men became symbols and shadows. -They crept along the trenches, going up to die, as men have gone up to -die through the ages. Even in peace times we were soldiers for one cause -or another, and none of us were immune from dying. We are fighting from -the day we draw breath till the day when our bodies, like beggars' -rags, drop from us and our spirits in their swift lean whiteness -escape. Death! What is it but just that, the casting aside of tattered -clothing!--and how tattered one's body can become in the front-line! - -The dance of destruction commenced as darkness settled. Like ropes -of pearls flung up, the luminous tracer-bullets of machine-guns darted -towards the sky. From somewhere in the clouds the Hun planes replied, -flinging down similar ropes of ruin, Against the horizon, like lilies -floating, Hun flares soared and swayed. While they lasted, Gavrelle -sprang ghostly into sight and the contorted skeleton of what once was -Oppy. The flares sink and die, everything is again swallowed up in -obscurity. Down the sunken road to my left go the anonymous feet of -marching men. Other feet have, trampled that mud, and they now are -silent. There are feet among those who march tonight which will not make -the return journey. - -The phone rings sharply. "You're wanted, sir." The message is shouted up -from the depths of the dug-out. I press the button of my flash-lamp -and hurriedly slither down the innumerable greasy stairs. As I take the -receiver, I tell the signaller to light another candle as there may be -a message to pencil. He lights the candle and sticks it against the -planked wall in the orthodox way, by warming the wall with the flame so -that the heat may melt the wax. - -"Hulloa! Hulloa!... Oh, it's you sir!" It's my Major. - -"No, the friend who came to see me, this morning has not returned; he -went somewhere.... Yes, I know; he ought to have taken over from me... -O, here he is.... You'll have horses for... all my party. Yes, sir, I -understand. I won't waste any time." - -I turn round to the officer who is to relieve me, "You took your time, -old thing, I must say. I hope the dinner at battalion headquarters was -a wet one. But you've rather crowded me; my battery hits the trail -tonight." - -He starts a lengthy explanation, but I'm in a hurry to be gone. While -I hand over to him my fighting maps, my linesmen are loading themselves -with reels of wire and instruments. - -"Well, so long", I say. - -"Good luck", he replies. - -How often I have spoken such words in this cramped death-trap; now I'm -speaking them for the last time. I take a final look round; there's the -frame-work bunk, with the chicken-wire nailed over it, on which I have -spent so many restless nights; there's the ground-sheet tacked over -the second exit through which the draught was so persistent in coming; -there's the penciled message on the wall to his sweetheart in the -Argonne from the captured French soldier who slaved for the Hun--a -message of deathless love, which I forwarded to her as directed. This -place was a home of sorts, and now it is another's. - -We scramble up the steep, clammy stairs into the trench. The night air -is soft and warm; stars are coming out. Round the traverse where the -thirteen-pounder lies concealed, the gun-detachment is waiting for me. -I raise the camouflage to take one last look at the brave little piece; -then I'm tempted to enter and to place my hand upon the smooth cold -breech-block, which shines like silver. - -"We never got our chance to fire you, old girl", is my thought: "but -we'd have done our bit, if the Hun tanks had come, you and I. If the -chance does come, you'll have to play the game with some other chap -now." - -We're in the sunken road, climbing the ridge where the chalk gleams -white as snow in the darkness. Some runners go past us, smoking -cigarettes. They belong to the relieving troops; none of our men would -do that. A cigarette shows up like a lamp from this point of vantage. I -halt the men and order them to put out their cigarettes. - -We're on the crest now, where a sentry challenges. To the right and left -shells are falling with a sullen crash. Our faces are turned towards the -west, where the horizon is still faintly flame-coloured and evening has -not yet sunk into night. To our right the splinted tower of Mount St. -Eloi points a martyred finger at the clouds. Beneath our feet runs the -Concrete Road, built at such sacrifice across the torn battlefield. All -our transport comes up along this route, as the Hun knows well; he makes -it the special target of his harassing fire. We note the new hits which -the enemy has scored on it since last we made the journey. The ground -is ploughed with shells on either side; here and there one finds black -pools of blood, dead horses and broken limbers. From craters and places -of concealment our forward guns belch fire. Their flash is hidden from -the enemy by the ridge; but he has guessed their approximate locations, -and searches and sweeps day and night in an effort to find and destroy -them. Now and then, like the blast of a furnace, a torrent of flame -shoots up where he has exploded an ammunition dump. Against the swift -and momentary illumination one sees the shadowy figures of men running -and dropping into shell-holes. The spectacle of death fails to move us. -We have become too used to dying. - -As we plod along under our heavy loads of instruments, kit, revolvers -and reels of wire, we spread out so that one shell may not get the lot -of us. My men are singing; from the words I gather an idea of what is -happening in their minds: - - I said "Good-bye" to the flowers - - And "Good-bye" to the trees, - - And the little church which sleeps so quietly, - - I said "Good-bye" to on my knees; - - I said "Good-bye" to my sister - - And my dear old mammy, too; - - But my heart was almost breaking - - When I said "Good-bye" to you. - -They're conscious of something different and devastating approaching, -and are singing their farewell to security. - -Foch's Pets! The hammer-head of the counterattack! If that's the game, -there won't be many of us left to celebrate peace. It's August now; how -many of us will be above ground by Christmas? - - - - -VII - - -WE found our horses waiting for us with the grooms and horse-holders -in a trench about fifty yards off the road. They had had to take -cover there on account of enemy shelling attracted by an anti-aircraft -battery. The anti-aircraft battery being mounted on motor-lorries, had -made a swift get-away the moment the retaliation, which they had -called down, had started. Our boys couldn't get away; they had received -explicit orders to wait for me and my party with their horses at one -specific point on the Concrete Road. Three horses had been slightly -wounded and one of the men had been killed. A splinter of shell had cut -his throat as completely as if a knife had been drawn across it. - -Kneeling beside the body, I drew back the saddle-blanket which had been -thrown over if and scanned the face with my flash-lamp. My groom touched -me on the shoulder, "You won't recognise him, sir; he's a remount--only -came to the Front for the first time yesterday evening." - -It was a young face, with scarcely any beard on it. Nineteen, at most. -The eyes were blue, and filmed, and wide. They had a sudden expression -of surprise and protest. Death doesn't often disturb me now-a-days, but -I couldn't tear that scarlet mark across the throat.--One day at the -wagon-lines being chaffed for having come into the army late--the next -night dead! Poor laddie! I don't know who you are or where you came -from. If I could have prevented it, things shouldn't have happened -this way. They ought to have given you a better run for your money. I'm -sorry. - -The horses are snorting and jumping back against the reins, so I switch -off my flashlight and cover up the face. - -"Have any arrangements been made?" I ask. - -They tell me "None"--the accident only happened within the last -half-hour. - -"Then one of you will have to mount it in front of you. Hand it over to -the Captain of the relieving battery. He'll have to see to its burial: -we march within the next three hours.... Where's the Major?" - -I learn that he's still at the guns, so I tell my groom to lead on down -the road to the battery-position and I order the rest of the party to -get mounted. As I turn to take a short-cut through the rusty wire of -old defenses and the water-logged craters of unrecorded fights, I glance -back to catch the silhouettes of the horsemen as they ride towards the -red lip of the horizon, with the drooping body hanging sack-like in -front of the last rider's saddle. An inconspicuous ending to one lad's -dreams of glory! He won't be here for the counter-stroke. Letters from -home will arrive full of anxiety and affection. They'll have to be -returned unread and unopened. The old, sad story! And yet, who knows! -Perhaps he's lucky. - -Ahead of me in the misty vagueness of the chalk lies a ray of light -like a golden dagger. I slide down into a trench, which was the Hun -front-line. Poppies and cornflowers grow in tufts along its sides. -Beneath my feet I feel the slats of duckboard. Dug back into the wall -is a six-foot square room, with anti-gas blankets hung before it. The -curtain which they form has not been properly adjusted; from between its -edges light escapes. I lift the curtain and enter. - -About a trench-made table a group of officers are seated. All of them -are strangers to me except my Major; they're the new chaps who are -taking over from us. On the table there are two whiskey bottles, one -empty and one just broached There's a tin jug of water, a medley of -glasses, piles of matches which are bring used as poker-chips and a -dealt-out hand of cards. - -My Major's face, which is usually pale, is flushed tonight. His eyes are -wrinkled and red about the edges; but the eyes themselves are like two -blue pools of fire. As he catches sight of me, he raises his glass, "We -don't know where we're going, Chris. Everything's secret. All we know -is that we march tonight and that they've get a labour battalion digging -graves for us somewhere behind the line. Oh yes, and a special lorry of -Victoria Crosses has arrived at Corps. We're storm-troops, my boy, and -going to be in it right up to the neck. Wherever we march and whenever -we fight, here's the old toast, 'Success to crime.'" - -I manage to let him know that our horses are outside and hint that it's -about time we were going. - -"Time! There's heaps of time", he says. "We pulled our guns out early -this evening. The battery is all packed and back at the wagon-lines. -Heming will have it standing to when we arrive. Sit down and take a -hand. God knows when we'll get a chance of a round of poker again." - -My mind is not on the game. I'm losing steadily, but I don't worry. The -candles drip away in wax; others take their places. I scarcely see the -cards; I watch only one face through the wreaths of tobacco-smoke--my -gallant little Major's. I would never have known him in peace life; -neither of us would have considered the other quite his sort. He looks -like a cross between a clown and an ostler. He's very small and slight; -his legs are bowed with too much riding. If one were to see him in -civilian dress, it would seem right that he should be chewing a straw. -His face is white as death and terribly worn. His hair is sandy and -thin in places. His teeth are filled with chunks of gold and not very -regular. His uniforms are never smart; after he's had them a week, -they're always torn and stained. He's like a bantam cock; he makes up in -spirit what he misses in height. He says "Good-bye" to his temper on the -first provocation and is always most handsomely sorry afterwards. He's -adored and dreaded by his men. He's the best field-gunner for open -warfare in the whole Canadian Corps. His superior officers twit and -admire him. He has an extraordinary talent for collaring affection. One -trusts his judgment absolutely and yet follows him with a feeling -that he must be protected. Life hasn't been very good to him; he's not -particular as to whether or no he survives the fighting! There used to -be a girl in the background--Well, there's no harm in telling. He -would write ten letters to every one that he received from her. He was -fearfully humble about her. "You wouldn't expect a girl", he used to say -"to write very often to such an ugly pup as I am." When he spoke like -that he would grin self-derisively and purposely show all his gold -stoppings. He went home on leave to England six months ago determined to -make sure of her and to bring matters to a crisis. She met him with the -news that she was going to be married to an officer whom we all knew to -be a quitter. She begged him to be present at the wedding so that people -might not talk. He went to the wedding and returned to the Front six -days ahead of time. Since then he's seemed to be more white and small -and bow-legged than ever. - -I'm the only man who knows what lies behind his life. We're the best -of friends and, when we're in the line, we always sleep in the same -dug-out--which occasions a certain amount of jealousy among the -other officers. When we're on the march, he has to follow the routine -etiquette and share his billets with the Captain. I hate to see him go -up front for fear he should die. He shares the same fear for me, and -is continually inventing excuses for getting me on the wire when I'm -forward. God created him a caricature--the potter's thumb slipped in -the moulding of his clay; but to make amends God gave him the heart of -a lion. You love him, protect him, declare him "quaint", but never for a -moment do you cease to admire him with a strangely simple and passionate -loyalty. He's as straight as John the Baptist; it would be impossible to -tell him a lie. - -We have a race-horse in our battery which the Major uses as his -charger--a dainty, fine-boned aristocrat of a fellow, red and lean as a -rusty sword. When our little Major rides him, leading his battery down -the long white roads of France, strangers halt to gaze at the almost -childish figure with the short bowed legs, wondering how he ever -contrived to climb up so high. At the head of his battery, where he -ought to appear most imposing, he looks more like a jockey than a -field-officer. It doesn't matter what strangers wonder or what he looks -like, now that we're bound on a death and glory adventure there's no man -to whom we would sooner entrust or for whom we would sooner lay down -our lives. We forget the carelessness of the putter's thumb and remember -only the stoutness of heart which the feeble body hides. His name is -Wraith--Charlie Wraith; and his age--. I should guess him to be thirty, -though three and a half years of war have so battered his body that he -looks forty-five. - -At last the game ends. It's eleven o'clock; we march at midnight and can -just reach the wagonlines by short-cuts and hard riding. The Major has -been in luck; he's pocketing all the winnings. The glasses are filled -for a final toast. The new Major who is taking over from us, raises his -glass, "Here's to Hell with the Kaiser and, if you've got to die, may -you all die smiling." - -We laugh as we make a no heeler of it; dying might be the merriest of -sports. But to me--I can't help thinking of that laddie, a single day at -the Front, lying beneath a saddle-blanket with his throat cut and that -amazed expression of protest in his staring eyes. - -We've climbed out of the trench and stand looking down at the faces -clustered in the angle formed by the lifted curtain. A few paces to my -left a cross shows plainly, upon which is written, "Here lies an Unknown -British Soldier." Unknown! A hundred years from now we shall all be -unknown. We shall be massed together in an anonymous glory as "the -heroes who stormed the Vimy Ridge." It won't mean any more to be -remembered as John Smith than merely as "An Unknown British Soldier" who -did his duty faithfully. - -"Good-luck", the faces in the candle-light cry. - -"Cheerio", we answer. But the words which are in all our minds are, -"Those about to die, salute thee." - -Waving our hands, we turn away. The old racehorse, Fury, from a hundred -yards has recognised his master's voice and whinnies. With a pat on the -neck and some coaxing words we get mounted, and walk carefully through -the pit-falls of craters till we strike the road, when we grip with our -knees and set off at the gallop. - -Beneath the moonlight the chalk of the shell-ploughed battlefield -creates the illusion of a country under snow, spreading beneath the -velvet darkness for miles. The horses are impatient and refuse to -be reined in. They need no guiding. With Fury in the lead, they leap -trenches and take short-cuts where we would hesitate. - -Ahead of us through the shadows we discover the battery drawn up in -line, not a light or so much as a cigarette showing for fear our doings -should be betrayed to the enemy planes. Heming rides out as we approach. -He salutes the Major smartly. "Just in the nick of time, sir; our -battery leads and we march as a brigade. There are no route orders. -Everything's secret. The Colonel alone knows where we're going; even he -doesn't know beyond tonight." - -The adjutant gallops up and reins in importantly. "The Colonel's -compliments, and he's waiting for you, sir. He wants to know what's the -delay." - -"No delay", says the Major curtly, and wheels about to face the battery. - -"Stand to your horses", he orders. "Gunners and drivers prepare to -mount.... Mount." There's a jingling of stirrups and the sound of men -leaping to their places. As they sit to attention on the limbers and in -the saddles, all grows silent. - -"Column of route from the right. Walk. March", the Major commands. - -The horses of A Sub-section gun-team throw their weight into the -collars. There's a commotion of prancing in the darkness and the -merciless sound of the cracking of whips: then through the shadows the -big bays of A Sub strain forward and take shape; the B. C. party gallops -to the head of the column and we're off on our mysterious march in -pursuit of the greatest of high adventures. - - - - -BOOK II--THE MARCH TO CONQUEST - - - - -I - - -THERE'S no end of a thrill in night-marching, if one doesn't get too -much of it. One feels curiously winged when mounted in the darkness, as -though the limitations to speed, space and possibility had broken down. -The present merges with the past and with eternity. Doors open in the -night, giving entrance to previous incarnations. The mounted men are a -robber-band; the guns are wagons piled with loot. The villages, lying -flattened by shell-fire, are walled towns which hide medieval palaces. -The country through which we pass, takes on a hundred exquisite and -grotesque shapes, the one melting into the other at the bidding of the -imagination. Everything is unusual, everything is shifting, everything -is distorted and capable of being changed at will. One has an -extraordinary sense of timelessness and an overwhelming certainty -that he has done all this before, marching to the sack of cities, and -suffering weariness and death for unremembered causes. The ghosts of -those forgotten tragedies and triumphs throng about him, bewildering him -with a faint familiarity which he fails to associate with any land or -clime. - -On that first night-march we had to keep our column closed up to -prevent straggling, since on a secret march to an unknown destination -a straggler inevitably gets lost. If a vehicle had to halt to refit -harness, to have a horse shod or for any other cause, we had to leave -out-riders at every cross-road to guide it back to the main body. - -The first part of our journey was through country we had fought over, -every contour of which, despite the darkness, was pictured vividly in -our minds. We passed the narrow valley behind the Maison Blanche, in -which our battery had lain hidden up to the time when the Ridge was -captured. We passed the cross-roads at the Ariane Dump, where we used to -assemble midnight after midnight to build the artillery road up to the -Front-line, that our guns might pass forward across No Man's Land within -four hours of the start of the offensive. Many spots were memorable to -us because of men who had died. It was over there to the right that -the Hun sniper got our signalling sergeant, when we were observing from -behind the Five Hundred Crater. It was over there to the left that a -Hun shell scored a direct hit on B. Sub's gun-pit and sent all the -gun-detachment west. Though we were to forget these homes that we have -had in the mud, our horses remember and remind us; each time they pass -one of their old wagon-lines, they try to turn in off the road from -force of habit. - -Through the mist and moonlight we can just make out the twin towers, -blunted and splintered, of Mount St. Eloi. They look like the thumb and -index-finger of a solemn hand, pointing heavenward. - -One tower is tall and defiant: the other has been shorn by shell-fire. -The Huns commenced their work of destruction during the Franco-Prussian -war; since this war started, they have done their utmost to complete -it, even sending over bombing-planes for that purpose. They have a good -military reason, for the towers command a panoramic view of forty miles -of country. But still the towers stand, exclaiming in a valiant gesture -of architectural oratory that God still dwells beyond the clouds. - -In the hollow, between Mount St. Eloi and the road which we travel, lies -God's Acre, with its endless forest of white crosses. It is there that -very many of the pals who have served with us are taking their last -rest. They are wrapped in the army blankets which made so many journeys -with them. Each has a little scooped out hole, three feet beneath the -ground and only just big enough to take his body. The blanket is pulled -up over the face and hurriedly sewn into place for fear the sleeper -should stir and be cold beneath the sod. As I gaze through the darkness -towards the hollow, I can feel the wounds of the sleeping men. There's -Rennet with a bullet through the centre of his forehead: that happened -when we were observing from Sap 29 in front of Ecurie. There's Gordon, -who came bark from a gay leave in Paris to have his leg shattered at the -entrance to the Bentata Tunnel. How he made us laugh the night before he -died with his account of "ze lady wiz ze vite furs", who tried to make -him pay for her dinner at the Café de la Paix! And there's Athol, who -was Brigade medical officer when we occupied the railroad in front of -Farbus. Brigade headquarters were on the Ridge and the batteries were in -the plain. The moment he saw that we were being strafed, he would come -racing down through the shell-fire to our assistance. He got smashed to -atoms when he was binding up some of our chaps in a blown-in dug-out; -there was nothing but his face left undamaged. I wonder why it is that I -still walk the earth while they sleep there so quietly. We all took the -same risks. We all dreamt of the same adventure--the adventure on which -we now are bound--of the day when trench-warfare would end and we should -break the German line, and take our guns into action at the gallop. -Do they strain their ears where they lie so narrowly as they catch the -rumble of our departing guns? Do they push back the earth from their -sunken eyes, raising themselves on their elbows to listen? Dick Dirk -is there by now--he who returned ahead of time from Blighty because he -wanted to "go straight for her." His house underground is newer than the -others. Does he wish us luck, or does he pay us no attention?------No, -they do not stir. They lie heedless and silent. Having done their bit, -they are contented, for they were very tired. As the hollow is swallowed -up in the all-surrounding pool of night, I look back just once to where -my dead companions rest, and again the words take shape in my mind, -"Those about to die, salute thee." - -We wheel out on to the straight pavé road which runs like an arrow's -flight from Arras to St. Pol. In a long and regular line on either -side stand pollarded trees, marking its direction for miles. They seem -gigantic sentinels, silent and impassive. From all directions, from -main-roads and bye-roads, comes the muffled roar of transport pouring -along every artery of travel to the same unknown bourne to which we -journey. A tremendous movement of troops is taking place--taking place -under cover of darkness, anonymously, timed absolutely and without -hurry. If we doubted that a big offensive was on foot, we do not doubt -it now. But whose is the controlling brain? Rumour says that even our -Corps Commander has had no warning as to our ultimate destination. The -Sergeant-Major rides back to tell me that the Major wants me at the head -of the column. I trot forward and find that he is walking, while his -groom leads Fury a few paces behind. I salute, dismount and hand over my -horse to a signaller. - - - - -II - - -THE Major wants to talk--he feels lonely. We begin by making guesses as -to the scope of the new offensive. We converse very quietly for fear we -should be overheard by any of our men. A corps order has been published -forbidding any discussion of the object of our present movements. Such -discussion, if it takes place in public, comes under the heading of -"Giving information to the enemy." It's impossible to say who of the -people with whom we associate are spies. Many a good life has been -thrown away as the result of careless and boastful conversations in -estaminets and officers' tea-rooms. Some bounder, out of the line for -a day, wants to air his superior knowledge of doings up front; he talks -with a raised voice in order to impress strangers who may or may not be -in British uniforms. In any case, the uniform is no proof of integrity; -many an English-speaking Hun has passed secretly through our lines -in the uniform of the man he has murdered. The result of such loose -speaking is that the raid, which ought to have succeeded, fails. The -Huns are forewarned: their trenches are stiff with machine-guns and many -of our men go west. - -Every precaution is being taken this time that no information of -importance to the enemy shall leak out. In the first place, we know -nothing ourselves; in the second, we are forbidden to conjecture out -loud. Though we recognise landmarks in the landscape, we are under -orders not to mention the fact. We are only to march when night has -blindfolded our eyes; our tongues, under pain of court-martial, are to -be kept silent. - -To judge by the north-easterly direction in which we are marching, we -might be going up to Flanders to recapture the Hun gains at Kernel. The -Major believes, however, that our present direction gives no indication, -as we're probably only going to a railroad junction at which we shall -entrain. He thinks that our goal lies to the south. It may be the Rheims -salient, in which case we shall be in entirely new territory, fighting -with the French and joining up with, the Americans, concerning whom -we are exceedingly optimistic and curious. On the other hand there -are rumours that the Americans are taking over from the French in the -Argonne sector, thus releasing many French veteran troops who will -be behind us to back us up in the counterstroke of which we are the -hammer-head. One fact is known definitely--Canadians have been sent -north to Yprés; but whether to fool the Hun or because the thrust is to -be made there, remains uncertain. - -The Hun knows that the Canadians have been trained to be the point of -the fighting-wedge; he, therefore, knows that where we are there the -blow is to be struck. All summer he has made every effort to keep track -of our position in the line, his object being that he may have his -reserves rightly placed to push back our thrust. For the war on the -Western Front has become entirely a game of the handling of reserves. -Neither side has sufficient man power to defend its trench-system if -an attack were to take place all along its front. So it remains for the -attacker to muster his storm-troops with such stealth that the people to -be attacked may be kept unaware of what is planned against them and may -be tricked into withdrawing their reserves to a place remotest from the -point where the blow is to fall. If such strategy succeeds, the attacker -has the element of surprise in his favour and gains so much ground in -the impetus of his first rush that, by the time the enemy reserves can -be brought up, the entire defense has become disorganised. - -The great aim of the new strategy is to make a gap--to get through the -enemy so that his right and left flanks are out of touch and railroad -communications in his rear can be cut. - -The new strategy was first practised by our Third Army in its November -Drive against Cambrai; that drive failed for want of sufficient -reinforcements to back it up. Until that time the Allies had always -gone after what were known as "limited objectives", such as high ground, -trench-systems, villages, salients. When the objective had been taken, -the attack rested. The Vimy Ridge was a limited objective. We didn't -want to break the Hun line; what we desired was the Ridge, because it -commanded a great enemy plain on the other side. For two months before -we actually struck, we advertised the fact that we were going to strike -by the intensity of our incessant shell-fire. Systematically, day by day -and night by night, we cut the enemy's wire-entanglements, blew up his -dumps, mined beneath his front-line, pounded his cement machine-gun -emplacements, harassed his means of communication and stole his morale -by making his life perilous and wretched. He knew as well as we did what -was planned; his only uncertainty was as to the exact hour at which the -attack was to be launched. We kept him wearily guessing, and wore his -nerves to a frazzle by putting on intense bombardments at inconvenient -times. Usually these bombardments took place at dawn, lasted for fifteen -minutes and had all the appearance of being the genuine zero hour. -When our barrage had descended, he would man his trenches, call up his -reserves and set all the machinery for his counterthrust working. -Then, as suddenly as it had started, the hell would die down into the -intensest quiet. - -The new strategy does not advertise the point to be attacked. It does -not cut wire-entanglements with shell-fire many days before the show -commences; it tramples down obstacles with battalions of tanks at the -very moment that the infantry are advancing. It does not set out to -capture a given and solitary object; its ambition is to double up the -enemy's line and to penetrate as far as success will allow. The new -strategy is in all things more stealthy, more tiger-like, more reckless, -more deadly; its most dangerous feature is the use which it makes of -surprise. - -This new method of fighting has developed out of the necessity for -defeating a heavily entrenched enemy. It is a method which the Allies -at last are able to adopt because of the almost limitless resources in -man-power which America has placed at their disposal. For the Western -Front to be rightly understood, must be regarded as a banjo-string, -composed of living men holding hands from Switzerland to the English -Channel. Under pressure the string may give and give, but it must never -break. The moment it breaks, the thing happens which takes place when a -banjo-string snaps--it curls up towards the ends and leaves a gap. The -only power that can save the day when the banjo-string has snapped, is -the masterly strategic employment of the reserves. The reserves may stop -the rush by selling their lives to a man, or they may do it by luring -the attacker on until he has advanced beyond his strength. But if the -side attacked has guessed wrongly as to the point to be attacked, -so that its reserves are at a distance when the disaster happens, a -calamitous retreat on either flank will have to be begun or the jig is -up. To compel this retreat is the purpose of Foch's present thrust. - -In adopting these hide-and-seek tactics of night-marches we are -borrowing a lesson from the Hun. He has already tried to do precisely -what we now intend to accomplish. In his great drive of the spring, when -he all but took Rheims and Amiens, he massed his storm-troops seventy -miles behind his objective. Day by day he kept them hidden from spy -and aeroplane observation, moving them only by night. His railroad and -transportation arrangements were so perfect that, commencing at dusk, -he was able to fling the whole weight of his fighting-wedge up front and -have it hammering at our doors by daylight. - -As we rode beneath the August night, my Major summed up the situation: -"We're trying to bluff the Hun into expecting us up north, while we make -for the south as fast as we can hurry. I'll tell you what it is, Chris; -we can afford to die, now that the Americans are behind us with their -millions. Believe me, before this month is ended, there's going to be -some tall dying." - -That phrase, "We can afford to die", arrested my attention. It was so -brutally financial, as though human lives were only so much national -capital, and not the focus-points of loyalties and affections. It was as -though the casualties for the military year could be apportioned ahead -of time, so that the national books of birth and death might be made -to balance. It was making a mathematical calculation as to men's -uncalculated and individual sacrifice; no more must be killed in any -given twelve months than the bodies of the living could re-supply. And -yet------ - -Yes, it was true: for the first time in the history of the war we could -afford to die. During the previous four years we had died, but we could -not afford it. We had had to be careful about our deaths, so that our -man-power might not sink below that of the enemy who faced us. Now at -last, because the Americans were behind us, we could afford to become -lavish in the spending of our lives. Where one British soldier fell, -three American boys would spring up. Though we became sightless, -soundless, nameless, trodden by shells into the oozing horror of the -mud, other idealists of another nation, but still of our tongue and -blood, would cross by the bridge our bodies had made, lighting on and -up till the decency for which we had perished was won. Viewed in this -light, the knowledge that we could afford to die became not brutal, but -glorious. - -The Major whistled softly, strutting through the darkness on his little -bowed legs. The thought that they could afford to let him die caused his -spirits to rise. - - - - -III - - -KEEP to the Right", and, after an interval, "Ha-alt!" Passed back -down the unseen column ahead of us come the hoarse cries, followed by a -sudden cessation of wheels and then, sharp and emphatic, "Dismount the -drivers." - -Our Major shouts back the orders to the Sergeant-Major; from him they -are picked up by the Section-Commanders and Numbers One. We listen to -them as they travel down the battery through the darkness, altered in -tone and made more faint as each new voice takes up the cry. The B. C. -party back their ridden and led animals into the grass on the side of -the road, loosen the reins and allow their beasts to graze. This is the -first halt that we have made, so it should be long enough to give us -time to check over the fitting of the harness and to make sure that -everything is correct. I climb into the saddle to ride down the line; as -I turn away, the Major calls to me, "Oh, Chris, one minute!" I bend -down to catch his words: "Find out what's happened to Bully Beef and -Suzette." - -What's happened to Bully Beef and Suzette? That question has been in -my mind, in the mind of the Major, and probably in every gunner's and -driver's mind ever since we marched out from the wagon-lines. It's -dead against all army orders that a woman and child should accompany -a fighting unit into action. Since the war started, camp-followers of -whatever sort have been forbidden. From time to time, even the dogs in -the army areas have been shot because many of them were spies, carrying -messages to the Germans across No Man's Land at night. It's dead against -every dictate of decency and humanity that fighting-men should take -non-combatants with them into the kind of furious carnage towards -which we----. But, somehow, Bully Beef and Suzette do not seem to be -non-combatants; we regard them as soldiers. They march with us as -representatives of the impassioned soul of France. Yes, and more than -that--for they stand to us for everything tender and kindly that would -have been ours, had we not been selected to die. Suzette is to us what -Joan of Arc must have been to her soldiers--the dream of the woman -we would have married had Fate been more lavish with life. And Bully -Beef--he's the might-have-been child of every boy and man in the -battery. - -Gun-carriages and wagons have been pulled well over to the right, clear -of the pavé road, so as not to cause a block in the passing traffic. -It's difficult to see them in detail on account of the blackness caused -by the wall of trees on either side. One can just make out the heads of -horses and the huddled figures of men on the limbers, too tired to know -that we have halted. Usually when I enquire, I find that the sleepers -were on guard or picket the night previous. We let them sleep on. They -are wise; none of us know how far we have to go or how many nights of -wakefulness lie before us. - -Behind the darkness I can hear the drivers lifting up the feet of their -horses and feeling for stones. Good boys, these drivers! They love their -beasts and speak to them as pals. There's so much discipline that one -doesn't get much time for loving in the army. I remember a march on this -same road when the drivers were so frozen that they had to be lifted out -of their saddles; no one had the strength to unfasten a bit till he had -thawed his fingers between the horse's back and the saddle-blanket. Yet -there wasn't one man who quit when we limped into our muddy standings. -Every gunner and driver went to work on the horses, grooming them with -a will and trying to make them comfortable before he thought of -himself--and this, not because it was ordered, but because he realised -through his own misery the forlornness of his four-footed comrades. -Good boys, all of them! I think the Lord of Compassion, when the final -reckoning comes, will remember kindnesses even to horses. When he judges -those drivers, he'll not forget the bitter cold of that winter's march -and what it meant to stand grooming in the snow and sleet when you were -bitten to the bone and almost crying with misery. So he'll pass over -their swearing and the times when they got drunk, and he'll say, -pointing to the horses who will also be in Heaven, "inasmuch as ye did -it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto me." If that -should happen, the drivers will be most awfully surprised, because -according to their standards they only did their duty. - -Some of the chaps in my section, which is the leading and senior section -of the battery, try to ask me questions as I pass. - -"Are we going far, sir?" - -"Are we going out for training?" - -"Do you think, sir, that it's the Big Push at last?" I cannot see their -faces, but I recognise them by their voices. They are drawn from every -class of society. Some of them were college boys, some were mechanics, -some day-laborers, some adventurers, some came out of gaol to join. -Now only one quality lifts one man above another--his courage. Their -questions are asked from all kinds of motives--friendliness, curiosity, -nervousness. I am conscious of an atmosphere of tension throughout the -battery. It seems a shame that, they should be told nothing. In no other -game in the world would you march men to their death, without so much as -warning them that it was to their death that they were going. From one -of my questioners--a man who was wounded eight months ago and has just -re joined us--I pick up a significant piece of information. - -"I can see you're not telling, sir, but I know. It's to the Big Push -that we're going. And here's why I know--when we left England, they were -emptying every camp--sending drafts to France secretly every night. When -I got to our Corps Reinforcement Camp, not thirty kilometres from here, -I found the place so jammed that you could hardly find a space to spread -your blanket. With the men they have there, the Corps must be fifty per -cent over-strength. That means just one thing, sir----that we're getting -ready for fifty per cent casualties." - -"Perhaps", I answer him, "but, if I were you, I wouldn't talk about it." - -I reach the centre section, which Tubby Grain is commanding. Tubby is -a plump little officer and rides a wicked little Indian pony as -well-fleshed as himself. - -"The Major's compliments, and he wants you to look over your section and -report on it", I tell him. - -His reply is, as usual, insubordinate and cheery. "Holy, jumping -cat-fish! What does the Major think I am? Don't I always look over my -section when there's a halt?" And then confidentially, "I say, old top, -what about Bully Beef and Suzette?" - -I tell him that I'm on my way to find out. As I ride away he shouts -after me the latest catchword from Blighty, "How's your father?" To -which, if you are in the know, the proper reply is, "Very well, thanks. -He still has his baggy pants on." I'm in too much of a hurry to give -the correct countersign, so Tubby facetiously sends a mounted bombadier -after me, who catches me up while I'm speaking to Gus Ed wine, the -commander of the left and rear section. The bombadier salutes without a -smile and sits to attention, waiting for me to take notice of him in the -darkness. - -"Well, what is it, Bombadier?" - -"Mr. Grain's compliments, sir, and if you meet his father, would you -tell him that he really ought to have his baggy pants on these cold -nights." - -Gus gaffaws and steals my dynamite by sending a return message: "My -compliments to Mr. Grain, and tell him that it's all right; Suzette is -repairing his father's baggy pants." Then to me, "But how about Suzette? -I went to look for her three hours before we left the wagon-lines; her -bivouac was pulled down, and she and Bully Beef weren't anywhere in -sight. I didn't like to ask because----. Well, you know, if we're going -to buck Army regulations, there are some things that most of us -shouldn't know too much about. If the General or the Colonel asks -questions and you don't know, you can't tell. Ignorance saves a lot of -lying." - -At the tail of the column I find the transport--the G. S. wagons, the -water-cart, the officers' mess-cart, the cook-cart, the shoeing-smith's -cart--looking humpy and nomadic as a travelling circus. The prisoners -are there on foot with their escort, A group of stragglers are regaining -their wind before reporting back to their proper sections. Mongrel -curs, which we have adopted in our travels, yap down at me from the -tarpaulin-covered mountains of stores or run sniffing about the heels -of the horses. This house-keeping portion of our military life is in the -care of the Captain. It is here, if anywhere, that I shall get the news -I want. - -I find Heming with the Quartermaster, directing the re-packing of some -bales of hay which have shifted with the bumping of the journey. It -always makes me smile to watch him engaged upon an unimaginative and -practical task; he still has the aloofness of the artist. Beneath -his khaki I can still discover the privileged dreamer whom the world -flattered and who scarcely knew how to tie his own shoe-lace. He has -compelled himself to become practical; but if the war were to end -tomorrow, he would at once cease to be a soldier and fall back into his -old way of life. I believe in his secret heart it is just that falling -back that he dreads; out here he has learnt to be lean as a rapier. He -loathes the thought of again becoming self-applauding and flabby. If -the price of keeping lean is "going west" on the battlefield, he is -perfectly content. To quote his own words, "There's nothing leaner than -a skeleton." - -"Captain Homing!" - -"Hulloa, Chris! Pretty black, isn't it? I didn't see you. What's your -trouble?" - -"A message from the Major." I sink my voice. "He wants to know what -you've done about Bully Beef and Suzette?" - -"Suzette!" I can't see his face. As he pronounces her name, he sucks the -air through his teeth the way a man does when he shudders. Then, "Look -here, does the Major really want to know what I've done with them?" - -"He told me to find out." - -"But if he knows, he ought to take action. If he doesn't take action, -he becomes my accomplice and may get into trouble with those higher -up. He'd better take it for granted that we left them behind at Vimy, -unless----" - -"Unless what?" - -"Unless he really does wish that we had left them behind." - -"So----so we didn't leave them behind?" - -"Hand your horse over to one of the chaps," he says; "you shall see for -yourself." - -We go on foot towards the wagon on which the bales of hay were being -re-packed. The job is all finished now; the tarpaulin has been pulled -tightly over the top and roped down. The Quartermaster is standing in -rear of the wagon as though he were on guard. He's an old soldier who -has fought through many wars; he wears the African ribbon and several -Indian decorations. He's a big, comfortable sort of man, with an immense -stomach and a body over six foot high. He has a wart on the right side -of his nose, which he rubs thoughtfully when he talks to you. His -voice is thick, as though his throat were grown up with fat. Of all our -noncommissioned officers he's the kindest. He plays the part of a father -to the chaps, and has saved many a young soldier from going on the wrong -slant. His name is Dan Turpin--"Big Dan." The only beast of sufficient -strength to carry him is an ex-Toronto fire-engine horse, called "Little -Dan"--not that he is little, but to distinguish him from his master. As -we approach, Big Dan is singing to himself in a sepulchral voice, - - Old soldiers never die - - They simply jade away. - -It would take more than a drive against the Huns to get Dan's wind up. - -"Quarter!" - -"Yes sir." - -We hear his heels click together and the jingle of his spurs. - -"Is the wagon re-packed all right?" - -"All correct, sir." - -"Just loosen the flap of the tarpaulin at the back; I want to see for -myself." - -The rope securing the flap is untied and we slip our heads under the -tarpaulin. Carefully, so that none of the light may spill on to the road -and give us away to aeroplanes, Heming turns on his flash. At first the -illumination is blinding; then one sees that the bales of hay have been -so stacked as to leave a hollow. Inside the hollow someone stirs, sighs -and turns over, disturbed by the light. The figure is slight and covered -by an officer's trench-coat. Heming shifts the flash, so that it -creeps along the body and reveals the face. Suzette! Her khaki tunic -is unhooked and unbuttoned at the neck. Bully Beef lies snuggled in her -arms, with his small head hidden against her breast. Her soldier's cap -has slipped aside and her hair, which was like honey and sunshine, has -been cut square against the neck. From beneath the trench-coat I see -that she is wearing puttees. I understand--she will pass for a man now. -But why does she want to accompany us into danger? Is she so desperately -alone and fed-up with life? And Heming, why does he----? She opens her -eyes and smiles sleepily, knowing that we are friends. - -From farther up the column we hear the order being shouted back, "Get -mounted the drivers." The flash goes out. "Good-night, Suzette." The -tarpaulin is lowered anil tied into place. From far ahead comes the -groaning of guns and ammunition-wagons taking up the march. - -All night as I ride, there burns in my brain the picture of that refugee -French girl with her fatherless child, journeying with us towards the -Calvary from which all the civilian world is fleeing. She is escaping -towards death. And I think of another mother, no less a soldier-woman, -who fled by Eastern highways that she might bring her son back to the -death from which she fled, in order that men might live better. - -Suzette! Why does she accompany us? She knows that we need her love, -perhaps. That knowledge brings her very near to the peasant mother of -Nazareth. - - - - -IV - - -THE dawn stole upon us like a ghost. It ran beside us, fell behind, -dashed on ahead, following and peering from behind trees and ruins. -Along the endless road we crawled, weary and spent. The gunners had -been ordered to dismount from the limbers to ease the horses' load. The -out-riders and officers for the sake of example, had also dismounted -and walked ahead of their chargers. All talking had ceased. We stumbled -forward like somnambulists, pale and heavy-eyed. Had anyone been told -that we were storm-troops, Foch's Pets, the hammerhead of the attack, -moving up to smash the Hun line, he would have laughed. We looked -listless, washed out. Now and then a man would ask an officer, "How much -further, sir?" The officer would reply, "I don't know. Not much further, -I should think." The man's head would sag forward again on his breast. -In the army there is no complaining, no going on strike: one carries on -and on til he drops. To carry on, however harsh the demands, and not to -drop is one's pride. - -As day grew whiter and the sunrise reddened, we learnt a good deal about -the condition of affairs that night had masked. Every few yards through -the standing wheat new lines of defences had been dug. Trench-system -behind trench-system stretched for miles, scarring the greenness of the -landscape. They were all of recent construction, for the earth had been -but newly turned. Here, behind a wood or a rise of ground, a battery -position had been selected and gun-pits laid out. One came to what -looked like a hay-stack or a pile of tumbled logs, only to find that it -was a machine-gun nest, cunningly chosen to command a valley down -which an advancing enemy must march. Beneath grass in ditches -wire-entanglements had been hidden, so contrived that they could be set -up across the road at a moment's notice, to obstruct pursuing cavalry. -One could follow the reasoning of the stealthy mind which had woven -this maze of destruction. The enemy would have maps of our back-country -worked out from their aeroplane photographs. They would know beforehand -each dip and hollow where artillery and machine-gun resistance might be -expected; consequently they would try to neutralise such resistance with -their heavies before they sent their infantry forward. The stealthy -mind had argued every probability; very often it had arranged its strong -points in open places, where the position was so badly chosen that it -would not be suspected. It became plain that whatever our game might be, -this time it was to be neck or nothing. The Allies might be planning to -attack; but, if they had to retire, they were reckoning on selling every -yard of land at the highest cost in lives. All the machinery for the -shambles was ready, only the bodies were lacking. One did not require -to be highly imaginative to picture the murder holes these woods and -valleys would become when once the slaughter started. For someone -disaster was brewing; whether for ourselves or the Germans, it was -impossible to guess. - -Now that it was daylight, we recognised the country; it had been -quiet and unwarlike when last we had passed through it. The rapid -transformation enabled us to realise the terror of the fighting which -had been taking place to the south--the desperate few, digging their -toes in, determined not to budge, British, American, French, hanging on -in the hope of reinforcements which could not come. The landscape lying -smiling in the August dawn lost its peacefulness; one saw it as it might -become--a hell ensanguined by death, through which men crawled from -rifle-pit to rifle-pit like dogs with their spines broken. - -Wherever the eye rested, fear threatened and muttered. The doubt sprang -up that even we might be defeated. They marched us to and fro under -sealed orders. They made us die and suffer; but they told us nothing. -Who were _they_--these people who never spoke to us or saw us, these -people whose lives were too valuable to endanger? They lived miles -behind the lines in châteaux. They slept in sheeted beds. They ate as -much as they liked. They took two leaves to Blighty to our one. Their -breasts were covered with decorations. They never knew the weariness -of night-marches: staff-cars whisked them between breakfast and lunch -across distances that it took us a week to trudge. What right had they -to all this consideration? Were they really so wise as they thought they -were? If they bungled, it was we who had to pay; it was our bodies that -would be mangled; our blood, needlessly expended, that would wash -out their errors. And when in spite of bad staff-work our courage had -conquered, it would be we who would get whatever blame was coming and -they who would get the credit. - -In the centre section a horse fell down; it had gone to sleep while -in draught. The driver must have been at fault; he, too, was probably -nodding. From down the column Tubby Grain's voice reached us, angrily -strafing in unprintable language. The commotion grew fainter as the -other teams swung out into the road and the column passed on. - -At a bend we came across a Chinese Labour Battalion, shuffling up to -work on the trenches. Across their shoulders they balanced poles, with -the load tied on either end. Their clothing was nondescript--the refuse -of every rag-shop of Europe and the Orient. The proudest Chinaman of the -lot swaggered and sweltered in the remains of a great-coat, which had -belonged to an officer in the Prussian Guard. They went by us clacking -their tongues and laughing, happy as children if one of our chaps -smiled back. Beside them, rigid and regimental, marched their British -non-commissioned officers, hard, uncheerful men of the Indian service, -who carried rods with which to enforce obedience. - -A cruel war! A war to the point of exhaustion when the white man, -that his God might be defended, had to rouse Confucius from his long -contemplation. These men, they tell us, have been recruited from -districts in China which have been stricken with famine. They have -exchanged their rice-fields and pagodas for the bombed areas and -dug-outs of war not for our sakes, but that their yellow wives and -children may not starve. You can find representatives from all the -world marching up to the trenches along the dusty roads of France. -We Canadians have Japanese in our British Columbia battalions; our -sharp-shooters are Red Indians. The New Zealanders have Maoris; the -South Africans Kaffirs; the West Indians Negroes; the cavalry Sikhs. -All mankind is here for one reason or another--for gain, adventure, -principle, patriotism; but chiefly that they may prove that it was not -in vain that Christ grew up in Nazareth. There are aborigines from the -Pacific Islands, one generation removed from cannibals; Arab horsemen -who have worshipped Allah in the desert; savages from the jungle; -wanderers by divers trails, who had lost their way in the maze that -leads out to civilization. They have all been sent here by their -indignant gods that they may drag down the more brutal god of the -Germans. - -We drowse; we crawl; we halt. Again we move forward. Our eyes are aching -with sleeplessness. We pass by a prison-camp, surrounded by a huge cage, -inside of which Hun prisoners are lined up to get their breakfast. Our -mouths are dry and we view their steaming mess-tins with envy. - -We march on, scarcely interested now in our direction. Heels are -blistered. Where we are going no longer matters, if they would only -give us time to rest. Of a sudden there's a cheering at the head of the -column. Men pull themselves together. There's been no order passed down -that we should march to attention, but every gunner is marching close -behind his vehicle and the drivers are sitting upright in their saddles. -Far up the road, on the banks on either side, are standing men who wear -a strange uniform. Their slouch hats at a distance look a little like -the Australians', but their tunics are much tighter. Before ever we come -abreast of them, the word has been whispered back, "They're here--the -Americans!" There's no sleepiness about us now. The blistered feet are -forgotten; we're marching like soldiers. "They're here--the Americans!" -It's fifteen months since we heard that they were coming. We've sung -their promise, - - Over there, over there, - - Send the word, send the word over there, - - That the Yanks are coming---- - -We've waited and we've hoped--and many of the boys who hoped have died. -We've heard that they were present at the great retreat before Cambrai -in 1917. We've been told that they were coming by their thousands, -but as yet we have seen none of them. Hun prisoners have consistently -assured us that there were no Americans in France--that they were not -coming. Now we are to see the Yanks with our own eyes. - -"Battery, eyes front. March to attention"--the order passes smartly down -the column. - -We go by them, looking neither to left nor to right--so, after all, -we can scarcely be said to have seen them. They are coloured -troops--tremendous chaps with flashing teeth and rolling eyes. Our first -Americans! - -We no longer remember the wire-entanglements, the gun-emplacements and -the new trendi-systems which are being constructed by Chinamen so many -miles back of the line. Our tails are up. We shan't retreat. The -Yanks are no longer coming. They have come. We know now whither we are -marching--to the end of the war and to conquest. - - - - -V - - -THE village into which we inarched this morning is an old friend; we -were billeted here earlier in the summer when we were withdrawn from the -line for training. It consists of, perhaps, a hundred grey farmhouses -clustered together in a willow-swamp. - -In the willow-groves nightingales were still singing when we entered. - -In the swamp the River Scarpe has its source. At this point it is so -weak and narrow that a boy could leap across it; the village geese touch -bottom as they breast its ripples; a brigade of artillery could drink it -dry if all the horses were led down together. Here it is peaceful, but -to the south of Arras it becomes sufficiently broad to give its name to -the valley through which the Hun tried to drive last spring, when the -waters of the Scarpe ran scarlet. The houses of the village stand at -irregular intervals, divided from the road by a strip of common upon -which geese graze. One reaches the common by little bridges which cross -the Scarpe, which wanders singing, paralleling the highway. Nothing has -been marred by shell-fire; the roar of the guns is so distant that it is -seldom heard by day--only at night does their flash flicker momentarily, -like the glow of a lantern carried between trees. - -It is a very quiet spot, well within the threatened area, where war is -ignored and life has not altered its ways. Nature has conspired with the -inhabitants in pretending that the world is unchanged. The gardens are -fragrant with flowers; there are even more birds than formerly, for -the refugee songsters from No Man's Land have made these thickets their -place of escape. The only terror that comes near to disturb them is -the sullen explosion of bombs dropped at night from Hun planes, as is -witnessed by raw scars in the greenness of the surrounding meadows. - -When we entered, the white mists of morning still hung above the common; -early risen cocks with their attendant harems were our only welcomers. -We had set up our horse-lines and were half way through the grooming -before the villagers discovered that old friends were again among them. - -All day we have been wondering why we have been brought here. A part of -the general plan of deception, I suppose--so that the Hun may think, -if he hears of our whereabouts, that we've simply marched out for -manoeuvres as before. All kinds of details confirm our belief that the -big push is about to start. A Divisional Staff-car called in at Brigade -this noon: the Canadian Maple Leaf and all the usual Divisional marks -had been painted out. The patches and shoulder-badges of the car's -occupants had been torn off--nothing was left that would betray the fact -that storm-troops are on the march. As yet we have received no orders -as to how long we are to stay here--it would be normal to give us a -few days' rest; but none of the kit has been removed from the -vehicles--which is significant. We could hook in and be off within the -hour. - -It was announced this morning that no more letters from our Corps would -be accepted at the Army Post Office. This is the most certain sign we -have had that an attack is going to be pulled off. Letters home are a -frequent source of leakage of information. When men know that they are -writing what may prove to be their last message to their mothers, wives, -sweethearts, it is almost impossible for them to keep that knowledge -to themselves. Moreover, we each one have codes, pre-arranged with our -correspondents, by means of which we can get forbidden news past the -censor--so it's wise, if harsh, to insist on silence between ourselves -and the outside world. - -The outside world! How little it understands what our lives are like. In -the outside world there are standards of freedom and politeness; in all -personal matters a man has the power of choice. He is at liberty to make -or ruin himself. He washes if he so desires; if he prefers to go dirty, -he does not wash. Within reason, as far as is compatible with the -earning of his daily bread, he sleeps as long as he wants. To miss one's -night's rest is to court ill-health. To be verminous is to fall into the -category of the slum-dweller; to go hungry is well-nigh impossible. To -lay down one's life for somebody else is exceptional and martyr like. To -become a criminal is a really difficult affair. - -With us everything is reversed. We grow moustaches under Army orders; we -crop our hair to please the Colonel. We have no areas of privacy either -in our bodies or our souls. We rise, sleep, eat and wash when we are -commanded. We are physically examined, physicked, pumped full of anti -toxins and marched off to church parade to worship God without our -wishes being consulted. To die for someone else is not martyr-like, but -our job. To go foodless, sleepless, shelterless and wet is not a matter -for self-pity, but our accepted lot. We cannot give notice to our -employers; we have no unions--no means of protest. To be always -cheerful and smiling, the more cheerful and smiling in proportion to -the hardship, is a duty for the performance of which we must expect no -thanks. Our existence as individuals is ignored until we have fallen -short, then, all of a sudden, we become important. What in civilian life -would be errors in taste or mistakes in temper with us are offences and -crimes. For a man in the ranks to come upon parade unshaven, with his -buttons unshone or a few minutes late is an office offence To be found -kicking a horse is a crime, demanding a court-martial. To strike a -superior, to be asleep on sentry-go, or to be absent from the unit when -it is moving into action means death. - -Military punishments are largely physical and therefore degrading. They -compel men to do better through fear of further punishment; they neither -educate into a finer appreciation of righteousness, nor do they achieve -any economic purpose. They consist in being strapped to a gun-wheel for -so many hours a day or in being marched with heavy packs on the back -when other men are resting. In the alloting of punishment the age, -former social status or mental qualities of the offender are rarely -taken into account. There are no excuses, no explanations. Take the -gravest crime of all--cowardice. In peace times it was generally allowed -that not every man was brave. Before anyone who had been unheroic was -judged, his history and environment were taken into consideration. But -in the Army if a man fails in courage he is shot. Had St. Peter been a -soldier of the Allies, after denying Christ thrice he would never have -been given the Keys of Heaven. He would have been executed at the feet -of the hanging Judas. The Army asks every man to be infallible; it can -afford to show no mercy and gives no second chance. We are judged and -graded by our military virtues. What we knew, were or possessed, and -what has been our individual sacrifice of happiness count for nought. -We are fighting-men, and therefore not required to think--only to obey -blindly. - -I suppose I still retain my civilian mind, for I cannot treat men as -automatons; I have to interpret them with imagination. If one were to -see only their externals, they would appear to be rough chaps, coarse in -speech and habits, with a scowling attitude towards authority which only -an iron discipline can keep subordinate. But when you view them with -imagination, you see their enthusiasm for an ideal, which made them -willing to give up their freedom and jeopardise their lives. For no one -in our brigade needed to be in France; they all came as volunteers. You -also see how from the very first the Army has failed to appreciate or -make use of that enthusiasm; it prefers to treat men as people who, -having signed away their bodies and lives, have to obey because they -cannot escape. Yet despite the Army, the enthusiasm of the men survives. -It creeps out in their letters to their mothers and wives, to whom they -still are heroes. It even creeps out in their conversation, when one's -up front with them and keeping watch through the dreary hours of the -night. They are coarse and rough it is true, for they are leading a -coarse and a rough existence. Their only bedding is their blanket; they -can never remove their clothes at night. Their chances for bathing come -very rarely. They can carry only one change of underclothing as their -rolls have to be of an exact and limited size. While in the line their -quarters consist of holes burrowed under-ground; when out at rest they -consist of broken down stables and barns, into which they are packed so -closely that they can scarcely turn over without disturbing the men on -either side. All the niceties and decencies of civilised life are denied -them; war is a nasty affair and its nastiness cannot be avoided. No -outcast of the city streets, drowsing under bridges and being harried -by the police, leads a more comfortless existence. At the end of the -journey, as a reward for their sufferings, are probable mutilation and -death. Is it to be wondered that some of them get drunk to escape their -misery whenever the chance presents itself, and that when drunk, -they become bold to challenge the discipline which in action is their -greatest protection? The crimes which they commit are crimes only in the -Army--few of them would be even offences anywhere else. A man suffers -the death penalty on active service for an error which in a civil court -would cost him no more than a warning and a fine. - -I can never get out of my mind the contrast between the individual -magnanimity of each Tommy's sacrifice and the unimaginative callousness -with which it is accepted. The self denial of the men in the ranks is -always far in excess of the self-denial of their officers. The higher -an officer climbs in rank, the greater is his authority and the less his -self-denial, yet the stronger grows his contempt for those beneath him. -War conducted from a château and a Rolls Royce car is a comparatively -pleasant affair; there is no temptation to get drunk or become a -deserter. But war conducted from a frontline trench, upon bully beef, -shell-hole water and hard tack, in a shirt that has been lousy for a -month, with a body which is unwashed, unwarmed and famished for want of -sleep--that kind of war is hell. This is the kind of war that the man in -the ranks fights with a grin upon his lips and a fierce determination to -meet every calamity with a jest. The man in the ranks is the best man -on the Front when he's at his best; there's no brass hat or red tab safe -behind the lines who's worthy to touch the stretcher which carries him -to his last, long rest. The red tab carries out laws for the private's -punishment; he strafes him on review and goes out of his way to find -faults; he makes him take to the ditch when his staff-car splashes -by; he plans an offensive and sends him over the top to be smashed by -shell-fire; if the offensive succeeds, he is awarded decorations for -an ordeal through which he has not passed; the fighting Tommy wins the -decorations, but the red tab wears them; and if at last the fighting -Tommy's nerve forsakes him, it is the red tab who turns his thumbs down, -confirming the sentence that he shall face the firing-squad. Yet the -private is the better man every hour of the day and in his heart the -red tab knows it--knows it and resents it. If the war is won, it will -be won by the sacrifice of simple men who never wore a ribbon or any -insignia of rank, but were content to die humbly and unnoticed. I love -them, these gunners and drivers of mine--and I marvel at their patience. - -We are marching to a life and death conflict in which we take it for -granted that every man in our command will live up to the most heroic -standards, yet to-day at noon we held office. The prisoners were marched -in under escort, their heads bare and their arms held flatly to their -sides. Most of the charges against them were paltry. This man had been -caught with his candle burning after lights out had sounded; the -next had been late upon early morning parade; the next had lost his -box-respirator--he said it had been stolen; the next had been found -riding on an ammunition-wagon after the order had been passed down the -column for the gunners to dismount. Not one of the offences alleged -amounted to more than a misdemeanour, yet these men who are the picked -storm-troops of the British Armies and whom we expect to face the -shambles without flinching within the next few days, upholding the best -traditions of the Empire, were marched hatless under an armed guard -through the village street, with all the French girls staring at them. -Some of them escaped punishment--some were awarded extra fatigues, -pack-drill, additional pickets; many of them will be dead before their -sentences have been served. We ask too much when we treat them as feudal -slaves and expect them to act like crusaders. - -Four years ago they were freemen--professional men, prairie-farmers, -ranchers, lumber-jacks, surveyors. They willfully forewent their liberty -that an ideal might conquer. It is the fact that they were freemen -in the truest sense that makes them fight so bravely. They were men -accustomed to take risks, to stand upon two legs and confront Nature -unafraid. We may treat them as schoolboys, but it is their triumphant -manhood that gives them their dash and splendid self-reliance up front. - -In other words, we try to crush the very spirit by our discipline which -makes us victorious in battle. It seems strange that, knowing this to be -the case, we should persist in governing them as people possessed of no -intelligence. - -Discipline is necessary--it is our stoutest safeguard in action; but -it works unfairness in individual cases. Take for example the man -unfortunately named Trottrot, who is one of the drivers in my section. -Trottrot "got in bad" at the very start of the war; and he was in at -the start--one of the first of the Canadian artillery-men to arrive in -France. I think the trouble began with his name; some wag saw in it a -chance for jocularity. Wherever he went men shouted after him "Where the -hell did Trottrot trot?" I suppose his life was made so miserable that -he lost his self-respect and did not care what happened. At any rate -his crime-sheet became famous throughout the Canadian Corps. A man's -crime-sheet is the record of his punishments from the first day he -becomes a part of the Army; it accompanies him from unit to unit and -is his reference. His was as long and full of incident as a De Morgan -novel. He had bucked authority in every way and suffered about every -penalty short of being shot. To read it was a romance and an education. -He had been absent without leave, drunk, insubordinate, late upon -parade, had struck an officer, kicked more than one N. C. O. in the face -and had spent six months of his service in a penal-settlement. - -When he was attached to our battery a groan went up. No one wants -to have a "bad actor" in a unit--his example is likely to become -contagious. We tried to get out of taking him and, when that failed, had -him brought before us. He was a slim, inoffensive looking youth, with -pale eyes and a narrow, clever face. The Major was seated at a table, -fingering his voluminous crime-sheet, while we junior officers formed a -half-circle behind him. - -When Trottrot had been marched in by the Sergeant-Major and ordered to -"Right-Tarn," and was standing stiffly at attention, the Major looked -up. - -"Driver Trottrot," he said, "you've got the name for being the worst man -in the Canadian Corps. If you go much further, you'll end by being shot. -Of course that's entirely your own affair, but I'd like to help you to -avoid it. I'm going to give you a new chance. I'm going to forget all -about this Nick Carter novel you've been compiling." He tapped the man's -crime-sheet and threw it aside. "I'm going to treat you as though you -hadn't a stain on your record--as though you were a white man. As long -as you play white by me, I'll treat you like a white man. The moment you -act yellow, God help you. You're dismissed--that's all I have to say." - -Driver Trottrot was handed over to me and I had a private talk with him. -He would give no assurances that he was going to reform, he distrusted -me the way a dog does a man who holds a whip behind his back. Little by -little, however, as days went by he began to respond to kindness. Within -a month he was the smartest man upon parade, had the cleanest set of -harness and the best groomed horses. He was promoted to a centre-team, -then to a wheel-team and was finally made lead-driver of the first-line -wagon. Beyond this we have not dared to promote him because the men -declare that he is not to be trusted under shell-fire. There are two -ammunition-wagons to each gun: the firing-battery wagon, which follows -the gun into action, and the first-line which brings up the ammunition. -The picked drivers of any sub-section are on the gun-teams, as their -work is likely to prove the most dangerous; the next best are on the -teams of the firing battery; the next on those of the first line; the -remainder are kept as spare drivers. The best driver of any team rides -in lead. Trottrot ought to be driving lead of the gun by virtue of -his work. Whenever an inspecting officer is going the round of our -horse-lines, he always stops to praise the glossy coats of Trottrot's -team and to comment on them as an example of what can be done by -horsemanship. But we're afraid to give him his deserts on account of -the men's belief that he lacks "guts." Trottrot has lived down his -reputation for being a "bad actor," but his reputation for being -"yellow" clings. We treat him like a "white man" and he acts as though -he were one. Perhaps the carnage towards which we are marching may give -him his chance to wipe the slate clean of his old record. I hope so -and believe that that's what he's hoping. There's a curious look of -determination in his eyes, as though he waited breathless for the -commencement of the danger. It's as though he were trying to tell me: "I -won't let you down, sir, I'll either die in this show or come out of it -lead-driver of the gun." I lay my money on Trottrot; he's a white man to -his marrow, if I know one. - - - - -VI - - -AFTER writing my prophecy concerning Driver Trottrot, I lay down to -snatch a few hours sleep. My batman had spread my sleeping-sack on the -tiled floor of the cottage bedroom in which I and three of my brother -officers were billeted. The other three had been breathing heavily for -some hours, wearied by the night's march. They had not removed more than -their boots and tunics for fear we should receive hurried orders to take -to the road again. They lay curled up like dogs, with their knees drawn -to their chins, for all the world like aborigines who had scooped a -hole in the leaves of a forest. One learns to sleep that way on active -service and to lose no time in tumbling off. My last memory was of -wide-open lattice-windows, the heavy listlessness of garden-flowers and -the perfumed stillness of trees drowsing in the sultry August sun. - -I was wakened by someone shaking my arm, and opened my eyes to find -Driver Trottrot bending over me. His expression was a little alarmed at -the liberty he was taking. "I wasn't told to come to you, sir," he -explained quickly; "but I thought you ought to know. The boys were paid -after morning stables, before they'd had anything to eat. A lot of these -Frenchies started selling them _vin blink_. What with having had no -sleep and then getting that stuff on their empty stomachs, they're -getting fighting drunk. It's none of my business, but I thought you -ought to stop it." - -"Good for you, Trottrot," I said. "Chuck me over my boots; I'll be with -you in half a second." - -For a moment I had a mind to rouse the other, officers, but they looked -so fagged that I determined to let them sleep on. I finished buttoning -my tunic and buckling my Sam Browne as I hurried across the common. We -passed over the little bridge, consisting of a single plank, and -struck the road which led towards the horse-lines and the centre of -the village. As we walked I questioned Trottrot, trying to tap the -experience he possessed as the exprofessional "bad man" of the Canadian -Corps. "Why do the chaps do things like this? Getting drunk isn't -enjoyable and the after effects must be rotten." - -"Chaps get drunk for various reasons." he answered. "They do it to -forget; it isn't all honey being a gunner or a driver, and kicked around -by everybody. They do it because some N. C. O. or officer has got a -grouch against them, and picks on them so that they can't do anything -right. They do it because they get tired of going straight; polishing -harness and grooming horses three times a day is monotonous. They do -it because there's nothing else to do, and they do it because they're -lonely. Some does it because they likes it--it makes them feel that they -own the world for a little while and are as good as anybody. And then -there's those that does it because they're frightened." - -"How do you mean, frightened?" - -"Well, sir, the war's been going on for four years and it looks as -though it might go on for twenty. A good many of us chaps have been -wounded several times; we've not been killed yet, but we feel that -our luck can't last. Each new attack that we come through lessens our -chances. We know that sooner or later we're going to get it--and then -it's pushing daisies for us, with nobody caring much. This new attack is -worse than the others; we're told nothing and can only imagine. It isn't -good to imagine. It's the suspense and the guessing that wears one. It's -different for you, sir, than it is for us--you have to set an example. -It's much harder just to follow. One has an awful lot of time for -thinking on a long night march--he sees himself all messed up. It's to -stop thinking that most chaps get drunk." - -We were in the village by now, approaching the horse-lines. From the -pretty cottages, which had looked so innocent in the early morning, came -sounds of coarse laughter and discordant singing. Groups of men, swaying -on their feet and arguing with uncouth, threatening gestures, tried to -stand absurdly to attention and salute as we passed. "_Vin blink_," as -the Tommies call the poisonous concoction which is sold them as "white -wine", was doing its worst. No _poilu_ would pour it down his gullet. -Whatever it is made of, it acts like acid and works like poison in. -the blood; especially is this the case with men who have been free from -alcohol up front and are wearied in mind and body. A good deal of the -traffic is carried on during prohibited hours and by unlicensed persons, -at exorbitant rates and with a criminal disregard for consequences. -Yet if property is damaged or a civilian assaulted the last centime of -indemnity is exacted, the claims being pressed against defendants who -are again in the line, making life safe for the relentless plaintiffs. -Temptation is made easy for the Tommy; under the influence of "_vin -blink_" he causes most of his trouble. A girl is usually the bait; she -stands woodenly smiling in the doorway of her particular estaminet that -he may see her as his unit enters a village. During all the four years -of fighting this peculiarly cowardly form of profiteering has been going -on. Nothing effectual has been done to stop it. - -This being a village in which we had formerly been billeted, our men had -required no one to give them pointers. At the morning stables they had -been warned to keep sober and get all the sleep that was possible; -but the moment they were dismissed, they had scattered to the various -cottages where drink was obtainable. By this time many of them were -mellow and some were completely intoxicated. On arriving at the -horse-lines we found them lying beneath the guns and wagons and on the -bales of hay, either dead to the world or staring dreamily at nothing. -"One sees himself all messed up. It's to stop thinking that most chaps -get drunk!" - -Poor laddies! They were little more than boys. Life hadn't been over-gay -for them since war started; by all accounts it would be even less gay -in the coming months. Their faces told the story; boys of twenty looked -forty. Their cheeks were hollow and lined; in their eyes was a strained -expression of haggard expectancy. They were brave; they always would be -brave. Their pride of race kept them up. Directly the battle had really -started they would become alert and eager as runners. But for the moment -they had broken training; the long tension had proved too much. They had -seized their opportunity for forgetfulness. Throughout the fields and -beneath the trees, wherever there was a bit of shade they lay fallen -and crumpled, their tunics flung aside and their shirts torn open to the -chest. They would look very much like this one day when the tornado of -bullets and shell-fire had swept over them. The thought made me sick; -the picture was too horribly similar and realistic. It was only when -I looked at the horses, strung out in three long lines, peacefully -swishing their tails and nosing round for any wisps of hay that were -remaining, that I felt assured that the catastrophe which was always -coming nearer, had not yet befallen. - -The important task before us was to get them collected up and safely -into billets, where they could sleep off the effects of their debauch. -Any moment we might get orders to hook in and continue the march. It -was unlikely that we would be given such orders until the cool of the -evening; but should some emergency make the step necessary, we would -find ourselves in a pretty mess. Suzette had already realised the -seriousness of the situation; out in the meadows, where men had thrown -themselves down in the glaring sun, I could see her rousing them and -helping them to get under cover. The great danger from the individual -man's point of view, was that in his befuddled state he might wander -away and be missing when we took up our march again. What would follow -would depend on each particular Tommy. If he had sense, when he found -that he had lost his unit, he would report to the first British officer -he encountered and get a written statement from the officer to that -effect. Every day that he was absent, until he re-found us, he would get -a signed reference as to his movements. If, however, on coming out of -his stupor he got frightened, he might hide himself; in which case, -though he originally had no intention to desert, his action would -be interpreted as desertion. Many a man has been court-martialed and -condemned, when his only fault was stupidity ana ignorance of military -procedure. - -You can't "crime" two-thirds of a battery; the only thing to be done was -to take steps to avoid the consequences. I sent the guard to summon all -the N.C.O.'s and officers to the horse-lines. We then brought together -all the men who were still fit for duty and, having increased the guard, -set to work to carry or lead all those who were incapable back to their -quarters. When we had called the roll and knew that no one was absent, -we made a search for any drink that might be concealed about the men's -persons and then proceeded to sober up the worst cases by dashing -buckets of water over them. When this had been done, we placed an armed -guard at the entrance to every billet, with orders to permit no one to -go out or to enter. We then left them to sleep it off. - -At sun-down a dispatch-rider dashed up to Brigade Headquarters. The -sound of his motorbike chugging through the village had been sufficient -warning to all the officers' messes; there were representatives from -all the batteries waiting in the courtyard when the adjutant came out to -give us the Colonel's orders. "The orders are to hook in at once and be -ready to move off by 9 p.m." - -"In what direction?" we asked. - -"I don't know," he said, "and that's no lie. The Colonel doesn't know, -but he's off to see the General. In any case we shan't be told until the -last minute." Then commenced the appalling job of getting a half-sober -battery harnessed up, hooked in and looking sufficiently respectable -that its true condition might not be apparent. This was a case when the -Iron discipline of the Army showed at its best. A well-disciplined -unit is never so drunk that it can't beat a teetotal one in which the -discipline is lax. It was extraordinary how under the spur of necessity -the men pulled themselves together; they had learnt how to make their -insubordinate bodies obey their wills up front, flogging them forward to -victory through mud and cold and weariness. With leaden eyes and shaking -hands, they went through all the familiar motions, so that the battery -was mounted and sitting to attention a quarter of an hour before the -time appointed struck. In the inspection that followed, hardly a buckle -was out of place or a piece of equipment ill-adjusted. - -But there were some men who were kept hidden till the last moment--these -were the dead drunk. It was our purpose to bring them out only at the -last moment when, trusting to the gathering darkness to conceal their -condition, we planned to bind them to the seats of the guns with -drag-ropes. It takes all kinds to make an army; some who are the worst -actors out at rest, are the finest heroes in action. - -"There's those that does it because they're frightened." That thought -kept running through my head as I searched the stern and haggard faces -of these boys who had been shipped from the ends of the earth to die -together. They didn't took the kind to be easily frightened. I knew -they weren't the kind, for I'd seen them fighting forward through the -mud-bath of the Somme and driving their guns into action through the -death-drops of Farbus. But no one can guess rightly the agony which lies -hidden behind the impassive masque of the external. - -The sunset, lying low on the horizon, cut a brilliant line behind -the shoulders of the drivers, causing their metal-work to glitter and -emphasising the erectness of their soldierly bearing in the saddle. They -looked a very different lot from the disorganized mob which eight hours -earlier had lain scattered throughout the ditches of the countryside. - -We were waiting for the Major to arrive. He had gone to Brigade -Headquarters with the other battery-commanders to receive final -instructions from the Colonel. As we waited the pool of darkness, which -had at first washed shallowly about the gun-wheels and feet of horses, -began to creep higher, till only the heads of the men and horses -remained distinct against the frieze of the vanishing sunset--all else -was vague and lost. A nightingale in a neighboring thicket began to pour -out its solitary song; far away in the intervals of silence a second -bird answered. There was a heavy and yearning melancholy in what they -said which played havoc with the accustomed stoicism of our hearts. - -Suddenly along the road came the sound of a rider approaching at a rapid -trot. The sharp tapping of the horse's hoofs changed to a dull thudding -as he turned into the field. Then the thudding stepped. The Major's -voice rang out in an abrupt word of command, "Fall out the officers." -From the various sections the officers galloped out and formed up before -him in a half-circle. - -"Take out your note-books and write down these names," he said; "they're -the villages through which we shall pass on to-night's march. You will -not tell any of the men the names of the villages and you'll burn your -list in the morning. This information is only given to you in case some -of the vehicles should break down, so that you may be able to bring -them on to rejoin the main party. And remember, absolute secrecy is -necessary. Here are the names.... Be careful with your flashlights as -you write them down: keep them shaded. We don't want any Hun planes to -get wind of us." When we had replaced our notebooks he nodded shortly, -"That's all. In about five minutes we move off." - -As I rejoined my section the Number One of A. Sub rode up and saluted. -"One of my men's missing, sir. He's Gunner Standish--a steady, quiet sort -of lad: the chap as kept the gun in action single-handed, when all the -rest of the crew was knocked out in the Willerval racket." - -I remembered Standish well; I had had him in mind for the next -promotion. He had won the Military Medal for his gallantry at Willerval, -for fighting his gun alone, when the pit had become a shamble? and all -his comrades were lying about him, either wounded or dead. A fine -piece of work, and especially fine for a chap of his nature, for he was -nervous and high-strung, and only seventeen, though in his keenness to -enlist he had stated his military age as twenty. - -I turned to the Number One brusquely. "But you reported your subsection -as complete a good half hour ago?" - -"And it was complete then, sir. I spoke with the man myself. He slipped -off while we was waiting for the Major; he didn't ask no permission and -didn't say a word to any one." - -"Perhaps he'd remembered that he'd left behind some of his kit. You'd -better send someone after him at the double. Probably you'll find him in -his billets." - -"I've done that, sir, and he wasn't there." - -"Had he been drinking?" - -The Sergeant shook his head. "It doesn't sound like Standish. He came of -good people and was a trustworthy, well-conducted chap. He's never been -up for office and was proud of it." - -"Well," I said, "I'll have to report to the Major, and then you and I -will go and search for him. I'll wager we'll find him in his billets." - -The Major told me "Righto," and not to be long. We weren't running a -kindergarten. If the chap got left behind, it was his own look-out. - -As we hurried through the battery, they were carrying out the men who -were incapable and lashing them with drag-ropes to the gun-seats like -sacks. The billets were not more than a hundred and fifty yards from the -horse-lines; they consisted of a mouldy stable, standing on one side -of a farm-yard, the whole of which was made foul by an accumulation of -manure, a? is the custom in French farmyards. - -We tiptoed our way across the reeking mess, choosing our path so as -not to sink too deeply into it. At the doorway of the low barn-like -stricture, we called the man's name, "Standish." When he did not answer, -I loosened my flashlight from my belt and swept the ray along the broken -floor and into the farthest corners. It seemed not unlikely that he -might have fallen asleep there. All I saw was the refuse of worn-out -equipment and empty bean-tins neatly gathered up into sacks. Already I -could hear the first of the teams pulling out and the rattling of the -guns on the road as they left the padded surface of the turf. If we did -not hurry, we should be left behind ourselves. - -"I told you he wasn't here, sir," the Sergeant said. - -Just as we were leaving, I flashed my light round the building for one -last look. In so doing I tilted the lamp, so that the ray groped -among the rafters of the roof. The Sergeant started back with a curse, -knocking the lamp from my hand. Just above his head he had seen it -hanging, its face staring down at him crookedly. - -We were too late when we cut him down; so we moved out that night upon -our anonymous march with an extra passenger lashed to a gun-seat, on -whose incapacity we had not counted. - -The nightingales were still singing in the thickets when we left, -singing of things forsaken, of beauty and of passion. I could not shake -off the impression that it was their sweet, intolerable melancholy which -had urged him to do it. If we had taken to the road an hour earlier, he -would have been saved from that act. Poor lad! He had played the game -to the top of his bent, till he had passed the limit of his power to -suffer. What was the limit of us who remained? How much further had we -to go till we reached the breaking-point? - -"There's those that does it because they're frightened." Trottrot knew -of what he was talking. - - - - -VII - - -WE march, and sleep, and work as in a dream. Nothing that we do or see -seems any longer real to us. This inverted way of living by night and -drowsing by day, blunts one's sense of actuality as with a drug. The -only fact which remains constant is our ceaseless struggle against -weariness. - -There's no longer the faintest doubt as to where we are going; we're -marching into the great shove, to which all the previous four years of -war have been a preface. We're marching, if human endurance can carry -us, straight into the heart of Germany. Among ourselves we make no more -attempts to disguise what is intended; as though the doors of a furnace -had been suddenly flung wide, we feel the heat of the trial which will -consume us. To-day is the fourth of August; we hope to be in Berlin by -Christmas--some, but not all of us. - -One looks curiously into the faces of his companions, half expecting -to find their fates written on their foreheads. In so doing, he is not -morbid: he simply braces himself to meet the facts of things which must -surely happen. He knows that many of those who jest with him to-day, -will lie endlessly asleep to-morrow. He wonders vaguely to which company -he himself will belong--whether to the company of those who sleep or the -company of those who go toiling forward. It seems as though those who -are to fall in the battle must have been already selected; they must -have been assigned some mark by which they may be detected. So one -watches his comrades stealthily to discover the invisible tag which -records their lot. - -I find myself speaking to my men more as a friend and less as an -officer; the thought of that last night-march, which all men must -make solitarily, is drawing us together in a closer bond. A voice is -continually whispering, "It may be the last time you can be decent to -that chap--the last time." - -I notice the counterpart of my own feeling in the attitude of the -drivers towards their horses. They, too, realise that for many of us, -whether human or four-footed, the hour of parting is approaching -fast When stables are ended and the hungry crowd is dashing for the -cook-house in a greedy endeavour to collar the biggest portions, the -drivers turn back to their teams to give Chum and Blighty an extra pat -and to shake the hay a little loose for them. The horses sniff against -the men's shoulders and arch their necks to gaze after them with a mild -wonder in their eyes. - -In what part of the line lies the furnace into which they mean to hurl -us? Some say that we are going to join up with the French--others that -the Americans will be behind us and will leap-frog us when we have -crumpled up the Hun Front by our attack. There are many wild rumours, -the most likely of which is that the neighbourhood of Rheims will be -our jumping-off point. But to get us there they will have to entrain us; -there are no signs of entraining at present. Nothing is certain, except -that every night we are crawling southwards. - -Are we brave or merely indifferent? The Army crushes imagination and -sentiment. To attain a certain object lives have to be expended--the -mere lives in proportion to the worth of the object. For those who plan -the game at General Headquarters death and courage are an impersonal sum -in mathematics: so many men and horses in the held, of whom so many can -be spared for corpses, But the sum is not impersonal for us. It consists -of an infinite number of intimate computations: the little sums of what -life means to us and of what our lives mean to the old men, mothers, -wives, sweethearts who scan the casualty lists feverishly, hoping not to -read our names among the fallen. General Headquarters cannot be expected -to complicate their book-keeping by taking these bijou exercises in -addition and subtraction into their immenser calculations. - -For us, in its most heroic analysis, the arithmetic of war is an -auditing of our characters--an impartial balancing of the selfish and -the noble, the cowardly and courageous in our natures. Long ago when we -first enlisted, before we had any knowledge of the horrors we were -to suffer, we set ourselves on record as believing that there were -principles of right and wrong at stake, in the defence of which it was -worth our while to die. An offensive of this magnitude is the test as to -whether, with an experienced knowledge of the horrors, we are still men -enough to hold to our bargain and prove our sincerity with our blood. It -is the test of scarlet--the fiercest of all tests, which we encounter as -heroes or avoid as moral bankrupts. - -Yesterday, when the battery got drunk, there can be little doubt as to -why it was done: the suspense of a Judgment Day for which no place -or time had been allotted, made men afraid. Standish symbolizes that, -terror. He could struggle with a fear which was present and which he -could defeat with his hands, as he proved at Willerval; the fear, the -coming of which was indefinite and the shadow of which groped only in -his mind, crushed him. Perhaps the rest of us avoided his fate because -we were of a coarser type. Maybe it was the very fineness of his mental -qualities that tripped him up. Whatever the difference, the fact remains -that he failed in the test of scarlet; at the very moment when his -comrades, equally weary, equally afraid, equally in love with life, were -marching out to throttle the danger, he, poor lad, was dangling from -a rafter, shameful and unsightly, a self-confessed quitter and -pain-dodger. Why should a man do a thing like that? He rushed upon the -certainty of death, when by living he would still have retained his -chance of life. All through the war such incident have happened, -self-maimings, suicides, desertions--all manners of make-shift means of -escaping the Judgment Day of the attack. But death is not to be avoided -by running away from it; those who flee from it in the Front-line -find it waiting for them behind the lines at their comrades' hands. "I -couldn't face the Huns." one deserter said with a kind of self-wonder, -as he squared his shoulders bravely to meet the impact of the -firing-squad, "but I can face this." To my way of thinking it requires -more courage to put a rope round your neck and fling yourself down from -the rafters of a foul stable, or to hold yourself erect in the early -dawn with your eyes blind-folded, writing without whimpering for British -bullets to strike you. There must be different kinds of courage, some -of which war can employ and others----Cowardice gives one the courage of -desperation, so that one can calmly perform the most terrible of acts. I -suppose the explanation of such men as Standish is that terror, too long -contemplated, drives them mad. How much longer can the rest of us stand -its contemplation? - -Last night's march was like a night of delirium with moments of -consciousness; the moments of consciousness were the worst. We had -scarcely struck the road before men started to fall asleep in their -saddles. When orders to halt or to pull over to the right were passed -down the column, they were not complied with. At first the horses saved -us from tangles, for they heard the orders and without guiding, carried -them out. But then the horses commenced to sleep as they walked, adding -to our danger the risk that they might stumble. The entire battery -was worn out and it was difficult to know on whom you could depend. -We officers rode up and down, rousing the men and trying to keep the -sergeants and corporals on the alert; but they, too, in many cases were -no better and wandered nodding in their saddles. Soon after the last -of the sunset had faded the night had become intensely dark; it was -scarcely possible to see your hand before your face. Rain began to -descend. The temperature sank and, after the heat of the August day, it -became as cold as November. - -Orders were passed back that every gunner and employed man had to walk -that the vehicles might be lightened. Some of them had sore feet from -the previous night's march; many of them were still groggy from their -excesses. It required extraordinary vigilance to be sure that no one was -falling behind and getting lost. We shuffled along under dripping -trees in sullen silence. Very often our route lay by by-roads, that the -traffic might be relieved on main thoroughfares. The by-roads were soggy -and loose in their surface; branches and brambles slashed across our -faces, leaping out on us from the dark. - -Everything was on the move, tanks, heavies, siege-guns, transport. They -were pushing south, all pouring in the same direction, and no one seemed -to care whom he thrust aside so long as he himself got there. For long -periods we were held up by lorries and caterpillars which had become -ditched ahead of us. It seemed as though we could never reach our -camping place before sunrise. Our strict orders were to be off the road -and hidden before daylight. The men who had made themselves dead drunk -before we started had the best of it; lashed to their gun-seats, they -slept on blissfully unconscious of the rain and cold. From midnight till -dawn was the worst period; one's eyes were so heavy that it was an agony -to keep them from closing. It became necessary to dismount and to lead -one's horse to prevent oneself from drowsing. This remedy only brought -new complications, for it was impossible to superintend one's section -while on foot; mounted men in front who slept, kept colliding with the -teams and vehicles. Every one was cross, and strafing, and unjust by -the time the day began to whiten. It had seemed that the sun had set for -good; now that it had risen, we felt ashamed of our appearance. We were -muddy and sodden; our one desire was to find a place where we could lie -down and rest. - -When we had limped into the field in which we are at present bivouacked, -we found that only two teams could be watered at one time at the ford. -This meant that grooming had to be prolonged until the last horse in the -battery had been watered. By the time stables had been dismissed, the -men were so tired that they did not care for breakfast, but tumbled off -to sleep where they dropped. - -Today I am orderly-dog, on duty for twenty-four hours from reveille to -reveille. I sit here among the bales of hay which have been thrown down -from the G. S. wagons, and I watch--and I marvel, as I never cease to -marvel, at the men's indomitable pluck. Now that they know what lies -ahead of them, their behaviour is completely nonchalant and ordinary. -They have accepted the idea of catastrophe and have dismissed it from -their minds. If they refer to it at all, it is merely as material out of -which to manufacture jokes against themselves. - -Last night's march, with its cold and wet, being over is forgotten. More -night-marches lie before them which may be worse than the last, but they -cross no bridges until they come to them. For the moment the sun shines -luxuriously and their fatigue is gone. Some of them are practising -pitching with a base-ball; others are washing and cooling their swollen -feet in the ford. The gramophone, which we always carry with us, is -playing popular selections from the latest thing in musical comedy. It's -a point of honour with every officer in our mess when he goes on -leave to bring back at least half-a-dozen new records. The tunes bring -pleasant memories of girls and taxis and dinner-parties and dances, of -crowded theatres jammed with cheering khaki, of uproarious laughter, -of sirens blowing and bombs falling on London house-tops--the memories -still are pleasant--and of late adventurous home-comings along -unlighted thoroughfares to sheeted beds. All of which memories are in -rosy contrast to the stern laboriousness of our present. Afar off I -can see Bully Beef, toddling on chubby legs along the edge of the wood -gathering wild-flowers. That slim young soldier, who follows him with -her eyes between intervals of mending a tunic, must be Suzette. The -scene is extraordinarily restful. We might be planning to live forever. -Wherever the eye rests the prevailing note is sanity and calm. And yet -our calmness is only an outward pretence; it means nothing more than -this, that we are in hiding from the spies of the enemy. The woods which -surround us were selected that no one might know that Foch's Pets are -on the march. A further emphasis was laid on the magnitude of the -ordeal which awaits us by an order regarding men under arrest, which we -received this morning; they are to be released and the charges against -them dropped, that they may be available for cannon-fodder. This is no -act of mercy; it simply means that every last man will be needed for the -replacing of casualties. - -The true attitude of the fighting-man towards this concert-pitch -commotion was expressed by the Major, when he sat up in his -sleeping-sack and rubbed his eyes at lunch-time. He looked an absurdly -rebellious little figure in his khaki shirt-tails and without a tie or -collar. "I tell you what it is; I'm fed up with all this secrecy -and nonsense. I don't wonder that the chaps got drunk; when you're -unconscious is the only time that you possess yourself. I don't mind the -fighting; what I object to is this being mucked about by everybody. I'm -not a Major; I'm a policeman. And the Colonels and Generals who boss me, -they're bigger policemen. In the Army everyone who is not a Tommy is a -policeman, with a stronger policeman above him to boss him. We interfere -with one another to such an extent that we're disciplined out of our -initiative and self-confidence. I'm sick of it all; I'm off." - -He then explained in detail what it was he was sick of. He was sick of -army-rations; sick of night-marches; sick of the paper-warfare which -blew in from Headquarters every hour of the day demanding answers; -sick of having to strafe his men and being strafed in his turn by the -Colonel. He wanted to get away to where he didn't have to blow his nose -in accordance with King's Regulations, where he didn't have to eat what -a Government had provided for him, where he didn't have to do everything -in the dread of a calling down from higher authorities. - -"You're orderly-dog for today," he said. "You can carry on. If you have -to pull out, leave a mounted man behind to guide me on. I'm going to -find a place where the food tastes different; if I find more than I -want. I'll bring you back a portion. I'm going to take Captain Heming -with me; the rest of the officers can wander about, so long as they get -back by six o'clock and there are always two within call in the event of -a movement order." - -The rest of the officers are Tubby Grain, the centre section commander, -Gus Edwine, the commander of the left section, Sam Bradley, who is -in charge of the signallers, and Steve Hoadley, who is attached as -spare-officer. Of them all I like Tubby best. He's fat, and brave, and -humourous. He used to mix soft-drinks in a druggist's store, and started -his career at the Front as a sergeant. He has a weakness for referring -to himself as a "temporary gent" and, if he weren't so lazy, would make -a cracking fine officer. He's as scrupulously honourable with men as -he is unreliable with women. In his pocket-book he carries a cheap -photograph signed, "Yours lovingly, Gertie." He shows it to you -sentimentally as "the picture of my girl," yet the next moment will -recite all manner of escapades. - -His most permanent affair since he came to France is with an -estaminet-keeper's daughter at Bruay. Out of the sale of intoxicants -to British Tommies she has collected as her percentage a dot of fifty -thousand francs--an immense sum to her. With this, when the war has been -won and they are married, she proposes to buy a small hotel. Tubby is -non-committal when she mentions marriage. I don't know how serious his -intentions are, and I don't believe he knows himself. He gives her no -definite answers, but writes her scores of letters. He gambles heavily -and always loses; but whatever his losses, he's invariably cheery and -willing to lend money. One has to take his companions as he finds them -at the Front; it's the kindness of Tubby's heart that recommends him. - -Gus Edwine is of an entirely different stamp. He's conscientious, -unmerry, and solid. He never plays cards, is poor company, but knows his -work. - -He has a girl who's a nursing-sister at a Casualty Clearing Station. -He takes his love with sad seriousness, and beats his way to her by -stealing lifts on Army lorries whenever we're within thirty miles of her -hospital. I have my suspicions that that's where he's gone at present. -He never tells. In a stiff fight he's a man to be relied on, and -commands everyone's respect on account of his high morals and cool -courage. - -Sam Bradley is the only married officer in our battery. I don't think -he can have been married long, for he smiles all the while quietly to -himself as though he had a happy secret. Wherever we are, in a muddy -dug-out or back at rest, the first piece of his possessions to be -unpacked is a leather-framed portrait of a kind-looking girl. Much of -his leisure is spent in writing letters, and most of his mail is in a -round decided handwriting which we take to be hers. - -Steve Hoadley is new to the war. He has never been in any important -action and has yet to prove himself. He has a manner, which irritates -the Major, of "knowing it all," and is frequently in trouble. The men -rather resent taking orders from him, since many of them have seen three -years of active service. On the whole he does not have a happy lot. None -of us have at first. He would get on all right if he wasn't so positive. -I think he's made up his mind to seize this offensive to show his worth. -Here's good luck to him in his effort. - -Dan Turpin, the Quartermaster--good old Dan with his large heart and -immense sympathy for everybody--has just been to see me. He looked -troubled as he halted in front of me, rubbing the wart on his nose -thoughtfully. - -"What is it, Quarter?" I asked. "Anything the matter with the transport? -If it's a long story, you'd better take a pew while you tell me." - -"It's nothing to do with the transport, sir," he said, and remained -standing. "It's to do with what Suzette's doing over there." - -"What is she doing?" I glanced lazily over the sunlit distance in her -direction. "She's mending something, isn't she?" - -Dan shook his head. Then, in order to give me another chance to guess, -he added, "And it's got to do with what Bully Beef's doing." - -"He's gathering wild-flowers." - -"Yes, He's gathering wild-flowers," Dan said. "But she ain't mending -anything; she's putting something together." - -I unslung my glasses and focussed them to get a closer view. "Ah, I -see what she's up to now. She's made a kind of pillow out of a piece of -horse-blanket and she's stuffing it with leaves." - -"It's a pillow for his head," Dan said solemnly, "and the flowers is to -cover him, before we throw the earth on." - -Then I knew what Dan wanted and, rising to my feet, accompanied him -without further words. In the wood, which surrounds our camp, we have -just buried Standish, with Suzette's pillow beneath his head and Bully -Beef's wild-flowers for a covering. On account of the way he died, -there was no parade of the battery to do him honour: but many of the -men attended. Trottrot was there, whom everyone regards as untrustworthy -under shell-fire. He was one of those who lowered the body, bruised by -its last night's march on the gun-seat, into its narrow bed. While the -short ceremony was in progress, the sound of the gramophone was stopped -and the shouts of the base-ball pitchers died into silence. As we were -seen to emerge from the wood, with scarcely a moment's delay, the sounds -started up--not in callousness, but in a frenzied effort to forget. It -was fully an hour after I had again seated myself among the bales of hay -that I saw Suzette and Trottrot come back. I could guess what they had -been doing--making the place beautiful. But why should Trottrot do that? -He had not been the dead man's friend. Was it because he himself had -come so near to cowardice that he could stoop to be tender? - -I shall have no time to see what they have done to mark the grave, for a -runner has just brought a movement order from Brigade that we are to be -prepared to march by sun-down. It doesn't give us much of a margin, -for the smoke-gray haze of evening is already creeping through the -tree-tops. The Major and Heming have not yet retuned. - - - - -VIII - - -LAST night we had another terrible march; neither the men nor the -horses can stand much more of it. It isn't a matter of stoutness of -heart; it's a plain question of physical endurance. How many more nights -can men and horses go without sleep and bungle through the darkness of -a strange country without collapsing? It isn't as though these were easy -marches--all of them are forced. And then again, it isn't as though we -had the knowledge that in a few days' time our present exertions -would be followed by a rest; on the contrary, we know that our present -exertions are as nothing compared with what will be demanded of us. -Everybody is extraordinarily willing--there's no grumbling; but we're -working under a high nervous tension of suspense which, in itself, is -exhausting. If we were actually in battle, our excitement would carry us -twice as far without letting us drop. In the presence of death one can -achieve the incredible; these miracles are difficult to accomplish while -one still has a reasonable certainty. - -To tell the truth, our equipment isn't equal to the strain which is -being laid upon it. Our teams are not matched; many of them are worn -out; some of them consist of mules. One wonders living, whether they -could go into action at the gallop without falling down. For the -past three years there's been precious little galloping for the Field -Artillery on the Western Front. Our work has consisted for the most -part of dragging our guns up through mud at the crawl and afterwards of -packing up ammunition on the horses' backs. This has broken the hearts -of the animals, and robbed us of our dash and snap. - -The animals which have been sent to us during the past two years to -replace casualties are of an utterly inferior physique and stamp from -those we had when war started. They're either ponies or draught-horses, -or else patched-up, decrepit old-timers from the veterinary hospitals, -which have been ill or wounded, and have been returned to active service -to die in harness because no others are available. Our best animals are -the few survivors we have of the original teams which we brought with us -from Canada to France. - -What is true of the horses is equally true of the men. The physical -standard has dropped. In 1914, unless one were physically perfect, it -was impossible to get accepted. To-day both among the officers and in -the ranks, one sees spectacled faces, narrow chests, stooping shoulders -and weak legs. Boys and old gray-haired men go struggling up front -through the mud to-day in France. Apparently, whatever his appearance, -anyone is eligible to wear khaki who can tell a lie about how long he -has been in the world. I would make a guess that fully a third of our -drivers and gunners had not seen their eighteenth birthdays at the time -when their military age was recorded as twenty; on the other hand, there -is a goodly proportion who are supposed to be thirty and are well over -forty. And then, besides those who are too old or too young, there are -the crocks--men who, like the houses from the veterinary-hospitals, have -been patched up again and again and, after short rests at comfortless -places somewhere between the base and the Frontline, have once more been -returned to active service to help push the Hun a little farther back -before they themselves stumble into an open grave. These crocks are for -the most part men who have never had the luck to be wounded; if they had -once reached a hospital in England, they would never have been allowed -to see the Front again. But the hospitals in France are compelled to -be less merciful; their job is to repair the broken human mechanism and -return it to the fighting-line so long as it has any usefulness. Our -crocks are chiefly men who have been crushed by exposure and hardship. -They suffer from debility, poor feet, rheumatism, running-ears, etc.; -the ear-troubles are caused by the sharp concussion of the guns in the -pits when they are fired. I suppose those in authority have been forced -to the opinion that all men are of equal value when they are dead, -and that it's a waste of energy, when you're collecting material for -cannon-fodder, to be too picksome. - -In England, after the Hun drive of the spring had commenced, the -magicians of the man-power boards were taking very much the same point -of view, and arbitrarily improving the nation's health by raising -re-examined C III men to an A I category. There are few men now, except -the very aged, who are not on paper sufficiently healthy to die for -their country. This changed attitude is summed up in the treatment of -wounded men. Whereas to have been severely wounded was formerly a just -reason for honourable discharge, to-day we have men still fighting -who have made the trip to Blighty five times on a stretcher. There are -officers who have suffered amputations, who are still carrying on. - -Necessity knows no law; nevertheless, this desperate use which we are -making of both human and four-footed material which is below par, makes -itself felt when we are called upon for unusual efforts. We're beginning -to fear lest before the show starts, these forced night marches may -use up our reserves of strength. We do not own that there are any -limitations to our power to obey and suffer, but common-sense tells us -that there is a point beyond which the flesh cannot be driven, however -great the heart. - -Last night we were on the road from ten o'clock till seven this morning. -It took two hours from the time when we pulled into our present place of -hiding, till the men could lie down and rest. Very many of the horses -had kicks and galls, all of which had to be attended to before anyone -could think of himself. - -I call this our place of hiding purposely, for it is so obviously just -that. We are in a high rolling country, cut up into shadowy patterns by -deep ravines, and dotted where it lies nearest the sky by squares and -oblongs and triangles of woods. It is in one of these protecting woods -that we have our bivouacs and horse-lines. We are so well covered from -sight that peasants in the nearest village, two miles away, do not -suspect our presence. We have not found it necessary to warn the men -against revealing themselves; they're too played out to walk a yard -further than is necessary. - -A glance at the map makes our game of guesswork grow interesting. We're -directly to the west of Amiens now; one night's march would bring us -into the line. Amiens is the great junction-point of the railroad system -which feeds the entire British Front and which connects us up with the -French. The Hun came perilously near to capturing it this spring; since -then it has been vacated by its civilian population and kept by the Hun -continually under shell-fire. The result has been that trains have had -to make a détour by branch-lines to get round behind the Amiens salient, -and our military transportation, as a consequence, has been working -under a heavy handicap. Every fighting-man has been aware of this, for -whereas formerly one could buy almost anything within reason at the -Expeditionary Force Canteens, since the spring stocks have not been -replenished and only limited quantities have been allowed to be -purchased by each person. - -There have been weeks together when one has had to scour the country far -and wide to find a packet of cigarettes. After so much mystery and so -many conjectures, it seems not unlikely that the push is to be put on to -save Amiens. - -The rumour concerning some Canadian troops having been sent to Yprès -to deceive the Hun, was confirmed yesterday by our Major. In his ride -abroad he met the Colonel of one of the battalions which had sent -a detachment. From him he learnt that not only were Canadians and -Australians sent over in a series of raids that they might be identified -by the enemy, but that Canadian Maple Leaf badges and Australian -slouch-hats had been issued to other units who were holding that line, -that they might be mistaken for the storm-troops. Whether the ruse has -succeeded in drawing the Hun reserves up north he could not learn. - -The Major and Captain Heming rejoined us last night just as I commenced -to lead the battery out of the woods on to the high road. Directly I -spoke to Heming I had the feeling that something was wrong; it was about -half-an-hour later that the Major sent back word for me to ride beside -him and told me what had happened. It appears that at the officers -tea-room, where they had dinner, a number of week-old London dailies -were strewn about. They sat glancing through them as they waited for the -meal to be served. The Major had got hold of a torn sheet, when he came -across a column headed, _The Coldest Woman In London_. "This sounds -promising," he said to Heming; "I've met some of her sort myself." Then -he started to read the item aloud, throwing in his own racy comments. -The coldest woman in London, it appeared, was a Mrs. Percy Dragott. -She was reputed to have ruined many notable careers by her unresponsive -attraction. She was extraordinarily beautiful and had been painted by -many artists. The best known of all her portraits was one by--------. - -"Hulloa, Heming, this can't be you, can it? A chap of your name is -mentioned.--------By Jove, it must be you though; it says that this -Heming was in Ottawa when war broke out, and is at present at the Front -with the Canadian Artillery." - -"Go on, sir, will you, if you don't mind? I'd like to hear a little more -about this Mrs. Dragott." That, according to the Major, was all that -Heming had said; but his face was very white, though his voice was hard -and steady. So the Major had no option but to read on. Mrs. Dragott's -social eminence was recorded and hints were thrown out as to the -personalities of the various prominent men who had broken themselves -against her coldness. Her husband had committed suicide five years -before, under circumstances which had helped to confirm her reputation -for being a woman incapable of affection. And now, dramatically, after -a hectic affair with a man who had proved to be already married, she had -committed--------. It was at this point that the paper was torn, leaving -no due as to what it was that she had done. Heming had been terribly -upset, the Major said, and had turned the place upside down to find -the missing portion. "I have an idea," the Major told me, "that Heming -himself must have been fond of her." - -"Perhaps," I said, and kept my mouth shut, for I remembered that Mrs. -Percy Dragott was the name which Heming had handed to me that day on the -Somme, when we were caught by the Hun out in No Man's Land and he had -wriggled his way forward that he might risk his own life and save ours. -What was it that she had done? Had she killed herself or the man? I -could imagine all the questions that kept running through Heming's head, -as he followed behind the wagon that carried Suzette, riding through the -darkness at the rear of the column. - -It only required a happening of this sort to bring home to us how much -we are cut off from the outside world. Whatever tragedies are suffered -by those whom we have loved, we cannot go to their help. Between them -and us there is a great gulf fixed. - -It's six o'clock in the evening. We had made up our minds that we would -certainly be here for the night; it did not seem possible that, with -men and horses so exhausted, they could send us on another march. That's -what they're going to do, however. The harnessing up is nearly completed -and the first of the teams are already being led out from the lines -to the gun-park. A special order has just come in for me to join the -Colonel with a blanket and rations for twenty-four hours. I and one -officer from each of the batteries are to be prepared to go forward with -him in a lorry. Where we are going and for what purpose, we are left to -surmise. - - - - -IX - - -THE adventure has begun in earnest. All the monotony of being foot-sore -and tired is forgotten in this new excitement. They can push us as hard -as they like; we shall not fail until our strength gives out. It's the -game, the largeness and the splendour of it, that uplifts us. In the -history of the world no fighting-men ever fought for such high stakes -as those for which we are about to fight. Just as this war is out of all -proportion titanic as compared with other wars which have been waged -by men, so is this offensive, which we intend shall be the last and the -decisive climax, out of all proportion titanic as compared with previous -offensives. It doesn't matter that we are physically inefficient for the -task; we have been physically inefficient for other tasks, which we have -nevertheless accomplished. We were sick, both men and horses, when we -splashed our way furiously through the icy mud to those last attacks -which won the battle of the Somme; none of us lay down on the job till -we had been relieved in the line. The very day that we pulled out horses -died in their tracks and men collapsed. We were like runners who had -saved their last ounce for the final lap and had no strength left when -they had broken the tape. - -It will be like that again; stoutness of heart will carry us to success -long after our bodies have backed down on us. From the first crack out -of the box this is going to be a V. C. stunt for every man who takes -part in it; that there won't be enough V. C's to go round doesn't -trouble us. To have been privileged to share in such an undertaking will -be reward enough and a sufficient decoration. We're going to bust the -Hun Front so completely that it will never stand up again. We're going -to make a hole in his defences through which all the troops which are -behind us can rush like a deluge. We're going to achieve this end by the -element of surprise and the devil-may-care ferocity of our attack. The -effect will be like the breaking of a dam: we shall spread and spread -till the military arrogance of Germany is flooded out of sight and only -the steeples and roofs of the highest houses show up above the ruin's -surface to mark the spots where the ancient menace was trapped and -drowned. - -Last night we found our lorries waiting for us at a cross-roads; they -were headed in the direction of the road which was marked To _Amiens_. -The sun was sinking behind the uplands as we set out; the last sight -we had as we looked back through the golden solitude was our brigade of -artillery slowly winding like a black snake out of the wood and losing -itself in a fold of the hills. The Colonel was silent; he gave us no -information, save that we were going forward to choose battery positions -and alternative routes for bringing in our guns and ammunition in case -some of the routes were shelled. For the rest, we conjectured that the -lorries were taking us past points where it would not be wise for the -brigade to travel. - -We had not been going long, when we began to pass Australian Infantry, -first of all we met them in isolated groups, strolling down the lanes -and through the wheat, two and two, with their arms about the waists of -peasant-girls. Very often the girls had plucked wild-flowers for their -lovers, and had stuck them in the button-holes of their tunics or had -pinned them against the brims of their broad slouch-hats. One wondered -with how many soldier-men these girls had walked since the war had -started, and how many of their soldier-men still remained above ground -to kiss the lips of a living girl. Without being told, there was -something of false flippancy and yearning in their attitude which made -us understand that these lovers for a moment were taking their last -stroll together. Like the Canadians, they are storm-troops, and will be -lost in the smoke of battle before many days are out. - -At a turn in the road we came across a girl who had flung herself down -beside the hedge and was sobbing with her face buried in her hands. -Farther on, by a few hundred yards, we passed a boy-private, who kept -halting and glancing back with trouble in his eyes, and then again -making up his mind to go forward. Many a deserter has been shot not -because he was a coward, but because he had grown too fond of a girl. - -We entered a village where all was in commotion. - -The dusk had fallen. In the windows lights glimmered. Trumpets were -sounding. Across farmyards, and in and out of barns men hurried with -lanterns. Infantry, in their full marching order, were tumbling out -from houses and forming up, two deep, along the street. Rolls were being -called and absentees searched for. Officers on horse-back fidgeted -impatiently or went at the sharp trot, carrying messages. Bursts of -laughter and song from the gardens behind the cottages, seemed to mock -the atmosphere of military sternness. Behind the darkness there was the -knowledge of stolen kisses. The storm-troops were saying "Good-bye" to -life and moving one stage nearer to the slaughter. We won free from the -village and were soon on a high road, doing our forty miles an hour. - -In the dusk the sharp details of the country were blurred, but we -saw enough to know that its aspect was changing. There were no more -peasant-girls with their soldier-lovers: the fields were uncared -for--all the civilian population had been pushed back. We came to -villages full of deserted houses, with roofs smashed and walls gaping -where bombs had been dropped. Under the protection of trees, in lanes -and side-roads, motor and horse-transport was waiting for the sky to -become sufficiently dark for it to be safe for them to advance. At every -cross-road we were halted by military-police till our special order had -been presented and examined. Ahead of us the cathedral spires and -towers of Amiens grew up; like fire-flies flickering above them, though -actually at a distance of miles behind them, the flares and rockets of -the Hun Front commenced their maniac dance. - -We crept into the city, slowing down to avoid gaping holes in the pavé. -It was a city of the dead. No movement was allowed till night had grown -completely dark.. Shutters sagged on their hinges. Doors stood wide, -just as they had been left in the hurry of the exit. Windows stared -blindly, with broken panes and curtains faded and flapping. On the -pavement the débris lay strewn of household furniture which had been -carefully carried out, and then left in the mad stampede of the panic. -One could picture it all as the terror had spread and the horror had -been whispered from mouth to mouth, "He's broken through--the Boche is -coming." - -Amiens, as I last saw it, was the Front-line's dream of Paradise--a -place where one could keep warm, where one could wash to his heart's -content, where one could laugh and live without being hungry, where one -could hear the voices of children and watch the faces of pretty girls. -It was a city of clubs, tea-rooms, cinemas, canteens, tramways, hotels, -hospitable fires. In Amiens one could still believe in the glory of war, -for the Indian cavalry with their brilliant turbans and the hunting-men -from the Home Counties were there, all waiting for the break in the line -to occur when the swordsmen of the Empire would get their chance. It -was more honestly gay than Paris, more gallantly mad than London, more -wistful and unwise than either. From in front of Courcelette, where -one drowned in the mud, it was possible to reach Amiens by lorry in a -handful of hours. Amiens was to us, when I last saw it, a glimpse of -Blighty set down at the backdoor of hell. - -But since then the Hun drive of the spring had occurred and, with the -approach of tragedy, every vestige of gallantry had vanished. War, with -its inevitable squalor, had laid hands on everything, revealing itself -in its true colours. Like mutilated human faces, the fronts of houses -hung in tatters, indecently displaying all those intimate secrets of -family life that the kindly walls had hidden. Shells had fallen; bombs -had been dropped. Even as we entered, we could hear the angry roar of -detonations. Dead men sprawled about the streets, twisted by the anguish -of their final struggle. Dogs and cats, of appalling leanness, slunk -in and out the ruins. As we passed the station, with its great span of -girders, a shell crashed through with a splash of glass. It was a city -through which demented solitude wandered. We hurried on. An ambulance -lurched by us, returning from the Front, and halted by an emergency -hospital. We had a glimpse of the stretchers being carried underground -into the temporary security of the cellars. Overhead the fierce -rat-a-tat of machine-guns commenced, where two fighting-planes circled -in mid-air. Someone shouted to us to put out our cigarettes; after that -there was no smoking. - -Hunger is like strong wine; it drives out weariness. While our lives -were secure, those long night-marches had seemed an intolerable -hardship. Now that death was present, the entire manhood in us stiffened -to fight off the peril. Mere weariness was forgotten--a good night's -rest could cure that; but if once death should get the upper-hand, there -was no kindliness of human skill that could restore us. Our spirits -rose as we drew nearer to the horror of the carnage. There is something -wonderfully stimulating about terror; the challenge of it makes one -forget his body. That night as we sped through Amiens and during all -the days and nights that followed, it seemed more as if we were hunting -death than as if death were hounding us. - -We had left the Cathedral far behind. Whenever we looked back, so long -as any light was in the sky, we could see it standing dark and brooding -against the horizon. We had by now travelled off the maps in our -possession, by means of which we had been following our journey. The -Colonel, seated beside the driver of the leading lorry, gave him his -directions. He alone was aware of where we were going. But we knew by -the wholesale demolition that this was one of the main national roads -which had been most fiercely contested in the spring fighting, before -the headlong rush of the Hun had been stopped. The tracks of the -railroad, which paralleled it, had been torn from their bed. Bridges had -been blown up. Improvised forts had been constructed in hollows where an -advance could be checked by machine-gun fire. - -In my memory vivid descriptions recurred of the stubborn resistance -which our men had put up. They had retreated and retreated, overpowered -by weight of numbers. They had been deprived of water and food and -sleep, and still they had fought on. Their officers had been killed: -their N. C. O.s were gone; they had lost touch with their units, and yet -they had never lost their sense of conquest--they dug their toes in and -fought on. Along this very road they had crawled on hands and knees when -they could no longer walk; but they had crawled backwards, with their -faces always towards the enemy, who followed them staggering drunkenly -in his steps from exhaustion. There were German battalions which had -marched forty miles at a stretch, only to be shot down by these broken -Tommies who never knew when they were beaten. As the agony of the spring -became more and more obvious a cold anger grew in our hearts. We were -going to revenge that mud-stained mob who ought to have been beaten, but -had won by their own invincible doggedness. From graves in the darkness -the anonymous dead watched us pass. - -We were travelling more slowly now; the road was becoming congested -with transport and with batteries pulling into action. From lanes and -cross-country routes which avoided Amiens, they began to pour into this -main artery of traffic. Fully two-thirds of the transport consisted of -motor-lorries, bringing up ammunition to the various dumps which were -being established in rear of the point where the blow was to be struck. -We crept along without lights of any kind, speaking to each other -in whispers lest the Hun should become aware of the commotion of our -progress. By day all this country had appeared to be naked and nothing -had been seen to stir. The moment night had gathered every road and land -had become as dense with traffic as Piccadilly Circus at the theatre -hour. One wondered where so much energy had concealed itself, and -marvelled at the army organization which knew to within a hundred -yards where each separate group of energy could be found. Behind these -speculations and imaginings lay a graver thought--the thought of all the -men, horses and engines of war which had been pouring eastward for four -years, only to dash themselves to pulp and blood, and to sink from sight -in the debatable quagmire which separates the hostile armies. Where had -so many come from? How much longer could the stream be kept flowing? -Above our heads, like invisible trains slowing down as they neared their -destination, the long range shells of the Huns roared and lumbered, and -almost halted before they plunged screaming among the sullen roofs of -Amiens. - -During the last part of the journey I nodded. It was midnight when I was -awakened by the stir of my companions climbing out. "We're here," someone -said. Where _here_ was none of us knew, for the time being we were too -sleepy to care. Everything was in total darkness; it was impossible -to see more than a yard ahead. The air was stealthy with the muffled -breathing of an immense crowd. You held out your hand to guide yourself -and found it touching the leg of a mounted man. Then, as our eyes became -accustomed to the blackness, we found that we were in a village street, -packed with two streams of traffic, the one going up to the Front -loaded, the other returning empty. We listened to the whispered -orders--some were in English, but many were in French. So the French -_were_ going to be behind us! - -Not a light was to be seen anywhere. Someone struck a match to start -a cigarette; immediately, almost before the flame had burst, came the -angry order, "Put that light out." The windows of the houses were all -dead; but if one pressed against them, he could hear voices and knew -that behind the heavy curtains drawn across them men bent over tables -and worked beneath shaded lamps. Carrying our blankets and rations, we -wormed our way in single file through the traffic, entered a courtyard -and found ourselves in a partially destroyed house. There were two -rooms, mildewed with damp, bare of furniture and littered with the -débris of the last soldiers who had been billeted there. By the broken -equipment that they had left, we knew that they had been French. - -After waiting for about a quarter of an hour we were joined by the -Colonel, who brought with him an armful of maps. We wedged up the -windows with sacking and then lit a candle. - -"Everyone will know by tomorrow," he said, "so I may as well tell you -now. We're going to pull off the stunt for which we've been training -all summer. We believe that we've got the Hun guessing; he doesn't know -where we are. By marching only at night and camping in woods by day, -we've thrown him off our track. He knows that something is going to be -pulled off and he's restless; but he doesn't suspect us in this part of -the line--he's looking for us further north. That he is still kept in -ignorance must be the aim of every man and officer. Success depends on -it. Our job is just this. On August 8th at dawn we attack. That gives -us three days to make all our preparations. The work of building the -gun-platforms and stocking the positions with ammunition must be carried -on only by night. By day everything must be quiet--any unusual movement -would give away all our plans. The enemy has the high ground: he can -look directly down on' us. We're taking over from the French, so if the -enemy sees khaki uniforms in this part of the line instead of blue-gray, -he'll know at once what to expect. We shan't drag our guns into position -until the night before the show commences. We shan't register them--we -shall get them on for line with instruments; so the first shot we fire -will be in the attack and the first knowledge he has that there's a -concentration of artillery in this area will be at the identical moment -when our infantry are advancing behind the tanks. By that time he'll -know too late; we shall have captured his defences. There's only -one other thing I want to say before we get to work on details: the -positions which have been allotted to us are so exposed that he can look -almost down the muzzles of our guns. Any tracks made on the turf will -give us away: even if they've escaped his observers, they'll show up on -his aeroplane photographs. You must camouflage your ammunition with the -greatest care, making use of natural camouflage to the greatest extent, -such as ditches, wheat-fields and the shadows of trees. If once your -positions are discovered, they'll become murder holes for everyone -concerned. And now for the positions themselves; in less than three -hours we go forward to inspect them. I want each of you to choose one -main position and an alternative one which you can take up in case -you're shelled out of the first. When you've settled upon your positions -I want you to reconnoitre every possible route in... It's nearly one -now; we shall have to leave here in two hours. We've got to do all our -work between dawn and when the morning mist rises. Meanwhile here's a -map apiece, which I should advise you to study, so that you may have -some idea of the country. You'll have to carry the idea in your heads: -no flash-lamps will be allowed. Our brigade is going to sit astride the -road which runs along the ridge from the Gentelles Wood to Domart. The -general plan of strategy is to take the Hun by surprise and tumble him -back--and so save Amiens. After that our game is to sail out into the -blue and penetrate as far as we can." - -"_To sail out into the blue and penetrate as far as we can_. As long as -the war has been going we have dreamt of that. Out in the blue one takes -a sporting chance and, if the worst happens, goes west in clean fields -and beneath an open sky. In the trenches one dies like a trapped rat, -amid filth and corruption, nailed beneath a barrage. In the trenches -men are so crowded that they lose their personalities; they kill and are -killed in the mass. Out in the blue it's a man to man fight, in which -individual cunning and valour count. Long after the Colonel had left us -and the candle had been blown out, we lay in our blankets and whispered -of what "into the blue" might bring to us in the way of adventures." - -By three o'clock we were on the road, shivering in the raw night air. -The traffic was all going in one direction now and consisted for the -most part of ammunition-limbers returning empty to their wagonlines. -About a mile out of the village we swung off to the left, travelling -across country to where the eastern point of the Gentelles Woods showed -shadowy against the sky. The going was rough and the night so black that -it was difficult to see where one's feet were treading. Several times we -blundered into wire and stumbled into partly filled trenches. We had -no one who had been over the ground to guide us, so had to rely for our -direction on our memories of the maps. At the Gentelles Woods we struck -the high road, which runs along the ridge between pollarded trees -straight down to Domart and the Hun Front-line. - -The sheer audacity of the offensive, as planned, took away our breath -when we saw the nature of the landscape. It was a great plateau, lacking -in any cover and scored by deep rapines to right and left; every inch of -it was commanded by the enemy's higher ground. The road along the ridge -was a direct enfilade for the enemy; the air was heavy with decaying -flesh and the sickening smell of explosives. It ran level for fifteen -hundred yards, then it began to dip down to Demart, which lay in a -valley which crossed the road at right angles. The near side of the -valley was in our hands; the far side, which rose to a much greater -height, was in the enemy's. To attempt to bring artillery into that -area, especially when all the work had to be carried on by night, and to -expect to be able to do it unobserved, seemed madness. - -Shells were coming over far too frequently for comfort; the enemy was -searching and sweeping the Gentelles Woods, so we set out at a smart -walk along the ridge in a south-easterly direction. - - - - -X - - -ONE by one our party left us, turning off along side-roads to search -for the particular map-locations which had been suggested as positions -for their batteries. At last only I and one other officer, named Strong, -remained together. The spot for which we were looking was an orchard to -the right of the road along the ridge which we were travelling. - -We walked on and on. It seemed an interminable distance. A fine rain -began to descend, which had the effect of mist, blurring the few -landmarks which one could still identify as though a muslin curtain had -been drawn across them. Every now and then the humpy figure of a man -with a ground-sheet flung over his rifle and shoulders, would loom up -out of the dark and pass us. It seemed as though he was always the same -man, working like a beast of prey round and round us in circles, waiting -for us to drop. We spoke to him several times, but he never deigned to -answer. Men rarely answer when they are spoken to on the road up front -at night. Whether it is that they enjoy the luxury which darkness -affords them of not recognising authority, or that the sullenness of -night has entered into their souls, or that they are afraid of being -delayed one extra minute from the much needed sleep which awaits them in -some wretched kennel, I do not know. But the effect of this silence on -anyone who is travelling a country with which he is unfamiliar, is to -arouse the suspicion that he may, unwittingly, have gone too far and -have wandered behind the enemy's line. This has happened quite -often. Many an officer has started out on a night reconnaissance and -disappeared as completely as if the ground had swallowed him up. In -some cases the next news has been from a prisoners' camp in Germany. In -others a spy has been captured wearing his uniform; the presumption has -been that he was murdered by a Hun agent on our side of the line and -that his body has been tossed into some lonely shell-hole. On account of -this danger no man or officer is allowed to go unaccompanied within two -miles of the Front--a rule which is invariably broken. - -We had walked so far that we had begun to think that we had passed our -orchard, when quite suddenly we stumbled across it. It consisted of -about a hundred trees. The first position lay behind the orchard in -a wheat-field; the second in front, strung out along a dyke, with the -whole of the Hun country staring at it. From every theoretical point -of view the first position was the better, as the trees afforded it a -certain amount of cover; on the other hand it had the disadvantage of -being too obviously a good gun-position. If the Hun were to study his -map for a likely place to shell a battery, he would be sure to pick -on the rear of the orchard. The position was too ideal to be safe. -Experience has proved that a bad position is often more healthy in the -long run. It can be so damned bad that it's almost good. The enemy would -scarcely believe that any battery-commander would be fool enough to -select it. Another disadvantage of the first position was that the -wheat, while it would hide the guns, might easily be set on fire and be -converted from a protection into a trap. - -Strong and I tossed for the choice; when I won, rather to his amazement -I chose the bad position in front of the orchard. How bad it was I had -not realized till the dawn began to rise. Then I discovered that the -muzzles of our guns would poke out straight across the valley. The road, -from the Gentelles Woods to Domart, skirted the left of the position, -dipped down into the valley across No Man's Land and climbed the further -slope by a mass of trees, marked on the map as Dodo Wood. From Dodo Wood -the enemy could have watched a cat washing itself on the ground where -our guns were to come into action. One false step and the entire -position could be wiped out. On the other hand, if we could contrive to -lie doggo until the show commenced, the smoke of battle would confuse an -enemy observer, so that he would be likely to mistake our flash for the -flash of the battery in the wheatfield behind the orchard--in which -case it would be they and not we who would be knocked out. That was the -gamble one had to take. If one guessed wrong, he brought down death on -most of his chaps. - -As day commenced to whiten, it became unwise to hang about in so exposed -a place. All the transport that had creaked and thundered through the -night, had vanished from sight and sound for over an hour. Under the -sickly pallor which was spreading through the sky, the landscape looked -afraid and haggard. One saw now for the first time how horribly it had -been battered. Not a tree on the road along the ridge had escaped; they -tottered like old prizefighters too proud to run away, with their arms -drooping by their sides, waiting for the knock-out blow to fell them. - -The rain had ceased, the smell of death was in the air. The ground -seemed soaked with men who had died. Mingled with this smell was the -sickly sweetness of gas and the suffocating fumes of explosives. The -blanket of mist which had made us safe, was breaking up and drifting -away in little ghostly clouds. It was the hour when the gunners on -either side of No-Man's-Land stand down on their harassing fire and wait -breathlessly for the S. O. S. which betokens an attack. When that comes, -they open up at an intense rate of fire, four rounds per gun per minute. -To be caught in such a hail-storm of destruction is not pleasant, and -especially unpleasant when you know that you are serving no good purpose -by your presence. We gazed behind us at the Gentelles Woods; the shells -had ceased to burst and all was quiet. "Let's make our get-away while -the going is good," Strong said. - -Crouching and running low along the ground, we scrambled through -the orchard and plunged into the wheat-field. In order that we might -reconnoitre a new route of approach to the positions, we struck off -to the left, entering a ravine which led down to a lower road which -paralleled the shell-torn highway along the ridge. From a distance the -ravine looked wild and forsaken; not a plume of smoke rose; nothing -stirred. As we walked down it, we discovered that what we had mistaken -for rocks and patches of brush, were actually carefully camouflaged -ammunition-dumps and battery positions. Not only this ravine, but every -hill and slope was stiff with guns of every calibre, lying masked and -silent, waiting for the great hour to strike when they would blow the -Hun out of his strongholds. In rabbit-warrens dug far down beneath the -surface, the French artillery-men bided their time. Some of them peeped -out to watch us pass, with eyes uninterested and fatalistic. - -Our idea of the scope of the attack which was planned grew as we -investigated further. We also began to get a picture of what these -preparations had already cost in lives. Horses and men lay strewn about -in every stage of decomposition. Some had only been dead for hours; -others were the skeletons of those who had fallen in the fierce -counter-drive, which had halted the Huns' rush towards Amiens. One -wondered how that rush had ever been halted and, when it had been -halted, how the line had been held. Every bit of high ground in our -hands was over-topped by a higher point in the hands of the enemy. From -all directions on the eastern horizon, from woods and coppices in a -great semi-circle, the Hun gazed down; it was impossible to avoid his -eyes. Every now and then a scurry of bullets or a whizz-bang bursting -near us would remind us of this fact, and we would flatten ourselves. - -It took us two hours to regain the town from which we had started where, -by pre-arrangement, we were to make our reports to the Colonel. From him -we learnt that our batteries had marched in during the night and had set -up their horse-lines in the Boves Woods. That these woods should have -been chosen for our camp was the crowning stroke of audacity; how -audacious we did not realise until we saw the camp itself. - -All the woods of this district are on hill-tops, the slopes of the -valleys and the valleys themselves being cleared for agriculture; it is -therefore a very difficult country in which to hide from the planes of -the enemy. Infantry can keep out of sight in the villages and towns, -taking their chances of shell-fire and digging themselves in beneath the -houses. But the horse-lines of mounted troops are unmistakable when seen -from the air, and almost impossible to disguise. To take to the woods -was our only choice. The enemy was aware of this: he bombed every -cluster of trees as soon as night had fallen, and raked them both day -and night with shell-fire. - -The Boves Woods lay behind the town. To reach them it was necessary to -climb a bald ascent of chalk, almost incandescently white, and to cross -a plateau which was as open and conspicuous as a parade-ground. In the -old days of hand-to-hand fighting and cavalry charges the height must -have been well-nigh impregnable. In general formation it was not unlike -the Heights of Abraham, even to having a river for its defence, which -wound about its foot. The ascent, the plateau and the woods were full in -sight of the enemy on their eastward side. To select such a landmark -for one's horselines was the last word in foolhardiness. A water-cart -wandering out on to the plateau in full daylight would have given -the secret away. Had the enemy once started shelling, he would have -discovered all that was necessary to make public the attack. The -night-marches, the decoys sent up to Yprès, the whole web of strategy, -the object of which was to make him muster his reserves opposite to the -most remote part of the line, would all have proved useless. In -choosing the Boves Woods as our place of hiding we were staking our own -foolishness against the enemy's common-sense; he would never credit us -with being so reckless. We were attempting to defeat his cleverness by -our own seeming stupidity. Our chance of getting away with such a trick -was one in a thousand. In the choice of our gun-positions and in all -that we were attempting, it was on the thousandth chance that we were -gambling. - -On leaving the Colonel, since it was daylight, we had to work our way -round the hill and approach our camp from the westward slope. We found -that the town had been badly hammered, and except for the troops who hid -like rats beneath the fallen roofs, was entirely deserted. We found also -that a river which wandered through it, cut it in two, and was crossed -by a single bridge, which was quite incapable of taking all the traffic. -This bridge had to be shared by both ourselves and the French, and had -evidently been responsible for the delays and congestions which we had -noticed on the night of our arrival. One wondered what would happen if -the attack failed, and a retreat became necessary. How could we get the -guns away across a single bridge which the enemy would certainly keep -under fire? It was plain that failure and retreat had not entered into -the vision of our present strategy. It was neck or nothing. We were -staking our all on success. - -At the entrance to the woods Strong and I parted company and went in -search of our respective batteries. The undergrowth was drenched and -had been trampled into boggy lanes where the horses had been led down to -water. Everything was dark and dank. The overhead foliage was so dense -that heat and light never permeated. A cathedral dusk and chill mounted -from the roots of the trees to the topmost branches. Distantly, at -the end of the long aisles of trunks, the day shone like stained-glass -windows. - -I had to hunt for some time before I found my unit. The place was packed -with weary horses and sleeping men. At last I came across them, the -horses tethered to ropes stretched between the wheels of the limbers, -and the men rolled in blankets, mud-splashed and motionless. Everything -was so still that I might have stumbled across a refuge of the dead. -There were no fires burning; without being told, I knew that fires were -not allowed. We might be storm-troops, but we looked neither triumphant -nor terrible.... beneath a stretch of canvas I espied my sleeping-sack. -Without more ado, removing my boots and tunic, I tumbled into bed. My -last conscious thought was of the gun-position, with Dodo Wood glaring -down at it. Would it have been better to have chosen the other position -behind the orchard? - - - - -XI - - -THIS is the last day; to-morrow at dawn we attack. We are still lying -hidden in the Boves Woods; though other woods to the rear of us have -been bombed and harassed, no shell has fallen here as yet. The enemy -doubtless watches this wood for the flash of the guns and, having seen -none, has not thought it worth his while to waste ammunition upon it. -Our foolhardiness in camping directly under his eyes has certainly -paid us, for there is scarcely any other place where we would not have -suffered casualties. - -It's afternoon; beyond the dim cavernous shadow of these trees the hot -August sun is shining. The white chalky hills gleam molten and dazzle -one's eyes with their glare. The valleys, which spread away for miles -below us, float tethered in the hazy air. Everything looks tranquil -and dreamlike; it is difficult to believe in our own reality and in -the reality of our monstrous purpose. Surely we shall wake up to find -ourselves safe at home and to laugh at our fantastic imagining that we -are soldiers. Yet within a handful of hours all this peacefulness will -vanish; the mask of summer quiet will be torn aside and every ridge and -rock will belch fire and destruction. The French have dragged their guns -into the most daringly inaccessible places; there they lie basking in -the fragrance of wild thyme with all the world below them, their muzzles -pointed towards the stolen country, waiting for the hour of reckoning to -strike. - -Our men were advised to rest this afternoon and to get as much sleep as -possible; but already the fever of excitement is in their blood. Many -of them have gone down behind the hill to bathe and are washing their -clothes in the river. One of the amazing spectacles of our place of -hiding is the impassive aspect of the eastern slope as compared with the -stirring life which goes on on its western side. - -All our preparations are completed; there is nothing more that can be -done until darkness has gathered. It was on the morning of August 5th -that the battery marched into those woods. The following night was spent -in carrying up ammunition and sand-bags to the gun-position. We hid them -in ditches on either side of the Gentelles-Domart Road and beneath -the trees of the orchard. Last night we completed the stocking of the -position with ammunition and dragged in the guns. The guns we also hid -in the orchard, covering them with branches to break up their outline, -so that they might not arouse suspicion in the mind of the enemy. The -work was very exhausting and slow on account of the congestion of the -traffic. The return from the Derby was nothing to it. It was like being -caught in the procession of the Lord Mayor's Show. In the case of a -break-down in front, it was impossible to swing out and get forward. Men -stood elbow to elbow and vehicles hub to hub. Limbers and led animals -were packed solid, the one stream moving up and the other returning. In -order to get the work done every horse and man had to make at least two -journeys. The main ammunition-dumps, at which the limbers were loaded, -were from two to three miles away; when one had been emptied another had -to be located in the darkness. To forward-positions, such as ours, there -are only two highways of approach--the road along the ridge and the -road along the valley; the Hun keeps the ridge-road continually under -harassing fire. If a team was ditched or struck, it meant that every -battery for a mile back was held up. - -The worst cause of delay was the single bridge across the river. Most -of our confusion arose from the fact that the roads were used by both -French and British troops, and were controlled by military-police -of both nations. If a British Tommy wished to disobey a French -traffic-control, he had ample excuse in pretending not to understand his -language. The result was that the two streams, coming and going, often -got wedged and double-banked. Everyone was working under a nervous -tension. His own job was all important to him. It had to be accomplished -between dusk and sunrise. If he failed, no matter what the delays, no -excuse would be taken by superior officers. The consequence was a wild -hustle and scramble, all of which took place under the cover of darkness -There were only two nights in which everything had to be done. Our -orders were that on the night previous to the attack, which is to-night, -the roads were to be left free from wheel-traffic for the infantry and -the tanks. The tanks are being brought in at the last moment to go over -the top ahead of the attacking troops and to trample down the enemy's -defensive wire. The cutting of the wire is usually done by special -artillery-shoots, which of course announce to the enemy' something -boisterous in the near future. But on this occasion we are doing no -announcing, so the tanks have to perform the task which formerly fell to -the artillery. Their job is to plunge their noses into our barrage and -stamp a path through all obstacles that would impede our infantry. - -If one survives this war, will it seem more real in retrospect than it -does now? Now it seems a wild distorted dream from which we shall awake -presently. The memory of these last two nights seem the ramblings of a -disordered mind. The very air was acrid with the sweat of men and horses -driven beyond their strength. You heard and smelt them floundering -in the darkness, but you rarely saw or felt them. They went by you -breathing hard and indistinct as shadows. You heard men swearing in -English and in French--swearing as passionlessly and mechanically as -one who repeats a remembered prayer, and through all the agony without -intentional blasphemy recurred the name of Christ. Above our heads we -could hear the purring of hostile planes. Every now and then a bomb -dropped and the earth rose up to meet it flaming red. For a moment -the country for miles round was ensanguined and we saw one another -distinctly, frightened horses rearing, riders in steel helmets crouching -low in their saddles and men hanging on to the bridles to hold the -horses down. Then the flame failed, like a torch stamped out, and we -heard nothing but sobbing breath. While on the road the fear was always -with us that at any minute our doings might be discovered and the enemy -might open fire. If he had, few would have escaped. Quite remarkably he -still seems totally ignorant of what is planned. One would have supposed -that the roar of so much travel, always springing up at night and dying -down with the dawn, would have warned him. We can hear it ourselves, -even though we are part of it. It sounds like the muffled beat of many -drums, accompanied by the shuffling of an immense crowd. It commences -very distantly from miles back as the dusk begins to settle, and swells -and swells in volume throughout the night, receding and finally dying -into silence as the dawn spreads anal the sun begins to rise. If the -enemy knows or suspects, he is waiting to catch us the night before -the attack--tonight--when with so many men crowded into one area he -can deluge us with death. That may be his game, but according to our -information he is still puzzled as to our whereabouts. - -Our job to-night will be the heaviest we have tackled. We set out on -foot as soon as the day begins to fail, taking with us the gun-crews, -the signallers and a fatigue-party with sand-bags, picks and shovels. -The work before us consists of digging gun-platforms and throwing up -some kind of protection for the gunners, of man-handling the guns into -position and getting them on for line, and of sorting out the shells and -carrying them to immediately in the rear of the gun-platforms. We have -not yet been told the exact hour at which the show opens, but we know -that all our preparations for opening fire must be completed by 4 a. m. - -The consideration which we have to show for our men fills me with shame. -We have to work them as if they were in bondage. If we have to treat -them remorselessly, we get no better treatment ourselves. In the army -every man in authority is a slave-driver and himself, in turn, a slave. -The more one does, the more he may do; in the ranks, where the greatest -sacrifices are made, there are few rewards and precious little thanks. -One smiles out here when he reads of strikes at home for shorter hours -and higher rates of pay. Our pay is a mere pittance, which dees not -pretend to be approximately equivalent to the service rendered. Our -hours are as long as the authorities who control our destinies like. For -the last five nights our men have marched and worked incessantly; -during the day they have been able to get no proper rest, what with -the constant interruptions caused by stable-parades, guard-mountings, -fatigues and pickets. To-night will be the sixth night that they have -gone without sleep; at dawn they have to face up to the strain of -battle, showing coolness, courage and steadiness of nerve. The standard -we demand of ordinary men is too heroic, especially when we treat their -sufferings as of no consequence. And yet these perfectly ordinary men, -bully-ragged by discipline, disrespected in their persons, handicapped -by hardship and abused in their strength, rise unfailingly to heights of -nobility whenever the occasion presents itself. What is more, they do it -utterly unconsciously, with the careless untheatric grandeur of original -men. The army and its steam-roller methods have done much to degrade -their external appearance, but they have not been able to destroy -the secret glory which made them willing to submit to the rigors and -indignities of the scarlet test. They are out here to prove their -manhood. They came here to die that the world might be better. The army -chooses to regard such courage as natural--so natural that it is almost -to be despised; but it cannot make them lose their elation and quiet -gladness in their sacrifice. - -Suzette------! My thoughts are forever turning to her--she impersonates -the fineness for which we die. She moves among us with her patient -serving hands and her quiet self-forgetting kindness. After all, our -test--the test which we are called upon to face to-morrow--is the test -which women have been facing without complaining throughout the ages, -giving up their bodies to be smashed, that by the birth of a new life -the world may start afresh The battle-fields on which her sisters have -fallen lie far and wide, wherever men have trodden and still tread. For -her and her sisters the test of scarlet is never ended. Perhaps it is -because of this that she follows us and understands. - -It's time for evening-stables; the men are waking up and crawling out -from the underbrush with blinking eyes. The chaps who are to go forward -with us to fight the guns are already at the cookhouse, getting their -supper. They're laughing and joking as if they hadn't a care. In about -an hour we ought to make a start. The tanks have already commenced to -move up; from miles back one can hear the rumble of their progress. - -Where shall we be tomorrow? What new march shall we have undertaken? -Shall we have broken the line and have sailed off into the blue, -pursuing the Hun? Or shall we have finished our last march and be lying -very quietly? So long as we break the enemy's line, what happens to -anyone of us does not matter. To lie very quietly would be pleasant; we -shall have earned a long, unbroken rest. - - - - -BOOK III--INTO THE BLUE - - - - -I - - -IT'S two days since I made my last jotting. How much has happened since -then! Since then we've smashed the Hun Front, crumpled it up and swept -it back for a distance of fourteen miles. It's difficult to say whether -there is any Hun Front left; there's a mob withdrawing in tumultuous -retreat and picked suicide-troops, fighting stubborn rearguard actions. - -To-day it is our turn to sit down and hold the line in depth. The troops -which were behind us yesterday, have leap-frogged us and passed through -us. They're fresh and with their unspoilt strength are battering their -way still further forward, herding the enemy into panic-stricken groups, -and cutting them off from the main body with their tremendous weight of -shel's. Pressing on their heels, like policemen dispersing a riot, come -the ponderous tanks, making no arrests and impersonally bludgeoning -every protest into silence. - -How far our chaps have penetrated by now we cannot guess, but their guns -sound very faintly across the hazy summer distance. To-morrow we shall -again hook in and gallop into the point of the fighting-wedge, while the -troops who are up front to-day will sit tight and hold. This is war as -we have always dreamt of it and never hoped to find it. - -At last we have our desire; we have leapt out of our trenches, left the -filth of No Man's Land behind, and have slipped off into the blue, -where we follow a moving battle across plains and wheat-fields to the -unravished lands of Germany. - -It's the afternoon of August the ninth. It was on the evening of the -seventh that we crept out on foot from the shadow of the Boves Woods. -The roads were packed with infantry and tanks moving forward in a solid -mass; this night everything was moving in the one direction--there was -no returning traffic. Hidden in the ravines, just back of the guns, we -came across the cavalry, ready to advance the moment a breach in the -line bad been announced. In contrast with the nervous irritation of -other nights, this night there was an uncomplaining austerity. Suspense -was nearly at an end, anticipation of dying was soon to be replaced by -death's actual presence. The great question in all our minds was, did -the Hun know? Had he known all the time? Was he planning to catch us and -to forestall our attack by an offensive of his own before morning? - -On our arrival at the gun-position in front of the orchard we found -that everything was normal and quiet. The odd shell was coming over and -bursting with its accustomed regularity in the accustomed places. The -enemy had not changed his targets. From his Front-line in the valley -below us, the normal amount of flares were going up. The machine-gun -fire came in irregular bursts and lazily, as if the entire business were -a matter of form and not to be taken too much to heart by anybody. The -only noticeable difference was of our making. To drown the throb of -our advancing tanks, a great number of bombing-planes had been sent -up, which kept flying to and fro at a low altitude above the enemy's -trenches. This peaceful state of affairs was too good to last, so we -at once set to work feverishly upon our final preparations. Not a man -slacked or spared himself; each one knew that before morning his -own life might depend upon the honesty of his effort. I don't think, -however, it was our own particular lives that concerned us so much as -the lives of our pals. - -We divided the men into parties, so many to dig the six gun-platforms -and so many to sort and stack the ammunition. Every hour or so we -changed them over, so that they might not get stale at their task. As -soon as the platforms were sufficiently advanced, we man-handled the -guns into position and gave them their lines. After that we felt more -secure; if the enemy were to anticipate our offensive, we would now be -able to reply. - -Time did not permit of our constructing sufficient protection for our -men; besides, in so exposed a position, we should either escape by -reason of the enemy's panic or else get wiped out. We threw up a wall -of sand-bags and turf about the guns to save their crews from splinters, -and dug a more or less splinter-proof hole in which the signallers and -the Major could do their work. In this hole, by the light of a solitary -candle we made out the barrage-table with the times, lifts, rates of -fire and ammunition expenditure for the attack, and explained it to the -sergeants in charge of the gun-detachments. At 3 a. m. we served the men -with hot tea, bully beef and slices of bread. Then we sat down to await -developments. Our attack was planned to open at 4.20, just as the dawn -would be peeping above the horizon. - -Luckily for us a heavy mist had risen up which, as night drew towards -morning, had thickened to the density of a fog. It had the effect of -blanketing sound. It needed to, for as the tanks lumbered nearer to the -Front-line to their jumping-off points, the whole world seemed to shake -with their clamour. It was like a city of giants marching nearer and -forever nearer. Not even the droning of the bombing-planes could drown -the ominous breathing of their engines and the clangour of their iron -tread. - -Whether it was the number and the low altitude of the planes or that the -Hun had actually heard the unusual commotion behind our lines, by 3 a. -m. he became suspicious. His harassing fire, which usually dies down -about that hour, leapt up into a novel intensity. He began to search and -sweep new areas, which before had been free from shell-fire, It was a -good thing that our work was completed, for we had to throw ourselves -down and hug the ground to avoid the splinters. Most of his shells -went plus of us and plunged into the orchard behind. Little sudden -illuminations sprang up where piles of ammunition had been struck and -were burning. He was evidently making guesses and consulting his map -for anything that seemed likely, for when his shelling was working most -destruction, he would switch to a new target, where it was wasted. The -fog and the night combined, entirely prevented him from seeing what -he was doing and from observing the tell-tale conflagrations he had -created. We thanked our lucky stars that our position was a bad one and -that we weren't in the orchard. - -The most nerve-racking moments in any fight are the moments preceding -the start of the fight. One suddenly becomes possessed of extraordinary -lucidity, somewhat similar to the clarity of thought which is said to be -experienced by the drowning. He reviews his entire life in a flash, -its failures, successes, unkindnesses and follies. He appreciates with -ineffectual poignancy the affections he has wasted and the generosities -he has omitted. It is as though, after having walked through all his -years, he unexpectedly went aeroplaning and saw below him the panorama -of his chances and achievements; he sees the might-have-been high-roads -he could have taken, leading to white cities on the hills, and the -crooked lanes he did actually choose, losing themselves in quagmire. -Most particularly, in the moments of waiting, he thinks of children, -because they are immortality. He wishes with a passionate regret that he -had foreseen this hour, and could have left someone behind him who would -perpetuate his body long after it has been obliterated and defiled. All -the purposes and dignities for which he was created become miraculously -obvious to him now. He feels a dull resentment that this clearness of -vision was denied him till the power to choose was beyond his choice. - -Sometimes this startling mental lucidity takes the form of an unnatural -clairvoyance; he acutely apprehends happenings which are out of all -possible reach of his senses. His imagination becomes abnormally alert. -Lying beneath the weight of darkness, hanging over the lip of the -valley, divided from the enemy by a sea of fog, I saw with absolute -distinctness the frenzy which was in progress behind the hostile lines. -I retain pictures which are as clean-cut as if they had been witnessed. -Nine-tenths of the opposing army are sleeping. The sentries have been -posted, the distress signals have been arranged and the batteries -allotted their several tasks. At sunset everything seems serene; but -as night settles down and the mist rises, an unaccountable uneasiness -oppresses the spirits of the one-tenth who watch. Each man feels it, but -he fears to voice his alarm till he has proofs which would warrant it. -He notes the unusual number of planes in the air; but they are neither -machinegunning nor bombing, and on account of the intense darkness they -cannot spy. He may report their presence to headquarters, but there -are no grounds for being disturbed so long as they are doing no harm. -Besides, he is no expert; he may be mistaken as to their numbers. Then, -little by little, above their drone he hears another sound--the sound as -of a tidal wave travelling towards him, growing more menacing and taller -as it approaches. He peers into the fog and imagines stealthy figures -moving. The scurrying of a rat makes him break into a cold sweat. He -calls to the next sentry; but his voice will not carry. He realizes that -whatever happens, he is alone and cut off. His flares and rockets, if he -fires them, will bring him no assistance; they will be smothered by the -mountainous wall of whiteness. Fear seizes him, which he can no longer -master; at the same time the same fear seizes every other watcher. By -telephone or runner they each one send bark tidings of their terror. - -But the nine-tenths of the enemy who are sleeping are annoyed at being -disturbed. "It is nothing," they declare. The news spreads slowly from -battalion to brigade, brigade to division, division to corps, from corps -to army. Each headquarters, peevish at being aroused and hesitant about -arousing its next senior headquarters, wastes time in checking back to -the watcher in the front-line for confirmation of his doubts. What is it -that he fears? No attack is to be expected; the Allies' storm-troops are -up north. There is positive evidence of that fact. The worst that can be -looked for is a local raiding-party. What are the reasons for his panic? - -The reasons for his panic! They are vague, indefinite; he has no -reasons--only intuitions, doubts, conjectures. He knows that the night -is black and that he is filled with a horrible foreboding. - -There are too many men over there across No Man's Land. He cannot prove -it, but he can feel their bated breath. - -Reluctantly the nine-tenths of the army who were sleeping, are awakened. -They lie listening in their deep dug-outs, unwilling to believe that -calamity threatens. Then suddenly, when it is too late to be prepared, -the suspicion strengthens that a major offensive will open with the -morning. There is only an hour till dawn--too little time to act. The -infantry are ordered to stand to in the trenches and the batteries to -increase their rate of fire. Messages are sent to the rear to hurry up -the reserves. Brigades of artillery, which are out at rest, hook in and -start forward at the gallop. Even the most autocratic old generals are -convinced and, to save their reputations, forsake their beds and become -officiously important. Meanwhile, the men in the Front-line shiver in -the darkness. They know that they have no chance now and are merely -waiting to be slaughtered. - -And we, on our side of No Man's Land, we wait also. We do not like the -job in hand; we were not born to be butchers. We are very much the same -as those chaps over there. If we could, we would prefer to live our -lives out, shake hands with the enemy and go home to our families. We -have no quarrel with them individually; but we have no means of telling -them that. It seems stupid to have come so far, to have suffered such -hardships, to have sat up so many weary nights, simply in order to do -something for which four years ago we should have been hanged. But we -can't wriggle out of it. If we tried to break away, all along the roads -of France armed men are stationed to turn us back. We are impotent to -express any choice in the matter. Certain people have quarrelled--people -who do not wear khaki and who will never face death at sunrise. Who they -are and why they should have quarrelled, we do not properly understand. -Probably they muddled themselves into this row; how they did it, they -themselves could not tell us. They're kings and statesmen and nobs--far -too high up for us to criticise. All we know is that we are their -sacrifice. Because they say it is right, the more men we kill at dawn, -the more glory we shall earn. Later on, if we survive the war and kill -only one man, they will tell us it is wrong, and we shall end on the -scaffold. - -It's all very puzzling--devilishly puzzling, when one's brains and hands -and feet are numbed with cold. It's always perishing at three in the -morning-----But these thoughts don't do a chap any good; there's nothing -to be gained by philosophizing. It's been going on for four years -now--this living in mud and bathing in sweat, and always killing -something God hasn't spoken. He must know what he wants. \ - -At 3.45 a. m. the sergeants reported that all their fuzes were set. At -four o'clock the whistle was blown for the "stand to" and the gun-crews -crouched behind their guns in readiness. They needed to crouch, for the -enemy shelling was finding us out and growing momentarily in intensity. -Evidently more of their artillery was coming up and getting into action. -From four o'clock onwards every five minutes the whistle blew and -through the darkness a spectral voice announced: "Fifteen minutes to -go"; "ten minutes to go"; "five minutes to go." From far and wide behind -the fog other whistles were heard sounding, and other voices making the -same announcement. The last five minutes were counted off separately -and the final minute in intervals of ten seconds: "Thirty seconds to -go, twenty, ten, five." Then, "Let her rip," and a shrill blast of the -whistle. - -As though red-hot needles were stabbing at the drums, our ears are -ringing and deafened. The air quivers and the ground flies up as if it -were about to open. Our eyes are scorched by a marching wall of flame, -against which are etched our rapid gunners, hurling hell across the -valley like men demented, and our gallant eighteen-pounders barking, -recoiling and bristling like infuriated terriers. We're off with a -vengeance. The greatest offensive of the war has started. Shall we get -away with it in so advanced a position? At all events, it's an end of -waiting--that at least is a comfort. - - - - -II - - -YESTERDAY'S attack was a complete success--so complete that, in spite -of all our preparations, its magnitude took us unaware. Had anyone, had -the faith to foresee a Him defeat of such dimensions, we should have -been able to have made a more deadly use of our advantage. As it was we -lost a certain amount of time and, as a consequence, wasted some of our -chances. - -The trouble was, as usual, that we were controlled too much from the -rear by staff-people, who didn't come up-front to see what was -happening for themselves, but gathered all their information second -and third-hand. When the psychological moment had arrived for us to go -forward, they became nervous and held us back. There were -interminable telephone conversations with observers, liaison-officers, -battery-commanders, all and sundry, before they could be persuaded that -we were not proposing to put our heads into a trap. - -Staff-people are the most incorrigible pessimists. They will never -believe the fighter when he sends back word that victory is in his -hands. They make him leave off fighting to answer foolish questions; by -the time they permit him to go on fighting the enemy has very frequently -recovered himself. They are so cursed with a fatal belief in their own -omniscience that they scarcely credit the combatants, who run all the -risks, with sense. - -In the old days battles were won by generals who led their troops. A -person, sharing the dangers and setting an example by their courage. -They were on the spot as eye-witnesses, and recognized to a second when -the moment to take hazards had arrived. To-day of necessity our generals -and their staffs are deskmen, with the natural caution and scepticism -of deskmen. They sit far back of the line, remote from shell-fire, -in châteaux fitted out like surveyors' offices with typewriters, -photographs, scales and maps. They do all their fighting on paper. -When they are directing an attack, they collect their information by -telephone, doubt it, sift it, weigh it, ponder it and discuss it, when -lightning action is all that is required. Many of them have never been -anything but deskmen since this war started; their combatant experience -was gained years ago in little sporting rough-and-tumbles with -aborigines on the outskirts of civilization. Because they have never -personally endured the modern hell into which they have to fling their -men, they can form no mental picture of the situations that occur, and -the prompt action that should be taken. They are equipped for planning -the preliminary details of a show; but their control of an attack, when -once it has started, is paralyzing. So much is this the case that it's -a common saying among the men that the battles which we win in the -trenches are lost by the staff-people who are behind. - -On the morning of August the eighth the weather conditions were all in -our favour. The fog was worth several extra divisions to us. It kept the -enemy guessing. We knew what we intended to do, but he had to find out. -The fog enabled us to conceal our intentions up to the very last moment. -Until we were upon him, he had no knowledge of the directions from which -we were approaching; by the time we were upon him it was too late for -him to take the proper defensive steps. The first warning he had was -when out of the deathly stillness our murderous barrage came roaring -and screaming about his head. Never on any front has there been so -tremendous a concentration of guns as we let loose on him that morning. -The weight of shells and mass of explosives that we threw over him -literally rolled up the landscape and pinned everything living to the -ground. It passed over his trench-system like a gigantic plough, burying -men and weapons, and travelled on into the distance by a pre-arranged -series of leaps and bounds. The tanks, following the curtain of fire -and lumbering ahead of the infantry, trampled into flatness whatever -resistance the creeping barrage had spared. - -While the heavens were raining brimstone and fire up front, his -back-country was faring no better, for every battery position, -strong-point, support-trench, cross-road, regimental headquarters and -camp of which we had knowledge was kept under continual bombardment by -our siege-guns and heavies. Meanwhile our cavalry of the air were flying -low along his roads, by which retreat was possible, machine-gunning and -bombing. It was like stopping up all the holes and smoking a wild beast -out of his lair. The remnants of his Front-line garrison, who had not -been pulverised by our tanks or buried by our shelling, threw away their -arms and came streaming through the dawn to encounter the mercy of our -bayonets. Later, those who had been taken prisoners, straggled in groups -of twos and threes past our guns. They looked more like animals than -men, their eyes glaring, their heads nodding, their steps tottering. -Some of them walked shufflingly, like blinded men, groping for their -direction. Others ran panting at a wolf-trot, as if they still felt -that they were pursued by death. All of them were polluted with the -unspeakable stench of carnage; behind the smoke of battle, before we saw -them, we could smell them coming. - -If the weather conditions favoured our infantry and tanks, they were -even more favourable to ourselves. Had there been no fog, the moment we -opened fire our flashes would have been spotted, our positions on the -map discovered and our batteries wiped out. As it was our flashes, as -seen through the fog from the enemy's commanding height of land, must -have appeared a composite blur of flame, flickering across the landscape -for miles from right to left. He made a strenuous effort to bombard us, -but was hopelessly inaccurate and out for range. After shelling us in a -random fashion for perhaps fifteen minutes, he seemed to get wind of the -disaster that had happened up front and, putting his guns out of action, -drew them back. When he opened up again, his shells came slowly, as -though from a great distance, and landed anywhere and everywhere, -haphazard. - -The dawn rose slowly, as though reluctant to look upon our handiwork. -If it seemed slow to us, how much slower it must have seemed to the men -whom we were slaughtering. There was no rush of golden splendour, no -valiant peering of the sun above a treed horizon--only a thinly -diffused pallor, shapeless and ghastly, which made the mist appear more -impenetrable than ever. Day evaded us, hiding his chalky face in his -hands, like a clown who had gazed on tragedy. When light came there was -no laughter in its glance; it was a dead thing drifting in a stagnant -emptiness. The flashes of the guns tore rents in the filmy obscurity by -which we were surrounded, but they could not disperse it. Our eyes were -smarting, our ears deafened, our senses astounded. The ground beneath -our feet quivered as though it were the crust of a volcano. Our nerves -shied at each fresh concussion, and our bodies trembled. We longed for -the sky to become clear that we might learn what was happening. We had -signalling parties attached to the infantry with flags and lamps. It -had been arranged beforehand that we should watch various points in the -captured country for their messages. If they had tried to send any back, -none had been observed. - -As the strafe progressed, the mist was made doubly dense by the reek of -battle. The atmosphere became choking with the fumes of high explosives -and the enemy, in a desperate effort to silence us, commenced to shell -us with gas. We lit innumerable cigarettes to steady our nerves -and carried on mechanically with our destructive work. Running from -gun-platform to gun-platform, we checked up the lays of the gunners. -Every few minutes the whistle sounded for a lift in the barrage, and -there was a momentary pause in the crash of discharge while the angle -was changed and the range lengthened. - -Along the road to our left, where shells were falling, ambulances -lurched and panted, leaving behind a trail of blood. Wounded Tommies -staggered by, with their arms about the shoulders of wounded Huns. -Meeting these derelicts who were returning, fresh companies of -supporting infantry moved up, undaunted by the spectacle of a fate -which they might share. At the sight of us firing they waved their caps -shouting, "That's the stuff to give 'em. Give 'em one for us boys. Give -'em hell." - -At what hour it happened I cannot, say for certain; the mist was -clearing, the sun was beginning to be merry and the air was streaky with -lavender-tinted smoke, when between the pollarded trees of the high-road -batteries of French seventy-fives appeared, gallantly trotting to the -carnage. They were the first of the sacrifice batteries moving up. -Shells burst to right and to left of them; one fell directly among them. -It made no difference; the guns and wagons which were behind, swerving -aside and round the struggling mass, passed determinedly on to meet the -vaster horror which lay before them. The drivers, sitting stiffly erect -as on parade, rose and fell to the movement of the horses. The gunners -clung tightly to the jolting vehicles, no tremor of emotion showing on -their faces. They were going into open warfare, where men die cleanly -among wheat-fields. The sight was superb and filled us with envy. - -We had been firing at extreme range for some time; now at last across -the wire the order came to stand down. This meant that where our shells -had been falling, our infantry were preparing to advance; it also meant -that unless we hooked in and followed up, we should be permanently out -of action. - -We felt disgraced to sit there doing nothing, while crowds of those -about to die streamed past us. Yes, streamed past us; they came in -droves, these young lads with their keen, bronzed faces. They came -singing and twirling their caps on their bayonets, as if fear were an -emotion unknown to their hearts. They came brushing through the wheat, -following the tracks the tanks had made; they came cheering up the -ravines and laughing along the high-road. They came carrying rifles, -machine-guns, trench-mortars, bombs--all the filthy inventions war has -brought to perfection, whereby one man may torture another. They stuck -wild-flowers in their tunics, as if off on a holiday. They never once -acknowledged by word or gesture that, life might hold for them no more -to-morrows. Brave hearts! And always as they passed, seeing us sitting -beside our silent guns with our still more silent faces, they would -throw back gay taunts about meeting us in Germany. We could not -taunt back; we felt ourselves a farce. In our minds we saw the French -sacrifice batteries going at the gallop into action, "Halt, action -front." popping off their rounds, hooking in again, and going on and -on forever. Why had we been forced to march so far if, now that we -were here, they did not intend to use us? They'd shown precious little -consideration up to now; and now, when the battle was raging and we were -needed and ought not to be spared, they were willing to spare us. Death -didn't in the least matter, if only we could earn our share in the -glory. - -Our little Major was fuming, mutinous and twitching with impatience, -when Heming rode up and saluted, bringing the news that he had the -teams, wagons and limbers halted behind the orchard. In a trice the -Major was on the 'phone, pleading for permission to breeze off with us -into the blue and take a chance. His request was curtly refused; our -division of artillery was to stay where it was and to hold the line in -depth, in case the infantry was driven back by the Huns. - -Major Charlie Wraith kicked the 'phone over in his anger. He said a good -many things which could quite easily have earned him a court-martial. -Hold the line in depth, indeed--an old woman's precaution! This was a -fine time to be playing safe, when our infantry were out there, forging -miles ahead without guns to protect them. If they got beaten back, whose -fault would that be with no artillery to support them? It was the old -story of the staff-people losing the battle for us. If victory were -turned into defeat, the way it was at Cambrai, we should have our -red-tabs to thank for it. It was about half-an-hour after this -disappointment that belated word came through that the enemy's -resistance was stiffening and an attack was pending. One section from -each battery had to go forward under two junior officers. Ours was -ordered to report to the nth Battalion and to act under the direction of -the infantry colonel. Its job was to follow within sight of the attack -and to come into action in the open, if necessary, for the purpose of -knocking out machine-gun nests or any other obstacles which were holding -up the advance. - -The Major turned to me. "You will take your section, and Tubby Grain -will go with you." As he walked away his throat thickened with something -very like a sob. "By God, I'd revert to a one-pip artist and I'd give -the very shirt off my back to see what you lads are going to see this -morning." - - - - -III - - -WE started off at 9 A. m. feeling like a pair of generals, Tubby and I -with our brace of eighteen-pounders, our ammunition-wagons and our men. -We were setting out practically as free-lances, to discover our own -chances of glory. The only senior officer to whom we had to report was -the battalion-colonel; there was no one in the rear with whom we had -to keep in touch, who would have the power to hold us back. How much -fighting we would see before dusk fell depended entirely upon our own -initiative. We intended to see a lot. - -We had been given maps, which would carry us about fifteen miles into -what had been the enemy's country. We had been given rations to last one -meal for the men and horses, the usual twenty-four hours' allowance -for the battery not having arrived when we made our start. The Major -promised to follow us up with provisions later, if that were possible; -if it were not, we would have to forage for ourselves. In view of the -extremely meagre breakfast we had had, this shortness of supplies was -the one small cloud on our otherwise bright horizon. The last sight we -had as we pulled out on our journey was the tragically covetous faces -of the companions from whom we were parting. "Goodbye, old things," they -shouted. "Win a V. C. apiece. If you don't, you're not worth your salt." - -The road down to Domart was by this time heavily crowded with transport -moving in both directions. The traffic moving forward consisted for the -most part of tanks and lorries, carrying up infantry and ammunition. -The returning traffic was made up almost solely of prisoners, walking -wounded and motor-transport bringing bark our casualties. At first it -was necessary to proceed at the walk in a crawling procession, which -often halted. As Tubby rode beside me at the head of our column, we -planned our individual campaign together. We arranged that I would lead -the guns, while he rode ahead with mounted signallers and sent me back -my targets. We weren't going to miss a trick; we were going to take -everything. Wherever there was a machine-gun to be knocked out, we'd be -there to do it. - -Through the stench and reek of battle the sun was shining valiantly. -With the melting of the fog, our sense of tension had vanished. We felt -tremendously sporting, as though we were riding out to a day of hunting. -To keep our thoughts from growing serious, we made up poker hands out of -the Army numbers on the ambulances that we passed. - -Presently Tubby said, "Did you ever think that the thing might happen to -you that has happened to those chaps?" - -I followed his glance and saw that he was looking at three of our -infantry sprawled out by the roadside; they had evidently all three -been caught by the one shell. I nodded. "Oh yes, I've thought of that. I -expect we all have." - -"But I don't mean simply thinking of it," he insisted. "What I mean is -have you ever known in your bones that you weren't going to last--that -you were going to look exactly as those chaps look before the war is -ended?" - -"None of us knows that," I said shortly, "and to believe that you know -it is morbid." - -The worst thing that can happen to a man at the Front is for him to get -the premonition that he is going to be killed. Whether it is that this -feeling really is a warning or that the imagining that he has been -forewarned attracts the thing that kids him, it is impossible to tell; -it is, however, a fart that the belief seems to destroy a man's magic -immunity and one usually hears of his death within a short time of his -making such a confession. - -"I'm not morbid." Tubby spoke quite wholesomely. "I'm not going queer, -the way some chaps do, and I'm not afraid. I'm not asking you to be -sorry for me, and I'm not pitying myself. If I were given the choice I'd -sooner go west out here, doing something average decent, than drag on -into peace times and disappoint myself. And I should disappoint myself; -you know that." - -"Don't, worry yourself, old son," I replied cheerfully; "you're not the -only one. We shall all disappoint ourselves." - -He nodded. "Yes, every man disappoints himself, but not all along the -line, the way I should, because of one wrong act.... I was only a kid -when I crossed from Canada and I was horribly lonely and... I don't -suppose this is in the least interesting to you; I'll put it briefly -and then we'll talk of something else. There was a girl and she seemed -kind--not at all the sort of girl with whom I could be happy. I didn't -marry her and since I've been out here..." - -He didn't finish his sentence. - -"She's been blackmailing you?" I asked. "A lot of that's done." - -He stared me honestly between the eyes. "Worse than that. It's been -hell. She writes me there's another coming." - -Without giving me a chance to reply, he whirled his horse about and went -away at a trot to the rear of the column. - -Poor little Tubby! What a lot it must have cost him to be always -cheerful and smiling. I understood now why he had gambled so heavily -and, however much he won, had always remained in debt. What a nightmare -his experience of war must have been to him, continually facing up to -death with the knowledge that every time he came back alive the bill for -the old sin would once more be presented. His case can be multiplied by -thousands. - -From the start of the war there have been girls who have made a trade -of preying on the consciences of men who are risking their all in the -trenches. Half the time their trump-card, that there is a child, is no -more than a mean lie by means of which to extract money. In the light of -this little glimpse of pitiful biography, the world to which we had said -good-bye seemed full of treacherous traps to betray our manhood; this -thing which we were now doing, despite its terrible cruelty, was clean -and straight and redemptive. You rode into action with the sun shining -to do one strong thing and, if need be, to die when your courage was at -its highest. There wasn't much to regret about that. It was easy to be -good when to be brave was all that was required. - -We had come down to Demart, the little village on the edge of No-Man's -Land, from which the offensive had started. The houses were bent and -twisted. Their roofs were gone and their walls gaped with ugly holes -where shells had torn through them. Of those which still stood, there -was scarcely one which had not had a side taken out. Some of them were -in flames; others had caved in and sprawled black and smouldering.. The -ruins were filled with poisonous odours, gas, blood, decay, the fumes -of explosives. Yet one noted the heroism of the little gardens which had -somehow contrived to outlive this hell. Trees were dead and stood limply -with their arms blown off or hanging laboriously at their sides by a -shred; but flowers still smiled and lifted up their faces. All along -the streets, outside improvised dressing-stations, our wounded lay -on stretchers. There was no moaning--no giving way to pity. However -terrible their wounds, they rested there in the sun with the blood -drying on their cheeks, perfectly motionless and apparently happy that -for a time their fighting days were ended. They were mostly blue and -gray-eyed men, simple and childish looking in their helplessness. The -stretcher-bearers were Hun prisoners, depressed fellows, who perspired -freely beneath their enormous steel helmets and the bulky haversacks -which they carried on their shoulders. They plodded to and fro like -dumb animals, docile, obedient and eager to ingratiate themselves. One -wondered why at dawn we should have attempted to kill each other, when a -few hours later we could get along so comfortably. - -On the far side of the village we began to climb the heavily -entrenched slope, which the enemy had held that morning. Nothing of -his trench-system was left. The shell-holes were nearly all fresh and -stretched lip to lip as far as Dodo Wood, proving the accuracy and -intensity of our barrage. However many men had perished, hardly a trace -of them was left; they had been buried by the unseen thing that had -murdered them. - -At the edge of Dodo Wood a mounted man met us, bringing a message that -the battalion we were supporting would probably attack at noon, and -appointing as our place of rendezvous a deep ravine several miles -ahead. We had lost so much time through halts in the traffic that it was -already very nearly eleven. If we were to keep our appointment, our only -chance was to strike off to the left across country and risk being still -further delayed by wire entanglements and shell-holes. We picked up -the track of one of our tanks and followed it round the edge of a high -plateau. - -It was curious to note how very slightly the plateau was fortified. -The enemy must have been hugely confident of his ability to hold that -ground. Here and there he had established strong-points, which our tanks -had discovered and stamped fiat; but of trenches there were hardly any. -One saw extraordinarily few dead and none at all of our own fellows. It -was obvious that the enemy had not tried to make a stand; the moment his -Front-line had been overwhelmed all the forces which were behind him -had broken and fled, allowing our chaps to romp home. It was as unlike -a modern battlefield as you could well imagine. The sun shone and larks -sang overhead. Through the trampled wheat every now and then a hare -scampered; save ourselves nothing human was in sight, living or dead. -The armies of pursuers and pursued had slogged their way forward and -vanished into the blue distance that lay ahead. - -We came down by a gradual decline to the ravine which had been named as -our rendezvous. It was an angry looking place, with steep grassy slopes -rising up precipitously on either side and no possible means of escape, -when once it had been entered, except by the exits at either end. The -ravine, like the plateau, was empty and silent--nothing spoke, nothing -stirred Unlike the plateau it was not merry with wind and sunshine; it -was sinister, shadowy, and held a hint of menace. No one was there to -meet us; so while Tubby rode on to find the infantry headquarters, I -left the section to rest, while I reconnoitred a village about a quarter -of a mile distant for a place at which to water the horses. One had to -go cautiously in investigating country so recently captured, as there -were quite likely to be pockets of Huns left behind, who had been -overlooked in the rapidity of the advance. There was also this -additional reason for caution, that in a moving battle it was impossible -to tell where our Front-line was at any particular moment. It would be -quite easy to go too far and find oneself in the hands of the enemy. - -When I entered the village I found that it was as dead as Sodom. It -stank like an open sewer. Into its streets mattresses, broken furniture, -every kind of refuse, had been cast. It had evidently only recently been -vacated by the enemy, for the signs of his going were everywhere. He -must have surrendered it without firing a shot, for the only dead -were his own soldiers, who had been killed by our bombardment, and one -civilian woman with a little fair-haired child in her arms. I tied up my -horse and with my groom entered several of the houses, thinking that -we might find food to help us eke out our rations. The Hun, with -a methodical orderliness which almost called for admiration, had -anticipated our necessity and, even in the panic of his departure, had -not left so much as a loaf of bread. Whatever he could not carry off -he had polluted and rendered useless. The only food we found was in -a Quartermaster's store, where the Quartermaster, a man of immense -proportions, sat huddled in a chair with a huge skull-wound in his -forehead, contemplating a meal which he would never finish, over which -the flies hummed a requiem. - -We examined the wells behind the houses; all except three of them had -been filled with rubbish. We rode down to the river; here the stench we -had noticed on entering grew nauseating. Everything that could render -the water undrinkable had been flung into it; dead men, dead horses and -indescribable offal. It was horrible, this irreverent use they had made -of men who had been their comrades. While we watched the little river -which yesterday had been so clean and happy, strangling between -its grassy banks, we heard the jingling of swords and the sharp -trit-trotting of horsemen approaching. Round a bend in the empty -street came the first of our cavalry, their chargers side-stepping and -prancing, and their men bending forward with an expression of smiling -expectancy. They were the most gallant sight of a gallant, morning, -these magnificent animals, dumb and human, who had waited throughout the -war for their chance and now, like unleashed hounds, came running hot -upon the scent, eager to prove their mettle. The sight of them was -inspiring and instinct with intelligence; it lifted the mere toil of -killing out of its monotony and into the rarer atmosphere of valour. - -They drew up by the river, but only for a moment. The dainty creatures -lowered their muzzles to the water, screamed and jumped back, shaking -their heads. They looked like high-born ladies, fresh from the toilet, -scented and washed and contemptuous of anything that would soil their -perfection. There was a look of inexhaustible youth about them, -as though they had been pampered with the promise of unescapable -immortality. - -With a hunting cry and a touch of the spur, they went bounding off -through the shining weather, leaving behind a memory which set a -standard. - -We were to see them not so many hours later, when their glory had been -accomplished. - - - - -IV - - -WE watered our horses out of the buckets at the few wells which had not -been poisoned. It was a lengthy process, but we were all finished and -ready to move off by the time Tubby returned. He brought word that it -had been found impossible to pull off the attack at the hour set. The -country in front of us was studded with woods and cut up by gorges, -which the enemy was holding with machine-guns. Moreover, by retiring the -Hun had shortened the distance for his supports to come up and was now -numerically much stronger than had at first been imagined. The bulk of -our artillery were too far back to be brought up, so the tasks which -ought to have been undertaken by the guns were to be carried out by -bombing-planes. As soon as these were ready the assault would commence. -Meanwhile our instructions were to push on to the head of the ravine and -remain there concealed till we were ordered forward. - -"It's going to be a pretty sporting show, if I know anything about it," -Tubby said, when we were once again on the march. "The infantry are fed -up to the back-teeth with the way in which the guns have failed to keep -in touch with them. And I don't wonder--you wait till you see the kind -of country they've got to tackle. It's no joke being a lone man on two -legs, with hundreds of field-guns pointing at you and quite as many -machine-guns singing your swan-song in the woods, and all their stuff -coming over and none of yours going back It's a bit stiff to tell chaps -to advance against that, as though you expected 'em to strangle whole -batteries with their naked hands. It's up to us to show them that the -eighteen-pounders aren't quitters. We'll take as long a chance as any -of them. If some of us aren't pushing daisies by sunset, it won't be our -fault." - -Out of the corner of my eye I watched him. He wasn't the same man who -had made that shabby little confession to me earlier in the morning. He -had been weak and conscience-haunted then; now he was eager and heroic. -One no longer noticed that he was fat and good-natured and ordinary; -a new boldness and dignity transformed him. The test of scarlet was -discovering chivalrous values in Tubby of which he himself was only -partly aware. - -As though he recognised my thoughts, he nodded. "I'm happy. I wouldn't -have missed to-day for worlds." - -To the south of us, like hail-stones pounding on a roof of metal, a -heavy bombardment had been steadily growing in violence. It was the -French putting on an attack. Probably the seventy-fives we had seen -trotting into action that morning were in it. Good luck to them. As -suddenly, as it had opened, it died down, and was succeeded by the -crackling of rifle-fire. We pictured the true-clad tiger-men of France -going over, dropping on one knee to take aim, then up and on again to -slake the thirst of their bayonets. - -With a kind of glee, Tubby whispered, "Our turn next." - -Up to this point the ravine had been bare of any signs of battle; now -dramatically, as we rounded a spur in the hillside, we found ourselves -gazing on a scene which made us catch our breath. This must have been -one of the enemy's camps, cleverly selected because of the shelter which -the steeply sloping banks afforded. The open space between the banks was -so narrow that it looked like an emptied river-bed. In this open space -were wagons, arrested in the act of pulling out. The drivers still sat -on their seats, as though overcome by sleep, with their heads sagging -against their breasts and the reins held limply in their hands. The -teams still hooked to the vehicles, had crumpled forward in the traces. -The doors of all the little wooden shacks along the side of the ravine -were wide open. Between them and the wagons men lay sprawled upon the -turf, as though caught midway in the act of running. The only living -things which stirred, were wounded horses of appalling leanness, which -were feebly grazing and on seeing us, tottered a few steps, and then -waited, as if asking us to come to their help. - -Instinctively, without an order being given, the entire column behind us -halted. Death is horrible enough when it looks like death; but when it -mimics life, it applauds its own terror. At first we had the feeling that -we had stumbled on a sleepy hollow; were we to make a noise, all these -sleeping forms would waken and rise from the ground. - -How had the tragedy happened? Had our guns, after having allowed them to -believe themselves secure, deluged then! with shells when the dawn was -breaking? Or had our bombing-planes discovered them at the moment when -they were escaping? However they had died, it was easy to reconstruct -the scene's mercilessness and agony. In contemplating it, we felt a -momentary shame. The cowardice of war is forever treading hard on the -heels of its valour. These men had had no chance to defend themselves. -They had not seen the men by whom they were murdered. They had been -roused from sleep by a commotion, to find death raining on them from the -air. - -As we renewed our advance, we discovered that not all of the men were -dead. Some looked up with dimming eyes as we passed. They neither -approved nor condemned us. They were beyond all that. We had neither the -time nor the materials to help them. The shell-dressing, which we each -carried, we might need for ourselves before the day was out. We had -not dared to fill our water-bottles at the wells in the village; so -our supplies were only what we had brought with us, and they were fast -getting exhausted. - -When we came to the head of the ravine, we were glad that we had not -given water to the enemy, for there we found our own wounded scattered -through the grass. They were too far forward for the stretcher-bearers -to reach them for many hours yet. There was no one with the means or -time to spend upon them; we were all fighting-men, under orders to press -on at any moment. Nevertheless our gunners slipped down from the limbers -and went among them, pouring the last of their water between their -parching lips. At the sight of their suffering an illogical anger seized -us against the brutes who had done this to men who were ours. We did -not reason that we also were trying to wound and kill; we only felt a -blazing indignation that those boys, who had passed through our guns -cheering so gallantly in the early morning, should lie so silent -now. After this, when an enemy asked for water, we turned from him in -contempt; whatever drops we had to spare were for our friends. Mounted -and eager to go forward, we sat pitilessly among the dying enemy. - -We were there not to show mercy, but to avenge. - -The sun grew dark while we waited; then rapidly the rain descended. We -caught it in our cupped hands and on our tongues as it dripped from the -edge of our steel helmets. The wounded in the grass lay back with their -blackened lips wide apart, sucking in the moisture which the heavens, -indifferently impartial, allowed to fall on both enemies and friends. - -Tubby and his signallers had again gone forward to make connections -with the infantry. I had arranged with him that we would follow in close -support the moment he sent back word that the advance had commenced. By -the number of planes that were in the air we knew that, the moment was -at hand. - -I glanced back at my men, trying to estimate how they had been affected -by the scenes which they had already witnessed. In trench-warfare -the gunners and drivers rarely see a battlefield until long after the -wounded have been collected and carried back They never see their own -infantry in the act of attacking, and they never see the bursting of -their own shells. In a few minutes all these new experiences were to -be theirs. There were no signs of trepidation on their faces--only an -expression of stern and happy elation.----On the top of the bank one of -Tubby's mounted signallers appeared, waving his flag. I gave the order -to "Walk, March," then, to trot, and we were off. - -For the first half mile we could see nothing very unusual. In front of -us and on every side, climbing a gentle slope to the sky-line, was a -vast wheatfield scarcely trampled. Here and there we saw a fallen man, -who seemed only to be taking his rest. As far as evidences of battle -were concerned, we might have been out on manoeuvres. As we neared the -sky-line, I halted the guns and rode forward with my signallers. Over -the crest a very different sight presented itself. The wheatfield -ended and a splendid stretch of country, green and cool, resembling a -parkland, commenced. Floating like islands in the greenness were dense -clumps of trees. On the farthest edge of the plain were deep ravines, -church spires and the roofs of houses. The atmosphere and barriers -of woods, above which were washed clean by rain and made golden -by the afternoon sunshine, was so clear that one's eye-sight carried -for miles and picked out each isolated movement. In the foreground our -infantry wandered in apparently leisurely fashion, going forward in -little groups of from five to ten. Every now and then a shell would -burst near them or the turf would fly up in spurts of dust where a -machine-gun had been brought to bear on them. Then they would scatter, -throwing themselves flat. Presently some of them would rise and wander -on again; those who did not rise would roll over once or twice, as a man -does when he settles himself in bed, and then, having found his comfort, -lies motionless. The thing was so quickly done that, for the beholder, -it was robbed of its terror. - -In front of the infantry the cavalry were in action. They pricked in -and out the clumps of trees, not galloping or even trotting, but -unhurriedly, as if out for an afternoon's pleasure. The sun shone on -their drawn blades and, over the green distance, at intervals their -trumpets sounded. - -Ahead of the cavalry the tanks nosed round the edges of the woods, -dragging their bellies along the ground like satiated dragons. Now -and then they spat fire and were lost to sight in undergrowth and -deep shadows: usually when they re-appeared, there were little dots of -smoke-gray pigmies fleeing calamitously before them. Along the ridge on -the far horizon a road ran, which was black with escaping ants. Out of -the ravines and gorges, leading up to the read, more panic-stricken ants -swarmed tumultuously. Above them, darting and swooping like swallows -after gnats, flew our bombing-planes and scouts It was all very sylvan -and picturesque--more like a pageant which had been rehearsed and staged -than the most dramatic happening in a war which had excelled all other -wars in drama. - -Half a mile away a flag began to wave: I read the signal and turned back -to lead my guns into action. As we came out of the wheatfield at the -gallop a general tried to stop us, shouting questions as to where we -were going. We simply pointed ahead and went by him without slackening -our pace. We downed trail behind a hedge and commenced firing over open -sights; our target was the enemy transport retreating along the ridge. -As our shrapnel began to burst in little puffs of smoke above the heads -of an enemy already mad with terror, the wildest confusion resulted. -Lorries were ditched. Batteries became entangled. Horses stampeded -through the crowds of flying men, knocking them down and grinding their -bodies beneath the wheels of the vehicles. - -The enthusiasm of our gunners rose to fever-pitch when for the first -time they could see the havoc which their shells were working. They -became careless of their own safety and indifferent to death, if only -we could push the Boche further back and make the day completely -victorious. The same self-forgetfulness was seen on every hand. Out -there in that green picture-world, the cavalry were pushing impetuously -far ahead. They were so impatient to get forward that, when they were -held up by machine-gun nests, they would not wait for the other arms to -come up, but were charging the storm of lead with their naked steel and -riding to almost certain annihilation. V. C.s were being won under -our eyes by men whose heroism would not even be recorded. And no one -cared--no one coveted glory for himself. We were fanatics, lifted far -above self-seeking. It was the game that counted. Dust we were and to -dust we would return; but the triumph of this day would live forever. - -Distracting us from the white intensity of our effort we heard the -droning of an engine and saw a shadow settling down; above our heads an -aeroplane was hovering so low that we could see the moving lips of the -pilot. A message, attached to yellow streamers, came drifting down. When -the pilot was sure that we had received it, he again flew off up front. -The message gave us the map-location of a machine-gun in action, which -we were asked to do our best to knock out. Soon Tubby was again -seen frantically signalling. He was telling us that the enemy, -while undoubtedly in full retreat, was leaving behind him picked -suicide-troops to hold machine-gun nests and strong-points. These -people were lying doggo till our tanks had gone past them and were then -resurrecting themselves and mowing down our men. We limbered up and once -more went forward, the signallers and myself going in advance, the guns -and ammunition-wagons strung out at safe intervals behind us. - -We came across the parkland to a deep cutting, which was the entrance to -a gorge. There was nothing to warn one that the cutting was there until -the moment before he stood gazing down into it. The hollow between the -two banks was full of dead cavalry. Some of the horses were sitting up -on their haunches like dogs, swaying their heads slowly from side to -side. One by one they would struggle to rise, only to sink back in -despair. The riders lay beside their mounts, with their sword-arms -flung wide and the sunlight flickering along their blades. From the -semi-circle in which they were spread out, one judged that they had made -their charge fan-wise, concentrating as they neared the object of their -attack. One man out of so many had reached his objective; he had ridden -down the Hun machine-gunner, burying the gun beneath the body of his -horse and sabring the gunner as he fell. - -And these were the magnificent exponents of glory whom I had seen in -their pride that morning, prancing through the polluted village so -capriciously that their feet seemed to spurn the ground. They had done -their bit and by their sacrifice had brought us one step nearer to -victory. It was heroic and magnanimous; but, when I remembered -the beauty of their vigour as they bounded to the music of their -hunting-calls, I could not believe that any gain was worth their -anguish. The horrible unfairness of war was all that I could -visualize?--that one man behind a machine-gun should be able to -transmute so much loveliness into corruption in a handful of seconds. -And then came another thought--the desire for revenge. - -There was the sound of heavy firing further up the gorge. Tubby came -riding back; his right arm was hanging loosely and a bullet had seared -his forehead. His face was tense.. The little beast he rode was flecked -with blood and wildly excited. He broke into a broad grin at catching -sight of me. "By the Lord Harry, we've got our chance," he panted. "My -arm! No, it's nothing--broken I guess.... There's a place up here -just behind a bend; If we can sneak a gun in quickly, we can blow the -stuffing out of them. We'll be on to them before they know we're there. -It's a regular nest, four or five of 'em spurting away like blazes. -They've nailed our chaps so that they can't budge. But if we look -lively, it's a cinch; we've got them cold." - -Following him cautiously, we came to the bend he had mentioned Twenty -yards short, we unhooked and ran the gun up by hand. Had we driven -straight on to the position, the heads of the horses would have shown up -and we should have been wiped out before we had fired our first round. -As it was there was a bunch of scrub, just tall enough to hide us. -Peering through the branches, we could see about five hundred yards -distant a barricade constructed of timbers and sandbags, from which came -vicious sprays of death. Repeated endeavors had to be made to rush it. -In front and all around lay our fallen infantry, their rifles with fixed -bayonets tossed aside and their fingers dug into the turf. The postures -in which they had collapsed were violently grotesque. There was -forlornness, but little dignity about their twisted attitudes. - -Behind the sandbags there was a sense of watching eyes; but only the -sense--one saw no movement. The men who kept guard there were brave. -They hadn't a chance in the world. They must have known that their fate -was sealed from the first. They were selling their lives dearly that -their comrades, fleeing behind them, might gain time. Those comrades -would never know how they had died--would never be able to thank them. -There would be no Iron Crosses co reward their valour--they would be -lucky if they were awarded the decency of a grave. We acknowledged their -courage, and we hated them. - -Our first shot went plus, our second minus, our third scored a direct -hit on the barricade. As the sandbags crumbled and the gray uniforms -became plain, our infantry leapt from their places of hiding, charging -up the gorge with their cold bayonets. We saw hands thrust up in an -appeal for mercy, then nothing but khaki, stabbing and cheeking wildly. -When we had hooked in and rode by five minutes later, four men in -smoke-gray lay watching the sky with unblinking eyes. They were decent -looking men, with flaxen hair and high complexions. They were perfectly -ordinary individuals, with nothing either noticeably noble or brutal in -their appearance. Had we encountered them as waiters in a London or New -York restaurant, they would probably have proved entirely in keeping -with their situation. By the accident of war they had been called upon -to perform a deed quite as desperate as that of the Roman Horatius, who -kept the bridge against unnumbered foes. The gorge was one of the keys -to the great plain across which the Huns were retiring. These four men, -single-handed, with no hope of saving their own lives, had held up our -advance for half an hour against repeated infantry and cavalry charges, -accounting for fully twenty times their own number in casualties. It was -an act of superb sacrifice, which could only have been inspired by -the highest sense of duty and patriotism. Had we met them in fable, we -should have done them homage; meeting them where we did, we clubbed them -like rats escaping from a cage. Even now that they were dead we detested -them. - -At the top of the gorge we struck a level stretch of country, which -appeared to be surrounded by a solid belt of forest; but from the map -we learnt that the forest was actually made up of separate woods between -which passed channels of sward. Hidden in these separate woods were -towns and villages, the spires of whose churches peeped above the trees -and speared the horizon. Across the plain ran a net-work of white roads, -some of which were mere tracks trampled out of the chalk by military -traffic, others of which dated back to the days before the coming of the -Germans. The main road was the one which we had shelled from our first -position. It was littered with men, horses, broken limbers, guns and -abandoned transport. A hospital-tent stood at a road-juncture with the -Red Cross flag still flying. Whatever it had been used for, it had been -stripped naked--not a cot or a bandage had been left. We cast our eyes -across the green level for miles; there were all the signs of recent -frenzy, but nothing stirred. It was uncanny, this sudden disappearance -of men and armaments. There was fighting behind us--we could hear -that. There was fighting to the right and left; but before us only the -silence. We began to suspect that we had pressed on too hurriedly and -were in front of our own attack. This suspicion was strengthened when -one of our own batteries, far in the rear, opened fire on us, mistaking -us for the enemy. To avoid their shells, we clapped spurs to our horses -and went forward for yet another mile at the gallop. Then we halted -behind a cutting to consider matters. - -Our position was trying. We were utterly exhausted and only upheld by -the excitement. We had food for neither horses nor men. The water in -the men's bottles had been expended on the wounded: the horses had had -nothing to drink since noon. There was very little chance of the Major's -keeping his promise and sending us up our rations; the battery must -have moved by now and neither they nor we had any knowledge as to each -other's whereabouts. To add to our complications Tubby's arm proved to -have been badly smashed by a machine-gun bullet and, though he would not -own it, he was suffering intensely. The light was beginning to fail -and within two hours darkness would have settled. It was absolutely -essential that we should find food and water, and discover what was the -military situation. If we were actually in front of our attack, then -it was evident that our people-had lost touch with the enemy; in which -case, under the cover of night, the enemy was likely to return. If he -did, we and our outfit would be killed or captured. - -Tubby refused to stay with the guns and rest, so we started out in -separate directions to reconnoitre. Tubby went mounted on account of -his arm being in a sling; I went on foot, since thus I should afford a -smaller target. Throughout the day, as our difficulties and exhaustion -had increased, he had grown gayer and more reckless. He had treated his -broken arm as nothing; in the presence of his gallant high spirits none -of us had dared to recognise hardship. As he rode away he flung back his -old jest, "How's your father?" Several of the men, not to be outdone in -this game of brave pretence, shouted after him, "He's all right, sir. -Till the war ends he's got his baggy pants on." - -My direction took me over to a long line of woods on the right, from -which came the spiteful sound of rifles firing in volleys. The sun had -begun to set; as I glanced across the plain I could see Tubby, trotting -far out into a sea of shadows and greenness. I felt misgivings for his -safety; we had no information as to what lay ahead. Presently I met an -infantryman with a bandaged forehead, who confirmed my doubts. He told -me that he and fourteen others had pressed on, keeping the enemy in -sight and supposing that the rest of the advance was following. The -enemy had made a stand; it was then they had discovered that they were -out of touch and unsupported. "My mates," he said, "I don't know whether -they're alive or dead. They were holding out when I left; they sent me -back for help. Fritzie was getting ready to counter-attack. He may be -coming any moment." He looked back apprehensively and, without waiting -to say more, staggered on. I reached and entered my wood. - -Bullets were tearing through the leaves and branches, going by with the -hiss of serpents. Beneath the shadow of the trees I found stables and -a camp; but the Huns, before they had cleared out, had loaded up every -particle of food and forage. Nothing but the bare buildings were left. -Following a track, I came to water-troughs, but it would be impossible -to lead our horses down to them while the rifle-fire lasted. On the -farther edge of the wood I came across our infantry. - -They were lying flat on their stomachs and crawling from point to point -on their hands and knees, sniping at the enemy. They were very few in -numbers, over fifty per cent of their force having fallen during the -day. By their vigilance and the rapidity of their fire they were trying -to create the impression that they were stronger than they were. I -found their colonel. He was not certain, but believed they were the -Front-line. The tanks and the cavalry had disappeared entirely. They -might be still pursuing; they might have been captured; they all might -have become casualties. At any rate, the line of these woods was the -front that he intended to maintain throughout the night; so I arranged -to run a telephone wire up to him and to stand to throughout the -hours of darkness in case of a surprise attack. One definite piece of -information I gleaned from him--that his left flank was "up in the air." -Any time that the enemy discovered the fact, he could get round behind -this handful of men; in the direction which Tubby had taken there was -nothing between himself and the enemy. - -Hurrying back through the wood I found, when I came out on the farther -side, that my section had followed me. While I had been gone, the -sergeants had also learnt that nothing stood between themselves and the -Hun. When I asked them whether they had news of Mr. Grain they shook -their heads; the last they had seen of him was an insignificant dot -dwindling into the distant landscape. They had left two mounted men in -the cutting to guide him on to us if he returned. - -The horses were "all in" by this time from lack of water, so there was -nothing for it but for some of us to take a chance and go down to the -trough with buckets. I lost two of my best drivers there. - -We had one piece of luck to console us. In my absence the men had run -across some of our fallen cavalry and had collected sufficient oats -from their feed-bags to go the rounds and sufficient rations from the -haversacks of the dead to last the men. - -Just as we had finished watering and feeding, we saw a tank lumbering -homewards round the point of the wood through the dusk. I galloped out -to meet it. The officer in charge halted and put his head out on seeing -me approaching. - -"Hulloa, old bean," he laughed, "what are you doing up here all on your -wild lone? You know there's nobody in front." - -I explained matters and asked if he had seen anyone like Tubby. - -"A little fat chap with his arm in a sling?" he asked. "Yes, I saw him. -I shouted to him and tried to stop him, but all he did was to ask me a -silly question about my father. I don't think he was all there. He rode -on towards the village from which I was escaping. It was empty when -first I entered, so I waddled about for half an hour mucking things up. -By that time the Huns had found out that we weren't following and they -were coming back. So I skedaddled. If I were you I wouldn't go and look -for your friend--Hulloa, what's that? You'd better duck!" - -That was a burst of bullets, coming from a clump of trees to the left. -The chap was right; the enemy was sneaking back. - -I wheeled the guns about and went off at the trot to a little copse in -which I had arranged with the infantry colonel to take up my position -for the night. It was pitchy black when we arrived; the place stank of -blood. It was already occupied by sleeping men; they did not speak to -us, but we tripped over them in the darkness and felt them beside us -when we lay down. - -Having unlimbered our guns and got them on for line, we ran a wire up -front to the colonel so as to keep in touch and open fire on the second -if required. We divided our men into watches; they were wearied out, for -it was many nights since they had slept. They lay down with all their -equipment on, so as to lose no time in the event of an alarm. The girths -of the saddles were loosened, but none of the harness was removed from -the horses' backs. If the enemy broke through, the first news we were -likely to get would be when they were upon us. Our lives and those of -the infantry might depend upon our promptitude of action. - -It was just before dawn that Tubby's horse rejoined us riderless. There -was blood on the saddle and the reins were broken as though the little -beast had wrenched itself free by jumping back from the thing to which -it had been tied. It was a broncho trick it had, which was well known to -all the battery. When in our lines it was never fastened, but allowed -to stand. The broken lines proved that it had been in strangers' hands; -Tubby would never have tied it. When the men asked it what had happened -to its master, it looked at them with quivering nostrils and frightened -eyes and then, turning its intelligent head, gazed back ever the way -that it had come. - -With the first of the daylight we discovered why it was that the men -with whom we had shared the wood had been so very silent--why they had -not spoken when we had tripped over them, or been disturbed when we had -lain down beside them. - -Sticking out of the pocket of one of them was a London daily of fairly -recent date. I picked it up in mere curiosity and glanced through its -pages. Then suddenly, for fear anyone should want to borrow it, I hid -it; away in my tunic. It contained an extraordinary story, affecting the -honour of a man I loved well--an account of the police-court proceedings -in the case of Mrs. Percy Dragott. - -An odd way to get news of the secrets of a pal, with whom you eat and -risk your life daily--by rifling the pocket of a stranger, whom you had -thought to be sleeping and had discovered to be dead! - - - - -V - - -THE rest of the battery caught us up this morning in our copse which we -tenant with the dead. We are resting to-day, holding the line in depth, -while the troops who were behind us yesterday, have passed through us -and beyond. Far out in the blue we can catch the rapid thud of their -drum-fire. With them it is, as it was with us yesterday, thirst, -heroism, cruelty, magnanimity mingling in an ecstatic trance, while the -August woods drip scarlet with men's triumphant carelessness of dying. -From here the orchestra of murder has passed, leaving as record of its -passage the brief putrescence of the earthly part of sacrifice guarded -by the shadowy sunlit silence. - -Is it worth it? What does it all mean, this furious display of homicidal -passion? It's easy for the armchair crusaders who sit at home to prate -about the glory of war. One glimpse at the landscape on which I gaze -would bruise their lips with reality and wash the mountebank valour with -tears from their eyes. We who have seen war for what it is, will always -speak of it as the filthiest of jobs, fit only for human orang-outangs -or maniacs. A woman risks her life that a man may be born. It takes -twenty-five long years of love to build his mind and spirit into -manliness. What glory can there be in tearing the carefully planned -strength of nations barbarously limb from limb in a second? This war may -have been unavoidable, but our political and journalistic prophets have -no right to dress it up to appear what it is not--war is an unclean orgy -of jungle-cannibals revelling in the obscenity of entrails and blood. -Half the time it is not even brave; there is nothing brave in smothering -a front-line with shells which are fired from miles behind the danger; -there is nothing brave in overwhelming a demoralized enemy by sheer -weight of numbers. - -Yesterday we slaughtered men like vermin and with as little thought. We -were urged on by an impelling rage, which made us almost divine in our -destroying eloquence. What we did was right; the feeling I have to-day -is only the reaction of disgust. That I should be able to feel disgust -and yet go on fighting, proves more than anything else the righteousness -of our cause. - -We shall win the war for freedom, but at what, a cost! If the British, -who have already perished, were to march twenty abreast from sunrise to -sunset, it would take them ten days to pass a given point. It would take -the French eleven days, the Russians five weeks, the whole of the Allied -dead two and a half months, and the skeletons of the fallen enemy six -weeks more. If all the armies of men of whatever nations who have died -fighting since August, 1914, were to march in review, twenty abreast, -before the grand-stand of the living, it would take them four months to -pass. This would not include the old men, women and children who have -perished from disease and privation, from military brutalities, from the -sinking of ships and the haphazard cruelties of shell-fire and bombs. -Yet despite the tremendous thought of such a procession, the actual -pathos of one man smashed in battle is more appalling. - -Comparatively few people have seen that sight. If they had, the war -would end tomorrow. The generals who plan our battles rarely see it; -they are too far back. The war-correspondents who describe our battles -do not see it; they collect their information second-hand at canteens, -dressing-stations and Army Headquarters. Our civilians only read the -correspondents' descriptions. So it goes--the mere hands through which -the news passes and the further back it travels, the more the vileness -of the happening becomes misted over with lies and transmuted into -something magnificent. Each informant, in the proportion that he is -removed from the terror, is the more anxious to pose as an heroic -eye-witness. The only eye-witnesses are the men who do the dying, and -they do not feel themselves to be heroes. They are under fire on account -of the accidents of medical fitness, youth and a properly developed -sense of duty. They are people of inferior rank and of no social or -military consequence. They are not literary, oratorical, articulate. -Because they die, the world never learns what war is like. Even though -they bear charmed lives and survive, they are muzzled by Army orders -and the vigilance of the censor. Not a whimper of the truth escapes. In -hospital or on leave they are eager to forget; moreover, they quickly -learn that the Sir Galahad misconceptions of civilians make their facts -sound like the whimperings of cowards. So they strike the attitude which -is required of them, pretending that there's a sporting fascination -about blowing and being blown into atoms. - -I glance up from my writing. Wherever my eyes wander they dwell on some -shocking detail of defiled beauty or tattered flesh. From the shadow -of trees and through parted grass, faces which yesterday were vivacious -with health, stare vacantly at me growing green and yellow. They are -more still than the sleepers of a Rip Van Winkle land. Their shoulders -are bunched, their knees drawn up, their hands clenched. Beside them -little piles of paper flutter or dance away like white butterflies -drifted through the sunshine. The wind stoops over them like an -invisible rag-picker, curiously fingering the scattered pages. - -Early this morning some of the troops who passed through us to the -fight, ransacked the pockets of their fallen comrades. The objects of -their search were mainly matches and cigarettes, but in some cases they -exchanged boots and puttees. I suppose they argued that you cannot rob -a man who is dead; he has no further use for his possessions. Sooner or -later some one is bound to rob him; that being the case, there is no -one who can do it with less offence than men who are shortly to die -themselves. Nevertheless it's a strange and brutal logic, for these -very men may themselves be equally stark and incapable of resentment -by sundown. Moreover, they showed an unnecessary callousness in their -borrowing, when they scattered letters from sweethearts, wives and -mothers to the four winds of heaven. In peace-times we keep the memory -of our friends alive with flowers; in war, the moment the breath has -left a comrade's body he ceases to be human and becomes the victim of -disrespect. - -What a chamber of horrors one day's fighting has made of these woods! No -human ingenuity can compete with the diabolical inventiveness of death. -No two postures are alike in this array of corpses; each one strikes a -different note of agony. Why should we have come so far, from Canada, -Australia and the wideness of the world, to create this French landscape -into such a slaughter-house? Why above all things, should we still be -willing to hand over our bodies to add one touch more to its martyred -picturesqueness? We must be drunk with visions so to carve out of living -flesh the image of our despotic idealism. Saints or devils, whichever we -are, war has made us more than men. - -My mind is full of thoughts of Tubby. He has not returned. There is no -news of him. He will not return now. He may be a prisoner. He may be -lying up forward wounded. He may be sprawled on the ground, like one of -these pitiful waxworks by which I am surrounded. Probably we shall never -know his fate. Why did he come to the war? What hidden spark of divinity -kindled his spirit to a flame? He never let us inspect anything but the -earthy side of his nature. His faults, had he lived to be middle-aged, -would probably have hardened into vices. He was typical of us--an -ordinary, pleasant chap, a trifle specked with blackguardism, impatient -of ideals and yet following in their tracks. His worst weakness was -his unbalanced attitude towards women; his kindest quality that he was -invariably good-tempered and generous. If he realised the possession of -a soul, he never talked about it. His last recorded utterance, according -to the tank-officer, was an undignified catch-phrase of the streets, -"How's your father?" Yet, incredible, lovable man, he rode out wounded -to die for others as simply as if he had hailed from Nazareth. - -We know nothing of each other, we men who eat and sleep, and suffer, and -die together. How little we know was illustrated for me by what I learnt -from that newspaper, picked out of a dead man's pocket this morning. - -The first I heard of a woman in Heming's life was that day on the Somme -when, thinking he was about to die, he asked me to write to Mrs. Percy -Dragott. From time to time after that I saw her portrait in the English -illustrated weeklies and gathered that she was playing with war work, -taking part in charitable theatrical performances, bazaars for the -mutilated, garden-parties for the blinded, etc.,--having a thoroughly -enjoyable time and acquiring a reputation for patriotic fervour. The -next occasion when her name cropped up was when the Major read aloud to -Heming the unconcluded account of a tragedy. In the paper which I found -this morning, I read that she was on trial for murder. - -Mrs. Percy Dragott, it seemed, had arrived in London with no credentials -several years before the outbreak of war, bringing with her an elderly -husband, to whom she had been recently married, who had just retired -from an appointment in the Indian Civil Service. At first by her -charity, then by her beauty and finally by her brilliancy she had won -for herself a place in London society. At the end of two years her -husband, having served his purpose, had died, leaving her free to take -full advantage of her popularity. She was emphatically a man's woman -and had found a ready welcome wherever brains were an asset, being -particularly sought after by men in public life. Her little house in -Mayfair, run with extravagant taste, though no one troubled to enquire -where the money came from, had become a kind of salon. The names of the -men to whom she had been rumoured to be about to become engaged would -take two hands to reckon; they included artists, journalists, soldiers -and at least one statesman. On looking back, a fact was brought to light -which had escaped notice, namely that over all the men with whom she -had been associated she seemed to have spread a blight--in one way or -another, after dropping her acquaintance, they had each one failed. Yet -until the murder had occurred, no breath of scandal had touched her. -Even now the crime would never have been discovered had not the murdered -man proved to be a British secret service agent. - -Colonel Barton, as he had called himself, had been introduced to her as -a somewhat romantic figure. The account he had given of himself was that -he had been captured at Gallipoli and had made a sensational escape -from a Turkish prison-camp. For the first time she, who had earned for -herself the reputation of being the coldest woman in London, seems to -have been fired with passion. Whether she actually fell in love or had -only feigned to do so because she scented danger, it was impossible to -say. The man's case was plain; he had pretended to be infatuated with -her in order that he might trap her. He had evidently learnt all that he -wanted to know and was on the point of exposing her to the authorities, -when he was found dead in his flat. - -At first his death was taken to be an accident. It seemed that he had -fainted and in falling had caught himself a heavy blow on the left -temple. But when the rooms were searched, it was found that they had -been already ransacked. Nothing that could be traced had been -removed, but the thief had been identified as a woman by an initialed -handkerchief, which she had left behind her. Moreover she had failed to -discover all the papers which condemned her; lying full in sight on -the desk was an unsealed, unaddressed envelope, containing the complete -history which would have led to her arrest. The contention of the police -was that Barton had been done to death by the popular and charitable -society beauty. - -Upon investigation she was proved to be a British subject in the Hun -employ. Her motives for having turned traitor and spy were said to have -been inspired by her resentment at the injustice of her birth; she -was the illegitimate daughter of an Englishman of title, had been -well-educated, kept always abroad in the care of strangers and had been -given to understand through her father's lawyers that the moment she -tried to hold direct communication with her father's family her income -would end. How much of this Dragott knew when he married her was not -certain. He was a kindly, honourable, wellborn man and had arrived at an -age when men attain a wise leniency of view towards social accidents. -He became extremely fond of her and brought her back to England. She saw -her native country for the first time in his company, and she saw it as -a spy in the pay of Germany. After her husband's death, it was German -money which had maintained the elegant extravagance of the little house -in Mayfair. - -Up to this point her story called more for sympathy than condemnation. -If she, an Englishwoman, was England's enemy, it was the unkindness of -English laws that had made her that. The loneliness and family ostracism -of her girlhood, when combined with her more than ordinary beauty of -body and brilliancy of mind, had warped her nature into a bitter desire -to be revenged. How much her husband or any of her subsequent suitors -had guessed of her real occupation it was difficult to establish; -but there was evidence which indicated that more than one of them had -suspected. She herself had made the statement that long before her -husband's death she had tried to break off her relations with -Berlin, but had been compelled to continue them under threats. Her -war-philanthropies had not been entirely camouflage; in particular a -hospital, which she had established in France, had been the attempt of -an unquiet conscience to make atonement. But she had found it impossible -to disentangle herself from the web of intrigue in which she was caught. -Whatever she did, whether her intentions were good or bad, was converted -into a means of gathering information for the enemy. She emphatically -denied that she had had any accomplices; none of the men who had been -in love with her had wilfully betrayed their official secrets. It was -because she had not wished to involve others in her own tragedy that she -had persistently refused all offers of marriage, earning for herself the -reputation of being the coldest woman in London. Above all things she -denied that she had had anything to do with Barton's death. - -From the tone of the press it was evident that, in spite of the violent -hatreds of war-times, a good deal of popular sympathy was felt for her. -This was no doubt partly accounted for by her reckless endeavours to -save her friends at the expense of incriminating herself still further. -All the indiscreet conversations and confidences which had taken place -across her table were being remembered and brought into the evidence. -Some of the biggest and most trusted men in public life would shortly -find themselves in the witness-box. Among the small fry Heming was -mentioned as one of her admirers. - -I'm wondering about Heming and trying to piece the little I know of his -relations with her together. I'm sure he was in love with her to the -point of marrying her; I believe she was in love with him to the point -of confessing why she could not consent. His proposal must have taken -place between the time when he was so severely wounded at Vimy and his -unexpected return to the Front this Spring. It's since his return that -he has been so changed, so that we've all felt in our bones that he -had come back for only one reason--to die. Poor Heming, all this -summer while he's been waiting for a soldier's death to solve life's -complications, he must have been struggling between his instinct to -protect this woman and his duty to betray her. I understand now his -tenderness to Suzette and her child, who is also illegitimate. - -If Heming does not know this latest development, it must be kept from -him. There'll be little chance of his seeing papers so long as the -offensive lasts, with its stealth and night-marches. When whatever is -left of the battery marches out to rest, he may be lying quietly, like -Tubby, in some deserted wood beyond all caring. Tubby's horrid little -worry was quickly forgotten--in the flash of a second. - -Poor Tubby, with his cheerful grin and his, "How's your father?" - -I must speak to the Major about Heming and get him to help me to keep -him in ignorance. - -Just as I had finished writing this sentence I looked up to see Suzette -and Heming disappearing into the wood where our horse-lines are hidden. -I don't think that there's any doubt that she's infatuated with him; -wherever he goes, though her feet stay still, her eyes and her heart -follow. She's still a woman in her every movement, despite her Tommy's -uniform. And Heming, what are his feelings? Is he using her as a means -to drug memory? Or does she restore to him a chivalrous belief that he -was in danger of losing? He never commits himself and rarely speaks to -her except to give orders. Queer motives urge men to become heroes. What -stories we should have if every man told honestly the reasons that sent -him here! One has committed a sin; another has entrusted his heart to -the wrong woman. They ride out into the hell of Judgment Day laughing, -and perish insolently, that in their last moments they may appear again -magnificent to themselves. - - - - -VI - - -IT'S midnight. We're still in the copse. We believe we are to take part -in a new attack tomorrow, but have received no orders as yet. - -I am squatting on the ground beneath a low tent made of Hun great-coats -and sacking pinned together. On one side of me, more than half filling -the tiny space, the Major lies asleep; on the other is a shaded candle -and the telephone which keeps us in touch with brigade. Every quarter -of an hour the brigade-signallers buzz me to make sure that the line is -holding up. Every now and then I draw the flimsy patch-work of the roof -nearer together lest any light should be escaping. Ever since darkness -settled, the Hun planes have been bombing our back areas, getting after -our horse-lines, ammunition dumps and infantry concentrations. When one -of them has scored a direct hit on a dump, all the country within the -radius of half a mile is flooded with a pulsating wave of red. While it -lasts, no movement remains hidden from the watchers in the sky; a man -stands out as distinctly as a tower. In the welter of blackness the glow -of a cigarette, a match struck however furtively, the leakage of light -from a bivouac, show up as significantly as beacon-fires. - -The human-eagles got after us in fine style two hours ago, coming so -close that we had to ride our horses bare-back into the night, pursued -from the air not only by bombs but also by machine-guns. - -Now all our men who are not on duty are trying to snatch what rest they -can before another disturbance starts. There always is another, and a -next and a next. The Hun airmen, having exhausted their supply of bombs, -have flown back to replenish. They're due to return almost any minute -and will do their best again to pick up our scent. If we don't attack -to-morrow, we can't stay here, now that we have been spotted. - -I'm appallingly sleepy and am scribbling chiefly in an effort to keep -my eyes from closing. They feel as if they had been filled with dust; I -have to wedge my lids up with my fingers to prevent them from falling. -I can well understand how sentries drop off at their posts, despite the -knowledge that they are committing a shooting offence. It's strange to -reflect that in civil life no money could have persuaded us to put -up with one tithe of our discomforts, let alone with our dangers -super-added. If we get back to a world of sheeted beds, all former -necessities will seem forever luxuries. - -Earlier in the evening I told the Major about Heming. He agreed with -me that we must do our best to prevent him from learning about Mrs. -Dragott. The Major was quite frank in the expression of his opinion. -"There are some kinds of messes you ran live down," he said; "the -results of them may make you even stronger to face life. My kind of mess -is a case in point. I go home on leave, expecting to marry my girl, -and find that not only has she jilted me, but that she has the cheek to -compel me to save her face by attending her wedding to another chap. Of -course I had a lucky escape; if that was the sort she was, life with her -would have been unbearable. At the same time the experience has crippled -my belief in myself and, up to a point, my faith in women generally. I'm -not particular whether I come out of the war--that's the way I feel at -present. But on one thing I am determined: I'll prove to her before I -die that she backed the wrong horse and was a rotten bad guesser. I'll -take every chance and try to win every decoration. When the war ends, -if I'm still above ground, I'll succeed all I can and collar a girl a -thousand times more kind than she ever dreamt of being. So I suppose -instead of smashing me, she's really helped to make me. Now with Heming -it's quite different. He may not know it, but he's still in love with -his woman. By her method of refusing him, she made herself romantic to -him. She pushed him from her when she confessed she was a spy; but at -the same time she roused his pity and drew him to her. By no stretch -of imagination can he ever win her, neither can he ever quite lose her. -He'll be lucky if he isn't recalled to bear witness against her; if he -is, he will smudge his own honour. And as for her, if she isn't shot, -she'll certainly get penal servitude. The most fortunate thing that -could happen to him is that he should fall in action. If we can help it, -he must never hear of this tragedy. We've a month of hard fighting ahead -of us. Many of us will go west before the days grow much shorter. I hope -for his sake he's one of them. I shan't try to prevent his going." - -"And what about Suzette?" I asked. - -He returned my question, "Well, and what about her?" - -"We've no right to have her with us," I said. "She might get killed." - -"And if she does," the Major took me up, "that wouldn't be the worst -calamity that could befall her. Death's not the final tragedy we used -to think it; very often it's the new start. Her life was probably gray -enough before we found her--a peasant girl, who had been used by men and -would probably be used by men to the end of the chapter. What kind of -a career has she ahead of her if we throw her down now? There's nothing -but devastated country behind us. If I told her tomorrow that she'd got -to buzz off, where would she go or who would care what happened? No, -she's going to stay with us; and if she comes through it all, we'll make -ourselves responsible for her and take her back with us to Canada. I -tell you what it is, the more I see of that girl, the more grateful I am -that she's with us. She's restored my ideal of women.----You think I'm -talking like an ass, no doubt; but from Heming down, there's not an -unmarried man in the battery who's not more or less in love with her. -No, my boy, until we've been found out and have received direct orders -to get rid of her, Suzette stops." - -"And Bully Beef?" I asked. - -"And Bully Beef," he answered. "He can always be left behind with the -transport when we're in action. Old Dan Turpin will look after him. He -considers him his own kid already." - -I've been sitting here thinking over this conversation, and especially -over one sentence, "Death's not the final tragedy; very often it's the -new start." Those words really explain our indifference in the face of -shell-fire and torture. We no longer fear the separation of the spirit -from the body. We don't regard the reparation as extinction; we view it -with quiet curiosity and suspect that it may only mean beginning afresh. -Perhaps we're exceptional in our battery, inasmuch as there are so many -who would welcome the opportunity to begin afresh. Tubby certainly must -be glad of it; going on the way he was, the noble part of him would -never have had a chance. This war has made so many of us aware of a -nobility which we never knew we possessed. We're a little afraid that -we shall lose it, if we live through to the corpulent days of peace. -We would rather go west at the moment when we are acting up to our most -decent standards. It's odd, but when threatened by death, it's the fear -of life that assails us. The dread of old age grips us by the throat; -the terror of old temptations, which of late we have been too athletic -in soul to gratify, confronts us. The gray, unheroic monotony of -unmerited failures and unworthy successes daunts us. We dread lest -when war ends, the old grasping selfishnesses may re-assert themselves. -To-day we have the opportunity to go out like vikings, perishing in -a storm. To live a few years longer only to shuffle off, will not be -rewarding. - -At this point I have to leave off. A runner has just come in bringing us -word that we are to be prepared to push forward at dawn. - - - - -VII - - -THE Major's opportunity to prove his girl "a rotten bad guesser" came -sooner than we expected. I shouldn't be at all surprised to see Charlie -Wraith with a V. C. ribbon on his breast before many days are out. He -hardly fills the bill for the popular conception of a hero, with his -little bandy-legs and his deathly pallor; but it's what a chap is that -counts. This is how his opportunity occurred. - -It was 6 A. M. when we moved off. We had been harnessed up and ready, -awaiting our final orders for two hours. When they did arrive, they came -with a rush, as per usual; we were scarcely given sufficient time to -complete our march before we were required to be in action. Measuring -off the distance on the maps which accompanied the orders, we discovered -that to be in time for the attack it would be necessary for us to -travel all the way at the hard trot. The Major went on ahead of us -to reconnoitre the position, leaving Heming to lead the battery. Our -direction lay across the plateau from which we had been turned back by -enemy fire on the day we lost Tubby. The enemy had been pushed far back -now; the roads were so thronged by our own transport that we had to -forsake beaten tracks and take our chances across country. There was -always the danger that we might mistake landmarks which we believed we -had recognised from our maps, and so lose time; there was also the risk -that in the open we might be held up by uncut wire-entanglements. - -It was a gorgeous morning, blue and golden, with a touch of ice in the -air. Over turf and woodlands, as far as eye could search, the dew had -flung a silver mesh. - -The sky was almost without a cloud; tumbling through its depths, like -eels in a tank, aeroplanes looped and wriggled. The landscape was -one continuous chain of island-woods, each one of which had been a -machine-gun fortress of the enemy. We were told that in some of them the -enemy were still fighting, though they knew that they were hopelessly -marooned and that our advance had swept on many miles ahead. Under the -shadow of trees villages were dotted about, most of them possessing a -tall spired church. From what we could see in the hurry of our passage, -every human habitation had been laid level with the ground. It was -impossible to believe that this destruction was the result of British -shells, since our artillery had been too far behind to do the damage. It -must have been the deliberate demolition of the Hun when he knew that he -had to retire. In his retreat he had stolen everything that he had -not destroyed. No food, furniture or live-stock were left; all the -inhabitants had been carried off captive. - -The position we were looking for was in the neighbourhood of a -crossroads, unpropitiously marked "Death Corner" on the map. It was -at the entrance to a village which our infantry were rumoured to have -captured at dawn; whether they had captured it or, having captured it, -had been able to hold it, we did not know for certain. - -Some parts of our journey we had to go at the walk on account of the -roughness of the ground, but most of the way we went at the trot. As -the sun grew stronger, our horses broke into a foam of sweat. Men -and animals were wildly excited. This-was soldiering as depicted by -battle-artists and recruiting posters--a very different job from the -tedious, wakeful misery of night-marches. All the officers and mounted -N. C. O's had picked up swords from the fallen cavalry. A good many of -the men had armed themselves with revolvers which they had salvaged from -the dead. We didn't know how close we were going to get to the enemy, -but we had hopes. - -What struck us most forcibly, especially as we drew nearer to the -thunder of the guns, was the lightness with which our line was held. One -saw no supporting troops; it seemed as though we had thrown every last -man into the actual fighting. We began to apprehend why we had to keep -on attacking: the Hun was falling back on his reserves; if we let him -halt to regain his breath he would take the offensive. Were that to -happen, our retreat might prove just as precipitate as our advance. - -We were riding now through the batteries which had leap-frogged us -yesterday. They were firing away like mad. The air was shaken with rapid -concussions. It was impossible to make oneself heard; all our commands -had to be given by signals. On ahead things looked pretty hot; the -ground kept spouting up in fountains of dust and flame. Increasingly the -enemy retaliation was finding us out. We clapped spurs to our horses and -broke into a gallop. - -Out of the cloud of drifting smoke our little Major emerged, signalling -to us to follow him. He led us on clear beyond the other batteries, till -we were almost treading on the heels of our infantry. We had scarcely -downed trail, when he gave us our aiming-point and directions, and had -us tearing off four rounds a minute. I looked at my wrist-watch. Pretty -work! We had arrived just in time and had got into action on the second. -As our teams trotted back to our temporary wagon-lines, a hail of shells -came over, wounding several of the men and horses. - -There was precious little information as to what had happened or was -happening. Our infantry had captured the town immediately in front of us -and were preparing to go forward behind our barrage to capture the next -town which lay ahead. Everybody said that we had insufficient tanks for -the task and that the enemy was making a determined stand. How much of -this was conjecture and how much fact, nobody could assert positively. -There was a feeling of tension and anxiety. No one was quite certain -what he was expected to accomplish. Our own fear was that in firing -without more exact information we might be killing our own men. The -Major himself determined to go forward to ascertain the true condition -of affairs. While he was gone, Heming returned from the wagon-lines, -bringing with him two Hun field-guns he had found, so making us into an -eight-gun battery. - -We had been firing for about half an hour when a mounted signaller, sent -back by the Major, rode up. He reported that the attack had been only -partially successful, owing to the tremendous concentration of enemy -machine-guns, which lay hidden in the wheat-fields between the two -towns. Another attack was to take place within the hour; it was -necessary that the battery should move up in order that our support -might be more immediate and effective. The signaller added that the -Major was at Death Corner, in full sight of the enemy and that his groom -had been killed within five minutes of his arrival there. - -We hooked in and started off by a mud-track. The mud-track was strewn on -either side by men and horses, newly dead. Some of them we recognised as -people who had passed us while we had been in action. The enemy shells -were sweeping the track for all the world as though a gigantic hose were -playing down its length. Now they would spray this part of it, then lift -a hundred yards and spray that. Ahead of us stretched a billowy level of -wheat-fields; to the right lay Rouvroy, the town which we had captured; -at right angles to the track and passing in front of Rouvroy ran a -road, which was clearly indicated above the wheat by a straight line -of splintered trees. The point where the track met the road was Death -Corner. It looked as unhealthy a spot as one could well imagine; -everything was rocking in a whirlwind of explosions. Three hundred yards -short of the corner we swung off to the left and came into action. Over -the short distance which separated the battery from the Major we ran -in a telephone wire. From where he was and indeed from any point on -the high road, the entire battle-field lay exposed and, on its furthest -edge, the entrenched town of Fouquescourt which it was essential we -should possess. - -The Major had arranged with the infantry that, at a given signal, we -would at once open at an intense rate of fire and that behind our shells -the advance against the town should commence. We had been firing -for, perhaps, five minutes, when we received orders from our brigade -headquarters, which were well in rear of us, to stop. The Major, -watching from his point of vantage, saw that all of a sudden our -advancing riflemen were left unprotected. He called to to know what was -the matter and at once ordered us to go on. For the next two hours we -purposely let our line to brigade go down so that we might be out of -touch and left unhampered to do our work. - -And what a two hours those next two hours were! The Hun was putting -up the fight of his life. All through the three thousand yards -of wheat-fields which separated Rouvroy from Fouquescourt -wire-entanglements and machine-gun nests had been constructed. You could -not see them for the grain, and did not know they were there until -you were upon them. In the first advance which had failed, our men had -walked straight into the traps and most of their officers had been shot -down. In the second, which we had come up close to support, our men had -wriggled their way forward and reached Fouquescourt, only to find that -they were cut off and had left the enemy in the wheat behind them. In -losing time we were giving the enemy his chance. He was bringing his -guns up and getting them into better positions; every hour his artillery -fire was becoming better directed and growing more intense. His airmen -were regaining their courage, flying in leaps and bounds like great -grasshoppers just above our heads, and picking off our men with -machine-gun fire. We had to keep two Lewis guns mounted on the flanks of -our battery to drive them off. - -Things had reached a pretty desperate pass, everyone fighting without -proper information and in many cases without leadership, when suddenly, -silently and unheralded, out of the woods behind us appeared a cloud of -cavalry. They drew up, as if on parade, about four hundred yards to our -left flank and in line with ourselves. They were instantly spotted by -a Hun plane, which flew to and fro over them, dropping bombs. He was so -busily engaged that he did not notice one of our chaps swooping down on -him. When he did see him, there was nothing for it but to escape. Then -followed a wild chase; our chap hovering like a hawk on top and driving -the Hun lower and lower towards the ground. Of a sudden the Hun burst -into flames and shot downwards like a torch. But before he was caught -he must have signalled back the cavalry target to his gunners, for right -into the midst of the waiting horsemen the shells began to fall. Their -courage was superb, the courage of the horses equalling that of the men. -From the distance at which we watched, it was exactly like seeing rocks -flung into a pond--only the rocks were high explosives and the pond was -made up of living flesh. We saw the splash of bodies tossed high into -the air, the ripple of horsemen reining back, and then the patient -orderly reforming of their ranks. - -A trumpet sounded. At a walk, and then at a gentle trot, a hundred men -rode up on to the highroad and vanished into the sea of yellow on the -other side. Then a hundred more. Then a hundred more, till none but -those who could not rise were left. As each little company was displayed -to the enemy, the high-road was swept with bullets as with pelting hall. -Riders crumpled in their saddles; horses reared themselves up, pawing -at the air and toppled over backwards. The survivors paid no heed to -the agony which would certainly be theirs within the next few seconds; -unhurriedly, keeping cool and using their heads, they set spurs to their -horses and danced away to trample the machine-guns and clear a way for -the infantry, or to die in the attempt. How many of them came back we -did not count, but most of them found a grave in the sea of yellow. - -The man at the telephone was beckoning to me. "The Major wants you to -speak with him." he said. "Hulloa! hulloa! That you, Major?" - -"Is that you, Chris?" - -"Yes." - -"Is there anyone you can leave with the guns?" - -"There's Edwine, Sir." - -"Then come up to where I am at once." - -I handed over the battery and went forward. At Death Corner I was met by -a sight which I shall not easily forget. In the middle of the crossroads -the dead lay in mounds. Many of them were men whom I recognised. The -place was strewn with horses. The first to catch my eyes was old Fury, -the Major's rusty charger; his hind-legs had been shot away from under -him and he sat with his front-legs thrust out like poles, balancing -himself and swaying his head. Pressed flat behind a tree I saw the -Major, peering out across the waving corn, where the cavalry were -charging death at the gallop. Crouching low and dodging the shells, I -gained his place of hiding. - -"Some picnic, isn't it?" were his first words. He was as happy and -excited as if he were the spectator of a gigantic football match. How -he had been able to survive at Death Corner for so long was a marvel. -I looked at the picnic. All I could see was men creeping back on their -hands and knees, riderless horses writhing and drowning in the sea -of yellow, stranded tanks, smouldering heaps marking the spots where -aeroplanes had crashed incandescent as comets and, across the plain -of wheat, a wall of fire where our shells were falling and columns of -suffocating smoke were curling above the funeral pyres of towns. - -"Some picnic, all right," I said. The Major laughed at me out of the -corner of his eyes. "It's the real thing--open warfare, what we always -wanted. See here, Chris, I've collected some of these infantry chaps; -their officers have been nearly all wiped out. I'm going to lead them -forward to clean up some of those enemy machine-gun nests. They've got -to be cleaned up, because, they're cutting us off from our troops who -are in Fouquescourt. God knows what's happening up there. Someone's got -to fight his way through and find out. I want you to stop here and watch -for any messages I send back." - -His eye caught Fury. "I can't leave him like that." - -At the risk of his life he dodged across the open space to where his old -companion sat swaying his head forlornly. I saw him pat the velvet neck -and then fumble for his revolver. He looked at the revolver and then -at the horse. He came back to me slowly, "I can't. You do it when I'm -gone." - -Along the edge of the wheat the infantry were lying waiting for him; -they were the stragglers and survivors of the first two attacks. As he -reached them he fell on his hands and knees and crawled away, while they -followed him at intervals through the golden stalks. - -Had the Huns seen him at that moment, they would not have considered -him an object of terror, under-sized and wizened as he was. But it was -Charlie Wraith, despite his physical deficiencies, who put heart into -defeated men that day and by his magnificent contempt for death forced -a way into Fouquescourt to the support of troops which had become -isolated. How many enemy strongholds he bombed out he alone knows, and -he refuses to tell. The men whom he led cannot tell, for most of them -are dead. He had always yearned to kill Germans face to face, so he must -have had a time entirely satisfactory and satisfying. It wasn't his job -as an artilleryman; but, as he said in excusing himself afterwards, it -was a dirty job and with most of the infantry officers gone west, there -was no one else to do it. - -He got severely strafed on his return for having left his battery, which -he ought to have been commanding. Then news began to come in of what -he had actually accomplished and how it was he who had flashed back -the reports which had enabled the front to be consolidated. He's been -recommended for the V. C. and it looks as though he would get it. So -he's attained the desire nearest to his heart; he's healed his wounded -pride and will be able to prove to the girl who flung him down that her -knowledge of human arithmetic was faulty. - - - - -VIII - - -WE are still in the neighbourhood of Death Corner. It looks as though -the attack has been pressed as far as it can go at this point. The whole -of Fouquescourt is now in our hands, but beyond that lies Fransart and -the railroad, which the enemy is holding heavily. To the south of us -the French are trying to turn the enemy's flank of Noyon, but apparently -with little success, for the resistance in front of us grows stiffer -rather than less. The Hun is a long way from being beaten yet. Whatever -may be the morale of his rank and file, his storm-troops never fought -better. For two days after we had surrounded Fouquescourt there were -machine-gunners who still refused to surrender and kept up a running -scrap from house to house, causing us many casualties and much -annoyance. - -Every twenty-four hours we had to shift our guns owing to the Hun aerial -activity. By day the enemy airmen spot us; under cover of night they -return to bomb us. They have not scored any direct hits on our guns yet, -thanks to our precautions in changing our positions every nightfall, but -they have made us pay heavily in the loss of men. With so much shifting -and changing it is not possible to build any overhead protection; the -most we can do is to scoop holes in the ground of sufficient depth to -hide us from the splinters. Next night we have to scoop fresh holes and -spread our blankets somewhere else. - -Owing to the precariousness of the way in which our front is held we -have to be on duty all the time. At night we never dare to undress, nor -even to remove our boots. This is not like the old days, when we had an -elaborate system of trenches and a wide No Man's Land between ourselves -and the enemy; to-day we have outposts dotted here and there, and a -thin line of riflemen strung out through ditches and woods. In a moving -battle one is never quite certain where our country ends and the Hun's -commences. If we were for a minute to relax our vigilance, we might be -overwhelmed. But the vigilance when combined with the bombing and the -shelling is very wearing. - -The weather has become unusually hot. The men go about stripped to the -waist and dripping with sweat. We left all our surplus baggage behind -before the offensive started, so there are few of us who have more than -one change of underwear. The result is that all the time we feel prickly -and dirty. We would give a month's pay for a plunge in a river and a -chance to clean ourselves. Try as we may to prevent it, already a number -of the men are developing skin-diseases and nearly all of them are -verminous. With the constant wearing of our boots, the feet of most of -us are getting blistered and sore. One of our gun-detachments made a -lucky find, which has caused them to be the envy of the battery. In what -had been a Hun officers' mess they found a quantity of woman s lingerie, -all of the very daintiest--pink silk finery, with baby ribbons and much -lace. They at once discarded their army shirts and now lend a touch of -humor to our landscape as they fire their gun in their filmy attire. - -The heat has caused the carcases of the dead horses to decompose more -quickly than usual; they lie indecently throughout the wheat-fields and -roads like huge inflated bag-pipes with their legs sticking woodenly in -the air. For miles the atmosphere is tainted with the nauseating stench -of decaying flesh. No one has the time or the energy for burying them; -even our human dead have in very many cases not yet been accorded the -common kindness of a grave. We are all too tired to form funeral parties -and the risk of exposing one's self is too great. All our movements -have to take place under the cover of darkness; it is then that our -ammunition is sent up. The Hun is perfectly aware of this; he keeps -every road and suspected battery-position, with all its approaches, -under constant bombardment from sundown to well after midnight. - -Our rations, as may be imagined, are of the very plainest, consisting -for the most part of bully beef, tea, and hard tack. To light fires to -cook anything is dangerous; the smoke would give us away in a second. -We have outrun our lines of communication. Our railhead is many -miles behind. Everything has to be brought up to the battle area by -motor-transport, across roads which the enemy did his best to destroy -in his flight. We are entirely out of tobacco and cigarettes. Our -only remaining smokes are Hun cigars, which we have found in abandoned -billets or in the pockets of the dead. - -It would have been normal to have supposed that in an advance of these -dimensions we should have captured enough booty to have kept ourselves -supplied. Where we are now was the Hun's back-country a few days ago, -to which his troops marched out to rest. His canteens were here, his -workshops and hospitals. There were plenty of French civilians still -in possession of these houses; the gardens and fields were under -cultivation. Our advance was so unexpected and rapid that it gave -him hardly any warning of our advent; and yet he contrived to strip -everything and to carry it off in his wagons. Even the gardens are bare; -nothing but the crops in the fields are left. The only fresh meat which -any of us have had has been supplied us by our veterinary sergeant, who -holds that horse-flesh is a perfectly healthy diet if you take only the -best cuts. There are plenty of wounded horses wandering about, of no -further service to the army. - -War has certainly taught us one thing: that we all have a far greater -power of endurance than we guessed. Here we are, having put up with -every kind of hardship, having experienced every kind of shock, having -lived with horror as a daily companion, having gone without sleep, -without proper food or anything approaching cleanliness, and yet we -are happy and cheerfully prepared for as much more punishment as may be -allotted. - -The extraordinary cheerfulness of our men, the kind of school-boy -attitude they take up towards war, as though it were no more than a -tremendous lark, is illustrated by the glee they displayed in firing -the two whizz-bangs which Heming brought up to us when we were attacking -Fouquescourt. I suppose they derived a grim satisfaction from pelting -the enemy with his own shells. To have two more guns to serve meant that -everybody had to do considerably more work. Besides the actual work of -serving them, there was the added labour of hunting up and collecting -the Hun ammunition which was scattered throughout the country-side. They -did it all without a grumble, preferring to regard the undertaking as a -joke at the enemy's expense. - -Yesterday we received an order that all captured ordnance had to be -drawn back to a special park, some ten miles to the rear. When our men -heard that, they went out and gathered together six hundred rounds per -gun and spent the night in pooping them off into the enemy back-country -just as fast as they could load and fire. Funny chaps! They won't be so -keen on working overtime when once they get back to their labour unions. - -By the way, Suzette has just communicated to us an interesting fact -about herself. She asked to be paraded before the Major, as though she -were actually a Tommy instead of a civilian girl. In the queer broken -English which she has picked up from our men, she told us that this was -her country before the war came and she had to flee from it. Her home -was in Fransart, which is the next town which we shall have to attack. -She wanted to let us know this because she thought her knowledge of the -district might be of value. And then came what was probably her real -motive for asking to be paraded; a request that she might be allowed to -accompany the next officer and party of signallers going up front. - -"But why? What for?" the Major questioned. - -"Eet was my 'ome," she said. "I wish zo much to zee eet before zee -guns---." She puffed out her cheeks and then emptied them with an -explosive sound. "Before zay make eet all flat." - -At first the Major refused her emphatically. But the Major has a soft -place for Suzette; I'm not at all sure that he is not just as much in -love with her as Heming. For some time I've had the feeling of a growing -hidden rivalry between the two men--hidden because, being friends, they -are ashamed to acknowledge rivalry. And then again, neither of them -is willing to own her attraction. She has no right to be here. Were it -discovered that the reason for her presence in a fighting unit was -the Major's or the Captain's affection, the affair would wear a very -different aspect in the eyes of not only the higher authorities, but -also of the men in the battery itself. Compelled by her pleading, the -Major has promised her that on the first quiet day he will allow her-to -accompany one of us up front. In granting her request I think he is -ill-advised. But it is clear to me now that, were she to make any -request of him, however mad, he would not be able to withstand her. - -As I look back, I am amazed that I have been so blind; I can remember -incidents and chance phrases, insignificant in themselves, which pieced -together prove beyond a doubt that the Major has been in love with her -from the very first. A topsy-turvy world! Nothing really matters when -you may be blown into eternity any second. All I hope is that no one -else has noticed. - -Charlie Wraith on that day at Death Corner, laughing like a boy playing -pirates! It's now plain what he was doing: he was winning the admiration -of Suzette. - - - - -IX - - -DURING the last two days I have seen the best bit of fighting of the -entire war. As a rule an attack is a big sprawling affair, the whole of -which no one can foresee, and the whole of which in all its details no -single person can command. Everyone sets out with general instructions; -but the variations in the methods by which those instructions are -carried out depend on personal initiative and chance. For the first time -I was in an attack every phase of which one could follow up and watch. -If a moving-picture man had been there, he could have made his fortune. -From first to last the entire performance was stage-set and capable of -being focussed. - -I was sent up forward to do liaison work with the battalion which was -holding the line in front of Fouquescourt. Everything was quiet and -no attack was contemplated, so Suzette had her way and was allowed to -accompany me. I did not much relish having the responsibility of a girl -with me in what was practically the Front-line, though nobody by looking -at her could have guessed that she was a girl. Her appearance was that -of a slightly built boy, who was probably two years below the military -age; but there was nothing to arouse suspicion in that, for many of our -Tommies have obviously increased their age in order to get themselves -into the Army. She accompanied me ostensibly as a telephonist in my -signalling party. - -Battalion headquarters were situated in a deep trench, which crossed the -road which runs between Fouquescourt and Fransart. This road was raked -day and night by hostile fire. The trench itself was anything but a -pleasant spot. The moment one poked his head up to look over the top a -bullet would whizz by; Hun snipers were everywhere and quite close up. -Suzette's idea in accompanying me had been to get a glimpse of Fransart -before it was flattened by shells; but apart from the snipers this was -impossible, for the fields sloped up into a ridge which hid all but the -tops of the village trees from the trench where we were. This being the -case there was not much sense in allowing her to remain in a place of -danger, so I made up my mind to send her back to the battery with the -runner who would carry down my situation report at nightfall. - -I had never had much talk with Suzette; that afternoon as I sat in the -hot sun-baked trench I got a glimpse of her mind for the first time. The -rest of my party were sprawled out on their backs, trying to make up for -broken nights, so we were quite by ourselves. - -"Suzette," I said, "why do you follow us? It isn't a happy sort of life. -Surely somewhere you must have friends." - -She shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly, "My friends! Zay was all in -Fransart. You are my friends now." - -I tried to get her to outline to me what had happened to her since the -start of the war, but she wasn't to be drawn out on that point. "Ze -Germans, zay was not nice," she said; "zay killed my mother over zare." -It appeared that her mother had kept pigeons in the loft of their -cottage. When the Germans discovered that the birds had rings on their -legs, they had suspected that they were intended for the carrying of -messages, and her old mother had been led out and shot. She herself had -escaped through their outposts and regained the unconquered territory. -What had happened between the time of her escape and our finding her -she passed over in a phrase, "Eet was cold and un'appy, and zen you were -kind." - -I found that what she really preferred to talk about was her girlhood, -before calamity had touched her; so let her talk on. It was over there -in Hallu Wood, from which the sniping was coming, that she had gone each -spring with the village children to gather primroses. It was through -these fields, where corpses were now lying, that she used to walk with -her pail at milking-time. She peopled the battlefield with ghosts, -recreating all the peasant ways of life that the ferocity of war had -terminated. She made me see the old priest in his rusty black skirt and -round felt hat, going down the lanes between the little cottages. She -made me see the pool in the brook where her mother used to kneel with -the village women, singing and banging the linen white against the -stones. But most of all she made me see herself--Suzette, with the -gold-brown plaits, whom all the boys used to follow with their eyes, -before there was any Bully Beef or any hint of catastrophe in the world. - -The 'phone tinkled, breaking the spell, and the telephonist on duty -called to let me know that I was wanted by the Major. - -"Hulloa, sir, I was going to have called you up. I'm sending Suzette -back. There is nothing for her to see up here." - -"Don't send her back--not yet." The Major's voice sounded abrupt and -agitated. - -"But why----?" - -"Here's why. Bully Beef is lost and we don't want her to know until -we've found him." - -"Lost, but----" - -"Yes, lost. I know what you are going to say; that he can't have gone -far and must have been picked up by some other unit. The fact is, -however, that he's as completely vanished as if the ground had opened -and swallowed him. Keep her with you until we've made a proper search. -We may not have to tell her." - -That night instead of returning with the runner to the battery, Suzette -stayed with us in the Front-line. When night had fallen and the snipers -could no longer see her, she sat on the lip of the trench, staring out -into the darkness towards Fransart. Once she pointed to a lone tree on -the ridge, saying that she could see the village from there and asking -me to allow her to go forward; but the enemy patrols were likely to be -abroad, so I had to deny her. Several times I heard her sigh heavily and -more than once I could have sworn that tears glistened in her eyes. She -was realising all that she had lost. But how much she had lost even she -did not know as yet, for every time I phoned back to the battery and -questioned I received the same answer; there was no news of her child. - -At the Front men are missing very often for weeks before you find a -trace of them. They stray into the enemy lines. They get wounded by -a chance shell. Their nerve fails them at the moment when they have -accomplished some heroic act and they desert. We had one man who brought -in a wounded officer at the risk of his life and was recommended for a -decoration. Then it was discovered that the man could not be found. When -he was found, he was awarded the D. C. M. for valour and court-martialed -for the cowardice of desertion. We never give up hope when a man -goes missing until he is proved to be dead. But with a civilian it is -different; there are no army records through which to trace and report -them. Were Bully Beef found killed, it would be nobody's business. At -the Front one's responsibility extends no further than to the men in -khaki. - -Next morning on enquiring across the 'phone, I was told that they -had picked up a rumour: a child had been seen on the road between the -wagon-lines and Death Corner. If that were so, it would mean that Bully -Beef had wandered out of the wagonlines in the direction of the -battery in search of his mother. He had come up once or twice to the -battery-position with the ammunition-wagons, and would have a vague idea -of the way. Seeing that he had not arrived at the battery, it was likely -that he had gone past it; in which case he must be somewhere in the -wheatfields between Death Corner and Fourquescourt. A detail of men were -out searching for him, led by Big Dan. - -Then something arose which swung my thoughts clean away from this -personal anxiety. To the south of us drum-fire had been pounding away -all morning; we guessed that the French had been going after Noyon once -again. At one o'clock we got a sudden intimation that within two hours -we must capture Franeart and, if possible, the railroad which lay -beyond. This left no time for the working out of the usual detailed -plans for artillery co-operation. Moreover, we were too far forward -to dare to send our instructions back by telephone; the Hun -listening-machines would pick up our conversations and the enemy would -be forewarned. We had to make out a rough barrage-table and run it back -to the guns by messenger. When that was done it was necessary that I and -my party should go forward to the jumping-off point with the infantry, -since the ridge in front blocked the view of the area where the fighting -was to take place. Suzette volunteered to accompany my party, and since -I had far too few signallers for a show and no time to obtain more I was -compelled to accept her. Leaving one man in the trench to watch for -our messages, we struck out along the Fouquescourt-Fransart road and -commenced to lay in wire to the point from which we proposed to observe -the fight. - -It was a brilliantly hot afternoon; all the parched landscape seemed -to shift and quiver in the dancing haze. One's clothes rasped the flesh -like sand-paper and one's eyes were blinded by perspiration. We made -little progress with the laying of our wire, for every few minutes -we had to go back to mend a break caused by shell-fire. At last we -abandoned the idea of keeping in touch with the rear by telephone and -determined to rely on visual signalling. We passed the ruined village -of Fouquescourt on our right. It was seething in a cloud of smoke; the -shriek of bursting shells was like the wild applause of waves breaking -on a rock-bound coast. We abandoned the road and bore over towards -the left, till we came to an old Hun trench, which ran straight up to -Fransart and passed near to the lone tree on the ridge, from which we -intended to signal back our messages. As we stole crouching between its -shallow banks, we noted how our chaps had flung away the heavier part of -their equipment; it was strewn with haversacks, Mill's bombs and tins -of bully. Then, when we almost thought that we had advanced too far, we -came across them. They were kneeling close together, panting like -over driven animals, their bayonets gleaming thirstily in the fierce -sunshine. Many of them were reinforcements who had never been in battle -before--men who had been sent to replace the heavy casualties of our -encounters. Their faces were haggard with the struggle against terror -and they trembled as they waited for our guns to open fire. One could -pick out the veterans among them at a glance by their fatalistic -carelessness. Having posted a signaller with flags and a lamp, I pushed -forward to where the Company Commander was waiting to lead the advance. -He was just on the crest, from where one could look down on the -approaches to Fransart. The village itself was still hidden from sight, -but one could see the little country road, running through fields -straight and white as an arrow from Fouquescourt, and crossing the road -a line of apple trees. It looked very sleepy and innocent. One would -scarcely have been surprised to have seen blue-clad peasants rise out -of the grass and commence to sharpen their scythes. There was no hint of -murder and strife; the suspense of the crouching men behind us struck -a false note of melodrama. The Company Commander consulted his -wrist-watch, counting off the minutes. - -He turned to me. "How many more do you make it?" - -"Six minutes more to go," I replied. - -"What are you doing when the show has started?" - -"I follow you up," I said, "and keep you in sight. If you want to send -any runners back, you'll find some of my signallers in this trench." - -Then we again fell to watching the quiet country with a kind of wonder, -counting off the minutes and the seconds. - -There were only two minutes left when the infantry-officer jerked my -elbow excitedly, "Good God, look at that!" - -"At what?" - -"Get your glasses out, man, they're better than mine. That thing over -there, moving towards the apple-trees down the road." - -I picked up the object with my naked eye when he pointed. It was a mere -speck, creeping very slowly. It might have been a man crawling, only it -was hardly big enough. Our riflemen already had their sights trained -on it and their angers on the triggers, awaiting the order to fire. -I raised my glasses. What I saw was a child, with chubby legs, short -skirts and long hair to the middle of his back like a girl's. His face -was streaky with crying, and he kept digging his knuckles into his eyes. -Through the glasses he looked so near that I could have touched him by -reaching out my hand. It was horrible to see him out there, where in -little over a minute our own shells would be falling. Our little Bully -Beef, going in search of his mother! There wasn't one of us who wouldn't -have given up his life to restore him to her, and we were powerless to -draw him back. The rifles were lowered as the word was whispered round; -we watched his progress in fascinated suspense. - -Suddenly, rising out of a ditch behind him, came another figure--Big -Dan's. Big Dan, who had promised to take care of him in his mother's -absence! He leapt up and ran towards the enemy lines down the ribbon of -white road. He must have called to Bully Beef, for we saw the child turn -and fling out his arms at recognising him. Dan picked him up, holding -him tight against his breast, and stood there hesitating, waiting -for the enemy to take their revenge. I could almost hear him singing -defiantly, in his deep base voice, - - Old soldiers never die, - - They simply jade away. - -Then a hundred yards in front, out of the apparent emptiness a Hun -stood up waving a handkerchief; beside the Hun were a dozen rifles all -pointing in Dan's direction. He moved forward, with the child's face -looking back across his shoulder. As the first of our shells fell, he -stepped down and was lost to sight in the German trench. Like a squall -at sea our barrage descended and everything was blotted out. - -I turned to the signaller who was nearest to me, "Where is Suzette?" - -"Behind the next traverse, sir." - -"She did not see? She does not know?" - -"She doesn't know, sir." - -"Then until it is all over we must not tell her." It took five minutes -for the enemy retaliation to come back. It burst like a hurricane along -the ridge and along the shallow hiding place in which we were. No man -could hide there for long. The only safety was to get either in front of -it or behind it. The Company-Commander gave the signal to advance. With -the men running and crouching low, the river of bayonets streamed past -me. Like a trickling stream, I watched their silver gleaming grow more -distant above the tall rank grass which lined the lip of the trench. -God knows to what fate they were going or how many of those splendidly -fashioned men would remain unbroken by sunset. For myself. I had other -things to think about. - -My job was to keep the attack in sight and to be sure that my chain of -signallers was in touch with the rear, so that I could get my orders -through for the directing of fire. To keep the attack in sight it was -necessary to push on nearer to Fransart, so I took Suzette and one -man with me, leaving the rest of my party strung out behind. Where the -apple-trees crossed the road, I saw our men leap out of the trench and -start at the run across the open. Instantly a withering fire was brought -to bear on them from a little village in advance and over to the right, -which we had been informed had been in our hands since morning. They -began to go down like nine-pins, pitching forward into the dust and -rolling over on their sides. We stood up to signal back the news of what -was happening, but the first flapping of the flags brought about our -heads a storm of bullets. Our only chance was to run the message back -through the enemy's barrage. The signaller started off down the trench. -We waited for his return, but we waited in vain. A runner reached us -from the Company Commander, asking for guns to be brought to bear upon -a machine-gun nest which was holding up the advance. I had only Suzette -left, so she took the message and vanished into the enemy barrage behind -me. Shortly after she had gone on her errand another infantry-runner met -me, with the message that our chaps had got through Fransart and were -in sight of the railroad on the other side, but that the enemy -machine-guns, which they thought they had demolished, were firing in -their backs. None of my men had returned. I thought I knew why, for the -ridge was boiling. There was no one left to send, so I set off to run -the information back myself. - -I have read in history of men who were never afraid, but I have not met -their like at the front. All the men out here have been afraid and will -be afraid again tomorrow. They acknowledge their fear, and conquer and -despise it. The difference between the brave man and the coward is that, -whereas the coward gives way to his imagination, the brave man carries -on as if he were untouched by terror. That day I was frankly afraid. As -I entered the barrage every nerve in my body went on strike. Shells were -exploding on the very lip of the trench; the shock of their concussion -was like a blow aimed against my knee-joints. I felt blinded and faint. -The smart of fumes was in my eyes; the reek in my throat was choking. I -glanced across my shoulder to find that, where I had been standing a few -seconds before, the trench had been blown up. - -On in front across the part that I had to traverse, the grass was -scorched and smoking. It was like being pummelled by a mob of invisible -assassins. I staggered, and ran, and crawled, and panted; my heart was -filled with hatred for the enemy miles behind at their guns, who bided -their time and killed us at their leisure. Round each fresh traverse I -expected to stumble across one of my men lying broken and sprawled out. -Thinking that they might be in hiding I called their names again and -again as I ran. I might just as well have called to the clouds in a -storm at sea from a row-boat. I was mortally afraid that I should die -alone. But beyond my terror was the sense of my obligation to those men -up front, cut off from hope by the machine-guns firing in their backs: -at any and every cost they must be helped. - - - - -X - - -I HAD reached the very heart of the barrage, when I felt a hand -grabbing at my leg. I looked down and found two of my signallers and -Suzette crouching in a hole which some infantry-men must have scooped -for themselves. Had they not seized hold of me I should have gone past -them, not knowing they were there. Bending down I shouted an enquiry -as to whether they were wounded. They told me "No," but that it was -impossible to signal since every time they tried to use their flags -they brought a hail of lead about their heads; moreover, so long as -the barrage lasted all the chain of signallers behind them were held -hammered against the ground. There was no one to read their messages and -it was probable that more than one of the receiving-stations had been -wiped out. Realising the truth of what they said, I sat down beside them -to recover my breath. While we sat there, as suddenly as the storm of -death had broken, it lifted and leapt half a mile to the rear to about -the line on which battalion headquarters were established. - -Getting my party on to their legs, I arranged to send all my messages -back to the ridge by runner and to have them relayed on from there -out of sight of the enemy by flag-wagging. Taking one man with me and -Suzette, since she knew Fransart well, I again pushed forward. - -I got as far along the trench as to where the apple-trees crossed the -road; there I halted. The enemy was putting up an intense bombardment -just in rear of the village to prevent the approach of our -reinforcements. It was now some time since any messages from the -infantry up front had reached me; I began to get nervous lest something -disastrous had happened. At last I determined to leave the man behind -me to relay orders, and to go forward with Suzette. I had another reason -for wishing to get into the village; I wanted to see if I could find any -traces of Bully Beef and Dan. From where I was I could make out the spot -where the Hun had stood up and beckoned to them. There was little chance -that they were alive, but I was anxious to satisfy myself. - -Watching our chance, Suzette and I popped out on to the roadway and -commenced to run, crouching low and zigzagging. At once we became a -target for the sharpshooters in the uncaptured village, to our right -flank. About our feet the dust began to go up in vicious spurts -and about our heads we heard the sharp pizz pizz of bullets. The -intoxicating excitement of danger got into our blood: we called to each -other and laughed as we ran. God knows there was little enough to laugh -about; of the company of a hundred and forty odd men who had attacked -across that open space before us, upwards of a hundred were lying -wounded and dead. But the curious psychology of battle is that no one -ever thinks that other people's misfortunes may befall himself. While -the wine of adventure sings in his head he believes himself immortal. -That is the explanation of the boys who go cheering across the -Tom-Tiddler's ground of death. - -Breathless and still laughing we reached and jumped into what had been -the Hun Front-line. Here the laughter was wiped from our lips in a -second. Everything was scared and silent. Our attack had not been -expected; the enemy had been caught for fair. Our wall of fire had -descended on him, shattered him, choked him, buried him. The troops in -this part of the line had been Bavarians: jovial, fresh-complexioned. -fair-haired men. We knew them of old--genial fellows, with fine singing -voices, who would exchange presents with you out in No Man's Land, and -kill you treacherously while your present was still in their hands, -without any consciousness of broken honour or unkindness. Here in the -polluted summer quiet they lay in every contortion of distress, mangled, -smashed and ended, their blue eyes wide open, staring at the sky and -still retaining an expression of panic astonishment. They had come to war -as we had come to war; but they had not expected to die. That was what -they seemed to be telling us: "Take example from us; turn back in time." - -We stumbled our way into a communication-trench, and hurried on, -guessing at the direction our infantry must have taken. Here the -brutality of what had happened was even more obvious; in the terror of -their flight, the enemy had become jammed in the narrow space; they had -fought with one another to escape and had trodden the wounded into the -ground. - -Now, following between the tunnelled roots of trees, we came to the -village itself, lying in the heart of a little wood. The trench became -so narrow that our equipment caught against its sides. Grass grew tall -along its banks, and scattered through the grass were wild flowers. We -had glimpses as we travelled of cottage gardens, bee-hives and curtained -windows. But we were glad to keep our heads down, for shrapnel was -stripping the leaves from the trees and bursting with the clash of -cymbals above our heads. We were walking straight through our own -barrage, and still there was no sign of our own infantry. We began to -wonder whether we had gone beyond them or whether they had been all -wiped out. Behind us in the houses of Fransart, which ought by rights to -have been in our hands, we could hear the unmistakable cough of German -machine-guns at work. - -On the far side of the wood we stumbled on our men--twenty-six of them: -all that were left. They were scattered at intervals along the trench, -hugging the ground. As we stepped over them, going in search of their -officer, they paid us no attention. They were most of them green -troops--reinforcements, who were tasting the bitterness of battle for the -first time. But so was Suzette; she showed no signs of faint-heartedness -Her eyes were gray stars, deep and quiet, and an eager smile played -about her firm young mouth. In looking at her I was reminded of Joan of -Arc, and could believe that she too had talked with heavenly presences. - -Twenty-five yards ahead there was a trench-juncture, at which a lad was -sitting with his legs wide apart and a scarlet hole bored through the -centre of his forehead. No one had gone to his help; he merely sat there -in the sunlight with a puzzled expression, watching the blood splash -slowly on his hands. When I made to cross the trench-juncture, one -of the men pulled me back. "A Hun sniper," he panted with an eloquent -economy of words; "he gets everyone who goes there." - -"But what's the matter with you chaps?" I asked. "It's the booby-traps, -sir," he said; "they've blown a lot of us up. We daren't stir." - -Then I saw what he meant. Across the trench, beyond where the wounded -man was sitting, cobwebs of wires had been strung a few inches above the -ground, attached to pegs. They looked innocent enough, but were just -at the right height to catch the feet of men advancing in single file. -Should anyone trip against them, the jerk on the pegs would explode a -series of mines. - -I turned to the man. "Are you the furthest up of the attack?" - -"Yes, sir." - -"Do you know what's on ahead?" - -"The railroad, sir, with a lot of freight-cars standing on the tracks. -The Huns are hiding behind them and taking pot-shots at us." - -Just then the Company Commander hove in sight, crouching low to avoid -the sharp-shooters and stepping warily between the wires of the traps. -While I spoke to him. Suzette was dragging the wounded lad back from the -trench-juncture and binding up his head. - -"A pretty rotten mess. I call it," the Company Commander growled -pantingly, wiping the perspiration from his eyes. "We ought to have had -tanks and aeroplanes to do this job and twice as many men. It's sheer -murder. My men haven't a one per cent chance of coming out of the show -alive; out of a hundred and forty I have twenty-six left. The enemy -gets us from in front and from both flanks, while his machine-guns -in Fransart are potting at our backs. And what the devil is our own -artillery doing laying down a barrage behind us?" - -The truth was the infantry had advanced too quickly, without first -ascertaining that their gunners had been notified of their progress. -They had also failed to "mop up" the enemy strongholds before pressing -further forward. The consequence was that they had left pockets of -resistance on every hand and that their own artillery was cutting them -off from help. Their situation was desperate. There was only one remedy; -to find out the exact locations of the machine-gun nests and to send the -information back to the guns, that they might knock them out with high -explosive; to send back orders to our artillery that the barrage should -be raised; and to withdraw our troops from Fransart and subject the -village to a fresh bombardment. But to what place could we safely -withdraw our infantry while the bombardment was in progress--that -was the question. To answer this question the Company Commander and I -decided that a further reconnaissance was necessary. We did not know -what lay on ahead or how near to us the Huns were; at all events, it -could not be much more dangerous further forward. - -Leaving instructions that the men should keep well under cover to avoid -casualties in our absence, we set out. Treading gingerly up the trench -mined with booby-traps, we came to a turning which led off to the right. -Here things were comparatively quiet, all the firing passing well above -our heads. We followed the turning for about two hundred yards, and then -peered stealthily over the top. Not fifty yards away was the railroad, -with the freight-cars either standing on the tracks or thrown over on -their sides to form, a barrier. Poking out from loopholes, which had -been cut in the woodwork, were the muzzles of rifles. We had seen all -that was necessary; we knew that we must take, a gambler's chance. I -arranged with the Company Commander that he should lead his men still -further forward to this trench so that they might be clear of our -shellfire, and that he should see to the warning of our infantry who -were in Fransart, while I ran the orders back to the guns and saw to it -that reinforcements were sent up the moment our bombardment ended. - -The return journey to the signalling-station where the apple-trees -crossed the road, was as hot a piece of work as I remember. Suzette took -it as coolly as if it were no more than a country-walk. We had to pass -through both our own barrage and the enemy's. Of the two ours was the -worse. In Fransart itself the trench had been made more shallow by -direct hits with shells. As we wriggled our way on hands and knees -over débris, we could see the Hun machine-gunner? blazing away from the -attics of houses and our own men crawling through the undergrowth to -rush the entrances with bombs. I remember discussing with my conscience -the decency of permitting Suzette to run such risks. But I had no -choice, for if I were killed, she might survive to get the messages -back; in any case, when she learnt about Bully Beef, she would receive -her death-warrant. - -We found our signaller where we had left him and at once got him to work -flag-wagging the information to the rear. The enemy spotted him after -the first few minutes; but with a reckless disregard for his own safety, -he carried on amid a hail of bullets till the task was ended. A quarter -of an hour later, like a hurricane let loose, the levelling of Fransart -commenced. The wood rocked as in a gale. Roofs were stripped from the -houses; the walk shuddered and knelt slowly down like camels. This -concentrated commotion was intensified for us by the contrast of the -breathless stillness of the surrounding country. For myself I was -picturing the wild scramble for life of the Huns whom we had seen firing -from the windows of the attics. They were brave men, who had purposed to -sell their lives dearly. To kill them without giving them a chance, in -a way which they had not anticipated, was fair; but its fairness did not -make it less appallingly dramatic. - -I was roused from these thoughts by a trembling at my side; it came from -Suzette. She was kneeling with her face cushioned in her hands and was -weeping violently. I bent over her, asking what was the matter. "Eet was -my 'ome," she said. - -Suddenly she leapt to her feet and stood tiptoe, staring. I followed -her gaze. Out of the wood where trees were crashing and the ground -was billowing itself into mounds, two men were advancing. They walked -gropingly and the arm of the taller was flung about the other's neck. -The taller man was wounded and in khaki; his companion was a plump -little Bavarian--evidently one of the machine-gunners who had been -firing in our backs. Every now and then we lost them as a shell burst -in their path; but always they emerged through the smoke of the -bombardment, dragging themselves by inches nearer to the comparative -safety that was ours. Without a word of warning, Suzette burst from me -and commenced to race towards them. It was sheer foolishness to venture -into that inferno where every second seemed to be a man's last. I -started after her, intending if need be to hold her back by force. - -As I drew nearer, I saw what her sharp eyes had discerned already, that -the wounded man carried a child against hip breast; then I recognized -who he was. At that moment he pitched forward, pulling the Bavarian with -him to the ground. When the enemy had tottered slowly to his feet, he -rose alone and had transferred the child to his own arms. But Suzette -had reached him now; she snatched the child to her body. Like a drama -played out, the last shell fell and the bombardment was ended. - -I glanced behind me. Like a winding stream, following the serpentine -wanderings of the trench, I saw the gleaming bayonets of our -reinforcements shining above the tangled grass. Five minutes later when -I re-entered the ravished wood, guiding up the supports to a new attack, -I passed Suzette. She had forgotten that she was dressed in khaki. She -sat among the débris of splintered trees mothering Bully Beef, who was -quite unhurt, while the plump little Bavarian smiled down on her in mild -astonishment. At full length lay Dan, his old soldier's face composed -and kindly--his last fight ended. He had had his desire, as so often -expressed in his favourite song: his duty accomplished, he had simply -"faded." - - - - -XI - - -IT is many days since I wrote the last line. This battle goes on and -on. We are drunk for want of sleep and rest. How much farther can we -drive these weary bodies of ours without their collapsing? We treat them -as things of naught--as mere slaves whom we lash in action to carry our -spirits forward. We do not wash them, feed them, clothe them with any -care; we scarcely spare the time to keep them alive while the victory -is so nearly within our grasp. It is amazing that such a multitude of -diverse men should be agreed to have so little mercy on themselves. - -One feels that there are two armies fighting, for every one that is -apparent: the external, sullen army of heavy-eyed, red-rimmed flesh, -and the invisible, eager, clear-eyed army of indestructible souls, which -flogs the laggard army of the flesh forward. Behind us, all along -the battlefields of the advance, the earth of men lies mouldering and -putrescent, but their liberated spirits still fight beside our spirits, -treading close upon the heels of the enemy. - -The test of scarlet! We used to speak about it, but we never dreamt -that it could be such a test. We never knew that human mechanisms could -survive such ordeals and be patched up with courage to endure them -afresh. - -After the capturing of Fransart our corps was drawn out and French -troops were thrown in to hold the line which we had broken. Then the -terrible night-marches re-commenced, for the enemy must not know -where we were going. Again we must play the game of hiding, and vanish -entirely. We must be the will-o'-the-wisps of the Western Front and -disclose ourselves unheralded at a point where we were least expected. -We ourselves must have no knowledge of our destination; our job must be -to move like ghosts and to cover as much ground as possible under the -shadow of darkness. - -At the end of the first stage we concealed ourselves in woods, which had -in a day become familiar to all the English-speaking world. It was here -that our cavalry surrounded an entire German cavalry division, entrained -and on the point of pulling out. It was here that our infantry captured -a Hun hospital, and set an example in chivalry by offering the nurses -the choice between working for our wounded or a safe conduct to -the lines of their own countrymen. It was here that Big Bertha was -found--the long-range man-eater which had tried to murder Paris. But, -sweetest of all memories, it was here, after the long drought, that the -rain descended and we stripped off our clothes, stiff as boards with -sweat, and ran naked through the leaves in the stinging downpour. - -On the evening of the second stage we passed through wheat-fields, -recently re-captured from the enemy, still strewn with Australia's -unburied dead. Here troops were busily at work gathering in the harvest -of the trampled grain. We realised then that it was not our blood alone, -willingly as it was shed, that would restore peace and happiness to the -world, but the thrift that could satisfy man's bitter cry for bread. - -How many marches did we make? How often did we rest? I cannot remember -now. What happened is all a blur. We crawled across a devastated land -through a fog of moonlight, dawns and sunsets. We gave and obeyed orders -mechanically. Our perceptions were dulled; we were mad for sleep. As -soon as our eyes closed, the relentless word would go round to harness -up and move on, always to move on; but to what were we marching? - -It seemed as though all the world were dead and we were the only -fighters left. Though the light failed and one could scarcely see his -hand before his face, we knew by the heavy staleness in the air that we -were traversing interminable grave-yards, where villages, trees, men and -horses lay shallowly beneath the swollen sod. And yet we knew that -there were other fighters besides ourselves. How the rumour reached us -I cannot tell, but we were aware that the Americans were massing before -St. Mihiel, and that they were piled up in their thousands behind Yprès. -Long after the graciousness of sleep had come to us, they would tramp -in their millions above our quiet beds; we should feel the pressure of -their heels upon our foreheads and should know that they were carrying -on our work. It didn't matter what happened to us; the work of victory -would go on just the same. The Hun would not triumph. We should not have -spent our youth in vain. In this knowledge, despite our weariness, we -were glad. - -I have a curious feeling that on those long night-marches I held -conversations with men, with whom I certainly scarcely exchanged a word. -At all events, though I did not speak to them, I knew what was happening -inside their heads. Perhaps it was that we had all become abnormal with -the strain and developed a mental telepathy which communicated thoughts -without the fatigue of words. As we moved through the darkness it was -as though each brain was a little lighted house, behind whose windows -shadows came and went. I knew, for instance, what Trottot was thinking. -He was brooding over his failure to disprove his reputation for being -yellow. He was resentful of his sergeant who had kept him back at -the wagon-lines whenever the shell-fire was intense up front. He was -hungering for the chance to do something so reckless that everyone would -have to vote him brave enough to be lead-driver of the gun. I knew -what the Major was thinking: at the head of the column he was thinking -unceasingly of Suzette. And Heming, bringing up the rear with the -transport, he was thinking of two women and hoping that the next fight -would be his last. - -Sometimes I had the odd sensation that there were many more marching -with the battery than would ever again answer the roll-call. I was -riding at the head of my section half asleep about midnight, when a -horseman came up at the gallop and reined in beside me. I expected to -hear him deliver some message; instead he dropped into a walk at my -side. His steel helmet shadowed his face. I was too weary to speak -unnecessarily and took him for one of my sergeants. Perhaps I drowsed; -when I again noticed him the moon was coning out from under cloud. Then -I saw that he was wearing an officer's uniform. That piqued me into -wakefulness. I leant forward to get a closer glimpse of his features. As -I did so, he flung his horse back on its haunches, wheeled to the left -and vanished in the dark. During the brief space while I gazed on him, I -recognized Tubby Grain. - -Other men in the battery are telling similar stories. They have seen -Big Dan, Standish and many of their fallen comrades. They ride on the -limbers and the wagons; they plod persistently behind the guns. They -do not seek to attract attention to themselves. They do not talk or -inconvenience anybody. Having died in a foreign land, it seems normal -and right that their spirits should still accompany us. At dawn they -vanish. As regards Tubby Grain, since the first time I have never seen -his face--only his plump little figure going at the trot through the -darkness down the column. - -And now our marches are, for the time being, at an end. Once again we -have been flung in as the hammerhead of the attack. They say that Foch's -principle is to use up his storm-troops; he never relieves them when -once an offensive has begun. We no longer guess--we know the task that -lies before us. Last time it was the saving of Amiens; this time it -is the breaking of the Hindenburg Line. Two nights ago we pulled into -action across the bald chalky country that straddles the Cambrai-Arras -road. To the north of us, rising out of the blackness of the Vimy Plain, -we could see the ridge which was so long our home and which, because -we were not allowed to die, we guarded with so much impatience. Ah, -how impatient we were while the indignity of not dying was upon us! How -little we valued the supreme gift of life! How we courted death in raid -after raid throughout the summer! Had we known then how few sunny days -remained for most of us, how much more gratefully we should have lived -them. We have come back for what will probably be our severest test to -very nearly the spot whence we started. - -Nobody now garrisons what was once regarded as the Gibraltar of the -Western Front. Our armies have swept forward like a tidal wave and -are beating on the doors of the cities in the plain, which a month ago -looked so distant and impregnable. - -Our brigade has been pushed well up into the point of a narrow -salient--a long thin cape of recaptured territory which projects far -out into the enemy country. We are so far up that the Hun balloons are -actually in rear of us and watch our every movement from either flank. -Any time that they choose they can bring accurate fire to bear on us. -We have been in some murder-holes before, but this is by long adds the -worst. The Hun game is to obliterate us before we get started. All day -and all night he bombards us without cessation. When high explosives -have failed, he drenches us with gas. - -Now that we are here there is no use in trying to disguise either our -presence or our purpose. The old subterfuge of camouflage is of -no avail. The country is too bare and too much overlooked for any -precautions, however ingenious, to protect us. Our only chance is to -hurry up and get the attack begun before we are all dead. There will -be a percentage of safety when we begin to go forward; there is none in -sitting still. That we may launch our offensive quickly, we are making -every effort. No man's life is precious. Guns and ammunition drive up in -the broad daylight and are knocked out. No sooner are they knocked -out than others are sent forward to take their places. The waste is -stupendous. Direct hits are scored on ammunition-dumps; there is never -an hour when explosives cannot be seen going up in flames--never an hour -when horses and men cannot be seen rolling in their final agony. The -spectacle is too ordinary to excite us. We are too much fatalists to be -intimidated. With a misleading display of callousness, while the unlucky -are dying, we who are whole carry on with our preparations for revenge, -which the enemy watching from the sky does his utmost to prevent. - -Our battery is in a narrow valley to the left of what was once a town. -A sign-board, with the name painted on it, is its only means of -identification: "This was a town." It is the same with all the sites -of former human habitation which lie behind us; if it were not for -the sign-boards, they would be indistinguishable from the miles of -shell-ploughed waste and mine-craters in which this abomination of -desolation abounds. The country as far as eye can search, lies stark and -evil as an alkali desert. - -In our valley there is a stagnant malodorous swamp, close to which we -have dragged in our guns so that their muzzles point out across it. It -was once a river winding through a pleasant meadow, but gradually it has -become choked by the refuse of dead things--dead men, dead horses, -dead happiness. God knows what it hides. It has been kind to us, -nevertheless, for it has saved us many casualties. All the enemy's -rounds which fall short of us plunge harmlessly into the liquid mud. We -hear them coming with the roar of express engines. We make a bet -where they are going to burst. Then a column of filth goes up from the -swamp-and we know that this slough of despond has again preserved us. - -If we have been lucky, others have been less fortunate. The valley being -stiff with batteries, there are not enough good positions to go round. -One watches the shells alight, then sees the men rushing for stretchers. -In an endless chain the ammunition-wagons drive up, fling out their -rounds and depart at the gallop. Let them move quickly and ever more -quickly, there are always some of them that get caught. The place is -rapidly becoming a shambles. No one's life is worth a minute's purchase. -It would be interesting to know what premium we should have to pay if we -wanted to insure ourselves. - -The Major has just told me that the attack is to be launched tomorrow at -dawn. It's extraordinarily ambitious, for its third objective is fifteen -thousand yards from where we are at present, and it's ultimate goal is -the capture, of Cambrai. Between ourselves and Cambrai stretches the -most strongly fortified country of the entire German Front--a country -naturally fortified by marshes and canals and made doubly impregnable by -military cunning. The Hindenburg Line will have to be taken first before -any general advance can be begun. After that certain sacrifice-tanks -will go through and drown themselves in the canals to make a bridge over -which the living tanks and cavalry may push forward to conquest. - -We can stand any amount of pummelling now that we know the worst. "It's -going to be a top-hole show--Berlin or nothing;" those were the Major's -words. Judging by the pleased grins on the men's faces, it won't be -nothing. We're going to finish the job this time and be done with it -forever. Since the men have heard the news, they've generated quite a -"home for Christmas" air of jollity. There is only one man who looks -sad--Captain Heming. He has received orders to start for Blighty at once -to give evidence in the case of Mrs. Dragott. - -"Don't go if you don't want to," said the Major. "I'll stand by you if -there's trouble. Please yourself." - -We're wondering how he'll decide. It depends on his evidence, whether it -would save or condemn her. - -If it would condemn her and he still loves her---- - -A man can live worse deaths than falling honourably in battle. - - - - -XII - - -IT is wonderful to lie here in the quiet and to know that it is all -ended. Already the world is saying, "Let's forget that there was a war." -That's natural for people fatigued by contemplating tragedy; but which -is the more inconvenient--to have been a spectator or an endurer of -tragedy? It's all very well for the spectators to say, "It's over, thank -God. We're safe now, let's go home and be gay as we once were." But how -can we, who were comrades in the ordeal, ever forget? And the rest of -the world which only watched from afar, what right has it to forget? Now -that it has been saved by other men's loss, is it its obligations that -it would forget? Would it forget the pain which our bodies will always -remember? Would it forget the cold, the thirst, the weariness, the -wounds, the forlornness, the despairing courage which it did not share? -Would it forget the dead who forewent their gladness, believing that -their immortality was secured by the gratitude which would commemorate -their simple heroism? If it does forget, it absconds like a blackguard -debtor, cheating both us and the dead. For we fought not for victory -alone, but to establish a loftier standard, so that the world in -recalling the price we paid might make itself kinder and better. As I -lie here in hospital, six stories up, with the throb of London beating -distantly like a receding drum beneath my window, I am sometimes -uncertain whether any of the scenes I have lived through ever -happened. The war grows unreal and vague. Surely those ex-plumbers, -ex-bricklayers, ex-piano-tuners with whom I marched, are only imagined. -At this distance it seems incredible that such men should have found -the fortitude to make themselves the knights of Armageddon. They were -so ordinary, so ignorant of their true greatness, so blind to the -magnanimous courage of their martyrdom. Ordinary, ignorant and -blind they were; perhaps their indifference to their worth was their -outstanding glory. Yet these everyday men proved not by ones or -twos, but in their millions that the spirit of righteous freedom only -slumbers. In remembering their example never again can we believe -ourselves ignoble or that the race of sacrificial men is ever ended. - -My little Major, with the V. C. ribbon on his breast, came on leave from -Mons the other day and hopped in, merry as ever, to see me. He was at -the Front when the Armistice was declared: I was eager to hear about it. -"How did the men take it?" I asked him. "Like any other happening," he -said. - -"But wasn't there any excitement or cheering?" - -"There may have been, but I didn't see it," he told me. "We were -marching up to a fresh attack when the word reached us. We halted -and drew in to the side of the road, feeling a trifle discontented on -account of the cold. One felt warmer, you understand, while in motion. -It was a raw day, being November. When the news had been confirmed, we -turned back to the last town in search of billets. The chaps cracked a -smile then, when they discovered that they were to have a solid night's -rest with a roof above their heads." - -I levered myself up in bed and stared at Charlie Wraith. Despite all -that I knew of the Front, I found it hard to credit this utter lack of -emotion. In the old days all our talk had been of when the war would -end--how we would throw aside authority, cock our guns up and fire off -salvo after salvo to the heavens. We had promised ourselves that we -would go over the top for a last time as a kind of sporting luxury, -and beat up the Hun just once more for luck to prove that we still had -plenty of ginger left. The flying-men had asserted that they would head -their planes in the direction of Boche-land and send them off unpiloted -to put the wind up the enemy. Every mad prank had been imagined and -discussed for making our celebration memorable and effective. From the -Channel to Switzerland the Front should blaze and be clangourous. And -this was actually how the greatest war in history bad fizzled out: they -had drawn in to the side of the road, felt cold and turned back to the -nearest town in search of billets. Had the Major told me that the men -had shewn resentment, feeling that they had been baulked of an immenser -victory, I could have understood that. - -But this account of stoical indifference was astounding. I tried to put -some of my surprise into words. - -"If they weren't glad, perhaps they were disappointed?" - -"Not disappointed," he said. "We'd been through too much to be either -happy or sad. I think we'd got past feeling anything. We were sort of -numb. I'm no good at expressing myself. Some of the married chaps sighed -contentedly and whispered, more to themselves than aloud, 'Well, that's -that.' They meant, I suppose, that they'd be seeing their wives again -presently. But most of us didn't say a word; we just carried on as if -nothing out of the ordinary had occurred." - -I think this picture of dumb subjection to duty made me realise more -than anything the sheer cost of victory in spiritual energy to the men -who bought it with their blood. While London, New York and Paris went -mad, climbing lamp-posts, changing hats, dragging tin cans through the -streets and converting themselves into impromptu jazz bands, these men, -whose valour was being commemorated, pulled in to the side of the road, -felt cold, and limped back to the nearest town in search of billets. -They were "sort of numb." They'd been through too much to feel either -happy or sad. "Well, that's that," they had said, and thanked God for -the luxury of a secure night's rest and the comfort of a roof above -their heads. - -And yet, why I should have been so surprised I don't quite know. The -Major's picture was consistent with everything I had learned of the -fighting man--precisely what one might have expected. That I should have -been surprised only proves to me how thoroughly normal and civilian we -are beneath our khaki. Here am I, a few weeks out of the line, finding -myself amazed at conduct which would have been mine, had I lasted. -"Well, that's that"--it sums up in a phrase the whole philosophy of the -Front, which teaches:--"_Don't whine. Endure what you can't alter. -Get over the hard bits of the road by pushing forward. Never know when -you're licked. Never be elated when you've won. Whether you win or lose, -don't sit down; seize on to the next most difficult thing that you may -conquer. For it's not the winning or the losing, it's the eternal trying -that counts--And that's that._" It is the "eternal trying" of my last -fight that lives most vividly in my memory. We were in that murder-hole, -you will remember, to the left of the Cambrai-Arras road. Our job was -to smash the Hindenburg Line and to go as much further as our strength -would carry us. Our objective was to be the ending of the war or, in the -words of the Major, "Berlin or nothing." - -The night before the show the enemy made a last determined effort to -knock us out. We had distinct orders not to retaliate; our first round -was to be fired with the opening of the offensive. So we had to lie down -in silence and take our punishment. - -Shortly after sunset the trouble commenced. The enemy must have run -forward a number of guns. - -Without warning a tremendous bombardment opened up. It was as though -the walls of Heaven were tumbling about our heads. In our narrow valley, -where batteries were lined up like taxi-cabs on a stand, shells of every -kind and calibre began to fall--whizz-bangs, incendiary, high explosive, -gas. Shooting at random over so small an area so densely packed, it was -almost impossible not to hit something. As darkness thickened, the night -became lurid with burning gun-pits and ammunition. Against the dancing -flames men could be seen, running, gesticulating and working like fiends -to put the fires out. High above the whistling of the shells we heard -the ominous throb of planes, and bombs commenced dropping. By this time -we had struggled into our gas-helmets and lay crouched in little groups -in the bottom of shell-holes. We were of no use. We had been forbidden -to reply. We were simply waiting to be slaughtered. - -I don't know what happened at the other batteries, but our Major took -matters into his own hands. "We shall have no men left for tomorrow at -this rate," he said; so he ordered the chaps to get out of the bombarded -area and to scatter. The instructions for the attack had just come -in, and he had to make out the barrage-tables. To do this it would be -necessary to light a candle, but it would be suicide to show any lights -while the planes were overhead. Seizing his fighting map and scales, he -retired in search of a dug-out; soon only I and one signaller were left. -We had to remain on the position to answer the 'phone and to keep in -touch with the rear. - -We lay there hugging the ground. We had had no time to build overhead -protection; the weather being warm, we had contented ourselves with -digging holes three feet deep and spreading over them ground-sheets to -keep the rain out. Our sensations were those of men who were lying on an -erupting volcano. The earth quivered under us and the air was thick with -the avalanche of falling débris. The valves of our gas-masks felt choked -with dust; we were well-nigh suffocated and buried. The ground-sheets -above our heads flapped in rags. Stones and bits of chalk, thrown up by -the concussion, bruised us. We were always expecting that the next shell -would end us. They came over with the galloping thud of cavalry, -_ker plunk, ker-plunk, ker-phunk_. The roars of the explosions, which -followed the thuds of impact, were like the fierce _ha-has_ of ten -thousand maniacs. - -It was long past midnight before the strafe died down. By that time the -Hun felt fairly confident that few, if any of us, had survived. One by -one, through the altered landscape, our men crept back. By the red glow -of dying conflagrations, they set patiently to work to clean their guns -and set their fuses, so that all might be ready for revenge. We did not -number them as they returned. It was impossible in the darkness, but -we knew by the spattered human fragments that in the surrounding -shell-holes many a stout fellow had gone west. - -A little whiteness spread along the eastern horizon. We stared at our -luminous wrist-watches. The second-hand had one more revolution to -travel. The whistle sounded; our turn had come. If the enemy-had -supposed that he had exterminated us. his disillusionment must have been -bitter. There were batteries which he had crippled, but none that he had -silenced. Like fiery serpents, even from where we were, we could see our -bursting shrapnel hissing down on his tormented trenches. - -And now, when it was too late, he made a furious effort to complete our -destruction. He tried to bury us beneath the weight of metal that he -sent racing through the semi-darkness. Men and guns were blotted out by -the dust of explosions; but the whistle for each new lift in the barrage -went on sounding. It seemed a miracle that our shells did not collide -with his in mid-air. - -His anger was not for long. Of a sudden, from intensity it died down -into nothing. We knew what that meant: the bayonets of our infantry were -tossing human hay in his trenches, our heavy artillery was raking his -batteries, and our tanks were going forward, tracking down their prey -like blood-hounds. - -Dawn strengthened. From a shadowy hint of whiteness it became a pillar -of flame, from a pillar of flame a shaft of dazzling brightness. We -gazed on the night's work. It was as though a gigantic plough had -furrowed the valley from end to end. Guns leaned over on their axles -with their wheels smashed; the men who should have been serving them lay -scattered about, hair buried and scarcely recognisable. Charred piles of -ammunition smoked lazily and occasionally sputtered like Camp fireworks. -We marvelled how we had escaped; all the guns of our battery were still -in action. Again it must have been the swamp that had saved them. - -We could estimate the progress that our infantry were making by the -orders to lengthen our range, which we kept receiving across the 'phone. -They were going very rapidly. The enemy resistance could not have been -as strong as had been expected. We judged that the first wave of our -attack must be almost through the Hindenburg Line. Soon it would be -necessary for us to hook in and move forward if we were not to get out -of touch. - -It was eight o'clock when our teams arrived with Heming riding at their -head. None of us commented on his presence. He had disobeyed the summons -to England and was taking one last chance in battle of maintaining -his silence forever. We knew then that the woman whom he had loved was -guilty--that whatever he could have said would have told against her. -His face had a sterner expression than I had ever seen it wear; -it looked gray and haggard. Only his eyes had their steady gaze of -untroubled brave resolution. He rode up to the Major and reported -the number of the men and horses killed and wounded that night at the -wagon-lines. "It was the bombing planes did it," he said; "they were -right on top of us. We're short of gunners now, so I had to bring -Suzette." - -Then he took his instructions and rode back to the teams to keep them -out of shell-fire till they were needed. - -An hour went by. The Major had got mounted and gone forward to a -windmill, just behind the furthest point of our attack, from where -he could watch developments and send back for us the moment we were -required. He was determined this time to be in the thick of it. His last -words had been that, if our Headquarters tried to hold us back, we were -to let our wires to the rear go down and obey him only; he would be -answerable. - -Already several batteries had hooked in and disappeared over the crest -at the gallop. We were beginning to feel impatient and fearful lest once -again we were to see very little of the fun, when the Major's orderly -came in sight taking shell-holes like a steeple-chaser. Pulling his -horse up on its haunches, he delivered a written message: - -"Our infantry have broken the Hindenburg Line, but the enemy are massed -behind it. They've led our chaps into a trap and are putting up their -real fight in their support-trenches. Our tanks have gone on and cannot -help. Much of our artillery fire is at too long range to be effective. -Close support is absolutely necessary. Our infantry are being pushed -back. Move the battery up by sections. Captain Homing taking the leading -section and you the rear, with an interval of at least ten minutes -between them. We are practically in sight of the Boche, so leave twenty -yards between your guns and wagons. It's a sacrifice job, so expect -a hot time. My orderly will show Captain Homing where to come into -action." - -Heming came up just as I had finished reading the crumpled slip of -paper. I handed it to him. He glanced it through in silence. His face -broke into a smile. "It may be death," he said. - -He signalled for his teams to come up. While they were hooking in, he -spoke with me quietly. "Once on the Somme I asked you to give a message -to a lady if I were wiped out. I wasn't; but I may be to-day. If that -happens, I want you to give her the same message. Tell her that I did -everything that she might feel proud of our friendship." He met my eye -and looked away. "In years to come she'll need something to make her -feel proud, so don't spoil it. Don't tell her about Suzette.... But you -chaps, however many of you are left--you'll take care of Suzette. I know -that!" - -"We'll take care of Suzette," I said. - -"And my message----?" - -"I'll deliver your message." - -The guns were pulling out. I watched them file off round the swamp, -followed by their ammunition-wagons. When the last wagon was clear, -Heming waved his hand to me. - -"Good luck," I shouted. - -He galloped off to the head of the column. Then I noticed that someone -was running to catch up behind. For a moment I thought it was a gunner -of the detachments; then I recognised Suzette. They went at the walk -across the valley; as they neared the top of the crest on the other -side, shells began to burst. They were now a target for the enemy, and -broke into first the trot and then the gallop. In a cloud of dust and -smoke they disappeared from sight. Ten minutes later the centre section -went forward. About fifteen minutes after that I pulled out taking with -me the remaining section. I glanced back at my men. We'd been in tight -corners before together. I would take a bet on how they would behave. -Among them all there was only one query-mark--Driver Trottrot. He was -riding lead of one of the first-line wagons. If he'd got over his fear -of shell-fire, within the next hour he would have his chance to prove -it. - -There was only one road by which to climb the crest; it had been well -advertised by the other batteries. As we reached the top, we were -skeletoned against the sky-line and hell broke loose about us. Setting -spurs to our horses, we went off at the wild tear. With the vehicles -swaying and thundering behind us, we passed over the first line of -resistance, which our infantry had captured that morning. The air was -heavy with the smell of gas, but worse than the gas were the incendiary -shells, which sent up showers of liquid fire where they struck, -maddening the horses. - -On account of the trench-systems it was impossible to go across the -open country, so we had to bear to the right and come down on to the -Cambrai-Arras road. It was crowded with transport--tanks, pontoons and -lorries full of engineers, being rushed up to bridge and hold the canals -in the belief that the attack was still going ahead. We had to slow down -to the crawl in places. The road was a sure target for the enemy; he -knew that it was our one means of advance and, consequently, gave it -constant attention. One vehicle struck caused a block in the traffic for -half a mile; men worked furiously among the falling shells to drag -the cripples to one side. In the ditches, where they had fallen that -morning, dead horses and men, both the enemy's and ours, lay crushed and -crumpled. No one wished to pay heed to them; we did our utmost to ignore -them as though they were utterly negligible. But they seemed to cry out -to us, appealing for our pity; then, when we shuddered, threatening us -with the same terrifying, uncared-for Nemesis. When we let our eyes rest -on them they were lying harmless and quiet, but we had the feeling that -behind our backs they sat up with their wounds gaping, and gnawed their -fists at us. Our animals shied at the corpses, breaking into a sweat and -becoming unmanageable, If the dead were not a sufficient warning of -what war could do to us, there was always the crimson returning tide of -battered men, washing grievously past us back to Arras like a stream of -blood. - -Patriotism and glory! They sounded empty words compared with life. There -was only one word that was an incentive to keep us steady--pride. We -might survive; we did not wish to live with selves who would have -to hang their heads. Yes, and there was another incentive--duty: the -thought of comrades still further forward, to whom the roar of our -eighteen-pounders would be happy as a peal of bells. - -Crawling, hailing, trotting for brief spells, we had travelled about -four thousand yards when we saw the windmill on the rise, from which the -Major was observing, and in front of the windmill the Hindenburg -Line which we were supposed to have smashed. In the plain which -stretched behind the mill, our sacrifice batteries were strong out, -belching fire. Across the plain our supporting infantry were trickling -up in Indian file, winding their way about the batteries in action and -side-stepping to avoid the bursting shells. - -Suddenly we understood, as though the meaning of what for four years we -had been doing were being revealed to us for the first time. In a flash -we saw war's glory, its wickedness, magnanimity, challenge and the -amazing fortitude it begets in men. It taught unbrave, ordinary chaps -how to try and go on trying, long after hope seemed at an end. Each one -of those batteries out there in the plain was like a "Little Revenge," -surrounded and dragged down by weight of numbers; but out or sheer -self-respecting stubbornness it never ceased spurting fire. Everyone of -those infantry, plodding stolidly forward, was quaking at the thought -of the Judgment Day up front; but each one of them would rather die a -thousand deaths than shew the white-feather. The sight was blinding, -maddening, intoxicating. If those chaps didn't mind dying, why should we -hang on to life? - -Leaving the first-line wagons parked by the roadside, we set off at the -gallop with the guns and firing-battery wagons to where we saw Heming's -four guns blazing away in the sunshine. The infantry stood aside to give -us passage. They waved their caps and shouted. We could not hear a word -of what they said; we only saw their lips moving. The pounding of our -going drowned all other sounds. - -We swung into line on Heming's right, flinging our horses back on their -haunches. Before we had had time to unhook, a shell had burst directly -under the centre team of A. Sub's gun; men and horses were rolling. We -dragged our drivers out and had to shoot the horses before we could get -the gun into action. Then Bedlam broke loose. - -Whether it was that the enemy had seen the heads of our horsemen above -the rise and had got the line on us over open sights, or whether he had -seen the flash of Heming's firing before we had come up, we could not -tell. In any case he was upon us now. All along the line of guns his -hurricane of shells began to burst. They fell on top and plus and minus -of us. shutting us off from help. From our wagon-lines on the roadside -our peril had been sized up and teams were coming at the gallop to drag -us out. They never got as far as us. Two hundred yards short, as though -he had been potting at them with a rifle, the enemy caught them, and -they crashed and sank in a cloud of dust. No sooner were they down than -fresh teams dashed out. By his riding I recognised the lead-driver of -the foremost team as Trottrot. At last his opportunity had come. He was -winning his spurs and proving to all the watching world that he was -not yellow He would never reach us. He was riding towards certain and -useless death. He was almost in the storm-centre, when I ran out and -signalled him back. - -In the middle of the battery, as cool and collected as if nothing were -happening, Heming sat, his map-board on his knees. Suzette knelt beside -him, doing his pencilling and listening through the 'phone to the -directions of the Major from up front. Now and then he looked up to give -his orders for new ranges and angles; the expression on his face was -triumphant. Every so often he left his map-board and walked among the -men, encouraging them, "Stick to it, boys. We've got to blow the enemy -out of the wire. It won't take much longer now." - -But the boys were growing fewer. There were less and less of us to hear -him every time he spoke to us. Three guns had been knocked out, and -their crews were lying dead about them. Now there were only two left; -now only one. - -Suzette was setting fuzes. Heming was loading and putting on the ranges. -I was laying and firing. We were all three wounded. We three had taken -the places of the dead gunners and seemed to have been going through -these motions, alone and mechanically, keeping the remaining gun in -action, ever since eternity had begun. - -Something happened to end it--a roar, a sheet of dame; then darkness. - -A stream of warmth was trickling down my face and neck. I opened my -eyes. The gun was lying over on its side; like worshippers at mass, -Heming and Suzette were kneeling with clasped hands, their faces towards -the red altar of the enemy. As I watched, their faces drew together -and his arm went about her. Their action became symbolic; it was like -England greeting France in the hour of agony. - -Everything faded. The shock and clamour drifted into silence. The test -of scarlet was ended. - -Here in the white orderliness of a sheeted bed, with the accustomedness -of peace on every hand, it is strange to remember. - -THE END - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Test of Scarlet, by Coningsby Dawson - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TEST OF SCARLET *** - -***** This file should be named 52450-8.txt or 52450-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/4/5/52450/ - -Produced by David Widger from page images generously -provided by the Internet Archive - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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