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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..502abd5 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #61021 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61021) diff --git a/old/61021-8.txt b/old/61021-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 9fb2196..0000000 --- a/old/61021-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3619 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Some War Impressions, by Jeffery Farnol - - -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: Some War Impressions - - -Author: Jeffery Farnol - - - -Release Date: December 26, 2019 [eBook #61021] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS*** - - -E-text prepared by Tim Lindell, Martin Pettit, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made -available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/somewarimpressio00farnuoft - - - - - -SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS - - - * * * * * - -Jeffery Farnol's Great Mediæval Romance. - - -Beltane the Smith - -BY - -JEFFERY FARNOL. - -_Author of "The Broad Highway."_ - -LIBRARY EDITION only, Crown 8vo, cloth. Handsome wrapper in -colour, with spirited picture by C. E. BROCK. Price 6/-. - -_WHAT THE PRESS HAS TO SAY_:-- - - EVENING STANDARD.--"Better than 'Ivanhoe.' 'Beltane' will - make the oldest feel young again. There is no resisting it." - - DAILY MAIL.--"The author exercises such a skilled grip - upon the imagination of the reader that one is simply obliged to - keep up with him." - - MORNING POST.--"An enthralling volume." - - SUNDAY TIMES.--"Pick up the book if it comes your way; - you will not want to drop it till you have turned the last page." - - SPHERE.--"Here is a delightful story, the scene laid in - the golden age. Every page has an adventure." - - THE LADY.--"It is certainly enthralling." - - -Mr. Farnol's Great "High Toby" Romance. - - -The Honourable Mr. Tawnish - -BY - -JEFFERY FARNOL. - -_Author of "The Amateur Gentleman," etc._ - -PRESENTATION EDITION, Foolscap 4to. Handsomely bound. - -Cloth, extra gilt, gilt top. Charmingly illustrated in colour by -CHAS. E. BROCK. Price 6/- net. - -NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION, cloth. Price 3/6 net. -Illustrated prospectus post free on application. - -_WHAT THE PRESS HAS TO SAY_:-- - - GLOBE.--"There is something delightfully attractive in - this romance." - - DAILY CHRONICLE.--"Another charming romance from the pen - of Mr. Jeffery Farnol." - - ACADEMY.--"The story is well written; Mr. C. E. Brock's - illustrations are very apt." - - EVENING STANDARD.--"It is all very exciting, and some of - it is very tender." - - DAILY MAIL.--" ... A gallant flavour of the eighteenth - century about it that is graphically aided and abetted by Mr. C. - E. Brock's masterly pictures in colours." - - SUNDAY TIMES.--"Mr. Farnol's writing is so delightful, - his characters are so lovable." - - * * * * * - - -SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS - - - * * * * * - -_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ - -THE BROAD HIGHWAY -THE MONEY MOON -THE AMATEUR GENTLEMAN -THE HONOURABLE MR. TAWNISH -THE CHRONICLES OF THE IMP (My Lady Caprice) -BELTANE THE SMITH -THE DEFINITE OBJECT - - * * * * * - - -SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS - -by - -JEFFERY FARNOL - - -[Illustration: Logo] - - - - - - -London and Edinburgh -Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. - - - - -TO ALL MY AMERICAN FRIENDS. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - PAGE - I.--FOREWORD 1 - - II.--CARTRIDGES 5 - - III.--RIFLES AND LEWIS GUNS 9 - - IV.--CLYDEBANK 17 - - V.--SHIPS IN MAKING 23 - - VI.--THE BATTLE CRUISERS 29 - - VII.--A HOSPITAL 41 - -VIII.--THE GUNS 49 - - IX.--A TRAINING CAMP 63 - - X.--ARRAS 73 - - XI.--THE BATTLEFIELDS 81 - - XII.--FLYING MEN 88 - -XIII.--YPRES 101 - - XIV.--WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE 110 - - - - -SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS. - - -I. - -FOREWORD. - - -In publishing these collected articles in book form (the result of my -visits to Flanders, the battlefields of France and divers of the great -munition centres) some of which have already appeared in the press both -in England and America, I do so with a certain amount of diffidence, -because of their so many imperfections and of their inadequacy of -expression. But what man, especially in these days, may hope to treat -a theme so vast, a tragedy so awful, without a sure knowledge that -all he can say must fall so infinitely far below the daily happenings -which are, on the one hand, raising Humanity to a godlike altitude -or depressing it lower than the brutes. But, because these articles -are a simple record of what I have seen and what I have heard, they -may perhaps be of use in bringing out of the shadow--that awful -shadow of "usualness" into which they have fallen--many incidents that -would, before the war, have roused the world to wonder, to pity and to -infinite awe. - -Since the greater number of these articles was written, America has -thrown her might into the scale against merciless Barbarism and -Autocracy; at her entry into the drama there was joy in English -and French hearts, but, I venture to think, a much greater joy in -the hearts of all true Americans. I happened to be in Paris on the -memorable day America declared war, and I shall never forget the -deep-souled enthusiasm of the many Americans it was my privilege to -know there. America, the greatest democracy in the world, had at last -taken her stand on the side of Freedom, Justice and Humanity. - -As an Englishman, I love and am proud of my country, and, in the -years I spent in America, I saw with pain and deep regret the -misunderstanding that existed between these two great nations. In -America I beheld a people young, ardent, indomitable, full of the -unconquerable spirit of Youth, and I thought of that older country -across the seas, so little understanding and so little understood. - -And often I thought if it were only possible to work a miracle, if -it were only possible for the mists of jealousy and ill-feeling, of -rivalry and misconception to be swept away once and for all--if only -these two great nations could be bonded together by a common ideal, -heart to heart and hand to hand, for the good of Humanity, what -earthly power should ever be able to withstand their united strength. -In my soul I knew that the false teaching of history--that great -obstacle to the progress of the world--was one of the underlying causes -of the misunderstanding, but it was an American Ambassador who put this -into words. If, said he, America did not understand the aims and hopes -of Great Britain, _it was due to the text books of history used in -American schools_. - -To-day, America, through her fighting youth and manhood, will see -Englishmen as they are, and not as they have been represented. Surely -the time has come when we should try and appreciate each other at our -true worth. - -These are tragic times, sorrowful times, yet great and noble times, -for these are days of fiery ordeal whereby mean and petty things are -forgotten and the dross of unworthy things burned away. To-day the -two great Anglo-Saxon peoples stand united in a noble comradeship for -the good of the world and for those generations that are yet to be, -a comradeship which I, for one, do most sincerely hope and pray may -develop into a veritable brotherhood. One in blood are we, in speech, -and in ideals, and though sundered by generations of misunderstanding -and false teaching, to-day we stand, brothers-in-arms, fronting the -brute for the freedom of Humanity. - -Americans will die as Britons have died for this noble cause; Americans -will bleed as Britons have bled; American women will mourn as British -women have mourned these last terrible years; yet, in these deaths, -in this noble blood, in these tears of agony and bereavement, surely -the souls of these two great nations will draw near, each to each, and -understand at last. - -Here in a word is the fulfilment of the dream; that, by the united -effort, by the blood, by the suffering, by the heartbreak endured of -these two great English-speaking races, wars shall be made to cease in -all the world; that peace and happiness, truth and justice shall be -established among us for all generations, and that the united powers -of the Anglo-Saxon races shall be a bulwark behind which Mankind may -henceforth rest secure. - -Now, in the name of Humanity, I appeal to American and to Briton -to work for, strive, think and pray for this great and glorious -consummation. - - - - -II. - -CARTRIDGES. - - -At an uncomfortable hour I arrived at a certain bleak railway platform -and in due season, stepping into a train, was whirled away Northwards. -And as I journeyed, hearkening to the talk of my companions, men much -travelled and of many nationalities, my mind was agog for the marvels -and wonders I was to see in the workshops of Great Britain. Marvels and -wonders I was prepared for, and yet for once how far short of fact were -all my fancies! - -Britain has done great things in the past; she will, I pray, do even -greater in the future; but surely never have mortal eyes looked on an -effort so stupendous and determined as she is sustaining, and will -sustain, until this most bloody of wars is ended. - -The deathless glory of our troops, their blood and agony and scorn of -death have been made pegs on which to hang much indifferent writing and -more bad verse--there have been letters also, sheaves of them, in many -of which effusions one may discover a wondering surprise that our men -can actually and really fight, that Britain is still the Britain of -Drake and Frobisher and Grenville, of Nelson and Blake and Cochrane, -and that the same deathless spirit of heroic determination animates her -still. - -To-night, as I pen these lines, our armies are locked in desperate -battle, our guns are thundering on many fronts, but like an echo -to their roar, from mile upon mile of workshops and factories and -shipyards is rising the answering roar of machinery, the thunderous -crash of titanic hammers, the hellish rattle of riveters, the whining, -droning, shrieking of a myriad wheels where another vast army is -engaged night and day, as indomitable, as fierce of purpose as the army -beyond the narrow seas. - -I have beheld miles of workshops that stand where grass grew two short -years ago, wherein are bright-eyed English girls, Irish colleens and -Scots lassies by the ten thousand, whose dexterous fingers flash nimbly -to and fro, slender fingers, yet fingers contriving death. I have -wandered through a wilderness of whirring driving-belts and humming -wheels where men and women, with the same feverish activity, bend above -machines whose very hum sang to me of death while I have watched a -cartridge grow from a disc of metal to the hellish contrivance it is. - -And as I watched the busy scene it seemed an unnatural and awful thing -that women's hands should be busied thus, fashioning means for the -maiming and destruction of life--until, in a remote corner, I paused to -watch a woman whose dexterous fingers were fitting finished cartridges -into clips with wonderful celerity. A middle-aged woman, this, tall and -white-haired, who, at my remark, looked up with a bright smile, but -with eyes sombre and weary. - -"Yes, sir," she answered above the roar of machinery, "I had two boys -at the front, but--they're a-laying out there somewhere, killed by the -same shell. I've got a photo of their graves--very neat they look, -though bare, and I'll never be able to go and tend 'em, y'see--nor lay -a few flowers on 'em. So I'm doin' this instead--to help the other -lads. Yes, sir, my boys did their bit, and now they're gone their -mother's tryin' to do hers." - -Thus I stood and talked with this sad-eyed white-haired woman who had -cast off selfish grief to aid the Empire, and in her I saluted the -spirit of noble motherhood ere I turned and went my way. - -But now I woke to the fact that my companions had vanished utterly; -lost, but nothing abashed, I rambled on between long alleys of -clattering machines, which in their many functions seemed in -themselves almost human, pausing now and then to watch and wonder and -exchange a word with one or other of the many workers, until a kindly -works-manager found me and led me unerringly through that riotous -jungle of machinery. - -He brought me by devious ways to a place he called "holy ground"--long, -low outbuildings approached by narrow, wooden causeways, swept and -re-swept by men shod in felt--a place this, where no dust or grit -might be, for here was the magazine, with the filling sheds beyond. And -within these long sheds, each seated behind a screen, were women who -handled and cut deadly cordite into needful lengths as if it had been -so much ribbon, and always and everywhere the same dexterous speed. - -He led me, this soft-voiced, keen-eyed works-manager, through -well-fitted wards and dispensaries, redolent of clean, druggy smells -and the pervading odour of iodoform; he ushered me through dining halls -long and wide and lofty and lighted by many windows, where countless -dinners were served at a trifling cost per head; and so at last out -upon a pleasant green, beyond which rose the great gates where stood -the cars that were to bear my companions and myself upon our way. - -"They seem to work very hard!" said I, turning to glance back whence we -had come, "they seem very much in earnest." - -"Yes," said my companion, "every week we are turning out--" here he -named very many millions--"of cartridges." - -"To be sure they are earning good money!" said I thoughtfully. - -"More than many of them ever dreamed of earning," answered the -works-manager. "And yet--I don't know, but I don't think it is -altogether the money, somehow." - -"I'm glad to hear you say that--very glad!" said I, "because it is a -great thing to feel that they are working for the Britain that is, and -is to be." - - - - -III. - -RIFLES AND LEWIS GUNS. - - -A drive through a stately street where were shops which might rival -Bond Street, the Rue de la Paix, or Fifth Avenue for the richness and -variety of their contents; a street whose pavements were thronged -with well-dressed pedestrians and whose roadway was filled with motor -cars--vehicles, these, scornful of the petrol tax and such-like mundane -and vulgar restrictions--in fine, the street of a rich and thriving -city. - -But suddenly the stately thoroughfare had given place to a meaner -street, its princely shops had degenerated into blank walls or grimy -yards, on either hand rose tall chimney-stacks belching smoke, instead -of dashing motor cars, heavy wains and cumbrous wagons jogged by, in -place of the well-dressed throng were figures rough-clad and grimy -that hurried along the narrow sidewalks--but these rough-clad people -walked fast and purposefully. So we hummed along streets wide or narrow -but always grimy, until we were halted at a tall barrier by divers -policemen, who, having inspected our credentials, permitted us to pass -on to the factory, or series of factories, that stretched themselves -before us, building on building--block on block--a very town. - -Here we were introduced to various managers and heads of departments, -among whom was one in the uniform of a Captain of Engineers, under -whose capable wing I had the good fortune to come, for he, it seemed, -had lived among engines and machinery, had thought out and contrived -lethal weapons from his youth up, and therewith retained so kindly and -genial a personality as drew me irresistibly. Wherefore I gave myself -to his guidance, and he, chatting of books and literature and the like -trivialities, led me along corridors and passage ways to see the wonder -of the guns. And as we went, in the air about us was a stir, a hum that -grew and ever grew, until, passing a massive swing door there burst -upon us a rumble, a roar, a clashing din. - -We stood in a place of gloom lit by many fires, a vast place whose -roof was hid by blue vapour; all about us rose the dim forms of huge -stamps, whose thunderous stroke beat out a deep diapason to the -ring of countless hand-hammers. And, lighted by the sudden glare of -furnace-fires were figures, bare-armed, smoke-grimed, wild of aspect, -figures that whirled heavy sledges or worked the levers of the giant -steam-hammers, while here and there bars of iron new-glowing from the -furnace winked and twinkled in the gloom where those wild, half-naked -men-shapes flitted to and fro unheard amid the thunderous din. Awed and -half stunned, I stood viewing that never-to-be-forgotten scene until I -grew aware that the Captain was roaring in my ear. - -"Forge ... rifle barrels ... come and see and mind where you tread!" - -Treading as seemingly silent as those wild human shapes, that -straightened brawny backs to view me as I passed, that grinned in -the fire-glow and spoke one to another, words lost to my stunned -hearing, ere they bent to their labour again. Obediently I followed the -Captain's dim form until I was come where, bare-armed, leathern-aproned -and be-spectacled, stood one who seemed of some account among these -salamanders, who, nodding to certain words addressed to him by the -Captain, seized a pair of tongs, swung open a furnace door, and -plucking thence a glowing brand, whirled it with practised ease, and -setting it upon the dies beneath a huge steam-hammer, nodded his head. -Instantly that mighty engine fell to work, thumping and banging with -mighty strokes, and with each stroke that glowing steel bar changed and -changed, grew round, grew thin, hunched a shoulder here, showed a flat -there, until, lo! before my eyes was the shape of a rifle minus the -stock! Hereupon the be-spectacled salamander nodded again, the giant -hammer became immediately immobile, the glowing forging was set among -hundreds of others and a voice roared in my ear: - -"Two minutes ... this way." - -A door opens, closes, and we are in sunshine again, and the Captain is -smilingly reminiscent of books. - -"This is greater than books," said I. - -"Why, that depends," says he, "there are books and books ... this way!" - -Up a flight of stairs, through a doorway and I am in a shop where huge -machines grow small in perspective. And here I see the rough forging -pass through the many stages of trimming, milling, turning, boring, -rifling until comes the assembling, and I take up the finished rifle -ready for its final process--testing. So downstairs we go to the -testing sheds, wherefrom as we approach comes the sound of dire battle, -continuous reports, now in volleys, now in single sniping shots, or in -rapid succession. - -Inside, I breathe an air charged with burnt powder and behold in a -long row, many rifles mounted upon crutches, their muzzles levelled -at so many targets. Beside each rifle stand two men, one to sight and -correct, and one to fire and watch the effect of the shot by means of a -telescope fixed to hand. - -With the nearest of these men I incontinent fell into talk--a chatty -fellow this, who, busied with pliers adjusting the back-sight of a -rifle, talked to me of lines of sight and angles of deflection, his -remarks sharply punctuated by rifle-shots, that came now slowly, now in -twos and threes and now in rapid volleys. - -"Yes, sir," said he, busy pliers never still, "guns and rifles is very -like us--you and me, say. Some is just naturally good and some is worse -than bad--load up, George! A new rifle's like a kid--pretty sure to -fire a bit wide at first--not being used to it--we was all kids once, -sir, remember! But a bit of correction here an' there'll put that right -as a rule. On the other hand there's rifles as Old Nick himself nor -nobody else could make shoot straight--ready George? And it's just -the same with kids! Now, if you'll stick your eyes to that glass, and -watch the target, you'll see how near she'll come this time--all right, -George!" As he speaks the rifle speaks also, and observing the hit on -the target, I sing out: - -"Three o'clock!" - -Ensues more work with the pliers; George loads and fires and with one -eye still at the telescope I give him: - -"Five o'clock!" - -Another moment of adjusting, again the rifle cracks and this time I -announce: - -"A bull!" - -Hereupon my companion squints through the glass and nods: "Right-oh, -George!" says he, then, while George the silent stacks the tested -rifle with many others, he turns to me and nods, "Got 'im that time, -sir--pity it weren't a bloomin' Hun!" - -Here the patient Captain suggests we had better go, and unwillingly I -follow him out into the open and the sounds of battle die away behind -us. - -And now, as we walked, I learned some particulars of that terrible -device the Lewis gun; how that it could spout bullets at the rate -of 600 per minute; how, by varying pressures of the trigger, it -could be fired by single rounds or pour forth its entire magazine -in a continuous, shattering volley and how it weighed no more than -twenty-six pounds. - -"And here," said the Captain, opening a door and speaking in his -pleasant voice, much as though he were showing me some rare flowers, -"here is where they grow by the hundred, every week." - -And truly in hundreds they were, long rows of them standing very neatly -in racks, their walnut stocks heel by heel, their grim, blue muzzles -in long, serried ranks, very orderly and precise; and something in -their very orderliness endowed them with a certain individuality as -it were, it almost seemed to me that they were waiting, mustered and -ready, for that hour of ferocious roar and tumult when their voice -should be the voice of swift and terrible death. Now as I gazed upon -them, filled with these scarcely definable thoughts, I was startled by -a sudden shattering crash near by, a sound made up of many individual -reports, and swinging about, I espied a man seated upon a stool; a -plump, middle-aged, family sort of man, who sat upon his low stool, his -aproned knees set wide, as plump, middle-aged family men often do. As I -watched, Paterfamilias squinted along the sights of one of these guns -and once again came that shivering crash that is like nothing else I -ever heard. Him I approached and humbly ventured an awed question or -so, whereon he graciously beckoned me nearer, vacated his stool, and -motioning me to sit there, suggested I might try a shot at the target, -a far disc lighted by shaded electric bulbs. - -"She's fixed dead on!" he said, "and she's true--you can't miss. A -quick pull for single shots and a steady pressure for a volley." - -Hereupon I pressed the trigger, the gun stirred gently in its clamps, -the air throbbed, and a stream of ten bullets (the testing number) -plunged into the bull's-eye and all in the space of a moment. - -"There ain't a un'oly 'un of 'em all could say Hoch the Kaiser' with -them in his stomach," said Paterfamilias thoughtfully, laying a hand -upon the respectable stomach beneath his apron, "it's a gun, that is!" -And a gun it most assuredly is. - -I would have tarried longer with Paterfamilias, for in his own way, -he was as arresting as this terrible weapon--or nearly so--but the -Captain, gentle-voiced and serene as ever, suggested that my companions -had a train to catch, wherefore I reluctantly turned away. But as I -went, needs must I glance back at Paterfamilias, as comfortable as -ever where he sat, but with pudgy fingers on trigger grimly at work -again, and from him to the long, orderly rows of guns mustered in their -orderly ranks, awaiting their hour. - -We walked through shops where belts and pulleys and wheels and cogs -flapped and whirled and ground in ceaseless concert, shops where -files rasped and hammers rang, shops again where all seemed riot and -confusion at the first glance, but at a second showed itself ordered -confusion, as it were. And as we went, my Captain spoke of the hospital -bay, of wards and dispensary (lately enlarged) of sister and nurses -and the grand work they were doing among the employees other than -attending to their bodily ills; and talking thus, he brought me to -the place, a place of exquisite order and tidiness, yet where nurses, -blue-uniformed, in their white caps, cuffs and aprons, seemed to me -the neatest of all. And here I was introduced to Sister, capable, -strong, gentle-eyed, who told me something of her work--how many came -to her with wounds of soul as well as body; of griefs endured and -wrongs suffered by reason of pitiful lack of knowledge; of how she -was teaching them care and cleanliness of minds as well as bodies, -which is surely the most blessed heritage the unborn generations may -inherit. She told me of the patient bravery of the women, the chivalry -of grimy men, whose hurts may wait that others may be treated first. -So she talked and I listened until, perceiving the Captain somewhat -ostentatiously consulting his watch, I presently left that quiet haven -with its soft-treading ministering attendants. - -So we had tea and cigarettes, and when I eventually shook hands with my -Captain, I felt that I was parting with a friend. - -"And what struck you most particularly this afternoon?" enquired one of -my companions. - -"Well," said I, "it was either the Lewis gun or Paterfamilias the grim." - - - - -IV. - -CLYDEBANK. - - -Henceforth the word "Clydebank" will be associated in my mind with the -ceaseless ring and din of riveting-hammers, where, day by day, hour by -hour, a new fleet is growing, destroyers and torpedo-boats alongside -monstrous submarines--yonder looms the grim bulk of Super-dreadnought -or battle-cruiser or the slenderer shape of some huge liner. - -And with these vast shapes about me, what wonder that I stood awed -and silent at the stupendous sight. But, to my companion, a shortish, -thick-set man, with a masterful air and a bowler hat very much over -one eye, these marvels were an every day affair; and now, ducking -under a steel hawser, he led me on, dodging moving trucks, stepping -unconcernedly across the buffers of puffing engines, past titanic -cranes that swung giant arms high in the air; on we went, stepping over -chain cables, wire ropes, pulley-blocks and a thousand and one other -obstructions, on which I stumbled occasionally since my awed gaze was -turned upwards. And as we walked amid these awesome shapes, he talked, -I remember, of such futile things as--books. - -I beheld great ships well-nigh ready for launching: I stared up at -huge structures towering aloft, a wild complexity of steel joists -and girders, yet, in whose seeming confusion, the eye could detect -something of the mighty shape of the leviathan that was to be; even as -I looked, six feet or so of steel plating swung through the air, sank -into place, and immediately I was deafened by the hellish racket of the -riveting-hammers. - -" ... nothing like a good book and a pipe to go with it!" said my -companion between two bursts of hammering. - -"This is a huge ship!" said I, staring upward still. - -"H'm--fairish!" nodded my companion, scratching his square jaw and -letting his knowledgeful eyes rove to and fro over the vast bulk that -loomed above us. - -"Have you built them much bigger, then?" I enquired. - -My companion nodded and proceeded to tell me certain amazing facts -which the riotous riveting-hammers promptly censored in the following -remarkable fashion. - -"You should have seen the rat-rat-tat. We built her in exactly -nineteen months instead of two years and a half! Biggest battleship -afloat--two hundred feet longer than the rat-tat-tat--launched her last -rat-tat-tat--gone to rat-tat-tat-tat for her guns." - -"What size guns?" I shouted above the hammers. - -"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-inch!" he said, smiling grimly. - -"How much?" I yelled. - -"She has four rat-tat-tat-tat inch and twelve rattle-tattle inch -besides rat-tat-tat-tat!" he answered, nodding. - -"Really!" I roared, "if those guns are half as big as I think, the -Germans--" - -"The Germans--!" said he, and blew his nose. - -"How long did you say she was?" I hastened to ask as the hammers died -down a little. - -"Well, over all she measured exactly rat-tat feet. She was so big that -we had to pull down a corner of the building there, as you can see." - -"And what's her name?" - -"The rat-tat-tat, and she's the rattle-tattle of her class." - -"Are these hammers always quite so noisy, do you suppose?" I enquired, -a little hopelessly. - -"Oh, off and on!" he nodded, "Kick up a bit of a racket, don't they, -but you get used to it in time, I could hear a pin drop. Look! since -we've stood here they've got four more plates fixed--there goes the -fifth. This way!" - -Past the towering bows of future battleships he led me, over and under -more steel cables, until he paused to point towards an empty slip near -by. - -"That's where we built the Lusitania!" said he. "We thought she was -pretty big then--but now--!" he settled his hat a little further over -one eye with a knock on the crown. - -"Poor old Lusitania!" said I, "she'll never be forgotten." - -"Not while ships sail!" he answered, squaring his square jaw, "no, -she'll never be forgotten, nor the murderers who ended her!" - -"And they've struck a medal in commemoration," said I. - -"Medal!" said he, and blew his nose louder than before. "I fancy -they'll wish they could swallow that damn medal, one day. Poor old -Lusitania! You lose anyone aboard?" - -"I had some American friends aboard, but they escaped, thank -God--others weren't so fortunate." - -"No," he answered, turning away, "but America got quite angry--wrote -a note, remember? Over there's one of the latest submarines, Germany -can't touch her for speed and size, and better than that, she's got -rat-tat--" - -"I beg pardon?" I wailed, for the hammers were riotous again, "what has -she?" - -"She's got rat-tat forward and rat-tat aft, surface speed -rat-tat-tat knots, submerged rat-tat-tat, and then best of all she's -rattle-tattle-tattle. Yes, hammers are a bit noisy! This way. A -destroyer yonder--new class--rat-tat feet longer than ordinary. We -expect her to do rat-tat-tat knots and she'll mount rat-tat guns. -There are two of them in the basin yonder having their engines fitted, -turbines to give rat-tat-tat horse power. But come on, we'd better be -going or we shall lose the others of your party." - -"I should like to stay here a week," said I, tripping over a steel -hawser. - -"Say a month," he added, steadying me deftly. "You might begin to see -all we've been doing in a month. We've built twenty-nine ships of -different classes since the war began in this one yard, and we're going -on building till the war's over--and after that too. And this place is -only one of many. Which reminds me you're to go to another yard this -afternoon--we'd better hurry after the rest of your party or they'll be -waiting for you." - -"I'm afraid they generally are!" I sighed, as I turned and followed my -conductor through yawning doorways (built to admit a giant, it seemed) -into vast workshops whose lofty roofs were lost in haze. Here I saw -huge turbines and engines of monstrous shape in course of construction; -I beheld mighty propellers, with boilers and furnaces big as houses, -whose proportions were eloquent of the colossal ships that were to be. -But here indeed, all things were on a gigantic scale; ponderous lathes -were turning, mighty planing machines swung unceasing back and forth, -while other monsters bored and cut through steel plate as it had been -so much cardboard. - -"Good machines, these!" said my companion, patting one of these -monsters with familiar hand, "all made in Britain!" - -"Like the men!" I suggested. - -"The men," said he, "Humph! They haven't been giving much trouble -lately--touch wood!" - -"Perhaps they know Britain just now needs every man that is a man," I -suggested, "and someone has said that a man can fight as hard at home -here with a hammer as in France with a rifle." - -"Well, there's a lot of fighting going on here," nodded my companion, -"we're fighting night and day and we're fighting damned hard. And now -we'd better hurry, your party will be cursing you in chorus." - -"I'm afraid it has before now!" said I. - -So we hurried on, past shops whence came the roar of machinery, past -great basins wherein floated destroyers and torpedo-boats, past craft -of many kinds and fashions, ships built and building; on I hastened, -tripping over more cables, dodging from the buffers of snorting engines -and deafened again by the fearsome din of the riveting-hammers, until -I found my travelling companions assembled and ready to depart. -Scrambling hastily into the nearest motor-car I shook hands with this -shortish, broad-shouldered, square-jawed man and bared my head, for, -so far as these great works were concerned, he was in very truth a -superman. Thus I left him to oversee the building of these mighty -ships, which have been and will ever be the might of these small -islands. - -But, even as I went speeding through dark streets, in my ears, rising -high above the hum of our engine was the unceasing din, the remorseless -ring and clash of the riveting-hammers. - - - - -V. - -SHIPS IN MAKING. - - Build me straight. O worthy Master! - Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel, - That shall laugh at all disaster - And with wave and whirlwind wrestle! - --_Longfellow._ - - -He was an old man with that indefinable courtliness of bearing that is -of a past generation; tall and spare he was, his white head bowed a -little by weight of years, but almost with my first glance I seemed to -recognise him instinctively for that "worthy Master Builder of goodly -vessels staunch and strong!" So the Master Builder I will call him. - -He stood beside me at the window with one in the uniform of a naval -captain, and we looked, all three of us, at that which few might behold -unmoved. - -"She's a beauty!" said the Captain. "She's all speed and grace from -cutwater to sternpost." - -"I've been building ships for sixty-odd years and we never launched a -better!" said the Master Builder. - -As for me I was dumb. - -She lay within a stone's-throw, a mighty vessel, huge of beam and -length, her superstructure towering proudly aloft, her massive armoured -sides sweeping up in noble curves, a Super-Dreadnought complete from -trucks to keelson. Yacht-like she sat the water all buoyant grace from -lofty prow to tapering counter, and to me there was something sublime -in the grim and latent power, the strength and beauty of her. - -"But she's not so very--big, is she?" enquired a voice behind me. - -The Captain stared; the Master Builder smiled: - -"Fairly!" he nodded. "Why do you ask?" - -"Well, I usually reckon the size of a ship from the number of her -funnels, and--" - -"Ha!" exclaimed the Captain, explosively. - -"Humph!" said the Master Builder gently. "After luncheon you shall -measure her if you like, but now I think we will go and eat." - -During a most excellent luncheon the talk ranged from ships and books -and guns to submarines and seaplanes, with stories of battle and sudden -death, tales of risk and hardship, of noble courage and heroic deeds, -so that I almost forgot to eat and was sorry when at last we rose from -table. - -Once outside I had the good fortune to find myself between the Captain -and the venerable figure of the Master Builder, in whose company I -spent a never-to-be-forgotten afternoon. With them I stood alongside -this noble ship which, seen thus near, seemed mightier than ever. - -"Will she be fast?" I enquired. - -"Very fast--for a Dreadnought!" said the Captain. - -"And at top-speed she'll show no bow-wave to speak of," added the -veteran. "See how fine her lines are fore and aft." - -"And her gun power will be enormous!" said the Captain. - -Hard by I espied a solitary being, who stood, chin in hand, lost in -contemplation of this large vessel. - -"Funnels or not, she's bigger than you thought?" I enquired of him. - -He glanced at me, shook his head, sighed, and took himself by the chin -again. - -"Holy smoke!" said he. - -"And you have been building ships for sixty years?" I asked of the -venerable figure beside me. - -"And more!" he answered; "and my father built ships hereabouts so long -ago as 1820, and his grandfather before him." - -"Back to the times of Nelson and Rodney and Anson," said I, "great -seamen all who fought great ships! What would they think of this one, I -wonder?" - -"That she was a worthy successor," replied the Master Builder, letting -his eyes, so old and wise in ships, wander up and over the mighty -fabric before us. "Yes," he nodded decisively, "she's worthy--like the -men who will fight her one of these days." - -"But our enemies and some of our friends rather thought we had -degenerated these latter days," I suggested. - -"Ah, well!" said he very quietly, "they know better now, don't you -think?" - -"Yes," said I, and again, "Yes." - -"Slow starters always," continued he, musingly; "but the nation that -can match us in staying power has yet to be born!" - -So walking between these two I listened and looked and asked questions, -and of what I heard, and of what I saw I could write much; but for the -censor I might tell of armour-belts of enormous thickness, of guns -of stupendous calibre, of new methods of defence against sneaking -submarine and torpedo attack, and of devices new and strange; but of -these I may neither write nor speak, because of the aforesaid censor. -Suffice it that as the sun sank, we came, all three, to a jetty whereto -a steamboat lay moored, on whose limited deck were numerous figures, -divers of whom beckoned me on. - -So with hearty farewells, I stepped aboard the steamboat, whereupon -she snorted and fell suddenly a-quiver as she nosed out into the broad -stream while I stood to wave my hat in farewell. - -Side by side they stood, the Captain tall and broad and sailor-like in -his blue and gold--a man of action, bold of eye, hearty of voice, free -of gesture; the other, his silver hair agleam in the setting sun, a man -wise with years, gentle and calm-eyed, my Master Builder. Thus, as the -distance lengthened, I stood watching until presently they turned, side -by side, and so were gone. - -Slowly we steamed down the river, a drab, unlovely waterway, but a -wonderful river none the less, whose banks teem with workers where -ships are building--ships by the mile, by the league; ships of all -shapes and of all sizes, ships of all sorts and for many different -purposes. Here are great cargo-boats growing hour by hour with liners -great and small; here I saw mile on mile of battleships, cruisers, -destroyers and submarines of strange design with torpedo boats of -uncanny shape; tramp steamers, wind-jammers, squat colliers and -squatter tugs, these last surely the ugliest craft that ever wallowed -in water. Minelayers were here with minesweepers and hospital ships--a -heterogeneous collection of well-nigh every kind of ship that floats. - -Some lay finished and ready for launching, others, just begun, were -only a sketch--a hint of what soon would be a ship. - -On our right were ships, on our left were ships and more ships, a long -perspective; ships by the million tons--until my eyes grew a-weary of -ships and I went below. - -Truly a wonderful river, this, surely in its way the most wonderful -river eyes may see, a sight I shall never forget, a sight I shall -always associate with the stalwart figure of the Captain and the white -hair and venerable form of the Master Builder as they stood side by -side to wave adieu. - - - - -VI. - -THE BATTLE CRUISERS. - - -Beneath the shadow of a mighty bridge I stepped into a very smart -launch manned by sailors in overalls somewhat grimy, and, rising -and falling to the surge of the broad river, we held away for a -destroyer that lay grey and phantom-like, low, rakish, and with speed -in every line of her. As we drew near, her narrow deck looked to my -untutored eye a confused litter of guns, torpedo tubes, guy-ropes, -cables and windlasses. Howbeit, I clambered aboard, and ducking under -a guy-rope and avoiding sundry other obstructions, shook hands with -her commander, young, clear-eyed and cheery of mien, who presently -led me past a stumpy smoke-stack and up a perpendicular ladder to the -bridge where, beneath a somewhat flimsy-looking structure, was the -wheel, brass-bound and highly be-polished like all else about this -crowded craft as, notably, the binnacle and certain brass-bound dials, -on the faces whereof one might read such words as: Ahead, Astern, -Fast, Slow, etc. Forward of this was a platform, none too roomy, -where was a gun most carefully wrapped and swaddled in divers cloths, -tarpaulins, etc.--wrapped up with as much tender care as if it had -been a baby, and delicate at that. But, as the commander casually -informed me, they had been out patrolling all night and "it had blown a -little"--wherefore I surmised the cloths and tarpaulins aforesaid. - -"I should think," I ventured, observing her sharp lines and slender -build, "I should think she would roll rather frightfully when it does -blow a little?" - -"Well, she does a bit," he admitted, "but not so much--Starboard!" said -he, over his shoulder, to the bearded mariner at the wheel. "Take us -round by the _Tiger_." - -"Aye, aye, sir!" retorted the bearded one as we began to slide through -the water. - -"Yes, she's apt to roll a bit, perhaps, but she's not so bad," he -continued; "besides, you get used to it." - -Here he fell to scanning the haze ahead through a pair of binoculars, -a haze through which, as we gathered speed, ghostly shapes began to -loom, portentous shapes that grew and grew upon the sight, turret, -superstructure and embattled mast; here a mighty battle cruiser, -yonder a super-destroyer, one after another, quiet-seeming on this -autumn morning, and yet whose grim hulks held latent potentialities of -destruction and death, as many of them have proved but lately. - -As we passed those silent, monstrous shapes, the Commander named them -in turn, names which had been flashed round the earth not so long -ago, names which shall yet figure in the histories to come with -Grenville's _Revenge_, Drake's _Golden Hind_, Blake's _Triumph_, -Anson's _Centurion_, Nelson's _Victory_, and a score of other deathless -names--glorious names that make one proud to be of the race that manned -and fought them. - -Peacefully they rode at their moorings, the water lapping gently at -their steel sides, but, as we steamed past, on more than one of them, -and especially the grim _Tiger_, I saw the marks of the Jutland battle -in dinted plate, scarred funnel and superstructure, taken when for -hours on end the dauntless six withstood the might of the German fleet. - -So, as we advanced past these battle-scarred ships, I felt a sense of -awe, that indefinable uplift of soul one is conscious of when treading -with soft and reverent foot the dim aisles of some cathedral hallowed -by time and the dust of our noble dead. - -"This afternoon," said the Commander, offering me his cigarette case, -"they're going to show you over the _Warspite_--the German Navy have -sunk her so repeatedly, you know. There," he continued, nodding towards -a fleet of squat-looking vessels with stumpy masts, "those are the -auxiliaries--coal and oil and that sort of thing--ugly beggars, but -useful. How about a whisky and soda?" - -Following him down the perpendicular ladder, he brought me aft to a -hole in the deck, a small hole, a round hole into which he proceeded -to insert himself, first his long legs, then his broad shoulders, -evidently by an artifice learned of much practice. Finally his jauntily -be-capped head vanished, and thereafter from the deeps below his -cheery voice reached me. - -"I have whisky, sherry and rum--mind your head and take your choice!" - -I descended into a narrow chamber divided by a longish table and -flanked by berths with a chest of drawers beneath each. At the further -end of this somewhat small and dim apartment and northeasterly of the -table was a small be-polished stove wherein a fire burned; in a rack -against a bulkhead were some half-dozen rifles, above our head was a -rack for cutlasses, and upon the table was a decanter of whisky he -had unearthed from some mysterious recess, and he was very full of -apologies because the soda had run out. - -So we sat awhile and quaffed and talked, during which he showed me a -favourite rifle, small of bore but of high power and exquisite balance, -at sight of which I straightway broke the tenth commandment. He also -showed me a portrait of his wife (which I likewise admired) a picture -taken by himself and by him developed in some dark nook aboard. - -After this, our whisky being duly despatched, we crawled into the air -again, to find we were approaching a certain jetty. And now, in the -delicate manoeuvre of bringing to and making fast, my companions, -myself and all else were utterly forgotten, as with voice and hand he -issued order on order until, gently as a nesting bird the destroyer -came to her berth and was made fast. Hereupon, having shaken hands all -round, he handed us over to other naval men as cheery as he, who in -due season brought us to the depôt ship, where luncheon awaited us. - -I have dined in many places and have eaten with many different folk, -but never have I enjoyed a meal more than this, perhaps because of -the padre who presided at my end of the table. A manly cleric this, -bright-eyed, resolute of jaw but humorous of mouth, whose white choker -did but seem to offset the virility of him. A man, I judged, who -preached little and did much--a sailor's padre in very truth. - -He told me how, but for an accident, he would have sailed with Admiral -Cradock on his last, ill-fated cruise, where so many died that Right -and Justice might endure. - -"Poor chaps!" said I. - -"Yes," said he, gently, "and yet it is surely a noble thing to--die -greatly!" - -And surely, surely for all those who in cause so just have met Death -unflinching and unafraid, who have taken hold upon that which we call -Life and carried it through and beyond the portals of Death into a -sphere of nobler and greater living--surely to such as these strong -souls the Empire they served so nobly and loved so truly will one day -enshrine them, their memory and deeds, on the brightest, most glorious -page of her history, which shall be a monument more enduring than brass -or stone, a monument that shall never pass away. - -So we talked of ships and the sea and of men until, aware that the -company had risen, we rose also, and donning hats and coats, set -forth, talking still. Together we paced beside docks and along piers -that stretched away by the mile, massive structures of granite and -concrete, which had only come into being, so he told me, since the war. - -Side by side we ascended the broad gangway, and side by side we set -foot upon that battle-scarred deck whose timbers, here and there, -showed the whiter patches of newer wood. Here he turned to give me -his hand, after first writing down name and address, and, with mutual -wishes of meeting again, went to his duties and left me to the wonders -of this great ship. - -Crossing the broad deck, more spacious it seemed than an ocean liner, I -came where my travelling companions were grouped about a grim memorial -of the Jutland battle, a huge projectile that had struck one of the -after turrets, in the doing of which it had transformed itself into -a great, convoluted disc, and was now mounted as a memento of that -tremendous day. - -And here it was I became acquainted with my Midshipmite, who looked -like an angel of sixteen, bore himself like a veteran, and spoke (when -his shyness had worn off a little) like a British fighting man. - -To him I preferred the request that he would pilot me over this -great vessel, which he (blushing a little) very readily agreed to -do. Thereafter, in his wake, I ascended stairways, climbed ladders, -wriggled through narrow spaces, writhed round awkward corners, up and -ever up. - -"It's rather awkward, I'm afraid, sir," said he in his gentle voice, -hanging from an iron ladder with one hand and a foot, the better to -address me. "You see, we never bring visitors this way as a rule--" - -"Good!" said I, crushing my hat on firmer. "The unbeaten track for -me--lead on!" - -Onward and upward he led until all at once we reached a narrow -platform, railed round and hung about with plaited rope screens which -he called splinter-mats, over which I had a view of land and water, of -ships and basins, of miles of causeways and piers, none of which had -been in existence before the war. And immediately below me, far, far -down, was the broad white sweep of deck, with the forward turrets where -were housed the great guns whose grim muzzles stared patiently upwards, -nuzzling the air almost as though scenting another battle. - -And standing in this coign of vantage, in my mind's eye I saw this -mighty vessel as she had been, the heave of the fathomless sea below, -the whirling battle-smoke about her, the air full of the crashing -thunder of her guns as she quivered 'neath their discharge. I heard the -humming drone of shells coming from afar, a hum that grew to a wail--a -shriek--and the sickening crash as they smote her or threw up great -water-spouts high as her lofty fighting-tops; I seemed to hear through -it all the ring of electric bells from the various fire-controls, and -voices calm and all unshaken by the hellish din uttering commands down -the many speaking-tubes. - -"And you," said I, turning to the youthful figure beside me, "you were -in the battle?" - -He blushingly admitted that he was. - -"And how did you feel?" - -He wrinkled his smooth brow and laughed a little shyly. - -"Really I--I hardly know, sir." - -I asked him if at such times one was not inclined to feel a trifle -shaken, a little nervous, or, might one say, afraid? - -"Yes, sir," he agreed politely, "I suppose so--only, you see, we were -all too jolly busy to think about it!" - -"Oh!" said I, taking out a cigarette, "too busy! Of course! I see! And -where is the Captain during action, as a rule?" - -"As a matter of fact he stood--just where you are, sir. Stood there the -whole six hours it was hottest." - -"Here!" I exclaimed. "But it is quite exposed." - -My Midshipmite, being a hardy veteran in world-shaking naval battles, -permitted himself to smile. - -"But, you see, sir," he gently explained, "it's really far safer out -here than being shut up in a gun-turret or--or down below, on account -of er--er--you understand, sir?" - -"Oh, quite!" said I, and thereafter thought awhile, and, receiving -his ready permission, lighted my cigarette. "I think," said I, as we -prepared to descend from our lofty perch, "I'm sure it's just--er--that -kind of thing that brought one Francis Drake out of so very many tight -corners. By the way--do you smoke?" - -My Midshipmite blushingly confessed he did, and helped himself from my -case with self-conscious fingers. - -Reaching the main deck in due season, I found I had contrived to miss -the Chief Gunner's lecture on the great guns, whereupon who so agitated -and bitterly apologetic as my Midshipmite, who there and then ushered -me hastily down more awkward stairs and through narrow openings into -a place of glistening, gleaming polish and furbishment where, beside -the shining breech of a monster gun, muscular arm negligently leaning -thereon, stood a round-headed, broad-shouldered man, he the presiding -genius of this (as I afterwards found) most sacred place. - -His lecture was ended and he was addressing a few well-chosen closing -remarks in slightly bored fashion (he had showed off his ponderous -playthings to divers kings, potentates and big-wigs at home and abroad, -I learned) when I, though properly awed by the gun but more especially -by the gunner, ventured to suggest that a gun that had been through -three engagements and had been fired so frequently must necessarily -show some signs of wear. The gunner glanced at me, and I shall never -forget that look. With his eyes on mine, he touched a lever in -negligent fashion, whereon silently the great breech slipped away with -a hiss and whistle of air, and with his gaze always fixed he suggested -I might glance down the bore. - -Obediently I stooped, whereon he spake on this wise: - -"If you cast your heyes to the right abaft the breech you'll observe -slight darkening of riflin's. Now glancin' t' left of piece you'll -per-ceive slight darkening of riflin's. Now casting your heyes right -forrard you'll re-mark slight roughening of riflin's towards muzzle of -piece and--there y'are, sir. One hundred and twenty-seven times she's -been fired by my 'and and good for as many more--both of us. Arternoon, -gentlemen, and--thank ye!" - -Saying which he touched a lever in the same negligent fashion, the -mighty breech-block slid back into place, and I walked forth humbly -into the outer air. - -Here I took leave of my Midshipmite, who stood among a crowd of his -fellows to watch me down the gang-plank, and I followed whither I -was led very full of thought as well I might be, until rousing, I -found myself on the deck of that famous _Warspite_, which our foes -are so comfortably certain lies a shattered wreck off Jutland. Here I -presently fell to discourse with a tall lieutenant, with whom I went -alow and aloft; he showed me cockpit, infirmary and engine-room; he -showed me the wonder of her steering apparatus, and pointed to the -small hand-wheel in the bowels of this huge ship whereby she had been -steered limping into port. He directed my gaze also to divers vast -shell-holes and rents in her steel sides, now very neatly mended by -steel plates held in place by many large bolts. Wherever we went were -sailors, by the hundred it seemed, and yet I was struck by the size -and airy spaciousness between decks. - -"The strange thing about the Hun," said my companion, as we mounted -upward again, "is that he is so amazingly accurate with his big guns. -Anyway, as we steamed into range he registered direct hits time after -time, and his misses were so close the spray was flying all over us. -Yes, Fritz is wonderfully accurate, but"--here my companion paused to -flick some dust from his braided cuff--"but when we began to knock him -about a bit it was funny how it rattled him--quite funny, you know. -His shots got wider and wider, until they were falling pretty well a -mile wide--very funny!" and the lieutenant smiled dreamily. "Fritz will -shoot magnificently if you only won't shoot back. But really I don't -blame him for thinking he'd sunk us; you see, there were six of 'em -potting away at us at one time--couldn't see us for spray--" - -"And how did you feel just then?" I enquired. - -"Oh, rotten! You see I'd jammed my finger in some tackle for one thing, -and just then the light failed us. We'd have bagged the lot if the -light had held a little longer. But next time--who knows? Care for a -cup of tea?" - -"Thanks!" I answered. "But where are the others?" - -"Oh, by Jove! I fancy your party's gone--I'll see!" - -This proving indeed the case, I perforce took my leave, and with a -midshipman to guide me, presently stepped aboard a boat which bore us -back beneath the shadow of that mighty bridge stark against the evening -sky. - -Riding citywards through the deepening twilight I bethought me of the -Midshipmite who, amid the roar and tumult of grim battle had been "too -busy" to be afraid; of the round-headed gunner who, like his gun, was -ready and eager for more, and of the tall lieutenant who, with death in -many awful shapes shrieking and crashing about him, felt "rotten" by -reason of a bruised finger and failing light. - -And hereupon I felt proud that I, too, was a Briton, of the same breed -as these mighty ships and the splendid fellows who man them--these -Keepers of the Seas, who in battle as in tempest do their duty unseen, -unheard, because it is their duty. - -Therefore, all who are so blest as to live within these isles take -comfort and courage from this--that despite raging tempest and -desperate battle, we, trusting in the justice of our cause, in these -iron men and mighty ships, may rest secure, since truly worthy are -these, both ships and men, of the glorious traditions of the world's -most glorious navy. - -But, as they do their duty by Britain and the Empire, let it be our -inestimable privilege as fellow Britons to do our duty as nobly both to -the Empire and--to them. - - - - -VII. - -A HOSPITAL. - - -The departure platform of a great station (for such as have eyes to -see) is always a sad place, but now-a-days it is a place of tragedy. - -He was tall and thin--a boyish figure--and his khaki-clad arm was close -about her slender form. The hour was early and their corner bleak and -deserted, thus few were by to heed his stiff-lipped, agonised smile and -the passionate clasp of her hands, or to hear her heartbreaking sobs -and his brave words of comfort; and I, shivering in the early morning -wind, hasted on, awed by a grief that made the grey world greyer. - -Very soon London was behind us, and we were whirling through a -country-side wreathed in mist wherein I seemed to see a girl's tear-wet -cheeks and a boy's lips that smiled so valiantly for all their pitiful -quiver; thus I answered my companion somewhat at random and the -waiter's proffer of breakfast was an insult. And, as I stared out at -misty trees and hedgerow I began as it were to sense a grimness in the -very air--the million-sided tragedy of war; behind me the weeping girl, -before me and looming nearer with every mile, the Somme battle-front. - -At a table hard by a group of clear-eyed subalterns were chatting and -laughing over breakfast, and in their merriment I, too, rejoiced. Yet -the grimness was with me still as we rocked and swayed through the -wreathing mist. - -But trains, even on a foggy morning, have a way of getting there at -last, so, in due season, were docks and more docks, with the funnels -of ships, and beyond these, misty shapes upon a misty sea, the gaunt -outlines of destroyers that were to convoy us Francewards. Hereupon my -companion, K., a hardened traveller, inured to customs, passports and -the like noxious things, led me through a jostling throng, his long -legs striding rapidly when they found occasion, past rank upon rank -of soldiers returning to duty, very neat and orderly, and looking, I -thought, a little grim. - -Presently the warps were cast off and very soon we were in the lift and -roll of the Channel; the white cliffs slowly faded, the wind freshened, -and I, observing that everyone had donned life-belts, forthwith girded -on one of the clumsy contrivances also. - -In mid-channel it blew hard and the destroyers seemed to be making -heavy weather of it, now lost in spray, now showing a glistening height -of free-board, and, as I watched, remembering why they were there, my -cumbrous life-belt grew suddenly very comfortable. - -Came a growing density on the horizon, a blue streak that slowly and -little by little grew into roofs, chimneys, docks and shipping, and -France was before us, and it was with almost reverent hands that I -laid aside my clumsy cork jacket and was presently on French soil. -And yet, except for a few chattering porters, the air rang with good -English voices hailing each other in cheery greetings, and khaki was -everywhere. But now, as I followed my companion's long legs past these -serried, dun-coloured ranks, it seemed to me that they held themselves -straighter and looked a little more grim even than they had done in -England. - -I stood, lost in the busy scene before me, when, hearing K.'s voice, I -turned to be introduced to Captain R., tall, bright-eyed, immaculate, -and very much master of himself and circumstances it seemed, for, -despite crowded customs-office, he whisked us through and thence before -sundry officials, who glared at me and my passport, signed, stamped, -returned it and permitted me to go. - -After luncheon we drove to a great base hospital where I was introduced -to the Colonel-Surgeon in charge, a quiet man, who took us readily -under his able guidance. And indeed a huge place was this, a place for -me of awe and wonder, the more so as I learned that the greater part of -it had come into being within one short year. - -It lies beside the sea, this hospital, where clean winds blow, its neat -roadways are bordered by green lawns and flanked by long, low buildings -that reach away in far perspective, buildings of corrugated iron, of -wood and asbestos, a very city, but one where there is no riot and rush -of traffic, truly a city of peace and brooding quietude. - -And as I looked upon this silent city, my awe grew, for the Colonel, -in his gentle voice, spoke of death and wounds, of shell-shock, -nerve-wrack and insanity; but he told also of wonderful cures, of -miracles performed on those that should have died, and of reason and -sanity won back. - -"And you?" I questioned, "have you done many such wonders?" - -"Few!" he answered, and sighed. "You see, my duties now are chiefly -administrative," and he seemed gently grieved that it should be so. - -He brought us into wards, long, airy and many-windowed, places of -exquisite neatness and order, where calm-faced sisters were busied -and smart, soft-treading orderlies came and went. Here in white cots -lay many bandaged forms, some who, propped on pillows, watched us -bright-eyed and nodded in cheery greeting; others who lay so ominously -still. - -But as I passed between the long rows of cots, I was struck with the -look of utter peace and content on so many of the faces and wondered, -until, remembering the hell whence they had so lately come, I thought I -understood. Thus, bethinking me of how these dire hurts had been come -by, I took off my hat, and trod between these beds of silent suffering -as softly as I could, for these men had surely come "out of great -tribulation." - -In another ward I saw numbers of German wounded, most of them bearded; -many there were who seemed weakly and undersized, and among them were -many grey heads, a very motley company. These, the Colonel informed -us, received precisely the same treatment as our own wounded, even to -tobacco and cigarettes. - -We followed our soft-voiced conductor through many other wards where -he showed us strange and wondrous devices in splints; he halted us -by hanging beds of weird shape and cots that swung on pulleys; he -descanted on wounds to flesh and bone and brain, of lives snatched -from the grip of Death by the marvels of up-to-date surgery, and as I -listened to his pleasant voice I sensed much of the grim wonders he -left untold. We visited X-ray rooms and operating theatre against whose -walls were glass cases filled with a multitudinous array of instruments -for the saving of life, and here it was I learned that in certain -cases, a chisel, properly handled, was a far more delicate tool than -the finest saw. - -"A wonderful place," said I for the hundredth time as we stepped out -upon a trim, green lawn. The Colonel-Surgeon smiled. - -"It took some planning," he admitted, "a little while ago it was a -sandy wilderness." - -"But these lawns?" I demurred. - -"Came to me of their own accord," he answered. "At least, the seed did, -washed ashore from a wreck, so I had it planted and it has done rather -well. Now, what else can I show you? It would take all the afternoon -to visit every ward, and they are all much alike--but there is the mad -ward if you'd care to see that? This way." - -A strange place, this, divided into compartments or cubicles where were -many patients in the familiar blue overalls, most of whom rose and -stood at attention as we entered. Tall, soldierly figures they seemed, -and yet with an indefinable something in their looks--a vagueness of -gaze, a loose-lipped, too-ready smile, a vacancy of expression. Some -there were who scowled sullenly enough, others who sat crouched apart, -solitary souls, who, I learned, felt themselves outcast; others again -crouched in corners haunted by the dread of a pursuing vengeance always -at hand. - -One such the Colonel accosted, asking what was wrong. The man looked -up, looked down and muttered unintelligibly, whereupon the Sister spoke. - -"He believes that everyone thinks him a spy," she explained, and -touched the man's bowed head with a hand as gentle as her voice. - -"Shell-shock is a strange thing," said the Colonel-Surgeon, "and -affects men in many extraordinary ways, but seldom permanently." - -"You mean that those poor fellows will recover?" I asked. - -"Quite ninety per cent," he answered in his quiet, assured voice. - -I was shown over laundries complete in every detail; I walked -through clothing stores where, in a single day, six hundred men had -been equipped from head to foot; I beheld large machines for the -sterilisation of garments foul with the grime of battle and other -things. - -Truly, here, within the hospital that had grown, mushroom-like, within -the wild, was everything for the alleviation of hurts and suffering -more awful than our fighting ancestors ever had to endure. Presently -I left this place, but now, although a clean, fresh wind blew and the -setting sun peeped out, the world somehow seemed a grimmer place than -ever. - -In the Dark Ages, humanity endured much of sin and shame and suffering, -but never such as in this age of Reason and Culture. This same earth -has known evils of every kind, has heard the screams of outraged -innocence, the groan of tortured flesh, and has reddened beneath the -heel of Tyranny; this same sun has seen the smoke and ravishment of -cities and been darkened by the hateful mists of war--but never such -a war as this of cultured barbarity with all its new devilishness. -Shell-shock and insanity, poison-gas and slow strangulation, liquid -fire and poison shells. Rape, Murder, Robbery, Piracy, Slavery--each -and every crime is here--never has humanity endured all these horrors -together until now. - -But remembering by whose will these evils have been loosed upon the -world, remembering the innocent blood, the bitter tears, the agony of -soul and heartbreak, I am persuaded that Retribution must follow as -sure as to-morrow's dawn. The evil that men do lives after them and -lives on for ever. - -Should they, who have worked for and planned this misery, escape the -ephemeral justice of man, there is yet the inexorable tribunal of the -Hereafter, which no transgressor, small or great, humble or mighty, may -in any wise escape. - - - - -VIII. - -THE GUNS. - - -A fine, brisk morning; a long, tree-bordered road dappled with fugitive -sunbeams, making a glory of puddles that leapt in shimmering spray -beneath our flying wheels. A long, straight road that ran on and on -unswerving, uphill and down, beneath tall, straight trees that flitted -past in never-ending procession, and beyond these a rolling, desolate -countryside of blue hills and dusky woods; and in the air from beyond -this wide horizon a sound that rose above the wind-gusts and the noise -of our going, a faint whisper that seemed in the air close about us -and yet to be of the vague distances, a whisper of sound, a stammering -murmur, now rising, now falling, but never quite lost. - -In rain-sodden fields to right and left were many figures bent -in diligent labour, men in weather-worn, grey-blue uniforms and -knee-boots, while on the roadside were men who lounged, or sat smoking -cigarettes, rifle across knees and wicked-looking bayonets agleam, -wherefore these many German prisoners toiled with the unremitting -diligence aforesaid. - -The road surface improving somewhat we went at speed and, as we lurched -and swayed, the long, straight road grew less deserted. Here and there -transport lorries by ones and twos, then whole convoys drawn up beside -the road, often axle deep in mud, or lumbering heavily onwards; and -ever as we went that ominous, stammering murmur beyond the horizon grew -louder and more distinct. - -On we went, through scattered villages alive with khaki-clad figures -with morions cocked at every conceivable angle, past leafy lanes bright -with the wink of long bayonets; through country towns, whose wide -squares and narrow, old-world streets rang with the ordered tramp of -feet, the stamp of horses and rumble of gun-wheels, where ruddy English -faces turned to stare and broad khaki backs swung easily beneath their -many accoutrements. And in street and square and by-street, always and -ever was that murmurous stammer of sound more ominous and threatening, -yet which nobody seemed to heed--not even K., my companion, who puffed -his cigarette and "was glad it had stopped raining." - -So, picking our way through streets athrong with British faces, dodging -guns and limbers, wagons and carts of all descriptions, we came out -upon the open road again. And now, there being no surface at all to -speak of, we perforce went slow, and I watched where, just in front, -a string of lorries lumbered heavily along, pitching and rolling very -much like boats in a choppy sea. - -Presently we halted to let a column go by, officers a-horse and a-foot -with the long files behind, but all alike splashed and spattered with -mud. Men, these, who carried their rifles anyhow, who tramped along, -rank upon rank, weary men, who showed among them here and there grim -evidence of battle--rain-sodden men with hair that clung to muddy brows -beneath the sloping brims of muddy helmets; men who tramped ankle-deep -in mud and who sang and whistled blithe as birds. So they splashed -wearily through the mud, upborne in their fatigue by that indomitable -spirit that has always made the Briton the fighting man he is. - -At second speed we toiled along again behind the lorries who were -making as bad weather of it as ever, when all at once I caught my -breath, hearkening to the far, faint skirling of Highland bagpipes, -and, leaning from the car, saw before us a company of Highlanders, -their mud-splashed knees a-swing together, their khaki kilts swaying -in rhythm, their long bayonets a-twinkle, while down the wind came the -regular tramp of their felt and the wild, frenzied wailing of their -pipes. Soon we were up with them, bronzed, stalwart figures, grim -fighters from muddy spatterdashes to steel helmets, beneath which eyes -turned to stare at us--eyes blue and merry, eyes dark and sombre--as -they swung along to the lilting music of the pipes. - -At the rear the stretcher-bearers marched, the rolled-up stretchers -upon their shoulders; but even so, by various dark stains and marks -upon that dingy canvas, I knew that here was a company that had done -and endured much. Close by me was a man whose hairy knee was black with -dried blood--to him I tentatively proffered my cigarette case. - -"Wull ye hae one the noo?" I questioned. For a moment he eyed me a -trifle dour and askance, then he smiled (a grave Scots smile). - -"Thank ye, I wull that!" said he, and extracted the cigarette with -muddy fingers. - -"Ye'll hae a sore leg, I'm thinking!" said I. - -"Ou aye," he admitted with the same grave smile, "but it's no sae -muckle as a' that--juist a wee bit skelpit I--" - -Our car moved forward, gathered speed, and we bumped and swayed on our -way; the bagpipes shrieked and wailed, grew plaintively soft, and were -drowned and lost in that other sound which was a murmur no longer, but -a rolling, distant thunder, with occasional moments of silence. - -"Ah, the guns at last!" said I. - -"Yes," nodded K., lighting another cigarette, "I've been listening to -them for the last hour." - -Here my friend F., who happened to be the Intelligence Officer in -charge, leaned forward to say: - -"I'm afraid we can't get into Beaumont Hamel, the Boches are strafing -it rather, this morning, but we'll go as near as we can get, and then -on to what was La Boiselle. We shall leave the car soon, so better get -into your tin hats." Forthwith I buckled on one of the morions we had -brought for the purpose and very uncomfortable I found it. Having made -it fairly secure, I turned, grinning furtively, to behold K.'s classic -features crowned with his outlandish-seeming headgear, and presently -caught him grinning furtively at mine. - -"They're not so heavy as I expected," said I. - -"About half a pound," he suggested. - -Pulling up at a shell shattered village we left the car and trudged -along a shell-torn road, along a battered and rusty railway line, and -presently struck into a desolate waste intersected by sparse hedgerows, -and with here and there desolate, leafless trees, many of which, in -shattered trunk and broken bough, showed grim traces of what had been; -and ever as we advanced these ugly scars grew more frequent, and we -were continually dodging sullen pools that were the work of bursting -shells. And then it began to rain again. - -On we went, splashing through puddles, slipping in mud, and ever as we -went my boots and my uncomfortable helmet grew heavier and heavier, -while in the heaven above, in the earth below and in the air about -us was the quiver and thunder of unseen guns. As we stumbled through -the muddy desolation I beheld wretched hovels wherein khaki-clad -forms moved, and from one of these damp and dismal structures a merry -whistling issued, with hoarse laughter. - -On we tramped, through rain and mud, which, like my helmet, seemed to -grow momentarily heavier. - -"K.," said I, as he floundered into a shell-hole, "about how heavy did -you say these helmets were?" - -"About a pound!" said he, fierce-eyed. "Confound the mud!" - -Away to our left and high in air a puff of smoke appeared, a -pearl-grey, fleecy cloud, and as I, unsuspecting, watched it writhe -into fantastic shapes, my ears were smitten with a deafening report, -and instinctively I ducked. - -"Shrapnel!" said F., waving his hand in airy introduction. "They're -searching the road yonder I expect--ah, there goes another! Yes, -they're trying the road yonder--but here's the trench--in with you!" - -I am free to confess that I entered that trench precipitately--so -hurriedly, in fact, that my helmet fell off, and, as I replaced it, I -was not sorry to see that this trench was very deep and narrow. As we -progressed, very slowly by reason of clinging mud, F. informed us that -this trench had been our old front line before we took Beaumont Hamel; -and I noticed many things, as, clips of cartridges, unexploded bombs, -Lewis gun magazines, parts of a broken machine gun, and various odds -and ends of accoutrements. In some places this trench had fallen in -because of rain and other things and was almost impassable, wherefore, -after much floundering and splashing, F. suggested we should climb out -again, which we did forthwith, very moist and muddy. - -And thus at last I looked at that wide stretch of country across which -our men had advanced unshaken and undismayed, through a hell the like -of which the world had never known before; and, as I stood there, I -could almost see those long, advancing waves of khaki-clad figures, -their ranks swept by the fire of countless rifles and machine guns, -pounded by high explosives, blasted by withering shrapnel, lost in the -swirling death-mist of poison-gas--heroic ranks which, rent asunder, -shattered, torn, yet swung steadily on through smoke and flame, -unflinching and unafraid. As if to make the picture more real, came the -thunderous crash of a shell behind us, but this time I forgot to duck. - -Far in front of us I saw a huge puff of smoke, and as it thinned out -beheld clouds of earth and broken beams that seemed to hang suspended a -moment ere they fell and vanished. After a moment was another puff of -smoke further to our right, and beyond this another, and again, beyond -this, another. - -"A battery of heavies," said F. - -Even as he spoke the four puffs burst forth again and upon exactly the -same ground. - -At this juncture a head appeared over the parapet behind us and after -some talk with F., came one who tendered us a pair of binoculars, by -whose aid I made out the British new line of trenches which had once -been German. So I stood, dry-mouthed, to watch the burst of those huge -shells exploding upon our British line. Fascinated, I stared until F.'s -hand on my arm aroused me, and returning the glasses with a hazy word -of thanks I followed my companions, though often turning to watch the -shooting which now I thought much too good. - -And now we were traversing the great battlefield where, not long since, -so many of our bravest had fallen that Britain might still be Britain. -Even yet, upon its torn and trampled surface I could read something of -the fight--here a broken shoulder belt, there a cartridge-pouch, yonder -a stained and tattered coat, while everywhere lay bombs, English and -German. - -"If you want to see La Boiselle properly we must hurry!" said F., and -off he went at the double with K.'s long legs striding beside him, but, -as for me, I must needs turn for one last look where those deadly smoke -puffs came and went with such awful regularity. - -The rain had stopped, but it was three damp and mud-spattered wretches -who clambered back into the waiting car. - -"K.," said I, as we removed our cumbrous headgear, "about how much do -you suppose these things weigh?" - -"Fully a ton!" he answered, jerking his cap over his eyes and -scowlingly accepting a cigarette. - -Very soon the shattered village was far behind and we were threading -a devious course between huge steam-tractors, guns, motor-lorries and -more guns. We passed soldiers a-horse and a-foot and long strings of -ambulance cars; to right and left of the road were artillery parks and -great camps, that stretched away into the distance. Here also were vast -numbers of the ubiquitous motor-lorry with many three-wheeled tractors -for the big guns. We sped past hundreds of horses picketed in long -lines; past countless tents smeared crazily in various coloured paints; -past huts little and huts big; past swamps knee-deep in mud where muddy -men were taking down or setting up other tents. On we sped through all -the confused order of a mighty army, until, chancing to raise my eyes -aloft, I beheld a huge balloon, which, as I watched, mounted up and up -into the air. - -"One of our sausages!" said F., gloved hand waving. "Plenty of 'em -round here--see, there's another in that cloud, and beyond it, another." - -So for awhile I rode with my eyes turned upwards, and thus I presently -saw far ahead many aeroplanes that flew in strange, zig-zag fashion, -now swooping low, now climbing high, now twisting and turning giddily. - -"Some of our 'planes under fire!" said F., "you can see the shrapnel -bursting all around 'em--there's the smoke--we call 'em woolly bears. -Won't see any Boche 'planes, though--rather not!" - -Amidst all these wonders and marvels our fleet car sped on, jolting and -lurching violently over ruts, pot-holes and the like until we came to -a part of the road where many men were engaged with pick and shovel; -and here, on either side of the highway, I noticed many grim-looking -heaps and mounds--ugly, shapeless dumps, depressing in their very -hideousness. Beside one such unlovely dump our car pulled up, and F., -gloved finger pointing, announced: - -"The Church of La Boiselle. That heap you see yonder was once the -Mairie, and beyond, the schoolhouse. The others were houses and -cottages. Oh, La Boiselle was quite a pretty place once. We get out -here to visit the guns--this way." - -Obediently I followed whither he led, nothing speaking, for surely -here was matter beyond words. Leaving the road, we floundered over what -seemed like ash heaps, but which had once been German trenches faced -and reinforced by concrete and steel plates. Many of these last lay -here and there, awfully bent and twisted, but of trenches I saw none -save a few yards here and there half filled with indescribable débris. -It was, indeed, a place of horror--a frightful desolation beyond all -words. Everywhere about us were signs of dreadful death--they came to -one in the very air, in lowering heaven and tortured earth. Far as -the eye could reach the ground was pitted with great shell holes, so -close that they broke into one another and formed horrid pools full of -shapeless things within the slime. - -Across this hellish waste I went cautiously by reason of torn and -twisted tangles of German barbed wire, of hand grenades and huge -shells, of broken and rusty iron and steel that once were deadly -machine-guns. As I picked my way among all this flotsam, I turned to -take up a bayonet, slipped in the slime and sank to my waist in a shell -hole--even then I didn't touch bottom, but scrambled out, all grey mud -from waist down--but I had the bayonet. - -It was in this woeful state that I shook hands with the Major of -the battery. And as we stood upon that awful waste, he chattered, I -remember, of books. Then, side by side, we came to the battery--four -mighty howitzers, that crashed and roared and shook the very earth with -each discharge, and whose shells roared through the air with the rush -of a dozen express trains. - -Following the Major's directing finger, I fixed my gaze some distance -above the muzzle of the nearest gun and, marvel of marvels, beheld -that dire messenger of death and destruction rush forth, soaring, upon -its way, up and up, until it was lost in cloud. Time after time I saw -the huge shells leap sky-wards and vanish on their long journey, and -stood thus lost in wonder, and as I watched I could not but remark on -the speed and dexterity with which the crews handled these monstrous -engines. - -"Yes," nodded the Major, "strange thing is that a year ago they -_weren't_, you know--guns weren't in existence and the men weren't -gunners--clerks an' all that sort of thing, you know--civilians, what?" - -"They're pretty good gunners now--judging by effect!" said I, nodding -towards the abomination of desolation that had once been a village. - -"Rather!" nodded the Major, cheerily, "used to think it took three long -years to make a gunner once--do it in six short months now! Pretty good -going for old England, what? How about a cup of tea in my dug-out?" - -But evening was approaching, and having far to go we had perforce to -refuse his hospitality and bid him a reluctant good-bye. - -"Don't forget to take a peep at the mine-craters," said he, and waving -a cheery adieu, vanished into his dug-out. - -Ten minutes walk along the road, and before us rose a jagged mount, and -beyond it another, uncanny hills, seared and cracked and sinister, up -whose steep slopes I scrambled and into whose yawning depths I gazed -in awestruck wonder; so deep, so wide and huge of circumference, it -seemed rather the result of some titanic convulsion of nature than the -handiwork of man. - -I could imagine the cataclysmic roar of the explosion, the smoke and -flame of the mighty upheaval and war found for me yet another horror -as I turned and descended the precipitous slope. Now, as I went, I -stumbled over a small mound, then halted all at once, for at one end of -this was a very small cross, rudely constructed and painted white, and -tacked to this a strip of lettered tin, bearing a name and number, and -beneath these the words, "One of the best." So I took off my hat and -stood awhile beside that lonely mound of muddy earth ere I went my way. - -Slowly our car lurched onward through the waste, and presently on -either side the way I saw other such mounds and crosses, by twos -and threes, by fifties, by hundreds, in long rows beyond count. And -looking around me on this dreary desolation I knew that one day (since -nothing dies) upon this place of horror grass would grow and flowers -bloom again; along this now desolate and deserted road people would -come by the thousand; these humble crosses and mounds of muddy earth -would become to all Britons a holy place where so many of our best and -bravest lie, who, undismayed, have passed through the portals of Death -into the fuller, greater, nobler living. - -Full of such thoughts I turned for one last look, and then I saw that -the setting sun had turned each one of these humble little crosses into -things of shining glory. - - - - -IX. - -A TRAINING CAMP. - - -The great training camp lay, a rain-lashed wilderness of windy levels -and bleak, sandy hills, range upon range, far as the eye could see, -with never a living thing to break the monotony. But presently, as our -car lurched and splashed upon its way, there rose a sound that grew and -grew, the awesome sound of countless marching feet. - -On they came, these marching men, until we could see them by the -hundred, by the thousand, their serried ranks stretching away and -away until they were lost in distance. Scots were here, Lowland and -Highland; English and Irish were here, with bronzed New Zealanders, -adventurous Canadians and hardy Australians; men, these, who had come -joyfully across half the world to fight, and, if need be, die for those -ideals which have made the Empire assuredly the greatest and mightiest -this world has ever known. And as I listened to the rhythmic tramp of -these countless feet, it seemed like the voice of this vast Empire -proclaiming to the world that Wrong and Injustice must cease among the -nations; that man, after all, despite all the "Frightfulness" that -warped intelligence may conceive, is yet faithful to the highest in -him, faithful to that deathless, purposeful determination that Right -shall endure, the abiding belief of which has brought him through the -dark ages, through blood and misery and shame, on his progress ever -upward. - -So, while these men of the Empire tramped past through blinding rain -and wind, our car stopped before a row of low-lying wooden buildings, -whence presently issued a tall man in rain-sodden trench cap and -burberry, who looked at me with a pair of very dark, bright eyes and -gripped my hand in hearty clasp. - -He was apologetic because of the rain, since, as he informed us, he had -just ordered all men to their quarters, and thus I should see nothing -doing in the training line; nevertheless he cheerfully offered to show -us over the camp, despite mud and wind and rain, and to explain things -as fully as he could; whereupon we as cheerfully accepted. - -The wind whistled about us, the rain pelted us, but the Major heeded it -nothing--neither did I--while K. loudly congratulated himself on having -come in waders and waterproof hat, as, through mud and mire, through -puddles and clogging sand, we followed the Major's long boots, crossing -bare plateaux, climbing precipitous slopes, leaping trenches, slipping -and stumbling, while ever the Major talked, wherefore I heeded not wind -or rain, for the Major talked well. - -He descanted on the new and horribly vicious methods of bayonet -fighting--the quick thrust and lightning recovery; struggling with me -upon a sandy, rain-swept height, he showed me how, in wrestling for -your opponent's rifle, the bayonet is the thing. He halted us before -devilish contrivances of barbed wire, each different from the other, -but each just as ugly. He made us peep through loopholes, each and -every different from the other, yet each and every skilfully hidden -from an enemy's observation. We stood beside trenches of every shape -and kind while he pointed out their good and bad points; he brought us -to a place where dummy figures had been set up, their rags a-flutter, -forlorn objects in the rain. - -"Here," said he, "is where we teach 'em to throw live bombs--you can -see where they've been exploding; dummies look a bit off-colour, don't -they?" And he pointed to the ragged scarecrows with his whip. "You -know, I suppose," he continued, "that a Mills' bomb is quite safe until -you take out the pin, and then it is quite safe as long as you hold it, -but the moment it is loosed the lever flies off, which releases the -firing lever and in a few seconds it explodes. It is surprising how -men vary, some are born bombers, some soon learn, but some couldn't be -bombers if they tried--not that they're cowards, it's just a case of -mentality. I've seen men take hold of a bomb, pull out the pin, and -then stand with the thing clutched in their fingers, absolutely unable -to move! And there they'd stand till Lord knows when if the sergeant -didn't take it from them. I remember a queer case once. We were saving -the pins to rig up dummy bombs, and the order was: 'Take the bomb in -your right hand, remove the pin, put the pin in your pocket, and at the -word of command, throw the bomb.' Well, this particular fellow was so -wrought up that he threw away the pin and put the bomb in his pocket!" - -"Was he killed?" I asked. - -"No. The sergeant just had time to dig the thing out of the man's -pocket and throw it away. Bomb exploded in the air and knocked 'em both -flat." - -"Did the sergeant get the V.C. or M.C. or anything?" I enquired. - -The Major smiled and shook his head. - -"I have a good many sergeants here and they can't all have 'em! Now -come and see my lecture theatres." - -Presently, looming through the rain, I saw huge circular structures -that I could make nothing of, until, entering the larger of the -two, I stopped in surprise, for I looked down into a huge, circular -amphitheatre, with circular rows of seats descending tier below tier to -a circular floor of sand, very firm and hard. - -"All made out of empty oil cans!" said the Major, tapping the nearest -can with his whip. "I have 'em filled with sand and stacked as -you see!--good many thousands of 'em here. Find it good for sound -too--shout and try! This place holds about five thousand men--" - -"Whose wonderful idea was this?" - -"Oh, just a little wheeze of my own. Now, how about the poison gas; -feel like going through it?" - -I glanced at K., K. glanced at me. I nodded, so did K. - -"Certainly!" said I. Wherefore the Major led us over sandy hills and -along sandy valleys and so to a dingy and weather-worn hut, in whose -dingy interior we found a bright-faced subaltern in dingy uniform -and surrounded by many dingy boxes and a heterogeneous collection of -things. The subaltern was busy at work on a bomb with a penknife, while -at his elbow stood a sergeant grasping a screwdriver, who, perceiving -the Major, came to attention, while the cheery sub. rose, beaming. - -"Can you give us some gas?" enquired the Major, after we had been -introduced, and had shaken hands. - -"Certainly, sir!" nodded the cheerful sub. "Delighted!" - -"You might explain something about it, if you will," suggested the -Major. "Bombs and gas is your line, you know." - -The sub. beamed, and giving certain directions to his sergeant, spake -something on this wise. - -"Well, 'Frightful Fritz'--I mean the Boches y'know, started bein' -frightful some time ago, y'know--playin' their little tricks with gas -an' tear-shells an' liquid fire an' that, and we left 'em to it. Y'see, -it wasn't cricket--wasn't playin' the game--what! But Fritz kept at -it and was happy as a bird, till one day we woke up an' started bein' -frightful too, only when we did begin we were frightfuller than ever -Fritz thought of bein'--yes, rather! Our gas is more deadly, our -lachrymatory shells are more lachrymose an' our liquid fire's quite -top-hole--won't go out till it burns out--rather not! So Frightful -Fritz is licked at his own dirty game. I've tried his and I've tried -ours, an' I know." - -Here the sergeant murmured deferentially into the sub.'s ear, whereupon -he beamed again and nodded. - -"Everything's quite ready!" he announced, "so if you're on?" - -Here, after a momentary hesitation, I signified I was, whereupon our -sub. grew immensely busy testing sundry ugly, grey flannel gas helmets, -fitted with staring eyepieces of talc and with a hideous snout in front. - -Having duly fitted on these clumsy things and buttoned them well under -our coat collars, having shown us how we must breathe out through the -mouthpiece which acts as a kind of exhaust, our sub. donned his own -headpiece, through which his cheery voice reached me in muffled tones: - -"You'll feel a kind of ticklin' feelin' in the throat at first, but -that's all O.K.--only the chemical the flannel's saturated with. Now -follow me, please, an' would you mind runnin', the rain's apt to weaken -the solution. This way!" - -Dutifully we hasted after him, ploughing through the wet sand, -until we came to a heavily timbered doorway that seemingly opened -into the hillside, and, beyond this yawning doorway I saw a thick, -greenish-yellow mist, a fog exactly the colour of strong absinthe; and -then we were in it. K.'s tall figure grew blurred, indistinct, faded -utterly away, and I was alone amid that awful, swirling vapour that -held death in such agonising form. - -I will confess I was not happy, my throat was tickling provokingly, -I began to cough and my windpipe felt too small. I hastened forward, -but, even as I went, the light grew dimmer and the swirling fog more -dense. I groped blindly, began to run, stumbled, and in that moment my -hand came in contact with an unseen rope. On I went into gloom, into -blackness, until I was presently aware of my companions in front and -mightily glad of it. In a while, still following this invisible rope, -we turned a corner, the fog grew less opaque, thinned away to a green -mist, and we were out in the daylight again, and thankful was I to whip -off my stifling helmet and feel the clean wind in my hair and the beat -of rain upon my face. - -"Notice the ticklin' feelin'?" enquired our sub., as he took our -helmets and put them carefully by. "Bit tryin' at first, but you soon -get used to it--yes, rather. Some of the men funk tryin' at first--and -some hold their breath until they fairly well burst, an' some won't go -in at all, so we carry 'em in. That gas you've tried is about twenty -times stronger than we get it in the open, but these helmets are a -rippin' dodge till the chemical evaporates, then, of course, they're no -earthly. This is the latest device--quite a top-hole scheme!" And he -showed us a box-like contrivance which, when in use, is slung round the -neck. - -"Are you often in the gas?" I enquired. - -"Every day--yes, rather!" - -"For how long?" - -"Well, I stayed in once for five hours on end--" - -"Five hours!" I exclaimed, aghast. - -"Y'see, I was experimentin'!" - -"And didn't you feel any bad effects?" - -"Yes, rather! I was simply dyin' for a smoke. Like to try a -lachrymatory?" he enquired, reaching up to a certain dingy box. - -"Yes," said I, glancing at K. "Oh, yes, if--" - -"Only smart for the time bein'," our sub. assured me. "Make you weep a -bit!" Here from the dingy box he fished a particularly vicious-looking -bomb and fell to poking at it with a screwdriver. I immediately stepped -back. So did K. The Major pulled his moustache and flicked a chunk of -mud from his boot with his whip. - -"Er--I suppose that thing's all right?" he enquired. - -"Oh, yes, quite all right, sir, quite all right," nodded the sub., -using the screwdriver as a hammer. "Only wants a little fixin'." - -As I watched that deadly thing, for the second time I felt distinctly -unhappy; however, the refractory pin, or whatever it was, being fixed -to his satisfaction, our sub. led the way out of the dingy hut and -going some few paces ahead, paused. - -"I'm goin' to give you a liquid-fire bomb first!" said he. "Watch!" - -He drew back his hand and hurled the bomb. Almost immediately there -was a shattering report and the air was full of thick, grey smoke and -yellow flame, smoke that rolled heavily along the ground towards us, -flame that burned ever fiercer, fiery yellow tongues that leapt from -the sand here and there, that writhed in the wind-gusts, but never -diminished. - -"Stoop down!" cried the sub., suiting the action to word, "stoop down -and get a mouthful of that smoke--makes you jolly sick and unconscious -in no time if you get enough of it. Top-hole bomb, that--what!" - -Then he brought us where those yellow flames leapt and hissed; some of -these he covered with wet sand, and lo! they had ceased to be; but the -moment the sand was kicked away up they leapt again fiercer than ever. - -"We use 'em for bombing Boche dug-outs now!" said he; and remembering -the dug-outs I had seen, I could picture the awful fate of those -within, the choking fumes, the fire-scorched bodies! Truly the -exponents of Frightfulness have felt the recoil of their own vile -methods. - -"This is a lachrymatory!" said the sub., whisking another bomb from his -pocket. "When it pops, run forward and get in the smoke. It'll sting -a bit, but don't rub the tears away--let 'em flow. Don't touch your -eyes, it'll only inflame 'em--just weep! Ready? One, two, three!" A -second explosion louder than the first, a puff of blue smoke into which -I presently ran and then uttered a cry. So sharp, so excruciating was -the pain, that instinctively I raised hand to eyes but checked myself, -and with tears gushing over my cheeks, blind and agonised, I stumbled -away from that hellish vapour. Very soon the pain diminished, was gone, -and looking up through streaming tears I beheld the sub. nodding and -beaming approval. - -"Useful things, eh?" he remarked, "A man can't shed tears and -shoot straight, an' he can't weep and fight well, both at the same -time--what? Fritz can be very frightful, but we can be more so when we -want--yes, rather. The Boches have learned that there's no monopoly in -Frightfulness." - -In due season we shook hands with our cheery sub., and left him beaming -after us from the threshold of the dingy hut. - -Britain has been called slow, old-fashioned, and behind the times, but -to-day she is awake and at work to such mighty purpose that her once -small army is now numbered by the million, an army second to none in -equipment or hardy and dauntless manhood. - -From her Home Counties, from her Empire beyond the Seas, her millions -have arisen, brothers in arms henceforth, bonded together by a spirit -of noble self-sacrifice--men grimly determined to suffer wounds and -hardship and death itself, that for those who come after them, the -world may be a better place and humanity may never again be called upon -to endure all the agony and heartbreak of this generation. - - - - -X. - -ARRAS. - - -It was raining, and a chilly wind blew as we passed beneath a battered -arch into the tragic desolation of Arras. - -I have seen villages pounded by gun-fire into hideous mounds of dust -and rubble, their very semblance blasted utterly away; but Arras, -shell-torn, scarred, disfigured for all time, is a city still--a City -of Desolation. Her streets lie empty and silent, her once pleasant -squares are a dreary desolation, her noble buildings, monuments of her -ancient splendour, are ruined beyond repair. Arras is a dead city, -whose mournful silence is broken only by the intermittent thunder of -the guns. - -Thus, as I paced these deserted streets where none moved save myself -(for my companions had hastened on), as I gazed on ruined buildings -that echoed mournfully to my tread, what wonder that my thoughts were -gloomy as the day itself? I paused in a street of fair, tall houses, -from whose broken windows curtains of lace, of plush, and tapestry -flapped mournfully in the chill November wind like rags upon a corpse, -while from some dim interior came the hollow rattle of a door, and, in -every gust, a swinging shutter groaned despairingly on rusty hinge. - -And as I stood in this narrow street, littered with the brick and -masonry of desolate homes, and listened to these mournful sounds, I -wondered vaguely what had become of all those for whom this door had -been wont to open, where now the eyes that had looked down from these -windows many and many a time--would they ever behold again this quiet, -narrow street, would these scarred walls echo again to those same -voices and ring with joy of life and familiar laughter? - -And now this desolate city became as it were peopled with the souls of -these exiles, they flitted ghostlike in the dimness behind flapping -curtains, they peered down through closed jalousies--wraiths of the men -and women and children who had lived and loved and played here before -the curse of the barbarian had driven them away. - -And, as if to help this illusion, I saw many things that were eloquent -of these vanished people--glimpses through shattered windows and beyond -demolished house-fronts; here a table set for dinner, with plates and -tarnished cutlery on a dingy cloth that stirred damp and lazily in the -wind, yonder a grand piano, open and with sodden music drooping from -its rest; here again chairs drawn cosily together. - -Wherever I looked were evidences of arrested life, of action suddenly -stayed; in one bedroom a trunk open, with a pile of articles beside -it in the act of being packed; in another, a great bed, its sheets -and blankets tossed askew by hands wild with haste; while in a room -lined with bookcases a deep armchair was drawn up to the hearth, with -a small table whereon stood a decanter and a half-emptied glass, and -an open book whose damp leaves stirred in the wind, now and then, as -if touched by phantom fingers. Indeed, more than once I marvelled to -see how, amid the awful wreckage of broken floors and tumbled ceilings, -delicate vases and chinaware had miraculously escaped destruction. Upon -one cracked wall a large mirror reflected the ruin of a massive carved -sideboard, while in another house, hard by, a magnificent ivory and -ebony crucifix yet hung above an awful twisted thing that had been a -brass bedstead. - -Here and there, on either side this narrow street, ugly gaps showed -where houses had once stood, comfortable homes, now only unsightly -heaps of rubbish, a confusion of broken beams and rafters, amid which -divers familiar objects obtruded themselves, broken chairs and tables, -a grandfather clock, and a shattered piano whose melody was silenced -for ever. - -Through all these gloomy relics of a vanished people I went slow-footed -and heedless of direction, until by chance I came out into the wide -Place and saw before me all that remained of the stately building which -for centuries had been the Hotel de Ville, now nothing but a crumbling -ruin of noble arch and massive tower; even so, in shattered facade and -mullioned window one might yet see something of that beauty which had -made it famous. - -Oblivious of driving rain I stood bethinking me of this ancient city: -how in the dark ages it had endured the horrors of battle and siege, -had fronted the catapults of Rome, heard the fierce shouts of barbarian -assailants, known the merciless savagery of religious wars, and -remained a city still only for the cultured barbarian of to-day to make -of it a desolation. - -Very full of thought I turned away, but, as I crossed the desolate -square, I was aroused by a voice that hailed me, seemingly from beneath -my feet, a voice that echoed eerily in that silent Place. Glancing -about I beheld a beshawled head that rose above the littered pavement, -and, as I stared, the head nodded and, smiling wanly, accosted me again. - -Coming thither I looked into a square opening with a flight of steps -leading down into a subterranean chamber, and, upon these steps a woman -sat knitting busily. She enquired if I wished to view the catacombs, -and pointed where a lamp burned above another opening and other steps -descended lower yet, seemingly into the very bowels of the earth. To -her I explained that my time was limited and all I wished to see lay -above ground, and from her I learned that some few people yet remained -in ruined Arras, who, even as she, lived underground, since every day -at irregular intervals the enemy fired into the town haphazard. Only -that very morning, she told me, another shell had struck the poor Hotel -de Ville, and she pointed to a new, white scar upon the shapeless -tower. She also showed me an ugly rent upon a certain wall near by, -made by the shell which had killed her husband. Yes, she lived all -alone now, she told me, waiting for that good day when the Boches -should be driven beyond the Rhine, waiting until the townsfolk should -come back and Arras wake to life again: meantime she knitted. - -Presently I saluted this solitary woman, and, turning away, left -her amid the desolate ruin of that once busy square, her beshawled -head bowed above feverishly busy fingers, left her as I had found -her--waiting. - -And now as I traversed those deserted streets it seemed that this -seemingly dead city did but swoon after all, despite its many grievous -wounds, for here was life even as the woman had said; evidences of -which I saw here and there, in battered stovepipes that had writhed -themselves snake-like through rusty cellar gratings and holes in wall -or pavement, miserable contrivances at best, whose fumes blackened the -walls whereto they clung. Still, nowhere was there sound or sight of -folk save in one small back street, where, in a shop that apparently -sold everything, from pickles to picture postcards, two British -soldiers were buying a pair of braces from a smiling, haggard-eyed -woman, and being extremely polite about it in cryptic Anglo-French; -and here I foregathered with my companions. Our way led us through -the railway station, a much-battered ruin, its clock tower half gone, -its platforms cracked and splintered, the iron girders of its great, -domed roof bent and twisted, and with never a sheet of glass anywhere. -Between the rusty tracks grass and weeds grew and flourished, and the -few waybills and excursion placards which still showed here and there -looked unutterably forlorn. In the booking office was a confusion -of broken desks, stools and overthrown chairs, the floor littered -with sodden books and ledgers, but the racks still held thousands of -tickets, bearing so many names they might have taken anyone anywhere -throughout fair France once, but now, it seemed, would never take -anyone anywhere. - -All at once, through the battered swing-doors, marched a company of -soldiers, the tramp of their feet and the lilt of their voices filling -the place with strange echoes, for, being wet and weary and British, -they sang cheerily. Packs a-swing, rifles on shoulder, they tramped -through shell-torn waiting-room and booking-hall and out again into -wind and wet, and I remember the burden of their chanting was: "Smile! -Smile! Smile!" - -In a little while I stood amid the ruins of the great cathedral; its -mighty pillars, chipped and scarred, yet rose high in air, but its long -aisles were choked with rubble and fallen masonry, while through the -gaping rents of its lofty roof the rain fell, wetting the shattered -heap of particoloured marble that had been the high altar once. Here -and there, half buried in the débris at my feet, I saw fragments of -memorial tablets, a battered corona, the twisted remains of a great -candelabrum, and over and through this mournful ruin a cold and rising -wind moaned fitfully. Silently we clambered back over the mountain of -débris and hurried on, heedless of the devastation around, heartsick -with the gross barbarity of it all. - -They tell me that churches and cathedrals must of necessity be -destroyed since they generally serve as observation posts. But I have -seen many ruined churches--usually beautified by Time and hallowed by -tradition--that by reason of site and position could never have been so -misused--and then there is the beautiful Chateau d'Eau! - -Evening was falling, and as the shadows stole upon this silent city, -a gloom unrelieved by any homely twinkle of light, these dreadful -streets, these stricken homes took on an aspect more sinister and -forbidding in the half-light. Behind those flapping curtains were pits -of gloom full of unimagined terrors whence came unearthly sounds, -stealthy rustlings, groans and sighs and sobbing voices. If ghosts did -flit behind those crumbling walls, surely they were very sad and woeful -ghosts. - -"Damn this rain!" murmured K., gently. - -"And the wind!" said F., pulling up his collar. "Listen to it! It's -going to play the very deuce with these broken roofs and things if it -blows hard. Going to be a beastly night, and a forty-mile drive in -front of us. Listen to that wind! Come on--let's get away!" - -Very soon, buried in warm rugs, we sped across dim squares, past -wind-swept ruins, under battered arch, and the dismal city was behind -us, but, for a while, her ghosts seemed all about us still. - -As we plunged on through the gathering dark, past rows of trees that -leapt at us and were gone, it seemed to me that the soul of Arras -was typified in that patient, solitary woman who sat amid desolate -ruin--waiting for the great Day; and surely her patience cannot go -unrewarded. For since science has proved that nothing can be utterly -destroyed, since I for one am convinced that the soul of man through -death is but translated into a fuller and more infinite living, so do I -think that one day the woes of Arras shall be done away, and she shall -rise again, a City greater perhaps and fairer than she was. - - - - -XI. - -THE BATTLEFIELDS. - - -To all who sit immune, far removed from war and all its horrors, to -those to whom when Death comes, he comes in shape as gentle as he -may--to all such I dedicate these tales of the front. - -How many stories of battlefields have been written of late, written to -be scanned hastily over the breakfast-table or comfortably lounged over -in an easy chair, stories warranted not to shock or disgust, wherein -the reader may learn of the glorious achievements of our armies, of -heroic deeds and noble self-sacrifice, so that frequently I have heard -it said that war, since it produces heroes, is a goodly thing, a -necessary thing. - -Can the average reader know or even faintly imagine the other side of -the picture? Surely not, for no clean human mind can compass all the -horror, all the brutal, grotesque obscenity of a modern battlefield. -Therefore I propose to write plainly, briefly, of that which I saw on -my last visit to the British front; for since in blood-sodden France -men are dying even as I pen these lines, it seems only just that -those of us for whom they are giving their lives should at least -know something of the manner of their dying. To this end I visited -four great battle-fields and I would that all such as cry up war, its -necessity, its inevitability, might have gone beside me. Though I have -sometimes written of war, yet I am one that hates war, one to whom the -sight of suffering and bloodshed cause physical pain, yet I forced -myself to tread those awful fields of death and agony, to look upon the -ghastly aftermath of modern battle, that, if it be possible, I might -by my testimony in some small way help those who know as little of war -as I did once, to realise the horror of it, that loathing it for the -hellish thing it is, they may, one and all, set their faces against war -henceforth, with an unshakeable determination that never again shall -it be permitted to maim, to destroy and blast out of being the noblest -works of God. - -What I write here I set down deliberately, with no idea of -phrase-making, of literary values or rounded periods; this is and shall -be a plain, trite statement of fact. - -And now, one and all, come with me in spirit, lend me your mind's eyes, -and see for yourselves something of what modern war really is. - -Behold then a stretch of country--a sea of mud far as the eye can -reach, a grim, desolate expanse, its surface ploughed and churned by -thousands of high-explosive shells into ugly holes and tortured heaps -like muddy waves struck motionless upon this muddy sea. The guns are -silent, the cheers and frenzied shouts, the screams and groans have -long died away, and no sound is heard save the noise of my own going. - -The sun shone palely and a fitful wind swept across the waste, a -noxious wind, cold and dank, that chilled me with a sudden dread even -while the sweat ran from me. I walked amid shell-craters, sometimes -knee-deep in mud, I stumbled over rifles half buried in the slime, on -muddy knapsacks, over muddy bags half full of rusty bombs, and so upon -the body of a dead German soldier. With arms wide-flung and writhen -legs grotesquely twisted he lay there beneath my boot, his head half -buried in the mud, even so I could see that the maggots had been busy, -though the -- had killed them where they clung. So there he lay, this -dead Boche, skull gleaming under shrunken scalp, an awful, eyeless -thing, that seemed to start, to stir and shiver as the cold wind -stirred his muddy clothing. Then nausea and a deadly faintness seized -me, but I shook it off, and shivering, sweating, forced myself to stoop -and touch that awful thing, and, with the touch, horror and faintness -passed, and in their place I felt a deep and passionate pity for all he -was a Boche, and with pity in my heart I turned and went my way. - -But now, wherever I looked were other shapes, that lay in attitudes -frightfully contorted, grotesque and awful. Here the battle had raged -desperately. I stood in a very charnel-house of dead. From a mound of -earth upflung by a bursting shell a clenched fist, weather-bleached and -pallid, seemed to threaten me; from another emerged a pair of crossed -legs with knees up-drawn, very like the legs of one who dozes gently on -a hot day. Hard by, a pair of German knee-boots topped a shell crater, -and drawing near, I saw the grey-green breeches, belt and pouches, and -beyond--nothing but unspeakable corruption. I started back in horror -and stepped on something that yielded underfoot--glanced down and saw a -bloated, discoloured face, that, even as I looked, vanished beneath my -boot and left a bare and grinning skull. - -Once again the faintness seized me, and lifting my head I stared round -about me and across the desolation of this hellish waste. Far in the -distance was the road where men moved to and fro, busy with picks and -shovels, and some sang and some whistled and never sound more welcome. -Here and there across these innumerable shell holes, solitary figures -moved, men, these, who walked heedfully and with heads down-bent. And -presently I moved on, but now, like these distant figures, I kept my -gaze upon that awful mud lest again I should trample heedlessly on -something that had once lived and loved and laughed. And they lay -everywhere, here stark and stiff, with no pitiful earth to hide their -awful corruption--here again, half buried in slimy mud; more than once -my nailed boot uncovered mouldering tunic or things more awful. And -as I trod this grisly place my pity grew, and with pity a profound -wonder that the world with its so many millions of reasoning minds -should permit such things to be, until I remembered that few, even -the most imaginative, could realise the true frightfulness of modern -men-butchering machinery, and my wonder changed to a passionate desire -that such things should be recorded and known, if only in some small -measure, wherefore it is I write these things. - -I wandered on past shell holes, some deep in slime, that held nameless -ghastly messes, some a-brim with bloody water, until I came where three -men lay side by side, their hands upon their levelled rifles. For a -moment I had the foolish thought that these men were weary and slept, -until, coming near, I saw that these had died by the same shell-burst. -Near them lay yet another shape, a mangled heap, one muddy hand yet -grasping muddy rifle, while, beneath the other lay the fragment of a -sodden letter--probably the last thing those dying eyes had looked upon. - -Death in horrible shape was all about me. I saw the work wrought by -shrapnel, by gas, and the mangled red havoc of high-explosive. It only -seemed unreal, like one that walked in a nightmare. Here and there upon -this sea of mud rose the twisted wreckage of aeroplanes, and from where -I stood I counted five, but as I tramped on and on these five grew to -nine. One of these lying upon my way I turned aside to glance at, and -stared through a tangle of wires into a pallid thing that had been a -face once comely and youthful; the leather jacket had been opened at -the neck for the identity disc as I suppose, and glancing lower I saw -that this leather jacket was discoloured, singed, burnt--and below -this, a charred and unrecognisable mass. - -Is there a man in the world to-day who, beholding such horrors, would -not strive with all his strength to so order things that the hell of -war should be made impossible henceforth? Therefore, I have recorded in -some part what I have seen of war. - -So now, all of you who read, I summon you in the name of our common -humanity, let us be up and doing. Americans--Anglo-Saxons, let our -common blood be a bond of brotherhood between us henceforth, a bond -indissoluble. As you have now entered the war, as you are now our -allies in deed as in spirit, let this alliance endure hereafter. -Already there is talk of some such League, which, in its might and -unity, shall secure humanity against any recurrence of the evils the -world now groans under. Here is a noble purpose, and I conceive it the -duty of each one of us, for the sake of those who shall come after, -that we should do something to further that which was once looked upon -as only an Utopian dream--the universal Brotherhood of Man. - - - "The flowers o' the forest are a' faded away." - - -Far and wide they lie, struck down in the flush of manhood, full of the -joyous, unconquerable spirit of youth. Who knows what noble ambitions -once were theirs, what splendid works they might not have wrought? Now -they lie, each poor, shattered body a mass of loathsome corruption. Yet -that diviner part, that no bullet may slay, no steel rend or mar, has -surely entered into the fuller living, for Death is but the gateway -into Life and infinite possibilities. - -But, upon all who sit immune, upon all whom as yet this bitter war -has left untouched, is the blood of these that died in the cause of -humanity, the cause of Freedom for us and the generations to come, this -blood is upon each one of us--consecrating us to the task they have -died to achieve, and it is our solemn duty to see that the wounds they -suffered, the deaths they died, have not been, and shall not be, in -vain. - - - - -XII. - -FLYING MEN. - - -A few short years ago flying was in its experimental stage; to-day, -though man's conquest of the air is yet a dream unrealised, it has -developed enormously and to an amazing degree; to-day, flying is -one of the chief factors of this world war, both on sea and land. -Upon the Western front alone there are thousands upon thousands of -aeroplanes--monoplanes and biplanes--of hundreds of different makes -and designs, of varying shapes and many sizes. I have seen giants -armed with batteries of swivel guns and others mounting veritable -cannon. Here are huge bomb-dropping machines with a vast wing-spread; -solid, steady-flying machines for photographic work, and the light, -swift-climbing, double-gunned battle-planes, capable of mounting two -thousand feet a minute and attaining a speed of two hundred kilometres. -Of these last they are building scores a week at a certain factory I -visited just outside Paris, and this factory is but one of many. But -the men (or rather, youths) who fly these aerial marvels--it is of -these rather than the machines that I would tell, since of the machines -I can describe little even if I would; but I have watched them -hovering unconcernedly (and quite contemptuous of the barking attention -of "Archie") above white shrapnel bursts--fleecy, innocent-seeming -puffs of smoke that go by the name of "woolly bears." I have seen them -turn and hover and swoop, swift and graceful as great eagles. I have -watched master-pilots of both armies, English and French, perform -soul-shaking gyrations high in air, feats quite impossible hitherto -and never attempted until lately. There is now a course of aerial -gymnastics which every flier must pass successfully before he may call -himself a "chasing" pilot; and, from what I have observed, it would -seem that to become a pilot one must be either all nerve or possess no -nerve at all. - -Conceive a biplane, thousands of feet aloft, suddenly flinging its nose -up and beginning to climb vertically as if intending to loop the loop; -conceive of its pausing suddenly and remaining, for perhaps a full -minute, poised thus upon its tail--absolutely perpendicular. Then, the -engines switched off, conceive of it falling helplessly, tail first, -reversing suddenly and plunging earthwards, spinning giddily round and -round very like the helpless flutter of a falling leaf. Then suddenly, -the engine roars again, the twisting, fluttering, dead thing becomes -instinct with life, rights itself majestically on flashing pinions, -swoops down in swift and headlong course, and, turning, mounts the wind -and soars up and up as light, as graceful, as any bird. - -Other nerve-shattering things they do, these soaring young demi-gods of -the air, feats so marvellous to such earth-bound ones as myself--feats -indeed so wildly daring it would seem no ordinary human could ever -hope to attain unto. But in and around Paris and at the front, I -have talked with, dined with, and known many of these bird-men, both -English, French and American, and have generally found them very human -indeed, often shy, generally simple and unaffected, and always modest -of their achievements and full of admiration for seamen and soldiers, -and heartily glad that their lives are not jeopardised aboard ships, -or submarines, or in muddy trenches; which sentiment I have heard -fervently expressed--not once, but many times. Surely the mentality of -the flier is beyond poor ordinary understanding! - -It was with some such thought in my mind that with my friend N., -a well-known American correspondent, I visited one of our flying -squadrons at the front. The day was dull and cloudy, and N., deep -versed and experienced in flying and matters pertaining thereto, shook -doubtful head. - -"We shan't see much to-day," he opined, "low visibility--_plafond_ only -about a thousand!" Which cryptic sentence, by dint of pertinacious -questioning, I found to mean that the clouds were about a thousand -feet from earth and that it was misty. "_Plafond_," by the way, -is aeronautic for cloud-strata. Thus I stood with my gaze lifted -heavenward until the Intelligence Officer joined us with a youthful -flight-captain, who, having shaken hands, looked up also and stroked a -small and very young moustache. And presently he spoke as nearly as I -remember on this wise:-- - -"About twelve hundred! Rather rotten weather for our -business--expecting some new machines over, too." - -"Has your squadron been out lately?" I enquired, (I have the gift of -inquiry largely developed). - -"Rather! Lost four of our chaps yesterday--'Archie' got 'em. Rotten bad -luck!" - -"Are they--hurt?" I asked. - -"Well, we know two are all right, and one we think is, but the -other--rather a pal of mine--" - -"Do you often lose fellows?" - -"Off and on--you see, we're a fighting squadron--must take a bit of -risk now and then--it's the game y'know!" - -He brought me where stood biplanes and monoplanes of all sizes and -designs, and paused beside a two-seater, gunned fore and aft, and with -ponderous wide-flung wings. - -"This," he explained, "is an old battle-plane, quite a veteran -too--jolly old 'bus in its way, but too slow, it's a 'pusher,' you see, -and 'tractors' are all the go. We're having some over to-day--top-hole -machines." Here ensued much technical discussion between him and N. as -to the relative merits of traction and propulsion. - -"Have you had many air duels?" I enquired at last, as we wandered on -through a maze of wheels and wings and propellers. - -"Oh, yes, one or two," he admitted, "though nothing very much!" he -hastened to add. "Some of our chaps are pretty hot stuff, though. -There's B. now, B.'s got nine so far." - -"An air fight must be rather terrible?" said I. - -"Oh, I don't know!" he demurred. "Gets a bit lively sometimes. C., one -of our chaps, had a near go coming home yesterday--attacked by five -Boche machines, well over their own territory, of course. They swooped -down on him out of a cloud. C. got one right away, but the others got -him--nearly. They shot his gear all to pieces and put his bally gun -out of commission--bullet clean through the tray. Rotten bad luck! So, -being at their mercy, C. pretended they'd got him--did a turn-over and -nose-dived through the clouds very nearly on two more Boche machines -that were waiting for him. So, thinking it was all up with him, C. -dived straight for the nearest, meaning to take a Boche down with him, -but Hans didn't think that was playing the game, and promptly hooked -it. The other fellow had been blazing away and was getting a new drum -fixed, when he saw C. was on his tail making tremendous business with -his useless gun, so Fritz immediately dived away out of range, and -C. got home with about fifty bullet holes in his wings and his gun -crocked, and--oh, here he is!" - -Flight-Lieutenant C. appeared, rather younger than his Captain, a long, -slender youth, with serious brow and thoughtful eyes, whom I forthwith -questioned as diplomatically as might be. - -"Oh, yes!" he answered, in response to my various queries, "it was -exciting for a minute or so, but I expect the Captain has been pulling -your leg no end. Yes, they smashed my gun. Yes, they hit pretty well -everything except me and my mascot--they didn't get that, by good luck. -No, I don't think a fellow would mind 'getting it' in the ordinary -way--a bullet, say. But it's the damned petrol catching alight and -burning one's legs." Here the speaker bent to survey his long legs -with serious eyes. "Burning isn't a very nice finish somehow. They -generally manage to chuck themselves out--when they can. Hello--here -comes one of our new machines--engine sounds nice and smooth!" said he, -cocking an ear. Sure enough, came a faint purr that grew to a hum, to -an ever-loudening drone, and out from the clouds an aeroplane appeared, -which, wheeling in graceful spirals, sank lower and lower, touched -earth, rose, touched again, and so, engine roaring, slid smoothly -toward us over the grass. Then appeared men in blue overalls, who -seized the gleaming monster in unawed, accustomed hands, steadied it, -swung it round, and halted it within speaking distance. - -Hereupon its leather-clad pilot climbed stiffly out, vituperated the -weather and lit a cigarette. - -"How is she?" enquired the Captain. - -"A lamb! A witch! Absolutely top hole when you get used to her." -The top-hole lamb and witch was a smallish biplane with no great -wing-spread, but powerfully engined, whose points N. explained to me -as--her speed, her climbing angle, her wonderful stability, etc., -while the Captain and Lieutenant hastened off to find the Major, who, -appearing in due course, proved to be slender, merry-eyed and more -youthful-looking than the Lieutenant. Indeed, so young-seeming was he -that upon better acquaintance I ventured to enquire his age, and he -somewhat unwillingly owned to twenty-three. - -"But," said he, "I'm afraid we can't show you very much, the weather's -so perfectly rotten for flying." - -"Oh, I don't know," said the Captain, glancing towards the witch-lamb, -"I rather thought I'd like to try this new machine--if you don't mind, -sir." - -"Same here," murmured the Lieutenant. - -"But you've never flown a Nieuport before, have you, eh?" enquired the -Major. - -"No, sir, but--" - -"Nor you either, C.?" - -"No, sir, still--" - -"Then I'll try her myself," said the Major, regarding the witch-lamb -joyous-eyed. - -"But," demurred the Captain, "I was rather under the impression you'd -never flown one either." - -"I haven't--yet," laughed the Major, and hasted away for his coat and -helmet. - -"Can you beat that?" exclaimed the Lieutenant. - -The Captain sighed and went to aid the Major into his leathern armour. -Lightly and joyously the youthful Major climbed into the machine and -sat awhile to examine and remark upon its unfamiliar features, while a -sturdy mechanic stood at the propeller ready to start the engine. - -"By the way," said he, turning to address me. "You're staying to -luncheon, of course?" - -"I'm afraid we can't," answered our Intelligence Officer. - -"Oh, but you must--I've ordered soup! Right-oh!" he called to his -mechanician; the engine hummed, thundered, and roaring, cast back upon -us a very gale of wind; the witch-lamb moved, slid forward over the -grass, and gathering speed, lifted six inches, a yard, ten yards--and -was in flight. - -"Can you beat that?" exclaimed the Captain enthusiastically, "lifted -her clean away!" - -"I rather fancy he's about as good as they're made!" observed the -Captain. Meanwhile, the witch-lamb soared up and up straight as an -arrow; up she climbed, growing rapidly less until she was a gnat -against a background of fleecy cloud and the roar of the engine had -diminished to a whine; up and up until she was a speck--until the -clouds had swallowed her altogether. - -"Pity it isn't clear!" said the Captain. "I rather fancy you'd have -seen some real flying. By the way, they're going to practise at the -targets--might interest you. Care to see?" - -The targets were about a yard square and, as I watched, an aeroplane -rose wheeling high above them. All at once the hum of the engine was -lost in the sharp, fierce rattle of a machine gun; and ever as the -biplane banked and wheeled the machine gun crackled. From every angle -and from every point of the compass these bullets were aimed, and -examining the targets afterwards I was amazed to see how many hits had -been registered. - -After this they brought me to the workshops where many mechanics were -busied; they showed me, among other grim relics, C.'s broken machine -gun and perforated cartridge-tray. They told me many stories of daring -deeds performed by other members of the squadron, but when I asked -them to describe their own experiences, I found them diffident and -monosyllabic. - -"Hallo!" exclaimed C., as we stepped out into the air, "here comes the -Major. He's in that cloud--know the sound of his engine." Sure enough, -out from a low-lying cloud-bank he came, wheeling in short spirals, -plunging earthward. - -Down sank the aeroplane, the roaring engine fell silent, roared again, -and she sped towards us, her wheels within a foot or so of earth. -Finally they touched, the engine stopped, and the witch-lamb pulled up -within a few feet of us. Hereupon the Major waved a gauntleted hand to -us. - -"Must stop to lunch," he cried, "I've ordered soup, you know." - -But this being impossible, we perforce said good-bye to these -warm-hearted, simple-souled fighting men, a truly regrettable farewell -so far as I was concerned. They escorted us to the car, and there -parted from us with many frank expressions of regard and stood side by -side to watch us out of sight. - -"Yesterday there was much aerial activity on our front. - -"Depôts were successfully bombed and five enemy machines were forced to -descend, three of them in flames. Four of ours did not return." - -I shall never read these oft recurring lines in the communiqués without -thinking of those three youthful figures, so full of life and the joy -of life, who watched us depart that dull and cloudy morning. - -Here is just one other story dealing with three seasoned air-fighters, -veterans of many deadly combats high above the clouds, each of whom has -more than one victory to his credit, and whose combined ages total up -to sixty or thereabouts. We will call them X., Y. and Z. Now X. is an -American, Y. is an Englishman, whose peach-like countenance yet bears -the newly healed scar of a bullet wound, and Z. is an Afrikander. Here -begins the story:-- - -Upon a certain day of wind, rain and cloud, news came that the Boches -were massing behind their lines for an attack, whereupon X., Y. and -Z. were ordered to go up and verify this. Gaily enough they started -despite unfavourable weather conditions. The clouds were low, very -low, but they must fly lower, so, at an altitude varying from fifteen -hundred to a bare thousand feet, they crossed the German lines, Y. and -Z. flying wing and wing behind X.'s tail. All at once "Archie" spoke, -a whole battery of anti-aircraft guns filled the air with smoke and -whistling bullets--away went X.'s propeller and his machine was hurled -upside down; immediately Y. and Z. rose. By marvellous pilotage X. -managed to right his crippled machine and began, of course, to fall; -promptly Y. and Z. descended. It is, I believe, an unwritten law in -the Air Service, never to desert a comrade until he is seen to be -completely "done for"--hence Y. and Z.'s hawk-like swoop from the -clouds to draw the fire of the battery from their stricken companion. -Down they plunged through the battery smoke, firing their machine guns -point blank as they came; and so, wheeling in long spirals, their guns -crackling viciously, they mounted again and soared cloudward together, -but, there among the clouds and in comparative safety Z. developed -engine trouble. Their ruse had served, however, and X. had contrived -to bring his shattered biplane to earth safely behind the British -lines. Meanwhile Y. and Z. continued on toward their objective, but -Z.'s engine trouble becoming chronic, he fell behind more and more, -and finally, leaving Y. to carry on alone, was forced to turn back. -And now it was, that, in the mists ahead, he beheld another machine -which, coming swiftly down upon him, proved to be a German, who, -mounting above him, promptly opened fire. Z., struggling with his -baulking engine, had his hands pretty full; moreover his opponent, -owing to greater speed, could attack him from precisely what angle he -chose. So they wheeled and flew, Z. endeavouring to bring his gun to -bear, the German keeping skilfully out of range, now above him, now -below, but ever and always behind. Thus the Boche flying on Z.'s tail -had him at his mercy; a bullet ripped his sleeve, another smashed his -speedometer, yet another broke his gauge--slowly and by degrees nearly -all Z.'s gear is either smashed or carried away by bullets. All this -time it is to be supposed that Z., thus defenceless, is wheeling and -turning as well as his crippled condition will allow, endeavouring to -get a shot at his elusive foe; but (as he told me) he felt it was his -finish, so he determined if possible to ram his opponent and crash down -with him through the clouds. Therefore, waiting until the Boche was -aiming at him from directly below, he threw his machine into a sudden -dive. Thus for one moment Z. had him in range, for a moment only, -but the range was close and deadly, and Z. fired off half his tray -as he swooped headlong down upon his astonished foe. All at once the -German waved an arm and sagged over sideways, his great battle-plane -wavering uncertainly, and, as it began to fall, Z. avoided the intended -collision by inches. Down went the German machine, down and down, and, -watching, Z. saw it plunge through the clouds wrapped in flame. - -Then Z. turned and made for home as fast as his baulking engine would -allow. - -These are but two stories among dozens I have heard, yet these, I -think, will suffice to show something of the spirit animating these -young paladins. The Spirit of Youth is surely a godlike spirit, -unconquerable, care-free, undying. It is a spirit to whom fear and -defeat are things to smile and wonder at, to whom risks and dangers are -joyous episodes, and Death himself, whose face their youthful eyes -have so often looked into, a friend familiar by close acquaintanceship. - -Upon a time I mentioned some such thought to an American aviator, who -nodded youthful head and answered in this manner: - -"The best fellows generally go first, and such a lot are gone now that -there'll be a whole bunch of them waiting to say 'Hello, old sport!' -so--what's it matter, anyway?" - - - - -XIII. - -YPRES. - - -Much has been written concerning Ypres, but more, much more, remains -to be written. Some day, in years to come, when the roar of guns has -been long forgotten, and Time, that great and beneficent consoler, has -dried the eyes that are now wet with the bitter tears of bereavement -and comforted the agony of stricken hearts, at such a time someone will -set down the story of Ypres in imperishable words; for round about -this ancient town lie many of the best and bravest of Britain's heroic -army. Thick, thick, they lie together, Englishman, Scot and Irishman, -Australian, New Zealander, Canadian and Indian, linked close in the -comradeship of death as they were in life; but the glory of their -invincible courage, their noble self-sacrifice and endurance against -overwhelming odds shall never fade. Surely, surely while English is -spoken the story of "Wipers" will live on for ever and, through the -coming years, will be an inspiration to those for whom these thousands -went, cheering and undismayed, to meet and conquer Death. - -Ypres, as all the world knows, forms a sharp salient in the British -line, and is, therefore, open to attack on three sides; and on these -three sides it has been furiously attacked over and over again, so very -often that the mere repetition would grow wearisome. And these attacks -were day-long, week, and sometimes month-long battles, but Britain's -army stood firm. - -In these bad, dark days, outnumbered and out-gunned, they never -wavered. Raked by flanking fire they met and broke the charges of -dense-packed foemen on their front; rank upon rank and elbow to elbow -the Germans charged, their bayonets a sea of flashing steel, their -thunderous shouts drowning the roar of guns, and rank on rank they -reeled back from British steel and swinging rifle-butt, and German -shouts died and were lost in British cheers. - -So, day after day, week after week, month after month they endured -still; swept by rifle and machine gun fire, blown up by mines, buried -alive by mortar-bombs, their very trenches smitten flat by high -explosives--yet they endured and held on. They died all day and every -day, but their places were filled by men just as fiercely determined. -And ever as the countless German batteries fell silent, their troops in -dense grey waves hurled themselves upon shattered British trench and -dug-out, and found there wild men in tunics torn and bloody and mud -bespattered, who, shouting in fierce joy, leapt to meet them bayonet -to bayonet. With clubbed rifle and darting steel they fought, these -men of the Empire, heedless of wounds and death, smiting and cheering, -thrusting and shouting, until those long, close-ranked columns broke, -wavered and melted away. Then, panting, they cast themselves back into -wrecked trench and blood-spattered shell-hole while the enemy's guns -roared and thundered anew, and waited patiently but yearningly for -another chance to "really fight." So they held this deadly salient. - -Days came and went, whole regiments were wiped out, but they held on. -The noble town behind them crumbled into ruin beneath the shrieking -avalanche of shells, but they held on. German and British dead lay -thick from British parapet to Boche wire, and over this awful litter -fresh attacks were launched daily, but still they held on, and would -have held and will hold, until the crack of doom if need be--because -Britain and the Empire expect it of them. - -But to-day the dark and evil time is passed. To-day for every German -shell that crashes into the salient, four British shells burst along -the enemy's position, and it was with their thunder in my ears that I -traversed that historic, battle-torn road which leads into Ypres, that -road over which so many young and stalwart feet have tramped that never -more may come marching back. And looking along this road, lined with -scarred and broken trees, my friend N. took off his hat and I did the -like. - -"It's generally pretty lively here," said our Intelligence Officer, -as I leaned forward to pass him the matches. "We're going to speed up -a bit--road's a bit bumpy, so hold on." Guns were roaring near and -far, and in the air above was the long, sighing drone of shells as we -raced forward, bumping and swaying over the uneven surface faster and -faster, until, skidding round a rather awkward corner, we saw before -us a low-lying, jagged outline of broken walls, shattered towers and a -tangle of broken roof-beams--all that remains of the famous old town of -Ypres. And over this devastation shells moaned distressfully, and all -around unseen guns barked and roared. So, amidst this pandemonium our -car lurched into shattered "Wipers," past the dismantled water-tower, -uprooted from its foundations and leaning at a more acute angle than -will ever the celebrated tower of Pisa, past ugly heaps of brick and -rubble--the ruins of once fair buildings, on and on until we pulled up -suddenly before a huge something, shattered and formless, a long facade -of broken arches and columns, great roof gone, mighty walls splintered, -cracked and rent--all that "Kultur" has left of the ancient and once -beautiful Cloth Hall. - -"Roof's gone since I was here last," said the Intelligence Officer, -"come this way. You'll see it better from over here." So we followed -him and stood to look upon the indescribable ruin. - -"There are no words to describe--that," said N. at last, gloomily. - -"No," I answered. "Arras was bad enough, but this--!" - -"Arras?" he repeated. "Arras is only a ruined town. Ypres is a rubbish -dump. And its Cloth Hall is--a bad dream." And he turned away. Our -Intelligence Officer led us over mounds of fallen masonry and débris of -all sorts, and presently halted us amid a ruin of splintered columns, -groined arch and massive walls, and pointed to a heap of rubbish he -said was the altar. - -"This is the church St. Jean," he explained, "begun, I think, in the -eleventh or twelfth century and completed somewhere about 1320--" - -"And," said N., "finally finished and completely done for by 'Kultur' -in the twentieth century, otherwise I guess it would have lasted until -the 220th century--look at the thickness of the walls." - -"And after all these years of civilisation," said I. - -"Civilisation," he snorted, turning over a fragment of exquisitely -carved moulding with the toe of his muddy boot, "civilisation has done -a whole lot, don't forget--changed the system of plumbing and taught us -how to make high explosives and poison gas." - -Gloomily enough we wandered on together over rubbish-piles and -mountains of fallen brickwork, through shattered walls, past unlovely -stumps of mason-work that had been stately tower or belfry once, -beneath splintered arches that led but from one scene of ruin to -another, and ever our gloom deepened, for it seemed that Ypres, the -old Ypres, with all its monuments of mediæval splendour, its noble -traditions of hard-won freedom, its beauty and glory, was passed away -and gone for ever. - -"I don't know how all this affects you," said N., his big chin jutted -grimly, "but I hate it worse than a battlefield. Let's get on over to -the Major's office." - -We went by silent streets, empty except for a few soldierly figures -in hard-worn khaki, desolate thoroughfares that led between piles and -huge unsightly mounds of fallen masonry and shattered brickwork, fallen -beams, broken rafters and twisted ironwork, across a desolate square -shut in by the ruin of the great Cloth Hall and other once stately -buildings, and so to a grim, battle-scarred edifice, its roof half -blown away, its walls cracked and agape with ugly holes, its doorway -reinforced by many sandbags cunningly disposed, through which we passed -into the dingy office of the Town-Major. - -As we stood in that gloomy chamber, dim-lighted by a solitary oil lamp, -floor and walls shook and quivered to the concussion of a shell--not -very near, it is true, but quite near enough. - -The Major was a big man, with a dreamy eye, a gentle voice and a -passion for archæology. In his company I climbed to the top of a high -building, whence he pointed out, through a convenient shell hole, where -the old walls had stood long ago, where Vauban's star-shaped bastions -and the general conformation of what had been present-day Ypres; but -I saw only a dusty chaos of shattered arch and tower and walls, with -huge, unsightly mounds of rubble and brick--a rubbish dump in very -truth. Therefore I turned to the quiet voiced Major and asked him of -his experiences, whereupon he talked to me most interestingly and -very learnedly of Roman tile, of mediæval rubble-work, of herringbone -and Flemish bond. He assured me also that (Deo Volente) he proposed -to write a monograph on the various epochs of this wonderful old -town's history as depicted by its various styles of mason-work and -construction. - -"I could show you a nearly perfect aqueduct if you have time," said he. - -"I'm afraid we ought to be starting now," said the Intelligence -Officer; "over eighty miles to do yet, you see, Major." - -"Do you have many casualties still?" I enquired. - -"Pretty well," he answered. "The mediæval wall was superimposed upon -the Roman, you'll understand." - -"And is it," said I as we walked on together, "is it always as noisy as -this?" - -"Oh, yes--especially when there's a 'Hate' on." - -"Can you sleep?" - -"Oh, yes, one gets used to anything, you know. Though, strangely -enough, I was disturbed last night--two of my juniors had to camp over -my head, their quarters were blown up rather yesterday afternoon, and -believe me, the young beggars talked and chattered so that I couldn't -get a wink of sleep--had to send and order them to shut up." - -"You seem to have been getting it pretty hot since I was here last," -said the Intelligence Officer, waving a hand round the crumbling ruin -about us. - -"Fairly so," nodded the Major. - -"One would wonder the enemy wastes any more shells on Ypres," said I, -"there's nothing left to destroy, is there?" - -"Well, there's us, you know!" said the Major, gently, "and then the -Boche is rather a revengeful beggar anyhow--you see, he wasted quite a -number of army corps trying to take Ypres. And he hasn't got it yet." - -"Nor ever will," said I. - -The Major smiled and held out his hand. - -"It's a pity you hadn't time to see that aqueduct" he sighed. "However, -I shall take some flashlight photos of it--if my luck holds. Good-bye." -So saying, he raised a hand to his weather-beaten trench-cap and strode -back into his dim-lit, dingy office. - -The one-time glory of Ypres has vanished in ruin but thereby she has -found a glory everlasting. For over the wreck of noble edifice and -fallen tower is another glory that shall never fade but rather grow -with coming years--an imperishable glory. As pilgrims sought it once to -tread its quaint streets and behold its old time beauty, so in days to -come other pilgrims will come with reverent feet and with eyes that -shall see in these shattered ruins a monument to the deathless valour -of that brave host that met death unflinching and unafraid for the sake -of a great ideal and the welfare of unborn generations. - -And thus in her ruin Ypres has found the Glory Everlasting. - - - - -XIV. - -WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE. - - -The struggle of Democracy and Reason against Autocracy and Brute-force, -on land and in the air, upon the sea and under the sea, is reaching its -climax. With each succeeding month the ignoble foe has smirched himself -with new atrocities which yet in the end bring their own terrible -retribution. - -Three of the bloodiest years in the world's history lie behind us; -but these years of agony and self-sacrifice, of heroic achievements, -of indomitable purpose and unswerving loyalty to an ideal, are surely -three of the most tremendous in the annals of the British Empire. - -I am to tell something of what Britain has accomplished during these -awful three years, of the mighty changes she has wrought in this -short time, of how, with her every thought and effort bent in the one -direction, she has armed and equipped herself and many of her allies; -of the armies she has raised, the vast sums she has expended and the -munitions and armaments she has amassed. - -To this end it is my privilege to lay before the reader certain facts -and figures, so I propose to set them forth as clearly and briefly as -may be, leaving them to speak for themselves. - -For truly Britain has given and is giving much--her men and women, her -money, her very self; the soul of Britain and her Empire is in this -conflict, a soul that grows but the more steadfast and determined as -the struggle waxes more deadly and grim. Faint hearts and fanatics -there are, of course, who, regardless of the future, would fain make -peace with the foe unbeaten, a foe lost to all shame and honourable -dealing, but the heart of the Empire beats true to the old war-cry of -"Freedom or Death." In proof of which, if proof be needed, let us to -our figures and facts. - -Take first her fighting men; in three short years her little army has -grown until to-day seven million of her sons are under arms, and of -these (most glorious fact!) nearly five million were _volunteers_. -Surely since first this world was cursed by war, surely never did such -a host march forth voluntarily to face its blasting horrors. They are -fighting on many battle fronts, these citizen-soldiers, in France, -Macedonia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Western Egypt and German East -Africa, and behind them, here in the homeland, are the women, working -as their men fight, with a grim and tireless determination. To-day -the land hums with munition factories and huge works whose countless -wheels whirr day and night, factories that have sprung up where the -grass grew so lately. The terrible, yet glorious, days of Mons and the -retreat, when her little army, out-gunned and out-manned, held up the -rushing might of the German advance so long as life and ammunition -lasted, that black time is past, for now in France and Flanders our -countless guns crash in ceaseless concert, so that here in England one -may hear their ominous muttering all day long and through the hush of -night; and hearkening to that continuous stammering murmur one thanks -God for the women of Britain. - -Two years ago, in June, 1915, the Ministry of Munitions was formed -under Mr. David Lloyd George; as to its achievements, here are figures -shall speak plainer than any words. - -In the time of Mons the army was equipped and supplied by three -Government factories and a very few auxiliary firms; to-day gigantic -national factories, with miles of railroads to serve them, are in full -swing, beside which, thousands of private factories are controlled by -the Government. As a result the output of explosives in March, 1917, -was over _four times_ that of March, 1916, and _twenty-eight times_ -that of March, 1915, and so enormous has been the production of shells -that in the first nine weeks of the summer offensive of 1917 the stock -decreased by only 7 per cent. despite the appalling quantity used. - -The making of machine guns to-day as compared with 1915 has increased -_twenty-fold_, while the supply of small-arm ammunition has become so -abundant that the necessity for importation has ceased altogether. -In one Government factory alone the making of rifles has increased -_ten-fold_, and the employees at Woolwich Arsenal have increased from a -little less than 11,000 to nearly 74,000, of whom 25,000 are women. - -Production of steel, before the war, was roughly 7 million tons, it -is now 10 million tons and still increasing, so much so that it is -expected the pre-war output will be doubled by the end of 1918; while -the cost of steel plates here is now less than half the cost in the -U.S.A. Since May, 1917, the output of aeroplanes has been quadrupled -and is rapidly increasing; an enormous programme of construction has -been laid down and plans drawn up for its complete realisation. - -With this vast increase in the production of munitions the cost of -each article has been substantially reduced by systematic examination -of actual cost, resulting in a saving of £43,000,000 over the previous -year's prices. - -Figures are a dry subject in themselves, and yet such figures as these -are, I venture to think, of interest, among other reasons for the -difficulty the human brain has to appreciate their full meaning. Thus: -the number of articles handled weekly by the Stores Departments is -several hundreds of thousands above 50 million: or again, I read that -the munition workers themselves have contributed £40,187,381 towards -various war loans. It is all very easy to write, but who can form any -just idea of such uncountable numbers? - -And now, writing of the sums of money Britain has already expended, I -for one am immediately lost, out of my depth and plunged ten thousand -fathoms deep, for now I come upon the following: - -"The total national expenditure for the three years to August 4th, -1917, is approximately £5,150,000,000, of which £1,250,000,000 is -already provided for by taxation and £1,171,000,000 has been lent to -our colonies and allies, which may be regarded as an investment." -Having written which I lay down my pen to think, and, giving it up, -hasten to record the next fact. - -"The normal pre-war taxation amounted to approximately £200,000,000, -but for the current financial year (1917/18) a revenue of £638,000,000 -has been budgeted for, but this is expected to produce between -£650,000,000 and £700,000,000." Now, remembering that the cost of -necessaries has risen to an unprecedented extent, these figures of -the extra taxation and the amounts raised by the various war loans -speak louder and more eloquently than any words how manfully Britain -has shouldered her burden and of her determination to see this great -struggle through to the only possible conclusion--the end, for all -time, of autocratic government. - -I have before me so many documents and so much data bearing on this -vast subject that I might set down very much more; I might descant -on marvels of enterprise and organisation and of almost insuperable -difficulties overcome. But, lest I weary the reader, and since I would -have these lines read, I will hasten on to the last of my facts and -figures. - -As regards ships, Britain has already placed 600 vessels at the -disposal of France and 400 have been lent to Italy, the combined -tonnage of these thousand ships being estimated at 2,000,000. - -Then, despite her drafts to Army and Navy she has still a million men -employed in her coal mines and is supplying coal to Italy, France, and -Russia. Moreover, she is sending to France one quarter of her total -production of steel, munitions of all kinds to Russia and guns and -gunners to Italy. - -As for her Navy--the German battle squadrons lie inactive, while in one -single month the vessels of the British Navy steamed over one million -miles; German trading ships have been swept from the seas and the U -boat menace is but a menace still. Meantime, British shipyards are busy -night and day; 1,000,000 tons of craft for the Navy alone were launched -during the first year of the war, and the programme of new naval -construction for 1917 runs into hundreds of thousands of tons. In -peace time the building of new merchant ships was just under 2,000,000 -tons yearly, and despite the shortage of labour and difficulty of -obtaining materials, 1,100,000 tons will be built by the end of 1917, -and 4,000,000 tons in 1918. - -The British Mercantile Marine (to whom be all honour!) has transported -during the war, the following:-- - - - 13,000,000 men, - 25,000,000 tons of war material, - 1,000,000 sick and wounded, - 51,000,000 tons of coal and oil fuel, - 2,000,000 horses and mules, - 100,000,000 hundredweights of wheat, - 7,000,000 tons of iron ore, - - -and, beyond this, has exported goods to the value of £500,000,000. - -Here ends my list of figures and here this chapter should end also; -but, before I close, I would give, very briefly and in plain language, -three examples of the spirit animating this Empire that to-day is -greater and more worthy by reason of these last three blood-smirched -years. - - -No. I. - - There came from Australia at his own expense, one Thomas Harper, - an old man of seventy-four, to help in a British munition - factory. He laboured hard, doing the work of two men, and more - than once fainted with fatigue, but refused to go home because he - "couldn't rest while he thought his country needed shells." - - -No. II. - - There is a certain small fishing village whose men were nearly - all employed in fishing for mines. But there dawned a black day - when news came that forty of their number had perished together - and in the same hour. Now surely one would think that this little - village, plunged in grief for the loss of its young manhood, had - done its duty to the uttermost for Britain and their fellows! - But these heroic fisher-folk thought otherwise, for immediately - fifty of the remaining seventy-five men (all over military age) - volunteered and sailed away to fill the places of their dead sons - and brothers. - - -No. III. - - Glancing idly through a local magazine some days since, my eye was - arrested by this: - - "In proud and loving memory of our loved and loving son ... who - fell in France ... with his only brother, 'On Higher Service.' - There is no death." - - -Thus then I conclude my list of facts and figures, a record of -achievement such as this world has never known before, a record to -be proud of, because it is the outward and visible sign of a people, -strong, virile, abounding in energy, but above all, a people clean of -soul to whom Right and Justice are worth fighting for, suffering for, -labouring for. It is the sign of a people which is willing to endure -much for its ideals that the world may be a better world, wherein -those who shall come hereafter may reap, in peace and contentment, the -harvest this generation has sowed in sorrow, anguish, and great travail. - - -PIKE'S FINE ART PRESS, 47-8, Gloster Road, Brighton. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS*** - - -******* This file should be named 61021-8.txt or 61021-8.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/1/0/2/61021 - - -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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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 <a -href="http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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.</p> -<p>Title: Some War Impressions</p> -<p>Author: Jeffery Farnol</p> -<p>Release Date: December 26, 2019 [eBook #61021]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4>E-text prepared by<br /> - Tim Lindell, Martin Pettit,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br /> - from page images generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (<a href="https://archive.org">https://archive.org</a>)</h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - <a href="https://archive.org/details/somewarimpressio00farnuoft"> - https://archive.org/details/somewarimpressio00farnuoft</a> - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="center"><a name="cover.jpg" id="cover.jpg"></a><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/ad.jpg" alt="advert" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<h1>SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS</h1> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/books.jpg" alt="BY THE SAME AUTHOR" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="title page" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p class="bold2">SOME WAR<br /> IMPRESSIONS</p> - -<p class="bold space-above">BY</p> - -<p class="bold2">JEFFERY FARNOL</p> - -<div class="center space-above"><img src="images/logo.jpg" alt="logo" /></div> - -<p class="bold space-above">LONDON AND EDINBURGH<br /> -SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & CO. LTD.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="center">TO<br />ALL MY<br />AMERICAN FRIENDS.</p> - -<hr /> - -<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<table summary="CONTENTS"> - <tr> - <td colspan="2"></td> - <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>I.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Foreword</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>II.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Cartridges</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>III.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Rifles and Lewis Guns</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>IV.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Clydebank</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>V.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Ships in Making</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VI.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Battle Cruisers</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VII.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">A Hospital</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VIII.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Guns</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>IX.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">A Training Camp</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>X.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Arras</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XI.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Battlefields</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XII.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Flying Men</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XIII.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Ypres</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XIV.—</td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">What Britain Has Done</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">SOME<br />WAR IMPRESSIONS.</p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/line.jpg" alt="decorative line" /></div> - -<h2><span>I.</span> <span class="smaller">FOREWORD.</span></h2> - -<p>In publishing these collected articles in book form (the result of my -visits to Flanders, the battlefields of France and divers of the great -munition centres) some of which have already appeared in the press both -in England and America, I do so with a certain amount of diffidence, -because of their so many imperfections and of their inadequacy of -expression. But what man, especially in these days, may hope to treat -a theme so vast, a tragedy so awful, without a sure knowledge that -all he can say must fall so infinitely far below the daily happenings -which are, on the one hand, raising Humanity to a godlike altitude -or depressing it lower than the brutes. But, because these articles -are a simple record of what I have seen and what I have heard, they -may perhaps be of use in bringing out of the shadow—that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>awful -shadow of "usualness" into which they have fallen—many incidents that -would, before the war, have roused the world to wonder, to pity and to -infinite awe.</p> - -<p>Since the greater number of these articles was written, America has -thrown her might into the scale against merciless Barbarism and -Autocracy; at her entry into the drama there was joy in English -and French hearts, but, I venture to think, a much greater joy in -the hearts of all true Americans. I happened to be in Paris on the -memorable day America declared war, and I shall never forget the -deep-souled enthusiasm of the many Americans it was my privilege to -know there. America, the greatest democracy in the world, had at last -taken her stand on the side of Freedom, Justice and Humanity.</p> - -<p>As an Englishman, I love and am proud of my country, and, in the -years I spent in America, I saw with pain and deep regret the -misunderstanding that existed between these two great nations. In -America I beheld a people young, ardent, indomitable, full of the -unconquerable spirit of Youth, and I thought of that older country -across the seas, so little understanding and so little understood.</p> - -<p>And often I thought if it were only possible to work a miracle, if -it were only possible for the mists of jealousy and ill-feeling, of -rivalry and misconception to be swept away once and for all—if only -these two great nations could be bonded together by a common ideal, -heart to heart and hand to hand,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> for the good of Humanity, what -earthly power should ever be able to withstand their united strength. -In my soul I knew that the false teaching of history—that great -obstacle to the progress of the world—was one of the underlying causes -of the misunderstanding, but it was an American Ambassador who put this -into words. If, said he, America did not understand the aims and hopes -of Great Britain, <i>it was due to the text books of history used in -American schools</i>.</p> - -<p>To-day, America, through her fighting youth and manhood, will see -Englishmen as they are, and not as they have been represented. Surely -the time has come when we should try and appreciate each other at our -true worth.</p> - -<p>These are tragic times, sorrowful times, yet great and noble times, -for these are days of fiery ordeal whereby mean and petty things are -forgotten and the dross of unworthy things burned away. To-day the -two great Anglo-Saxon peoples stand united in a noble comradeship for -the good of the world and for those generations that are yet to be, -a comradeship which I, for one, do most sincerely hope and pray may -develop into a veritable brotherhood. One in blood are we, in speech, -and in ideals, and though sundered by generations of misunderstanding -and false teaching, to-day we stand, brothers-in-arms, fronting the -brute for the freedom of Humanity.</p> - -<p>Americans will die as Britons have died for this noble cause; Americans -will bleed as Britons have bled; American women will mourn as British<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> -women have mourned these last terrible years; yet, in these deaths, -in this noble blood, in these tears of agony and bereavement, surely -the souls of these two great nations will draw near, each to each, and -understand at last.</p> - -<p>Here in a word is the fulfilment of the dream; that, by the united -effort, by the blood, by the suffering, by the heartbreak endured of -these two great English-speaking races, wars shall be made to cease in -all the world; that peace and happiness, truth and justice shall be -established among us for all generations, and that the united powers -of the Anglo-Saxon races shall be a bulwark behind which Mankind may -henceforth rest secure.</p> - -<p>Now, in the name of Humanity, I appeal to American and to Briton -to work for, strive, think and pray for this great and glorious -consummation.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>II.</span> <span class="smaller">CARTRIDGES.</span></h2> - -<p>At an uncomfortable hour I arrived at a certain bleak railway platform -and in due season, stepping into a train, was whirled away Northwards. -And as I journeyed, hearkening to the talk of my companions, men much -travelled and of many nationalities, my mind was agog for the marvels -and wonders I was to see in the workshops of Great Britain. Marvels and -wonders I was prepared for, and yet for once how far short of fact were -all my fancies!</p> - -<p>Britain has done great things in the past; she will, I pray, do even -greater in the future; but surely never have mortal eyes looked on an -effort so stupendous and determined as she is sustaining, and will -sustain, until this most bloody of wars is ended.</p> - -<p>The deathless glory of our troops, their blood and agony and scorn of -death have been made pegs on which to hang much indifferent writing and -more bad verse—there have been letters also, sheaves of them, in many -of which effusions one may discover a wondering surprise that our men -can actually and really fight, that Britain is still the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> Britain of -Drake and Frobisher and Grenville, of Nelson and Blake and Cochrane, -and that the same deathless spirit of heroic determination animates her -still.</p> - -<p>To-night, as I pen these lines, our armies are locked in desperate -battle, our guns are thundering on many fronts, but like an echo -to their roar, from mile upon mile of workshops and factories and -shipyards is rising the answering roar of machinery, the thunderous -crash of titanic hammers, the hellish rattle of riveters, the whining, -droning, shrieking of a myriad wheels where another vast army is -engaged night and day, as indomitable, as fierce of purpose as the army -beyond the narrow seas.</p> - -<p>I have beheld miles of workshops that stand where grass grew two short -years ago, wherein are bright-eyed English girls, Irish colleens and -Scots lassies by the ten thousand, whose dexterous fingers flash nimbly -to and fro, slender fingers, yet fingers contriving death. I have -wandered through a wilderness of whirring driving-belts and humming -wheels where men and women, with the same feverish activity, bend above -machines whose very hum sang to me of death while I have watched a -cartridge grow from a disc of metal to the hellish contrivance it is.</p> - -<p>And as I watched the busy scene it seemed an unnatural and awful thing -that women's hands should be busied thus, fashioning means for the -maiming and destruction of life—until, in a remote corner, I paused to -watch a woman whose dexterous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> fingers were fitting finished cartridges -into clips with wonderful celerity. A middle-aged woman, this, tall and -white-haired, who, at my remark, looked up with a bright smile, but -with eyes sombre and weary.</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," she answered above the roar of machinery, "I had two boys -at the front, but—they're a-laying out there somewhere, killed by the -same shell. I've got a photo of their graves—very neat they look, -though bare, and I'll never be able to go and tend 'em, y'see—nor lay -a few flowers on 'em. So I'm doin' this instead—to help the other -lads. Yes, sir, my boys did their bit, and now they're gone their -mother's tryin' to do hers."</p> - -<p>Thus I stood and talked with this sad-eyed white-haired woman who had -cast off selfish grief to aid the Empire, and in her I saluted the -spirit of noble motherhood ere I turned and went my way.</p> - -<p>But now I woke to the fact that my companions had vanished utterly; -lost, but nothing abashed, I rambled on between long alleys of -clattering machines, which in their many functions seemed in -themselves almost human, pausing now and then to watch and wonder and -exchange a word with one or other of the many workers, until a kindly -works-manager found me and led me unerringly through that riotous -jungle of machinery.</p> - -<p>He brought me by devious ways to a place he called "holy ground"—long, -low outbuildings approached by narrow, wooden causeways, swept and -re-swept by men shod in felt—a place this, where<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> no dust or grit -might be, for here was the magazine, with the filling sheds beyond. And -within these long sheds, each seated behind a screen, were women who -handled and cut deadly cordite into needful lengths as if it had been -so much ribbon, and always and everywhere the same dexterous speed.</p> - -<p>He led me, this soft-voiced, keen-eyed works-manager, through -well-fitted wards and dispensaries, redolent of clean, druggy smells -and the pervading odour of iodoform; he ushered me through dining halls -long and wide and lofty and lighted by many windows, where countless -dinners were served at a trifling cost per head; and so at last out -upon a pleasant green, beyond which rose the great gates where stood -the cars that were to bear my companions and myself upon our way.</p> - -<p>"They seem to work very hard!" said I, turning to glance back whence we -had come, "they seem very much in earnest."</p> - -<p>"Yes," said my companion, "every week we are turning out—" here he -named very many millions—"of cartridges."</p> - -<p>"To be sure they are earning good money!" said I thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>"More than many of them ever dreamed of earning," answered the -works-manager. "And yet—I don't know, but I don't think it is -altogether the money, somehow."</p> - -<p>"I'm glad to hear you say that—very glad!" said I, "because it is a -great thing to feel that they are working for the Britain that is, and -is to be."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>III.</span> <span class="smaller">RIFLES AND LEWIS GUNS.</span></h2> - -<p>A drive through a stately street where were shops which might rival -Bond Street, the Rue de la Paix, or Fifth Avenue for the richness and -variety of their contents; a street whose pavements were thronged -with well-dressed pedestrians and whose roadway was filled with motor -cars—vehicles, these, scornful of the petrol tax and such-like mundane -and vulgar restrictions—in fine, the street of a rich and thriving -city.</p> - -<p>But suddenly the stately thoroughfare had given place to a meaner -street, its princely shops had degenerated into blank walls or grimy -yards, on either hand rose tall chimney-stacks belching smoke, instead -of dashing motor cars, heavy wains and cumbrous wagons jogged by, in -place of the well-dressed throng were figures rough-clad and grimy -that hurried along the narrow sidewalks—but these rough-clad people -walked fast and purposefully. So we hummed along streets wide or narrow -but always grimy, until we were halted at a tall barrier by divers -policemen, who, having inspected our credentials, permitted us to pass -on to the factory, or series of factories, that stretched themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> -before us, building on building—block on block—a very town.</p> - -<p>Here we were introduced to various managers and heads of departments, -among whom was one in the uniform of a Captain of Engineers, under -whose capable wing I had the good fortune to come, for he, it seemed, -had lived among engines and machinery, had thought out and contrived -lethal weapons from his youth up, and therewith retained so kindly and -genial a personality as drew me irresistibly. Wherefore I gave myself -to his guidance, and he, chatting of books and literature and the like -trivialities, led me along corridors and passage ways to see the wonder -of the guns. And as we went, in the air about us was a stir, a hum that -grew and ever grew, until, passing a massive swing door there burst -upon us a rumble, a roar, a clashing din.</p> - -<p>We stood in a place of gloom lit by many fires, a vast place whose -roof was hid by blue vapour; all about us rose the dim forms of huge -stamps, whose thunderous stroke beat out a deep diapason to the -ring of countless hand-hammers. And, lighted by the sudden glare of -furnace-fires were figures, bare-armed, smoke-grimed, wild of aspect, -figures that whirled heavy sledges or worked the levers of the giant -steam-hammers, while here and there bars of iron new-glowing from the -furnace winked and twinkled in the gloom where those wild, half-naked -men-shapes flitted to and fro unheard amid the thunderous din. Awed and -half stunned, I stood viewing that never-to-be-forgotten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> scene until I -grew aware that the Captain was roaring in my ear.</p> - -<p>"Forge ... rifle barrels ... come and see and mind where you tread!"</p> - -<p>Treading as seemingly silent as those wild human shapes, that -straightened brawny backs to view me as I passed, that grinned in -the fire-glow and spoke one to another, words lost to my stunned -hearing, ere they bent to their labour again. Obediently I followed the -Captain's dim form until I was come where, bare-armed, leathern-aproned -and be-spectacled, stood one who seemed of some account among these -salamanders, who, nodding to certain words addressed to him by the -Captain, seized a pair of tongs, swung open a furnace door, and -plucking thence a glowing brand, whirled it with practised ease, and -setting it upon the dies beneath a huge steam-hammer, nodded his head. -Instantly that mighty engine fell to work, thumping and banging with -mighty strokes, and with each stroke that glowing steel bar changed and -changed, grew round, grew thin, hunched a shoulder here, showed a flat -there, until, lo! before my eyes was the shape of a rifle minus the -stock! Hereupon the be-spectacled salamander nodded again, the giant -hammer became immediately immobile, the glowing forging was set among -hundreds of others and a voice roared in my ear:</p> - -<p>"Two minutes ... this way."</p> - -<p>A door opens, closes, and we are in sunshine again, and the Captain is -smilingly reminiscent of books.</p> - -<p>"This is greater than books," said I.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Why, that depends," says he, "there are books and books ... this way!"</p> - -<p>Up a flight of stairs, through a doorway and I am in a shop where huge -machines grow small in perspective. And here I see the rough forging -pass through the many stages of trimming, milling, turning, boring, -rifling until comes the assembling, and I take up the finished rifle -ready for its final process—testing. So downstairs we go to the -testing sheds, wherefrom as we approach comes the sound of dire battle, -continuous reports, now in volleys, now in single sniping shots, or in -rapid succession.</p> - -<p>Inside, I breathe an air charged with burnt powder and behold in a -long row, many rifles mounted upon crutches, their muzzles levelled -at so many targets. Beside each rifle stand two men, one to sight and -correct, and one to fire and watch the effect of the shot by means of a -telescope fixed to hand.</p> - -<p>With the nearest of these men I incontinent fell into talk—a chatty -fellow this, who, busied with pliers adjusting the back-sight of a -rifle, talked to me of lines of sight and angles of deflection, his -remarks sharply punctuated by rifle-shots, that came now slowly, now in -twos and threes and now in rapid volleys.</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," said he, busy pliers never still, "guns and rifles is very -like us—you and me, say. Some is just naturally good and some is worse -than bad—load up, George! A new rifle's like a kid—pretty sure to -fire a bit wide at first—not being used to it—we <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>was all kids once, -sir, remember! But a bit of correction here an' there'll put that right -as a rule. On the other hand there's rifles as Old Nick himself nor -nobody else could make shoot straight—ready George? And it's just -the same with kids! Now, if you'll stick your eyes to that glass, and -watch the target, you'll see how near she'll come this time—all right, -George!" As he speaks the rifle speaks also, and observing the hit on -the target, I sing out:</p> - -<p>"Three o'clock!"</p> - -<p>Ensues more work with the pliers; George loads and fires and with one -eye still at the telescope I give him:</p> - -<p>"Five o'clock!"</p> - -<p>Another moment of adjusting, again the rifle cracks and this time I -announce:</p> - -<p>"A bull!"</p> - -<p>Hereupon my companion squints through the glass and nods: "Right-oh, -George!" says he, then, while George the silent stacks the tested -rifle with many others, he turns to me and nods, "Got 'im that time, -sir—pity it weren't a bloomin' Hun!"</p> - -<p>Here the patient Captain suggests we had better go, and unwillingly I -follow him out into the open and the sounds of battle die away behind -us.</p> - -<p>And now, as we walked, I learned some particulars of that terrible -device the Lewis gun; how that it could spout bullets at the rate -of 600 per minute; how, by varying pressures of the trigger, it -could be fired by single rounds or pour<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> forth its entire magazine -in a continuous, shattering volley and how it weighed no more than -twenty-six pounds.</p> - -<p>"And here," said the Captain, opening a door and speaking in his -pleasant voice, much as though he were showing me some rare flowers, -"here is where they grow by the hundred, every week."</p> - -<p>And truly in hundreds they were, long rows of them standing very neatly -in racks, their walnut stocks heel by heel, their grim, blue muzzles -in long, serried ranks, very orderly and precise; and something in -their very orderliness endowed them with a certain individuality as -it were, it almost seemed to me that they were waiting, mustered and -ready, for that hour of ferocious roar and tumult when their voice -should be the voice of swift and terrible death. Now as I gazed upon -them, filled with these scarcely definable thoughts, I was startled by -a sudden shattering crash near by, a sound made up of many individual -reports, and swinging about, I espied a man seated upon a stool; a -plump, middle-aged, family sort of man, who sat upon his low stool, his -aproned knees set wide, as plump, middle-aged family men often do. As I -watched, Paterfamilias squinted along the sights of one of these guns -and once again came that shivering crash that is like nothing else I -ever heard. Him I approached and humbly ventured an awed question or -so, whereon he graciously beckoned me nearer, vacated his stool, and -motioning me to sit there, suggested I might try a shot at the target, -a far disc lighted by shaded electric bulbs.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> - -<p>"She's fixed dead on!" he said, "and she's true—you can't miss. A -quick pull for single shots and a steady pressure for a volley."</p> - -<p>Hereupon I pressed the trigger, the gun stirred gently in its clamps, -the air throbbed, and a stream of ten bullets (the testing number) -plunged into the bull's-eye and all in the space of a moment.</p> - -<p>"There ain't a un'oly 'un of 'em all could say Hoch the Kaiser' with -them in his stomach," said Paterfamilias thoughtfully, laying a hand -upon the respectable stomach beneath his apron, "it's a gun, that is!" -And a gun it most assuredly is.</p> - -<p>I would have tarried longer with Paterfamilias, for in his own way, -he was as arresting as this terrible weapon—or nearly so—but the -Captain, gentle-voiced and serene as ever, suggested that my companions -had a train to catch, wherefore I reluctantly turned away. But as I -went, needs must I glance back at Paterfamilias, as comfortable as -ever where he sat, but with pudgy fingers on trigger grimly at work -again, and from him to the long, orderly rows of guns mustered in their -orderly ranks, awaiting their hour.</p> - -<p>We walked through shops where belts and pulleys and wheels and cogs -flapped and whirled and ground in ceaseless concert, shops where -files rasped and hammers rang, shops again where all seemed riot and -confusion at the first glance, but at a second showed itself ordered -confusion, as it were. And as we went, my Captain spoke of the hospital -bay, of wards and dispensary (lately enlarged) of sister and nurses -and the grand work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> they were doing among the employees other than -attending to their bodily ills; and talking thus, he brought me to -the place, a place of exquisite order and tidiness, yet where nurses, -blue-uniformed, in their white caps, cuffs and aprons, seemed to me -the neatest of all. And here I was introduced to Sister, capable, -strong, gentle-eyed, who told me something of her work—how many came -to her with wounds of soul as well as body; of griefs endured and -wrongs suffered by reason of pitiful lack of knowledge; of how she -was teaching them care and cleanliness of minds as well as bodies, -which is surely the most blessed heritage the unborn generations may -inherit. She told me of the patient bravery of the women, the chivalry -of grimy men, whose hurts may wait that others may be treated first. -So she talked and I listened until, perceiving the Captain somewhat -ostentatiously consulting his watch, I presently left that quiet haven -with its soft-treading ministering attendants.</p> - -<p>So we had tea and cigarettes, and when I eventually shook hands with my -Captain, I felt that I was parting with a friend.</p> - -<p>"And what struck you most particularly this afternoon?" enquired one of -my companions.</p> - -<p>"Well," said I, "it was either the Lewis gun or Paterfamilias the grim."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>IV.</span> <span class="smaller">CLYDEBANK.</span></h2> - -<p>Henceforth the word "Clydebank" will be associated in my mind with the -ceaseless ring and din of riveting-hammers, where, day by day, hour by -hour, a new fleet is growing, destroyers and torpedo-boats alongside -monstrous submarines—yonder looms the grim bulk of Super-dreadnought -or battle-cruiser or the slenderer shape of some huge liner.</p> - -<p>And with these vast shapes about me, what wonder that I stood awed -and silent at the stupendous sight. But, to my companion, a shortish, -thick-set man, with a masterful air and a bowler hat very much over -one eye, these marvels were an every day affair; and now, ducking -under a steel hawser, he led me on, dodging moving trucks, stepping -unconcernedly across the buffers of puffing engines, past titanic -cranes that swung giant arms high in the air; on we went, stepping over -chain cables, wire ropes, pulley-blocks and a thousand and one other -obstructions, on which I stumbled occasionally since my awed gaze was -turned upwards. And as we walked amid these awesome shapes, he talked, -I remember, of such futile things as—books.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> - -<p>I beheld great ships well-nigh ready for launching: I stared up at -huge structures towering aloft, a wild complexity of steel joists -and girders, yet, in whose seeming confusion, the eye could detect -something of the mighty shape of the leviathan that was to be; even as -I looked, six feet or so of steel plating swung through the air, sank -into place, and immediately I was deafened by the hellish racket of the -riveting-hammers.</p> - -<p>" ... nothing like a good book and a pipe to go with it!" said my -companion between two bursts of hammering.</p> - -<p>"This is a huge ship!" said I, staring upward still.</p> - -<p>"H'm—fairish!" nodded my companion, scratching his square jaw and -letting his knowledgeful eyes rove to and fro over the vast bulk that -loomed above us.</p> - -<p>"Have you built them much bigger, then?" I enquired.</p> - -<p>My companion nodded and proceeded to tell me certain amazing facts -which the riotous riveting-hammers promptly censored in the following -remarkable fashion.</p> - -<p>"You should have seen the rat-rat-tat. We built her in exactly -nineteen months instead of two years and a half! Biggest battleship -afloat—two hundred feet longer than the rat-tat-tat—launched her last -rat-tat-tat—gone to rat-tat-tat-tat for her guns."</p> - -<p>"What size guns?" I shouted above the hammers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-inch!" he said, smiling grimly.</p> - -<p>"How much?" I yelled.</p> - -<p>"She has four rat-tat-tat-tat inch and twelve rattle-tattle inch -besides rat-tat-tat-tat!" he answered, nodding.</p> - -<p>"Really!" I roared, "if those guns are half as big as I think, the -Germans—"</p> - -<p>"The Germans—!" said he, and blew his nose.</p> - -<p>"How long did you say she was?" I hastened to ask as the hammers died -down a little.</p> - -<p>"Well, over all she measured exactly rat-tat feet. She was so big that -we had to pull down a corner of the building there, as you can see."</p> - -<p>"And what's her name?"</p> - -<p>"The rat-tat-tat, and she's the rattle-tattle of her class."</p> - -<p>"Are these hammers always quite so noisy, do you suppose?" I enquired, -a little hopelessly.</p> - -<p>"Oh, off and on!" he nodded, "Kick up a bit of a racket, don't they, -but you get used to it in time, I could hear a pin drop. Look! since -we've stood here they've got four more plates fixed—there goes the -fifth. This way!"</p> - -<p>Past the towering bows of future battleships he led me, over and under -more steel cables, until he paused to point towards an empty slip near -by.</p> - -<p>"That's where we built the Lusitania!" said he. "We thought she was -pretty big then—but now—!" he settled his hat a little further over -one eye with a knock on the crown.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Poor old Lusitania!" said I, "she'll never be forgotten."</p> - -<p>"Not while ships sail!" he answered, squaring his square jaw, "no, -she'll never be forgotten, nor the murderers who ended her!"</p> - -<p>"And they've struck a medal in commemoration," said I.</p> - -<p>"Medal!" said he, and blew his nose louder than before. "I fancy -they'll wish they could swallow that damn medal, one day. Poor old -Lusitania! You lose anyone aboard?"</p> - -<p>"I had some American friends aboard, but they escaped, thank -God—others weren't so fortunate."</p> - -<p>"No," he answered, turning away, "but America got quite angry—wrote -a note, remember? Over there's one of the latest submarines, Germany -can't touch her for speed and size, and better than that, she's got -rat-tat—"</p> - -<p>"I beg pardon?" I wailed, for the hammers were riotous again, "what has -she?"</p> - -<p>"She's got rat-tat forward and rat-tat aft, surface speed -rat-tat-tat knots, submerged rat-tat-tat, and then best of all she's -rattle-tattle-tattle. Yes, hammers are a bit noisy! This way. A -destroyer yonder—new class—rat-tat feet longer than ordinary. We -expect her to do rat-tat-tat knots and she'll mount rat-tat guns. -There are two of them in the basin yonder having their engines fitted, -turbines to give rat-tat-tat horse power. But come on, we'd better be -going or we shall lose the others of your party."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I should like to stay here a week," said I, tripping over a steel -hawser.</p> - -<p>"Say a month," he added, steadying me deftly. "You might begin to see -all we've been doing in a month. We've built twenty-nine ships of -different classes since the war began in this one yard, and we're going -on building till the war's over—and after that too. And this place is -only one of many. Which reminds me you're to go to another yard this -afternoon—we'd better hurry after the rest of your party or they'll be -waiting for you."</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid they generally are!" I sighed, as I turned and followed my -conductor through yawning doorways (built to admit a giant, it seemed) -into vast workshops whose lofty roofs were lost in haze. Here I saw -huge turbines and engines of monstrous shape in course of construction; -I beheld mighty propellers, with boilers and furnaces big as houses, -whose proportions were eloquent of the colossal ships that were to be. -But here indeed, all things were on a gigantic scale; ponderous lathes -were turning, mighty planing machines swung unceasing back and forth, -while other monsters bored and cut through steel plate as it had been -so much cardboard.</p> - -<p>"Good machines, these!" said my companion, patting one of these -monsters with familiar hand, "all made in Britain!"</p> - -<p>"Like the men!" I suggested.</p> - -<p>"The men," said he, "Humph! They haven't been giving much trouble -lately—touch wood!"</p> - -<p>"Perhaps they know Britain just now needs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> every man that is a man," I -suggested, "and someone has said that a man can fight as hard at home -here with a hammer as in France with a rifle."</p> - -<p>"Well, there's a lot of fighting going on here," nodded my companion, -"we're fighting night and day and we're fighting damned hard. And now -we'd better hurry, your party will be cursing you in chorus."</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid it has before now!" said I.</p> - -<p>So we hurried on, past shops whence came the roar of machinery, past -great basins wherein floated destroyers and torpedo-boats, past craft -of many kinds and fashions, ships built and building; on I hastened, -tripping over more cables, dodging from the buffers of snorting engines -and deafened again by the fearsome din of the riveting-hammers, until -I found my travelling companions assembled and ready to depart. -Scrambling hastily into the nearest motor-car I shook hands with this -shortish, broad-shouldered, square-jawed man and bared my head, for, -so far as these great works were concerned, he was in very truth a -superman. Thus I left him to oversee the building of these mighty -ships, which have been and will ever be the might of these small -islands.</p> - -<p>But, even as I went speeding through dark streets, in my ears, rising -high above the hum of our engine was the unceasing din, the remorseless -ring and clash of the riveting-hammers.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>V.</span> <span class="smaller">SHIPS IN MAKING.</span></h2> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>Build me straight. O worthy Master!</div> -<div class="i1">Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel,</div> -<div>That shall laugh at all disaster</div> -<div class="i1">And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!</div> -<div class="right">—<i>Longfellow.</i></div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>He was an old man with that indefinable courtliness of bearing that is -of a past generation; tall and spare he was, his white head bowed a -little by weight of years, but almost with my first glance I seemed to -recognise him instinctively for that "worthy Master Builder of goodly -vessels staunch and strong!" So the Master Builder I will call him.</p> - -<p>He stood beside me at the window with one in the uniform of a naval -captain, and we looked, all three of us, at that which few might behold -unmoved.</p> - -<p>"She's a beauty!" said the Captain. "She's all speed and grace from -cutwater to sternpost."</p> - -<p>"I've been building ships for sixty-odd years and we never launched a -better!" said the Master Builder.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p> - -<p>As for me I was dumb.</p> - -<p>She lay within a stone's-throw, a mighty vessel, huge of beam and -length, her superstructure towering proudly aloft, her massive armoured -sides sweeping up in noble curves, a Super-Dreadnought complete from -trucks to keelson. Yacht-like she sat the water all buoyant grace from -lofty prow to tapering counter, and to me there was something sublime -in the grim and latent power, the strength and beauty of her.</p> - -<p>"But she's not so very—big, is she?" enquired a voice behind me.</p> - -<p>The Captain stared; the Master Builder smiled:</p> - -<p>"Fairly!" he nodded. "Why do you ask?"</p> - -<p>"Well, I usually reckon the size of a ship from the number of her -funnels, and—"</p> - -<p>"Ha!" exclaimed the Captain, explosively.</p> - -<p>"Humph!" said the Master Builder gently. "After luncheon you shall -measure her if you like, but now I think we will go and eat."</p> - -<p>During a most excellent luncheon the talk ranged from ships and books -and guns to submarines and seaplanes, with stories of battle and sudden -death, tales of risk and hardship, of noble courage and heroic deeds, -so that I almost forgot to eat and was sorry when at last we rose from -table.</p> - -<p>Once outside I had the good fortune to find myself between the Captain -and the venerable figure of the Master Builder, in whose company I -spent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> a never-to-be-forgotten afternoon. With them I stood alongside -this noble ship which, seen thus near, seemed mightier than ever.</p> - -<p>"Will she be fast?" I enquired.</p> - -<p>"Very fast—for a Dreadnought!" said the Captain.</p> - -<p>"And at top-speed she'll show no bow-wave to speak of," added the -veteran. "See how fine her lines are fore and aft."</p> - -<p>"And her gun power will be enormous!" said the Captain.</p> - -<p>Hard by I espied a solitary being, who stood, chin in hand, lost in -contemplation of this large vessel.</p> - -<p>"Funnels or not, she's bigger than you thought?" I enquired of him.</p> - -<p>He glanced at me, shook his head, sighed, and took himself by the chin -again.</p> - -<p>"Holy smoke!" said he.</p> - -<p>"And you have been building ships for sixty years?" I asked of the -venerable figure beside me.</p> - -<p>"And more!" he answered; "and my father built ships hereabouts so long -ago as 1820, and his grandfather before him."</p> - -<p>"Back to the times of Nelson and Rodney and Anson," said I, "great -seamen all who fought great ships! What would they think of this one, I -wonder?"</p> - -<p>"That she was a worthy successor," replied the Master Builder, letting -his eyes, so old and wise in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> ships, wander up and over the mighty -fabric before us. "Yes," he nodded decisively, "she's worthy—like the -men who will fight her one of these days."</p> - -<p>"But our enemies and some of our friends rather thought we had -degenerated these latter days," I suggested.</p> - -<p>"Ah, well!" said he very quietly, "they know better now, don't you -think?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," said I, and again, "Yes."</p> - -<p>"Slow starters always," continued he, musingly; "but the nation that -can match us in staying power has yet to be born!"</p> - -<p>So walking between these two I listened and looked and asked questions, -and of what I heard, and of what I saw I could write much; but for the -censor I might tell of armour-belts of enormous thickness, of guns -of stupendous calibre, of new methods of defence against sneaking -submarine and torpedo attack, and of devices new and strange; but of -these I may neither write nor speak, because of the aforesaid censor. -Suffice it that as the sun sank, we came, all three, to a jetty whereto -a steamboat lay moored, on whose limited deck were numerous figures, -divers of whom beckoned me on.</p> - -<p>So with hearty farewells, I stepped aboard the steamboat, whereupon -she snorted and fell suddenly a-quiver as she nosed out into the broad -stream while I stood to wave my hat in farewell.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> - -<p>Side by side they stood, the Captain tall and broad and sailor-like in -his blue and gold—a man of action, bold of eye, hearty of voice, free -of gesture; the other, his silver hair agleam in the setting sun, a man -wise with years, gentle and calm-eyed, my Master Builder. Thus, as the -distance lengthened, I stood watching until presently they turned, side -by side, and so were gone.</p> - -<p>Slowly we steamed down the river, a drab, unlovely waterway, but a -wonderful river none the less, whose banks teem with workers where -ships are building—ships by the mile, by the league; ships of all -shapes and of all sizes, ships of all sorts and for many different -purposes. Here are great cargo-boats growing hour by hour with liners -great and small; here I saw mile on mile of battleships, cruisers, -destroyers and submarines of strange design with torpedo boats of -uncanny shape; tramp steamers, wind-jammers, squat colliers and -squatter tugs, these last surely the ugliest craft that ever wallowed -in water. Minelayers were here with minesweepers and hospital ships—a -heterogeneous collection of well-nigh every kind of ship that floats.</p> - -<p>Some lay finished and ready for launching, others, just begun, were -only a sketch—a hint of what soon would be a ship.</p> - -<p>On our right were ships, on our left were ships and more ships, a long -perspective; ships by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> million tons—until my eyes grew a-weary of -ships and I went below.</p> - -<p>Truly a wonderful river, this, surely in its way the most wonderful -river eyes may see, a sight I shall never forget, a sight I shall -always associate with the stalwart figure of the Captain and the white -hair and venerable form of the Master Builder as they stood side by -side to wave adieu.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>VI.</span> <span class="smaller">THE BATTLE CRUISERS.</span></h2> - -<p>Beneath the shadow of a mighty bridge I stepped into a very smart -launch manned by sailors in overalls somewhat grimy, and, rising -and falling to the surge of the broad river, we held away for a -destroyer that lay grey and phantom-like, low, rakish, and with speed -in every line of her. As we drew near, her narrow deck looked to my -untutored eye a confused litter of guns, torpedo tubes, guy-ropes, -cables and windlasses. Howbeit, I clambered aboard, and ducking under -a guy-rope and avoiding sundry other obstructions, shook hands with -her commander, young, clear-eyed and cheery of mien, who presently -led me past a stumpy smoke-stack and up a perpendicular ladder to the -bridge where, beneath a somewhat flimsy-looking structure, was the -wheel, brass-bound and highly be-polished like all else about this -crowded craft as, notably, the binnacle and certain brass-bound dials, -on the faces whereof one might read such words as: Ahead, Astern, -Fast, Slow, etc. Forward of this was a platform, none too roomy, -where was a gun most carefully wrapped and swaddled in divers cloths, -tarpaulins, etc.—wrapped up with as much tender<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> care as if it had -been a baby, and delicate at that. But, as the commander casually -informed me, they had been out patrolling all night and "it had blown a -little"—wherefore I surmised the cloths and tarpaulins aforesaid.</p> - -<p>"I should think," I ventured, observing her sharp lines and slender -build, "I should think she would roll rather frightfully when it does -blow a little?"</p> - -<p>"Well, she does a bit," he admitted, "but not so much—Starboard!" said -he, over his shoulder, to the bearded mariner at the wheel. "Take us -round by the <i>Tiger</i>."</p> - -<p>"Aye, aye, sir!" retorted the bearded one as we began to slide through -the water.</p> - -<p>"Yes, she's apt to roll a bit, perhaps, but she's not so bad," he -continued; "besides, you get used to it."</p> - -<p>Here he fell to scanning the haze ahead through a pair of binoculars, -a haze through which, as we gathered speed, ghostly shapes began to -loom, portentous shapes that grew and grew upon the sight, turret, -superstructure and embattled mast; here a mighty battle cruiser, -yonder a super-destroyer, one after another, quiet-seeming on this -autumn morning, and yet whose grim hulks held latent potentialities of -destruction and death, as many of them have proved but lately.</p> - -<p>As we passed those silent, monstrous shapes, the Commander named them -in turn, names which had been flashed round the earth not so long -ago, names which shall yet figure in the histories to come with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> -Grenville's <i>Revenge</i>, Drake's <i>Golden Hind</i>, Blake's <i>Triumph</i>, -Anson's <i>Centurion</i>, Nelson's <i>Victory</i>, and a score of other deathless -names—glorious names that make one proud to be of the race that manned -and fought them.</p> - -<p>Peacefully they rode at their moorings, the water lapping gently at -their steel sides, but, as we steamed past, on more than one of them, -and especially the grim <i>Tiger</i>, I saw the marks of the Jutland battle -in dinted plate, scarred funnel and superstructure, taken when for -hours on end the dauntless six withstood the might of the German fleet.</p> - -<p>So, as we advanced past these battle-scarred ships, I felt a sense of -awe, that indefinable uplift of soul one is conscious of when treading -with soft and reverent foot the dim aisles of some cathedral hallowed -by time and the dust of our noble dead.</p> - -<p>"This afternoon," said the Commander, offering me his cigarette case, -"they're going to show you over the <i>Warspite</i>—the German Navy have -sunk her so repeatedly, you know. There," he continued, nodding towards -a fleet of squat-looking vessels with stumpy masts, "those are the -auxiliaries—coal and oil and that sort of thing—ugly beggars, but -useful. How about a whisky and soda?"</p> - -<p>Following him down the perpendicular ladder, he brought me aft to a -hole in the deck, a small hole, a round hole into which he proceeded -to insert himself, first his long legs, then his broad shoulders, -evidently by an artifice learned of much practice. Finally his jauntily -be-capped head<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> vanished, and thereafter from the deeps below his -cheery voice reached me.</p> - -<p>"I have whisky, sherry and rum—mind your head and take your choice!"</p> - -<p>I descended into a narrow chamber divided by a longish table and -flanked by berths with a chest of drawers beneath each. At the further -end of this somewhat small and dim apartment and northeasterly of the -table was a small be-polished stove wherein a fire burned; in a rack -against a bulkhead were some half-dozen rifles, above our head was a -rack for cutlasses, and upon the table was a decanter of whisky he -had unearthed from some mysterious recess, and he was very full of -apologies because the soda had run out.</p> - -<p>So we sat awhile and quaffed and talked, during which he showed me a -favourite rifle, small of bore but of high power and exquisite balance, -at sight of which I straightway broke the tenth commandment. He also -showed me a portrait of his wife (which I likewise admired) a picture -taken by himself and by him developed in some dark nook aboard.</p> - -<p>After this, our whisky being duly despatched, we crawled into the air -again, to find we were approaching a certain jetty. And now, in the -delicate manœuvre of bringing to and making fast, my companions, -myself and all else were utterly forgotten, as with voice and hand he -issued order on order until, gently as a nesting bird the destroyer -came to her berth and was made fast. Hereupon, having shaken hands all -round, he handed us over to other naval men as cheery as he, who in -due<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> season brought us to the depôt ship, where luncheon awaited us.</p> - -<p>I have dined in many places and have eaten with many different folk, -but never have I enjoyed a meal more than this, perhaps because of -the padre who presided at my end of the table. A manly cleric this, -bright-eyed, resolute of jaw but humorous of mouth, whose white choker -did but seem to offset the virility of him. A man, I judged, who -preached little and did much—a sailor's padre in very truth.</p> - -<p>He told me how, but for an accident, he would have sailed with Admiral -Cradock on his last, ill-fated cruise, where so many died that Right -and Justice might endure.</p> - -<p>"Poor chaps!" said I.</p> - -<p>"Yes," said he, gently, "and yet it is surely a noble thing to—die -greatly!"</p> - -<p>And surely, surely for all those who in cause so just have met Death -unflinching and unafraid, who have taken hold upon that which we call -Life and carried it through and beyond the portals of Death into a -sphere of nobler and greater living—surely to such as these strong -souls the Empire they served so nobly and loved so truly will one day -enshrine them, their memory and deeds, on the brightest, most glorious -page of her history, which shall be a monument more enduring than brass -or stone, a monument that shall never pass away.</p> - -<p>So we talked of ships and the sea and of men until, aware that the -company had risen, we rose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> also, and donning hats and coats, set -forth, talking still. Together we paced beside docks and along piers -that stretched away by the mile, massive structures of granite and -concrete, which had only come into being, so he told me, since the war.</p> - -<p>Side by side we ascended the broad gangway, and side by side we set -foot upon that battle-scarred deck whose timbers, here and there, -showed the whiter patches of newer wood. Here he turned to give me -his hand, after first writing down name and address, and, with mutual -wishes of meeting again, went to his duties and left me to the wonders -of this great ship.</p> - -<p>Crossing the broad deck, more spacious it seemed than an ocean liner, I -came where my travelling companions were grouped about a grim memorial -of the Jutland battle, a huge projectile that had struck one of the -after turrets, in the doing of which it had transformed itself into -a great, convoluted disc, and was now mounted as a memento of that -tremendous day.</p> - -<p>And here it was I became acquainted with my Midshipmite, who looked -like an angel of sixteen, bore himself like a veteran, and spoke (when -his shyness had worn off a little) like a British fighting man.</p> - -<p>To him I preferred the request that he would pilot me over this -great vessel, which he (blushing a little) very readily agreed to -do. Thereafter, in his wake, I ascended stairways, climbed ladders, -wriggled through narrow spaces, writhed round awkward corners, up and -ever up.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> - -<p>"It's rather awkward, I'm afraid, sir," said he in his gentle voice, -hanging from an iron ladder with one hand and a foot, the better to -address me. "You see, we never bring visitors this way as a rule—"</p> - -<p>"Good!" said I, crushing my hat on firmer. "The unbeaten track for -me—lead on!"</p> - -<p>Onward and upward he led until all at once we reached a narrow -platform, railed round and hung about with plaited rope screens which -he called splinter-mats, over which I had a view of land and water, of -ships and basins, of miles of causeways and piers, none of which had -been in existence before the war. And immediately below me, far, far -down, was the broad white sweep of deck, with the forward turrets where -were housed the great guns whose grim muzzles stared patiently upwards, -nuzzling the air almost as though scenting another battle.</p> - -<p>And standing in this coign of vantage, in my mind's eye I saw this -mighty vessel as she had been, the heave of the fathomless sea below, -the whirling battle-smoke about her, the air full of the crashing -thunder of her guns as she quivered 'neath their discharge. I heard the -humming drone of shells coming from afar, a hum that grew to a wail—a -shriek—and the sickening crash as they smote her or threw up great -water-spouts high as her lofty fighting-tops; I seemed to hear through -it all the ring of electric bells from the various fire-controls, and -voices calm and all unshaken by the hellish din uttering commands down -the many speaking-tubes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> - -<p>"And you," said I, turning to the youthful figure beside me, "you were -in the battle?"</p> - -<p>He blushingly admitted that he was.</p> - -<p>"And how did you feel?"</p> - -<p>He wrinkled his smooth brow and laughed a little shyly.</p> - -<p>"Really I—I hardly know, sir."</p> - -<p>I asked him if at such times one was not inclined to feel a trifle -shaken, a little nervous, or, might one say, afraid?</p> - -<p>"Yes, sir," he agreed politely, "I suppose so—only, you see, we were -all too jolly busy to think about it!"</p> - -<p>"Oh!" said I, taking out a cigarette, "too busy! Of course! I see! And -where is the Captain during action, as a rule?"</p> - -<p>"As a matter of fact he stood—just where you are, sir. Stood there the -whole six hours it was hottest."</p> - -<p>"Here!" I exclaimed. "But it is quite exposed."</p> - -<p>My Midshipmite, being a hardy veteran in world-shaking naval battles, -permitted himself to smile.</p> - -<p>"But, you see, sir," he gently explained, "it's really far safer out -here than being shut up in a gun-turret or—or down below, on account -of er—er—you understand, sir?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, quite!" said I, and thereafter thought awhile, and, receiving -his ready permission, lighted my cigarette. "I think," said I, as we -prepared to descend from our lofty perch, "I'm sure it's just—er—that -kind of thing that brought one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> Francis Drake out of so very many tight -corners. By the way—do you smoke?"</p> - -<p>My Midshipmite blushingly confessed he did, and helped himself from my -case with self-conscious fingers.</p> - -<p>Reaching the main deck in due season, I found I had contrived to miss -the Chief Gunner's lecture on the great guns, whereupon who so agitated -and bitterly apologetic as my Midshipmite, who there and then ushered -me hastily down more awkward stairs and through narrow openings into -a place of glistening, gleaming polish and furbishment where, beside -the shining breech of a monster gun, muscular arm negligently leaning -thereon, stood a round-headed, broad-shouldered man, he the presiding -genius of this (as I afterwards found) most sacred place.</p> - -<p>His lecture was ended and he was addressing a few well-chosen closing -remarks in slightly bored fashion (he had showed off his ponderous -playthings to divers kings, potentates and big-wigs at home and abroad, -I learned) when I, though properly awed by the gun but more especially -by the gunner, ventured to suggest that a gun that had been through -three engagements and had been fired so frequently must necessarily -show some signs of wear. The gunner glanced at me, and I shall never -forget that look. With his eyes on mine, he touched a lever in -negligent fashion, whereon silently the great breech slipped away with -a hiss and whistle of air, and with his gaze always fixed he suggested -I might glance down the bore.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> - -<p>Obediently I stooped, whereon he spake on this wise:</p> - -<p>"If you cast your heyes to the right abaft the breech you'll observe -slight darkening of riflin's. Now glancin' t' left of piece you'll -per-ceive slight darkening of riflin's. Now casting your heyes right -forrard you'll re-mark slight roughening of riflin's towards muzzle of -piece and—there y'are, sir. One hundred and twenty-seven times she's -been fired by my 'and and good for as many more—both of us. Arternoon, -gentlemen, and—thank ye!"</p> - -<p>Saying which he touched a lever in the same negligent fashion, the -mighty breech-block slid back into place, and I walked forth humbly -into the outer air.</p> - -<p>Here I took leave of my Midshipmite, who stood among a crowd of his -fellows to watch me down the gang-plank, and I followed whither I -was led very full of thought as well I might be, until rousing, I -found myself on the deck of that famous <i>Warspite</i>, which our foes -are so comfortably certain lies a shattered wreck off Jutland. Here I -presently fell to discourse with a tall lieutenant, with whom I went -alow and aloft; he showed me cockpit, infirmary and engine-room; he -showed me the wonder of her steering apparatus, and pointed to the -small hand-wheel in the bowels of this huge ship whereby she had been -steered limping into port. He directed my gaze also to divers vast -shell-holes and rents in her steel sides, now very neatly mended by -steel plates held in place by many large bolts. Wherever we went were -sailors, by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> hundred it seemed, and yet I was struck by the size -and airy spaciousness between decks.</p> - -<p>"The strange thing about the Hun," said my companion, as we mounted -upward again, "is that he is so amazingly accurate with his big guns. -Anyway, as we steamed into range he registered direct hits time after -time, and his misses were so close the spray was flying all over us. -Yes, Fritz is wonderfully accurate, but"—here my companion paused to -flick some dust from his braided cuff—"but when we began to knock him -about a bit it was funny how it rattled him—quite funny, you know. -His shots got wider and wider, until they were falling pretty well a -mile wide—very funny!" and the lieutenant smiled dreamily. "Fritz will -shoot magnificently if you only won't shoot back. But really I don't -blame him for thinking he'd sunk us; you see, there were six of 'em -potting away at us at one time—couldn't see us for spray—"</p> - -<p>"And how did you feel just then?" I enquired.</p> - -<p>"Oh, rotten! You see I'd jammed my finger in some tackle for one thing, -and just then the light failed us. We'd have bagged the lot if the -light had held a little longer. But next time—who knows? Care for a -cup of tea?"</p> - -<p>"Thanks!" I answered. "But where are the others?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, by Jove! I fancy your party's gone—I'll see!"</p> - -<p>This proving indeed the case, I perforce took my leave, and with a -midshipman to guide me,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> presently stepped aboard a boat which bore us -back beneath the shadow of that mighty bridge stark against the evening -sky.</p> - -<p>Riding citywards through the deepening twilight I bethought me of the -Midshipmite who, amid the roar and tumult of grim battle had been "too -busy" to be afraid; of the round-headed gunner who, like his gun, was -ready and eager for more, and of the tall lieutenant who, with death in -many awful shapes shrieking and crashing about him, felt "rotten" by -reason of a bruised finger and failing light.</p> - -<p>And hereupon I felt proud that I, too, was a Briton, of the same breed -as these mighty ships and the splendid fellows who man them—these -Keepers of the Seas, who in battle as in tempest do their duty unseen, -unheard, because it is their duty.</p> - -<p>Therefore, all who are so blest as to live within these isles take -comfort and courage from this—that despite raging tempest and -desperate battle, we, trusting in the justice of our cause, in these -iron men and mighty ships, may rest secure, since truly worthy are -these, both ships and men, of the glorious traditions of the world's -most glorious navy.</p> - -<p>But, as they do their duty by Britain and the Empire, let it be our -inestimable privilege as fellow Britons to do our duty as nobly both to -the Empire and—to them.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>VII.</span> <span class="smaller">A HOSPITAL.</span></h2> - -<p>The departure platform of a great station (for such as have eyes to -see) is always a sad place, but now-a-days it is a place of tragedy.</p> - -<p>He was tall and thin—a boyish figure—and his khaki-clad arm was close -about her slender form. The hour was early and their corner bleak and -deserted, thus few were by to heed his stiff-lipped, agonised smile and -the passionate clasp of her hands, or to hear her heartbreaking sobs -and his brave words of comfort; and I, shivering in the early morning -wind, hasted on, awed by a grief that made the grey world greyer.</p> - -<p>Very soon London was behind us, and we were whirling through a -country-side wreathed in mist wherein I seemed to see a girl's tear-wet -cheeks and a boy's lips that smiled so valiantly for all their pitiful -quiver; thus I answered my companion somewhat at random and the -waiter's proffer of breakfast was an insult. And, as I stared out at -misty trees and hedgerow I began as it were to sense a grimness in the -very air—the million-sided tragedy of war; behind me the weeping girl, -before<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> me and looming nearer with every mile, the Somme battle-front.</p> - -<p>At a table hard by a group of clear-eyed subalterns were chatting and -laughing over breakfast, and in their merriment I, too, rejoiced. Yet -the grimness was with me still as we rocked and swayed through the -wreathing mist.</p> - -<p>But trains, even on a foggy morning, have a way of getting there at -last, so, in due season, were docks and more docks, with the funnels -of ships, and beyond these, misty shapes upon a misty sea, the gaunt -outlines of destroyers that were to convoy us Francewards. Hereupon my -companion, K., a hardened traveller, inured to customs, passports and -the like noxious things, led me through a jostling throng, his long -legs striding rapidly when they found occasion, past rank upon rank -of soldiers returning to duty, very neat and orderly, and looking, I -thought, a little grim.</p> - -<p>Presently the warps were cast off and very soon we were in the lift and -roll of the Channel; the white cliffs slowly faded, the wind freshened, -and I, observing that everyone had donned life-belts, forthwith girded -on one of the clumsy contrivances also.</p> - -<p>In mid-channel it blew hard and the destroyers seemed to be making -heavy weather of it, now lost in spray, now showing a glistening height -of free-board, and, as I watched, remembering why they were there, my -cumbrous life-belt grew suddenly very comfortable.</p> - -<p>Came a growing density on the horizon, a blue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> streak that slowly and -little by little grew into roofs, chimneys, docks and shipping, and -France was before us, and it was with almost reverent hands that I -laid aside my clumsy cork jacket and was presently on French soil. -And yet, except for a few chattering porters, the air rang with good -English voices hailing each other in cheery greetings, and khaki was -everywhere. But now, as I followed my companion's long legs past these -serried, dun-coloured ranks, it seemed to me that they held themselves -straighter and looked a little more grim even than they had done in -England.</p> - -<p>I stood, lost in the busy scene before me, when, hearing K.'s voice, I -turned to be introduced to Captain R., tall, bright-eyed, immaculate, -and very much master of himself and circumstances it seemed, for, -despite crowded customs-office, he whisked us through and thence before -sundry officials, who glared at me and my passport, signed, stamped, -returned it and permitted me to go.</p> - -<p>After luncheon we drove to a great base hospital where I was introduced -to the Colonel-Surgeon in charge, a quiet man, who took us readily -under his able guidance. And indeed a huge place was this, a place for -me of awe and wonder, the more so as I learned that the greater part of -it had come into being within one short year.</p> - -<p>It lies beside the sea, this hospital, where clean winds blow, its neat -roadways are bordered by green lawns and flanked by long, low buildings -that reach away in far perspective, buildings of corrugated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> iron, of -wood and asbestos, a very city, but one where there is no riot and rush -of traffic, truly a city of peace and brooding quietude.</p> - -<p>And as I looked upon this silent city, my awe grew, for the Colonel, -in his gentle voice, spoke of death and wounds, of shell-shock, -nerve-wrack and insanity; but he told also of wonderful cures, of -miracles performed on those that should have died, and of reason and -sanity won back.</p> - -<p>"And you?" I questioned, "have you done many such wonders?"</p> - -<p>"Few!" he answered, and sighed. "You see, my duties now are chiefly -administrative," and he seemed gently grieved that it should be so.</p> - -<p>He brought us into wards, long, airy and many-windowed, places of -exquisite neatness and order, where calm-faced sisters were busied -and smart, soft-treading orderlies came and went. Here in white cots -lay many bandaged forms, some who, propped on pillows, watched us -bright-eyed and nodded in cheery greeting; others who lay so ominously -still.</p> - -<p>But as I passed between the long rows of cots, I was struck with the -look of utter peace and content on so many of the faces and wondered, -until, remembering the hell whence they had so lately come, I thought I -understood. Thus, bethinking me of how these dire hurts had been come -by, I took off my hat, and trod between these beds of silent suffering -as softly as I could, for these men had surely come "out of great -tribulation."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> - -<p>In another ward I saw numbers of German wounded, most of them bearded; -many there were who seemed weakly and undersized, and among them were -many grey heads, a very motley company. These, the Colonel informed -us, received precisely the same treatment as our own wounded, even to -tobacco and cigarettes.</p> - -<p>We followed our soft-voiced conductor through many other wards where -he showed us strange and wondrous devices in splints; he halted us -by hanging beds of weird shape and cots that swung on pulleys; he -descanted on wounds to flesh and bone and brain, of lives snatched -from the grip of Death by the marvels of up-to-date surgery, and as I -listened to his pleasant voice I sensed much of the grim wonders he -left untold. We visited X-ray rooms and operating theatre against whose -walls were glass cases filled with a multitudinous array of instruments -for the saving of life, and here it was I learned that in certain -cases, a chisel, properly handled, was a far more delicate tool than -the finest saw.</p> - -<p>"A wonderful place," said I for the hundredth time as we stepped out -upon a trim, green lawn. The Colonel-Surgeon smiled.</p> - -<p>"It took some planning," he admitted, "a little while ago it was a -sandy wilderness."</p> - -<p>"But these lawns?" I demurred.</p> - -<p>"Came to me of their own accord," he answered. "At least, the seed did, -washed ashore from a wreck, so I had it planted and it has done rather -well. Now, what else can I show you? It would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> take all the afternoon -to visit every ward, and they are all much alike—but there is the mad -ward if you'd care to see that? This way."</p> - -<p>A strange place, this, divided into compartments or cubicles where were -many patients in the familiar blue overalls, most of whom rose and -stood at attention as we entered. Tall, soldierly figures they seemed, -and yet with an indefinable something in their looks—a vagueness of -gaze, a loose-lipped, too-ready smile, a vacancy of expression. Some -there were who scowled sullenly enough, others who sat crouched apart, -solitary souls, who, I learned, felt themselves outcast; others again -crouched in corners haunted by the dread of a pursuing vengeance always -at hand.</p> - -<p>One such the Colonel accosted, asking what was wrong. The man looked -up, looked down and muttered unintelligibly, whereupon the Sister spoke.</p> - -<p>"He believes that everyone thinks him a spy," she explained, and -touched the man's bowed head with a hand as gentle as her voice.</p> - -<p>"Shell-shock is a strange thing," said the Colonel-Surgeon, "and -affects men in many extraordinary ways, but seldom permanently."</p> - -<p>"You mean that those poor fellows will recover?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"Quite ninety per cent," he answered in his quiet, assured voice.</p> - -<p>I was shown over laundries complete in every detail; I walked -through clothing stores where, in a single day, six hundred men had -been equipped from head to foot; I beheld large machines for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> -sterilisation of garments foul with the grime of battle and other -things.</p> - -<p>Truly, here, within the hospital that had grown, mushroom-like, within -the wild, was everything for the alleviation of hurts and suffering -more awful than our fighting ancestors ever had to endure. Presently -I left this place, but now, although a clean, fresh wind blew and the -setting sun peeped out, the world somehow seemed a grimmer place than -ever.</p> - -<p>In the Dark Ages, humanity endured much of sin and shame and suffering, -but never such as in this age of Reason and Culture. This same earth -has known evils of every kind, has heard the screams of outraged -innocence, the groan of tortured flesh, and has reddened beneath the -heel of Tyranny; this same sun has seen the smoke and ravishment of -cities and been darkened by the hateful mists of war—but never such -a war as this of cultured barbarity with all its new devilishness. -Shell-shock and insanity, poison-gas and slow strangulation, liquid -fire and poison shells. Rape, Murder, Robbery, Piracy, Slavery—each -and every crime is here—never has humanity endured all these horrors -together until now.</p> - -<p>But remembering by whose will these evils have been loosed upon the -world, remembering the innocent blood, the bitter tears, the agony of -soul and heartbreak, I am persuaded that Retribution must follow as -sure as to-morrow's dawn. The evil that men do lives after them and -lives on for ever.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> - -<p>Should they, who have worked for and planned this misery, escape the -ephemeral justice of man, there is yet the inexorable tribunal of the -Hereafter, which no transgressor, small or great, humble or mighty, may -in any wise escape.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>VIII.</span> <span class="smaller">THE GUNS.</span></h2> - -<p>A fine, brisk morning; a long, tree-bordered road dappled with fugitive -sunbeams, making a glory of puddles that leapt in shimmering spray -beneath our flying wheels. A long, straight road that ran on and on -unswerving, uphill and down, beneath tall, straight trees that flitted -past in never-ending procession, and beyond these a rolling, desolate -countryside of blue hills and dusky woods; and in the air from beyond -this wide horizon a sound that rose above the wind-gusts and the noise -of our going, a faint whisper that seemed in the air close about us -and yet to be of the vague distances, a whisper of sound, a stammering -murmur, now rising, now falling, but never quite lost.</p> - -<p>In rain-sodden fields to right and left were many figures bent -in diligent labour, men in weather-worn, grey-blue uniforms and -knee-boots, while on the roadside were men who lounged, or sat smoking -cigarettes, rifle across knees and wicked-looking bayonets agleam, -wherefore these many German<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> prisoners toiled with the unremitting -diligence aforesaid.</p> - -<p>The road surface improving somewhat we went at speed and, as we lurched -and swayed, the long, straight road grew less deserted. Here and there -transport lorries by ones and twos, then whole convoys drawn up beside -the road, often axle deep in mud, or lumbering heavily onwards; and -ever as we went that ominous, stammering murmur beyond the horizon grew -louder and more distinct.</p> - -<p>On we went, through scattered villages alive with khaki-clad figures -with morions cocked at every conceivable angle, past leafy lanes bright -with the wink of long bayonets; through country towns, whose wide -squares and narrow, old-world streets rang with the ordered tramp of -feet, the stamp of horses and rumble of gun-wheels, where ruddy English -faces turned to stare and broad khaki backs swung easily beneath their -many accoutrements. And in street and square and by-street, always and -ever was that murmurous stammer of sound more ominous and threatening, -yet which nobody seemed to heed—not even K., my companion, who puffed -his cigarette and "was glad it had stopped raining."</p> - -<p>So, picking our way through streets athrong with British faces, dodging -guns and limbers, wagons and carts of all descriptions, we came out -upon the open road again. And now, there being no surface<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> at all to -speak of, we perforce went slow, and I watched where, just in front, -a string of lorries lumbered heavily along, pitching and rolling very -much like boats in a choppy sea.</p> - -<p>Presently we halted to let a column go by, officers a-horse and a-foot -with the long files behind, but all alike splashed and spattered with -mud. Men, these, who carried their rifles anyhow, who tramped along, -rank upon rank, weary men, who showed among them here and there grim -evidence of battle—rain-sodden men with hair that clung to muddy brows -beneath the sloping brims of muddy helmets; men who tramped ankle-deep -in mud and who sang and whistled blithe as birds. So they splashed -wearily through the mud, upborne in their fatigue by that indomitable -spirit that has always made the Briton the fighting man he is.</p> - -<p>At second speed we toiled along again behind the lorries who were -making as bad weather of it as ever, when all at once I caught my -breath, hearkening to the far, faint skirling of Highland bagpipes, -and, leaning from the car, saw before us a company of Highlanders, -their mud-splashed knees a-swing together, their khaki kilts swaying -in rhythm, their long bayonets a-twinkle, while down the wind came the -regular tramp of their felt and the wild, frenzied wailing of their -pipes. Soon we were up with them, bronzed, stalwart figures, grim -fighters from muddy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> spatterdashes to steel helmets, beneath which eyes -turned to stare at us—eyes blue and merry, eyes dark and sombre—as -they swung along to the lilting music of the pipes.</p> - -<p>At the rear the stretcher-bearers marched, the rolled-up stretchers -upon their shoulders; but even so, by various dark stains and marks -upon that dingy canvas, I knew that here was a company that had done -and endured much. Close by me was a man whose hairy knee was black with -dried blood—to him I tentatively proffered my cigarette case.</p> - -<p>"Wull ye hae one the noo?" I questioned. For a moment he eyed me a -trifle dour and askance, then he smiled (a grave Scots smile).</p> - -<p>"Thank ye, I wull that!" said he, and extracted the cigarette with -muddy fingers.</p> - -<p>"Ye'll hae a sore leg, I'm thinking!" said I.</p> - -<p>"Ou aye," he admitted with the same grave smile, "but it's no sae -muckle as a' that—juist a wee bit skelpit I—"</p> - -<p>Our car moved forward, gathered speed, and we bumped and swayed on our -way; the bagpipes shrieked and wailed, grew plaintively soft, and were -drowned and lost in that other sound which was a murmur no longer, but -a rolling, distant thunder, with occasional moments of silence.</p> - -<p>"Ah, the guns at last!" said I.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Yes," nodded K., lighting another cigarette, "I've been listening to -them for the last hour."</p> - -<p>Here my friend F., who happened to be the Intelligence Officer in -charge, leaned forward to say:</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid we can't get into Beaumont Hamel, the Boches are strafing -it rather, this morning, but we'll go as near as we can get, and then -on to what was La Boiselle. We shall leave the car soon, so better get -into your tin hats." Forthwith I buckled on one of the morions we had -brought for the purpose and very uncomfortable I found it. Having made -it fairly secure, I turned, grinning furtively, to behold K.'s classic -features crowned with his outlandish-seeming headgear, and presently -caught him grinning furtively at mine.</p> - -<p>"They're not so heavy as I expected," said I.</p> - -<p>"About half a pound," he suggested.</p> - -<p>Pulling up at a shell shattered village we left the car and trudged -along a shell-torn road, along a battered and rusty railway line, and -presently struck into a desolate waste intersected by sparse hedgerows, -and with here and there desolate, leafless trees, many of which, in -shattered trunk and broken bough, showed grim traces of what had been; -and ever as we advanced these ugly scars grew more frequent, and we -were continually dodging sullen pools that were the work of bursting -shells. And then it began to rain again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> - -<p>On we went, splashing through puddles, slipping in mud, and ever as we -went my boots and my uncomfortable helmet grew heavier and heavier, -while in the heaven above, in the earth below and in the air about -us was the quiver and thunder of unseen guns. As we stumbled through -the muddy desolation I beheld wretched hovels wherein khaki-clad -forms moved, and from one of these damp and dismal structures a merry -whistling issued, with hoarse laughter.</p> - -<p>On we tramped, through rain and mud, which, like my helmet, seemed to -grow momentarily heavier.</p> - -<p>"K.," said I, as he floundered into a shell-hole, "about how heavy did -you say these helmets were?"</p> - -<p>"About a pound!" said he, fierce-eyed. "Confound the mud!"</p> - -<p>Away to our left and high in air a puff of smoke appeared, a -pearl-grey, fleecy cloud, and as I, unsuspecting, watched it writhe -into fantastic shapes, my ears were smitten with a deafening report, -and instinctively I ducked.</p> - -<p>"Shrapnel!" said F., waving his hand in airy introduction. "They're -searching the road yonder I expect—ah, there goes another! Yes, -they're trying the road yonder—but here's the trench—in with you!"</p> - -<p>I am free to confess that I entered that trench precipitately—so -hurriedly, in fact, that my helmet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> fell off, and, as I replaced it, I -was not sorry to see that this trench was very deep and narrow. As we -progressed, very slowly by reason of clinging mud, F. informed us that -this trench had been our old front line before we took Beaumont Hamel; -and I noticed many things, as, clips of cartridges, unexploded bombs, -Lewis gun magazines, parts of a broken machine gun, and various odds -and ends of accoutrements. In some places this trench had fallen in -because of rain and other things and was almost impassable, wherefore, -after much floundering and splashing, F. suggested we should climb out -again, which we did forthwith, very moist and muddy.</p> - -<p>And thus at last I looked at that wide stretch of country across which -our men had advanced unshaken and undismayed, through a hell the like -of which the world had never known before; and, as I stood there, I -could almost see those long, advancing waves of khaki-clad figures, -their ranks swept by the fire of countless rifles and machine guns, -pounded by high explosives, blasted by withering shrapnel, lost in the -swirling death-mist of poison-gas—heroic ranks which, rent asunder, -shattered, torn, yet swung steadily on through smoke and flame, -unflinching and unafraid. As if to make the picture more real, came the -thunderous crash of a shell behind us, but this time I forgot to duck.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> - -<p>Far in front of us I saw a huge puff of smoke, and as it thinned out -beheld clouds of earth and broken beams that seemed to hang suspended a -moment ere they fell and vanished. After a moment was another puff of -smoke further to our right, and beyond this another, and again, beyond -this, another.</p> - -<p>"A battery of heavies," said F.</p> - -<p>Even as he spoke the four puffs burst forth again and upon exactly the -same ground.</p> - -<p>At this juncture a head appeared over the parapet behind us and after -some talk with F., came one who tendered us a pair of binoculars, by -whose aid I made out the British new line of trenches which had once -been German. So I stood, dry-mouthed, to watch the burst of those huge -shells exploding upon our British line. Fascinated, I stared until F.'s -hand on my arm aroused me, and returning the glasses with a hazy word -of thanks I followed my companions, though often turning to watch the -shooting which now I thought much too good.</p> - -<p>And now we were traversing the great battlefield where, not long since, -so many of our bravest had fallen that Britain might still be Britain. -Even yet, upon its torn and trampled surface I could read something of -the fight—here a broken shoulder belt, there a cartridge-pouch, yonder -a stained and tattered coat, while everywhere lay bombs, English and -German.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> - -<p>"If you want to see La Boiselle properly we must hurry!" said F., and -off he went at the double with K.'s long legs striding beside him, but, -as for me, I must needs turn for one last look where those deadly smoke -puffs came and went with such awful regularity.</p> - -<p>The rain had stopped, but it was three damp and mud-spattered wretches -who clambered back into the waiting car.</p> - -<p>"K.," said I, as we removed our cumbrous headgear, "about how much do -you suppose these things weigh?"</p> - -<p>"Fully a ton!" he answered, jerking his cap over his eyes and -scowlingly accepting a cigarette.</p> - -<p>Very soon the shattered village was far behind and we were threading -a devious course between huge steam-tractors, guns, motor-lorries and -more guns. We passed soldiers a-horse and a-foot and long strings of -ambulance cars; to right and left of the road were artillery parks and -great camps, that stretched away into the distance. Here also were vast -numbers of the ubiquitous motor-lorry with many three-wheeled tractors -for the big guns. We sped past hundreds of horses picketed in long -lines; past countless tents smeared crazily in various coloured paints; -past huts little and huts big; past swamps knee-deep in mud where muddy -men were taking down or setting up other tents. On we sped through all -the confused order of a mighty army, until, chancing to raise my eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> -aloft, I beheld a huge balloon, which, as I watched, mounted up and up -into the air.</p> - -<p>"One of our sausages!" said F., gloved hand waving. "Plenty of 'em -round here—see, there's another in that cloud, and beyond it, another."</p> - -<p>So for awhile I rode with my eyes turned upwards, and thus I presently -saw far ahead many aeroplanes that flew in strange, zig-zag fashion, -now swooping low, now climbing high, now twisting and turning giddily.</p> - -<p>"Some of our 'planes under fire!" said F., "you can see the shrapnel -bursting all around 'em—there's the smoke—we call 'em woolly bears. -Won't see any Boche 'planes, though—rather not!"</p> - -<p>Amidst all these wonders and marvels our fleet car sped on, jolting and -lurching violently over ruts, pot-holes and the like until we came to -a part of the road where many men were engaged with pick and shovel; -and here, on either side of the highway, I noticed many grim-looking -heaps and mounds—ugly, shapeless dumps, depressing in their very -hideousness. Beside one such unlovely dump our car pulled up, and F., -gloved finger pointing, announced:</p> - -<p>"The Church of La Boiselle. That heap you see yonder was once the -Mairie, and beyond, the schoolhouse. The others were houses and -cottages. Oh, La Boiselle was quite a pretty place once. We get out -here to visit the guns—this way."</p> - -<p>Obediently I followed whither he led, nothing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> speaking, for surely -here was matter beyond words. Leaving the road, we floundered over what -seemed like ash heaps, but which had once been German trenches faced -and reinforced by concrete and steel plates. Many of these last lay -here and there, awfully bent and twisted, but of trenches I saw none -save a few yards here and there half filled with indescribable débris. -It was, indeed, a place of horror—a frightful desolation beyond all -words. Everywhere about us were signs of dreadful death—they came to -one in the very air, in lowering heaven and tortured earth. Far as -the eye could reach the ground was pitted with great shell holes, so -close that they broke into one another and formed horrid pools full of -shapeless things within the slime.</p> - -<p>Across this hellish waste I went cautiously by reason of torn and -twisted tangles of German barbed wire, of hand grenades and huge -shells, of broken and rusty iron and steel that once were deadly -machine-guns. As I picked my way among all this flotsam, I turned to -take up a bayonet, slipped in the slime and sank to my waist in a shell -hole—even then I didn't touch bottom, but scrambled out, all grey mud -from waist down—but I had the bayonet.</p> - -<p>It was in this woeful state that I shook hands with the Major of -the battery. And as we stood upon that awful waste, he chattered, I -remember, of books. Then, side by side, we came to the battery—four -mighty howitzers, that crashed and roared and shook the very earth with -each discharge,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> and whose shells roared through the air with the rush -of a dozen express trains.</p> - -<p>Following the Major's directing finger, I fixed my gaze some distance -above the muzzle of the nearest gun and, marvel of marvels, beheld -that dire messenger of death and destruction rush forth, soaring, upon -its way, up and up, until it was lost in cloud. Time after time I saw -the huge shells leap sky-wards and vanish on their long journey, and -stood thus lost in wonder, and as I watched I could not but remark on -the speed and dexterity with which the crews handled these monstrous -engines.</p> - -<p>"Yes," nodded the Major, "strange thing is that a year ago they -<i>weren't</i>, you know—guns weren't in existence and the men weren't -gunners—clerks an' all that sort of thing, you know—civilians, what?"</p> - -<p>"They're pretty good gunners now—judging by effect!" said I, nodding -towards the abomination of desolation that had once been a village.</p> - -<p>"Rather!" nodded the Major, cheerily, "used to think it took three long -years to make a gunner once—do it in six short months now! Pretty good -going for old England, what? How about a cup of tea in my dug-out?"</p> - -<p>But evening was approaching, and having far to go we had perforce to -refuse his hospitality and bid him a reluctant good-bye.</p> - -<p>"Don't forget to take a peep at the mine-craters," said he, and waving -a cheery adieu, vanished into his dug-out.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> - -<p>Ten minutes walk along the road, and before us rose a jagged mount, and -beyond it another, uncanny hills, seared and cracked and sinister, up -whose steep slopes I scrambled and into whose yawning depths I gazed -in awestruck wonder; so deep, so wide and huge of circumference, it -seemed rather the result of some titanic convulsion of nature than the -handiwork of man.</p> - -<p>I could imagine the cataclysmic roar of the explosion, the smoke and -flame of the mighty upheaval and war found for me yet another horror -as I turned and descended the precipitous slope. Now, as I went, I -stumbled over a small mound, then halted all at once, for at one end of -this was a very small cross, rudely constructed and painted white, and -tacked to this a strip of lettered tin, bearing a name and number, and -beneath these the words, "One of the best." So I took off my hat and -stood awhile beside that lonely mound of muddy earth ere I went my way.</p> - -<p>Slowly our car lurched onward through the waste, and presently on -either side the way I saw other such mounds and crosses, by twos -and threes, by fifties, by hundreds, in long rows beyond count. And -looking around me on this dreary desolation I knew that one day (since -nothing dies) upon this place of horror grass would grow and flowers -bloom again; along this now desolate and deserted road people would -come by the thousand; these humble crosses and mounds of muddy earth -would become to all Britons a holy place where so many of our best and -bravest lie, who, undismayed,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> have passed through the portals of Death -into the fuller, greater, nobler living.</p> - -<p>Full of such thoughts I turned for one last look, and then I saw that -the setting sun had turned each one of these humble little crosses into -things of shining glory.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>IX.</span> <span class="smaller">A TRAINING CAMP.</span></h2> - -<p>The great training camp lay, a rain-lashed wilderness of windy levels -and bleak, sandy hills, range upon range, far as the eye could see, -with never a living thing to break the monotony. But presently, as our -car lurched and splashed upon its way, there rose a sound that grew and -grew, the awesome sound of countless marching feet.</p> - -<p>On they came, these marching men, until we could see them by the -hundred, by the thousand, their serried ranks stretching away and -away until they were lost in distance. Scots were here, Lowland and -Highland; English and Irish were here, with bronzed New Zealanders, -adventurous Canadians and hardy Australians; men, these, who had come -joyfully across half the world to fight, and, if need be, die for those -ideals which have made the Empire assuredly the greatest and mightiest -this world has ever known. And as I listened to the rhythmic tramp of -these countless feet, it seemed like the voice of this vast Empire -proclaiming to the world that Wrong and Injustice must cease among the -nations; that man, after all, despite all the "Frightfulness" that -warped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> intelligence may conceive, is yet faithful to the highest in -him, faithful to that deathless, purposeful determination that Right -shall endure, the abiding belief of which has brought him through the -dark ages, through blood and misery and shame, on his progress ever -upward.</p> - -<p>So, while these men of the Empire tramped past through blinding rain -and wind, our car stopped before a row of low-lying wooden buildings, -whence presently issued a tall man in rain-sodden trench cap and -burberry, who looked at me with a pair of very dark, bright eyes and -gripped my hand in hearty clasp.</p> - -<p>He was apologetic because of the rain, since, as he informed us, he had -just ordered all men to their quarters, and thus I should see nothing -doing in the training line; nevertheless he cheerfully offered to show -us over the camp, despite mud and wind and rain, and to explain things -as fully as he could; whereupon we as cheerfully accepted.</p> - -<p>The wind whistled about us, the rain pelted us, but the Major heeded it -nothing—neither did I—while K. loudly congratulated himself on having -come in waders and waterproof hat, as, through mud and mire, through -puddles and clogging sand, we followed the Major's long boots, crossing -bare plateaux, climbing precipitous slopes, leaping trenches, slipping -and stumbling, while ever the Major talked, wherefore I heeded not wind -or rain, for the Major talked well.</p> - -<p>He descanted on the new and horribly vicious methods of bayonet -fighting—the quick thrust and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> lightning recovery; struggling with me -upon a sandy, rain-swept height, he showed me how, in wrestling for -your opponent's rifle, the bayonet is the thing. He halted us before -devilish contrivances of barbed wire, each different from the other, -but each just as ugly. He made us peep through loopholes, each and -every different from the other, yet each and every skilfully hidden -from an enemy's observation. We stood beside trenches of every shape -and kind while he pointed out their good and bad points; he brought us -to a place where dummy figures had been set up, their rags a-flutter, -forlorn objects in the rain.</p> - -<p>"Here," said he, "is where we teach 'em to throw live bombs—you can -see where they've been exploding; dummies look a bit off-colour, don't -they?" And he pointed to the ragged scarecrows with his whip. "You -know, I suppose," he continued, "that a Mills' bomb is quite safe until -you take out the pin, and then it is quite safe as long as you hold it, -but the moment it is loosed the lever flies off, which releases the -firing lever and in a few seconds it explodes. It is surprising how -men vary, some are born bombers, some soon learn, but some couldn't be -bombers if they tried—not that they're cowards, it's just a case of -mentality. I've seen men take hold of a bomb, pull out the pin, and -then stand with the thing clutched in their fingers, absolutely unable -to move! And there they'd stand till Lord knows when if the sergeant -didn't take it from them. I remember a queer case once. We were saving -the pins to rig up<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> dummy bombs, and the order was: 'Take the bomb in -your right hand, remove the pin, put the pin in your pocket, and at the -word of command, throw the bomb.' Well, this particular fellow was so -wrought up that he threw away the pin and put the bomb in his pocket!"</p> - -<p>"Was he killed?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"No. The sergeant just had time to dig the thing out of the man's -pocket and throw it away. Bomb exploded in the air and knocked 'em both -flat."</p> - -<p>"Did the sergeant get the V.C. or M.C. or anything?" I enquired.</p> - -<p>The Major smiled and shook his head.</p> - -<p>"I have a good many sergeants here and they can't all have 'em! Now -come and see my lecture theatres."</p> - -<p>Presently, looming through the rain, I saw huge circular structures -that I could make nothing of, until, entering the larger of the -two, I stopped in surprise, for I looked down into a huge, circular -amphitheatre, with circular rows of seats descending tier below tier to -a circular floor of sand, very firm and hard.</p> - -<p>"All made out of empty oil cans!" said the Major, tapping the nearest -can with his whip. "I have 'em filled with sand and stacked as -you see!—good many thousands of 'em here. Find it good for sound -too—shout and try! This place holds about five thousand men—"</p> - -<p>"Whose wonderful idea was this?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, just a little wheeze of my own. Now,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> how about the poison gas; -feel like going through it?"</p> - -<p>I glanced at K., K. glanced at me. I nodded, so did K.</p> - -<p>"Certainly!" said I. Wherefore the Major led us over sandy hills and -along sandy valleys and so to a dingy and weather-worn hut, in whose -dingy interior we found a bright-faced subaltern in dingy uniform -and surrounded by many dingy boxes and a heterogeneous collection of -things. The subaltern was busy at work on a bomb with a penknife, while -at his elbow stood a sergeant grasping a screwdriver, who, perceiving -the Major, came to attention, while the cheery sub. rose, beaming.</p> - -<p>"Can you give us some gas?" enquired the Major, after we had been -introduced, and had shaken hands.</p> - -<p>"Certainly, sir!" nodded the cheerful sub. "Delighted!"</p> - -<p>"You might explain something about it, if you will," suggested the -Major. "Bombs and gas is your line, you know."</p> - -<p>The sub. beamed, and giving certain directions to his sergeant, spake -something on this wise.</p> - -<p>"Well, 'Frightful Fritz'—I mean the Boches y'know, started bein' -frightful some time ago, y'know—playin' their little tricks with gas -an' tear-shells an' liquid fire an' that, and we left 'em to it. Y'see, -it wasn't cricket—wasn't playin' the game—what! But Fritz kept at -it and was happy as a bird, till one day we woke up an' started bein' -frightful too, only when we did begin we were frightfuller than ever -Fritz thought of bein'—yes, rather!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> Our gas is more deadly, our -lachrymatory shells are more lachrymose an' our liquid fire's quite -top-hole—won't go out till it burns out—rather not! So Frightful -Fritz is licked at his own dirty game. I've tried his and I've tried -ours, an' I know."</p> - -<p>Here the sergeant murmured deferentially into the sub.'s ear, whereupon -he beamed again and nodded.</p> - -<p>"Everything's quite ready!" he announced, "so if you're on?"</p> - -<p>Here, after a momentary hesitation, I signified I was, whereupon our -sub. grew immensely busy testing sundry ugly, grey flannel gas helmets, -fitted with staring eyepieces of talc and with a hideous snout in front.</p> - -<p>Having duly fitted on these clumsy things and buttoned them well under -our coat collars, having shown us how we must breathe out through the -mouthpiece which acts as a kind of exhaust, our sub. donned his own -headpiece, through which his cheery voice reached me in muffled tones:</p> - -<p>"You'll feel a kind of ticklin' feelin' in the throat at first, but -that's all O.K.—only the chemical the flannel's saturated with. Now -follow me, please, an' would you mind runnin', the rain's apt to weaken -the solution. This way!"</p> - -<p>Dutifully we hasted after him, ploughing through the wet sand, -until we came to a heavily timbered doorway that seemingly opened -into the hillside, and, beyond this yawning doorway I saw a thick, -greenish-yellow mist, a fog exactly the colour of strong absinthe; and -then we were in it. K.'s tall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> figure grew blurred, indistinct, faded -utterly away, and I was alone amid that awful, swirling vapour that -held death in such agonising form.</p> - -<p>I will confess I was not happy, my throat was tickling provokingly, -I began to cough and my windpipe felt too small. I hastened forward, -but, even as I went, the light grew dimmer and the swirling fog more -dense. I groped blindly, began to run, stumbled, and in that moment my -hand came in contact with an unseen rope. On I went into gloom, into -blackness, until I was presently aware of my companions in front and -mightily glad of it. In a while, still following this invisible rope, -we turned a corner, the fog grew less opaque, thinned away to a green -mist, and we were out in the daylight again, and thankful was I to whip -off my stifling helmet and feel the clean wind in my hair and the beat -of rain upon my face.</p> - -<p>"Notice the ticklin' feelin'?" enquired our sub., as he took our -helmets and put them carefully by. "Bit tryin' at first, but you soon -get used to it—yes, rather. Some of the men funk tryin' at first—and -some hold their breath until they fairly well burst, an' some won't go -in at all, so we carry 'em in. That gas you've tried is about twenty -times stronger than we get it in the open, but these helmets are a -rippin' dodge till the chemical evaporates, then, of course, they're no -earthly. This is the latest device—quite a top-hole scheme!" And he -showed us a box-like contrivance which, when in use, is slung round the -neck.</p> - -<p>"Are you often in the gas?" I enquired.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Every day—yes, rather!"</p> - -<p>"For how long?"</p> - -<p>"Well, I stayed in once for five hours on end—"</p> - -<p>"Five hours!" I exclaimed, aghast.</p> - -<p>"Y'see, I was experimentin'!"</p> - -<p>"And didn't you feel any bad effects?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, rather! I was simply dyin' for a smoke. Like to try a -lachrymatory?" he enquired, reaching up to a certain dingy box.</p> - -<p>"Yes," said I, glancing at K. "Oh, yes, if—"</p> - -<p>"Only smart for the time bein'," our sub. assured me. "Make you weep a -bit!" Here from the dingy box he fished a particularly vicious-looking -bomb and fell to poking at it with a screwdriver. I immediately stepped -back. So did K. The Major pulled his moustache and flicked a chunk of -mud from his boot with his whip.</p> - -<p>"Er—I suppose that thing's all right?" he enquired.</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes, quite all right, sir, quite all right," nodded the sub., -using the screwdriver as a hammer. "Only wants a little fixin'."</p> - -<p>As I watched that deadly thing, for the second time I felt distinctly -unhappy; however, the refractory pin, or whatever it was, being fixed -to his satisfaction, our sub. led the way out of the dingy hut and -going some few paces ahead, paused.</p> - -<p>"I'm goin' to give you a liquid-fire bomb first!" said he. "Watch!"</p> - -<p>He drew back his hand and hurled the bomb. Almost immediately there -was a shattering report and the air was full of thick, grey smoke and -yellow<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> flame, smoke that rolled heavily along the ground towards us, -flame that burned ever fiercer, fiery yellow tongues that leapt from -the sand here and there, that writhed in the wind-gusts, but never -diminished.</p> - -<p>"Stoop down!" cried the sub., suiting the action to word, "stoop down -and get a mouthful of that smoke—makes you jolly sick and unconscious -in no time if you get enough of it. Top-hole bomb, that—what!"</p> - -<p>Then he brought us where those yellow flames leapt and hissed; some of -these he covered with wet sand, and lo! they had ceased to be; but the -moment the sand was kicked away up they leapt again fiercer than ever.</p> - -<p>"We use 'em for bombing Boche dug-outs now!" said he; and remembering -the dug-outs I had seen, I could picture the awful fate of those -within, the choking fumes, the fire-scorched bodies! Truly the -exponents of Frightfulness have felt the recoil of their own vile -methods.</p> - -<p>"This is a lachrymatory!" said the sub., whisking another bomb from his -pocket. "When it pops, run forward and get in the smoke. It'll sting -a bit, but don't rub the tears away—let 'em flow. Don't touch your -eyes, it'll only inflame 'em—just weep! Ready? One, two, three!" A -second explosion louder than the first, a puff of blue smoke into which -I presently ran and then uttered a cry. So sharp, so excruciating was -the pain, that instinctively I raised hand to eyes but checked myself, -and with tears gushing over my<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> cheeks, blind and agonised, I stumbled -away from that hellish vapour. Very soon the pain diminished, was gone, -and looking up through streaming tears I beheld the sub. nodding and -beaming approval.</p> - -<p>"Useful things, eh?" he remarked, "A man can't shed tears and -shoot straight, an' he can't weep and fight well, both at the same -time—what? Fritz can be very frightful, but we can be more so when we -want—yes, rather. The Boches have learned that there's no monopoly in -Frightfulness."</p> - -<p>In due season we shook hands with our cheery sub., and left him beaming -after us from the threshold of the dingy hut.</p> - -<p>Britain has been called slow, old-fashioned, and behind the times, but -to-day she is awake and at work to such mighty purpose that her once -small army is now numbered by the million, an army second to none in -equipment or hardy and dauntless manhood.</p> - -<p>From her Home Counties, from her Empire beyond the Seas, her millions -have arisen, brothers in arms henceforth, bonded together by a spirit -of noble self-sacrifice—men grimly determined to suffer wounds and -hardship and death itself, that for those who come after them, the -world may be a better place and humanity may never again be called upon -to endure all the agony and heartbreak of this generation.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>X.</span> <span class="smaller">ARRAS.</span></h2> - -<p>It was raining, and a chilly wind blew as we passed beneath a battered -arch into the tragic desolation of Arras.</p> - -<p>I have seen villages pounded by gun-fire into hideous mounds of dust -and rubble, their very semblance blasted utterly away; but Arras, -shell-torn, scarred, disfigured for all time, is a city still—a City -of Desolation. Her streets lie empty and silent, her once pleasant -squares are a dreary desolation, her noble buildings, monuments of her -ancient splendour, are ruined beyond repair. Arras is a dead city, -whose mournful silence is broken only by the intermittent thunder of -the guns.</p> - -<p>Thus, as I paced these deserted streets where none moved save myself -(for my companions had hastened on), as I gazed on ruined buildings -that echoed mournfully to my tread, what wonder that my thoughts were -gloomy as the day itself? I paused in a street of fair, tall houses, -from whose broken windows curtains of lace, of plush, and tapestry -flapped mournfully in the chill November wind like rags upon a corpse, -while from some dim interior came the hollow rattle of a door, and, in -every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> gust, a swinging shutter groaned despairingly on rusty hinge.</p> - -<p>And as I stood in this narrow street, littered with the brick and -masonry of desolate homes, and listened to these mournful sounds, I -wondered vaguely what had become of all those for whom this door had -been wont to open, where now the eyes that had looked down from these -windows many and many a time—would they ever behold again this quiet, -narrow street, would these scarred walls echo again to those same -voices and ring with joy of life and familiar laughter?</p> - -<p>And now this desolate city became as it were peopled with the souls of -these exiles, they flitted ghostlike in the dimness behind flapping -curtains, they peered down through closed jalousies—wraiths of the men -and women and children who had lived and loved and played here before -the curse of the barbarian had driven them away.</p> - -<p>And, as if to help this illusion, I saw many things that were eloquent -of these vanished people—glimpses through shattered windows and beyond -demolished house-fronts; here a table set for dinner, with plates and -tarnished cutlery on a dingy cloth that stirred damp and lazily in the -wind, yonder a grand piano, open and with sodden music drooping from -its rest; here again chairs drawn cosily together.</p> - -<p>Wherever I looked were evidences of arrested life, of action suddenly -stayed; in one bedroom a trunk open, with a pile of articles beside -it in the act of being packed; in another, a great bed, its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> sheets -and blankets tossed askew by hands wild with haste; while in a room -lined with bookcases a deep armchair was drawn up to the hearth, with -a small table whereon stood a decanter and a half-emptied glass, and -an open book whose damp leaves stirred in the wind, now and then, as -if touched by phantom fingers. Indeed, more than once I marvelled to -see how, amid the awful wreckage of broken floors and tumbled ceilings, -delicate vases and chinaware had miraculously escaped destruction. Upon -one cracked wall a large mirror reflected the ruin of a massive carved -sideboard, while in another house, hard by, a magnificent ivory and -ebony crucifix yet hung above an awful twisted thing that had been a -brass bedstead.</p> - -<p>Here and there, on either side this narrow street, ugly gaps showed -where houses had once stood, comfortable homes, now only unsightly -heaps of rubbish, a confusion of broken beams and rafters, amid which -divers familiar objects obtruded themselves, broken chairs and tables, -a grandfather clock, and a shattered piano whose melody was silenced -for ever.</p> - -<p>Through all these gloomy relics of a vanished people I went slow-footed -and heedless of direction, until by chance I came out into the wide -Place and saw before me all that remained of the stately building which -for centuries had been the Hotel de Ville, now nothing but a crumbling -ruin of noble arch and massive tower; even so, in shattered facade and -mullioned window one might yet see something of that beauty which had -made it famous.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> - -<p>Oblivious of driving rain I stood bethinking me of this ancient city: -how in the dark ages it had endured the horrors of battle and siege, -had fronted the catapults of Rome, heard the fierce shouts of barbarian -assailants, known the merciless savagery of religious wars, and -remained a city still only for the cultured barbarian of to-day to make -of it a desolation.</p> - -<p>Very full of thought I turned away, but, as I crossed the desolate -square, I was aroused by a voice that hailed me, seemingly from beneath -my feet, a voice that echoed eerily in that silent Place. Glancing -about I beheld a beshawled head that rose above the littered pavement, -and, as I stared, the head nodded and, smiling wanly, accosted me again.</p> - -<p>Coming thither I looked into a square opening with a flight of steps -leading down into a subterranean chamber, and, upon these steps a woman -sat knitting busily. She enquired if I wished to view the catacombs, -and pointed where a lamp burned above another opening and other steps -descended lower yet, seemingly into the very bowels of the earth. To -her I explained that my time was limited and all I wished to see lay -above ground, and from her I learned that some few people yet remained -in ruined Arras, who, even as she, lived underground, since every day -at irregular intervals the enemy fired into the town haphazard. Only -that very morning, she told me, another shell had struck the poor Hotel -de Ville, and she pointed to a new, white scar upon the shapeless -tower. She<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> also showed me an ugly rent upon a certain wall near by, -made by the shell which had killed her husband. Yes, she lived all -alone now, she told me, waiting for that good day when the Boches -should be driven beyond the Rhine, waiting until the townsfolk should -come back and Arras wake to life again: meantime she knitted.</p> - -<p>Presently I saluted this solitary woman, and, turning away, left -her amid the desolate ruin of that once busy square, her beshawled -head bowed above feverishly busy fingers, left her as I had found -her—waiting.</p> - -<p>And now as I traversed those deserted streets it seemed that this -seemingly dead city did but swoon after all, despite its many grievous -wounds, for here was life even as the woman had said; evidences of -which I saw here and there, in battered stovepipes that had writhed -themselves snake-like through rusty cellar gratings and holes in wall -or pavement, miserable contrivances at best, whose fumes blackened the -walls whereto they clung. Still, nowhere was there sound or sight of -folk save in one small back street, where, in a shop that apparently -sold everything, from pickles to picture postcards, two British -soldiers were buying a pair of braces from a smiling, haggard-eyed -woman, and being extremely polite about it in cryptic Anglo-French; -and here I foregathered with my companions. Our way led us through -the railway station, a much-battered ruin, its clock tower half gone, -its platforms cracked and splintered, the iron girders of its great, -domed roof bent and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> twisted, and with never a sheet of glass anywhere. -Between the rusty tracks grass and weeds grew and flourished, and the -few waybills and excursion placards which still showed here and there -looked unutterably forlorn. In the booking office was a confusion -of broken desks, stools and overthrown chairs, the floor littered -with sodden books and ledgers, but the racks still held thousands of -tickets, bearing so many names they might have taken anyone anywhere -throughout fair France once, but now, it seemed, would never take -anyone anywhere.</p> - -<p>All at once, through the battered swing-doors, marched a company of -soldiers, the tramp of their feet and the lilt of their voices filling -the place with strange echoes, for, being wet and weary and British, -they sang cheerily. Packs a-swing, rifles on shoulder, they tramped -through shell-torn waiting-room and booking-hall and out again into -wind and wet, and I remember the burden of their chanting was: "Smile! -Smile! Smile!"</p> - -<p>In a little while I stood amid the ruins of the great cathedral; its -mighty pillars, chipped and scarred, yet rose high in air, but its long -aisles were choked with rubble and fallen masonry, while through the -gaping rents of its lofty roof the rain fell, wetting the shattered -heap of particoloured marble that had been the high altar once. Here -and there, half buried in the débris at my feet, I saw fragments of -memorial tablets, a battered corona, the twisted remains of a great -candelabrum, and over and through this mournful ruin a cold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> and rising -wind moaned fitfully. Silently we clambered back over the mountain of -débris and hurried on, heedless of the devastation around, heartsick -with the gross barbarity of it all.</p> - -<p>They tell me that churches and cathedrals must of necessity be -destroyed since they generally serve as observation posts. But I have -seen many ruined churches—usually beautified by Time and hallowed by -tradition—that by reason of site and position could never have been so -misused—and then there is the beautiful Chateau d'Eau!</p> - -<p>Evening was falling, and as the shadows stole upon this silent city, -a gloom unrelieved by any homely twinkle of light, these dreadful -streets, these stricken homes took on an aspect more sinister and -forbidding in the half-light. Behind those flapping curtains were pits -of gloom full of unimagined terrors whence came unearthly sounds, -stealthy rustlings, groans and sighs and sobbing voices. If ghosts did -flit behind those crumbling walls, surely they were very sad and woeful -ghosts.</p> - -<p>"Damn this rain!" murmured K., gently.</p> - -<p>"And the wind!" said F., pulling up his collar. "Listen to it! It's -going to play the very deuce with these broken roofs and things if it -blows hard. Going to be a beastly night, and a forty-mile drive in -front of us. Listen to that wind! Come on—let's get away!"</p> - -<p>Very soon, buried in warm rugs, we sped across dim squares, past -wind-swept ruins, under battered arch, and the dismal city was behind -us, but, for a while, her ghosts seemed all about us still.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> - -<p>As we plunged on through the gathering dark, past rows of trees that -leapt at us and were gone, it seemed to me that the soul of Arras -was typified in that patient, solitary woman who sat amid desolate -ruin—waiting for the great Day; and surely her patience cannot go -unrewarded. For since science has proved that nothing can be utterly -destroyed, since I for one am convinced that the soul of man through -death is but translated into a fuller and more infinite living, so do I -think that one day the woes of Arras shall be done away, and she shall -rise again, a City greater perhaps and fairer than she was.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>XI.</span> <span class="smaller">THE BATTLEFIELDS.</span></h2> - -<p>To all who sit immune, far removed from war and all its horrors, to -those to whom when Death comes, he comes in shape as gentle as he -may—to all such I dedicate these tales of the front.</p> - -<p>How many stories of battlefields have been written of late, written to -be scanned hastily over the breakfast-table or comfortably lounged over -in an easy chair, stories warranted not to shock or disgust, wherein -the reader may learn of the glorious achievements of our armies, of -heroic deeds and noble self-sacrifice, so that frequently I have heard -it said that war, since it produces heroes, is a goodly thing, a -necessary thing.</p> - -<p>Can the average reader know or even faintly imagine the other side of -the picture? Surely not, for no clean human mind can compass all the -horror, all the brutal, grotesque obscenity of a modern battlefield. -Therefore I propose to write plainly, briefly, of that which I saw on -my last visit to the British front; for since in blood-sodden France -men are dying even as I pen these lines, it seems only just that -those of us for whom they are giving their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> lives should at least -know something of the manner of their dying. To this end I visited -four great battle-fields and I would that all such as cry up war, its -necessity, its inevitability, might have gone beside me. Though I have -sometimes written of war, yet I am one that hates war, one to whom the -sight of suffering and bloodshed cause physical pain, yet I forced -myself to tread those awful fields of death and agony, to look upon the -ghastly aftermath of modern battle, that, if it be possible, I might -by my testimony in some small way help those who know as little of war -as I did once, to realise the horror of it, that loathing it for the -hellish thing it is, they may, one and all, set their faces against war -henceforth, with an unshakeable determination that never again shall -it be permitted to maim, to destroy and blast out of being the noblest -works of God.</p> - -<p>What I write here I set down deliberately, with no idea of -phrase-making, of literary values or rounded periods; this is and shall -be a plain, trite statement of fact.</p> - -<p>And now, one and all, come with me in spirit, lend me your mind's eyes, -and see for yourselves something of what modern war really is.</p> - -<p>Behold then a stretch of country—a sea of mud far as the eye can -reach, a grim, desolate expanse, its surface ploughed and churned by -thousands of high-explosive shells into ugly holes and tortured heaps -like muddy waves struck motionless upon this muddy sea. The guns are -silent, the cheers and frenzied shouts, the screams and groans have -long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> died away, and no sound is heard save the noise of my own going.</p> - -<p>The sun shone palely and a fitful wind swept across the waste, a -noxious wind, cold and dank, that chilled me with a sudden dread even -while the sweat ran from me. I walked amid shell-craters, sometimes -knee-deep in mud, I stumbled over rifles half buried in the slime, on -muddy knapsacks, over muddy bags half full of rusty bombs, and so upon -the body of a dead German soldier. With arms wide-flung and writhen -legs grotesquely twisted he lay there beneath my boot, his head half -buried in the mud, even so I could see that the maggots had been busy, -though the — had killed them where they clung. So there he lay, this -dead Boche, skull gleaming under shrunken scalp, an awful, eyeless -thing, that seemed to start, to stir and shiver as the cold wind -stirred his muddy clothing. Then nausea and a deadly faintness seized -me, but I shook it off, and shivering, sweating, forced myself to stoop -and touch that awful thing, and, with the touch, horror and faintness -passed, and in their place I felt a deep and passionate pity for all he -was a Boche, and with pity in my heart I turned and went my way.</p> - -<p>But now, wherever I looked were other shapes, that lay in attitudes -frightfully contorted, grotesque and awful. Here the battle had raged -desperately. I stood in a very charnel-house of dead. From a mound of -earth upflung by a bursting shell a clenched fist, weather-bleached and -pallid, seemed to threaten me; from another emerged a pair of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> crossed -legs with knees up-drawn, very like the legs of one who dozes gently on -a hot day. Hard by, a pair of German knee-boots topped a shell crater, -and drawing near, I saw the grey-green breeches, belt and pouches, and -beyond—nothing but unspeakable corruption. I started back in horror -and stepped on something that yielded underfoot—glanced down and saw a -bloated, discoloured face, that, even as I looked, vanished beneath my -boot and left a bare and grinning skull.</p> - -<p>Once again the faintness seized me, and lifting my head I stared round -about me and across the desolation of this hellish waste. Far in the -distance was the road where men moved to and fro, busy with picks and -shovels, and some sang and some whistled and never sound more welcome. -Here and there across these innumerable shell holes, solitary figures -moved, men, these, who walked heedfully and with heads down-bent. And -presently I moved on, but now, like these distant figures, I kept my -gaze upon that awful mud lest again I should trample heedlessly on -something that had once lived and loved and laughed. And they lay -everywhere, here stark and stiff, with no pitiful earth to hide their -awful corruption—here again, half buried in slimy mud; more than once -my nailed boot uncovered mouldering tunic or things more awful. And -as I trod this grisly place my pity grew, and with pity a profound -wonder that the world with its so many millions of reasoning minds -should permit such things to be, until I remembered that few, even -the most imaginative, could realise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> the true frightfulness of modern -men-butchering machinery, and my wonder changed to a passionate desire -that such things should be recorded and known, if only in some small -measure, wherefore it is I write these things.</p> - -<p>I wandered on past shell holes, some deep in slime, that held nameless -ghastly messes, some a-brim with bloody water, until I came where three -men lay side by side, their hands upon their levelled rifles. For a -moment I had the foolish thought that these men were weary and slept, -until, coming near, I saw that these had died by the same shell-burst. -Near them lay yet another shape, a mangled heap, one muddy hand yet -grasping muddy rifle, while, beneath the other lay the fragment of a -sodden letter—probably the last thing those dying eyes had looked upon.</p> - -<p>Death in horrible shape was all about me. I saw the work wrought by -shrapnel, by gas, and the mangled red havoc of high-explosive. It only -seemed unreal, like one that walked in a nightmare. Here and there upon -this sea of mud rose the twisted wreckage of aeroplanes, and from where -I stood I counted five, but as I tramped on and on these five grew to -nine. One of these lying upon my way I turned aside to glance at, and -stared through a tangle of wires into a pallid thing that had been a -face once comely and youthful; the leather jacket had been opened at -the neck for the identity disc as I suppose, and glancing lower I saw -that this leather jacket was discoloured, singed, burnt—and below -this, a charred and unrecognisable mass.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> - -<p>Is there a man in the world to-day who, beholding such horrors, would -not strive with all his strength to so order things that the hell of -war should be made impossible henceforth? Therefore, I have recorded in -some part what I have seen of war.</p> - -<p>So now, all of you who read, I summon you in the name of our common -humanity, let us be up and doing. Americans—Anglo-Saxons, let our -common blood be a bond of brotherhood between us henceforth, a bond -indissoluble. As you have now entered the war, as you are now our -allies in deed as in spirit, let this alliance endure hereafter. -Already there is talk of some such League, which, in its might and -unity, shall secure humanity against any recurrence of the evils the -world now groans under. Here is a noble purpose, and I conceive it the -duty of each one of us, for the sake of those who shall come after, -that we should do something to further that which was once looked upon -as only an Utopian dream—the universal Brotherhood of Man.</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>"The flowers o' the forest are a' faded away."</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Far and wide they lie, struck down in the flush of manhood, full of the -joyous, unconquerable spirit of youth. Who knows what noble ambitions -once were theirs, what splendid works they might not have wrought? Now -they lie, each poor, shattered body a mass of loathsome corruption. Yet -that diviner part, that no bullet may slay, no steel rend or mar, has -surely entered into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> fuller living, for Death is but the gateway -into Life and infinite possibilities.</p> - -<p>But, upon all who sit immune, upon all whom as yet this bitter war -has left untouched, is the blood of these that died in the cause of -humanity, the cause of Freedom for us and the generations to come, this -blood is upon each one of us—consecrating us to the task they have -died to achieve, and it is our solemn duty to see that the wounds they -suffered, the deaths they died, have not been, and shall not be, in vain.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>XII.</span> <span class="smaller">FLYING MEN.</span></h2> - -<p>A few short years ago flying was in its experimental stage; to-day, -though man's conquest of the air is yet a dream unrealised, it has -developed enormously and to an amazing degree; to-day, flying is -one of the chief factors of this world war, both on sea and land. -Upon the Western front alone there are thousands upon thousands of -aeroplanes—monoplanes and biplanes—of hundreds of different makes -and designs, of varying shapes and many sizes. I have seen giants -armed with batteries of swivel guns and others mounting veritable -cannon. Here are huge bomb-dropping machines with a vast wing-spread; -solid, steady-flying machines for photographic work, and the light, -swift-climbing, double-gunned battle-planes, capable of mounting two -thousand feet a minute and attaining a speed of two hundred kilometres. -Of these last they are building scores a week at a certain factory I -visited just outside Paris, and this factory is but one of many. But -the men (or rather, youths) who fly these aerial marvels—it is of -these rather than the machines that I would tell, since of the machines -I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> can describe little even if I would; but I have watched them -hovering unconcernedly (and quite contemptuous of the barking attention -of "Archie") above white shrapnel bursts—fleecy, innocent-seeming -puffs of smoke that go by the name of "woolly bears." I have seen them -turn and hover and swoop, swift and graceful as great eagles. I have -watched master-pilots of both armies, English and French, perform -soul-shaking gyrations high in air, feats quite impossible hitherto -and never attempted until lately. There is now a course of aerial -gymnastics which every flier must pass successfully before he may call -himself a "chasing" pilot; and, from what I have observed, it would -seem that to become a pilot one must be either all nerve or possess no -nerve at all.</p> - -<p>Conceive a biplane, thousands of feet aloft, suddenly flinging its nose -up and beginning to climb vertically as if intending to loop the loop; -conceive of its pausing suddenly and remaining, for perhaps a full -minute, poised thus upon its tail—absolutely perpendicular. Then, the -engines switched off, conceive of it falling helplessly, tail first, -reversing suddenly and plunging earthwards, spinning giddily round and -round very like the helpless flutter of a falling leaf. Then suddenly, -the engine roars again, the twisting, fluttering, dead thing becomes -instinct with life, rights itself majestically on flashing pinions, -swoops down in swift and headlong course, and, turning, mounts the wind -and soars up and up as light, as graceful, as any bird.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> - -<p>Other nerve-shattering things they do, these soaring young demi-gods of -the air, feats so marvellous to such earth-bound ones as myself—feats -indeed so wildly daring it would seem no ordinary human could ever -hope to attain unto. But in and around Paris and at the front, I -have talked with, dined with, and known many of these bird-men, both -English, French and American, and have generally found them very human -indeed, often shy, generally simple and unaffected, and always modest -of their achievements and full of admiration for seamen and soldiers, -and heartily glad that their lives are not jeopardised aboard ships, -or submarines, or in muddy trenches; which sentiment I have heard -fervently expressed—not once, but many times. Surely the mentality of -the flier is beyond poor ordinary understanding!</p> - -<p>It was with some such thought in my mind that with my friend N., -a well-known American correspondent, I visited one of our flying -squadrons at the front. The day was dull and cloudy, and N., deep -versed and experienced in flying and matters pertaining thereto, shook -doubtful head.</p> - -<p>"We shan't see much to-day," he opined, "low visibility—<i>plafond</i> only -about a thousand!" Which cryptic sentence, by dint of pertinacious -questioning, I found to mean that the clouds were about a thousand -feet from earth and that it was misty. "<i>Plafond</i>," by the way, -is aeronautic for cloud-strata. Thus I stood with my gaze lifted -heavenward until the Intelligence Officer joined us with a youthful -flight-captain, who,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> having shaken hands, looked up also and stroked a -small and very young moustache. And presently he spoke as nearly as I -remember on this wise:—</p> - -<p>"About twelve hundred! Rather rotten weather for our -business—expecting some new machines over, too."</p> - -<p>"Has your squadron been out lately?" I enquired, (I have the gift of -inquiry largely developed).</p> - -<p>"Rather! Lost four of our chaps yesterday—'Archie' got 'em. Rotten bad -luck!"</p> - -<p>"Are they—hurt?" I asked.</p> - -<p>"Well, we know two are all right, and one we think is, but the -other—rather a pal of mine—"</p> - -<p>"Do you often lose fellows?"</p> - -<p>"Off and on—you see, we're a fighting squadron—must take a bit of -risk now and then—it's the game y'know!"</p> - -<p>He brought me where stood biplanes and monoplanes of all sizes and -designs, and paused beside a two-seater, gunned fore and aft, and with -ponderous wide-flung wings.</p> - -<p>"This," he explained, "is an old battle-plane, quite a veteran -too—jolly old 'bus in its way, but too slow, it's a 'pusher,' you see, -and 'tractors' are all the go. We're having some over to-day—top-hole -machines." Here ensued much technical discussion between him and N. as -to the relative merits of traction and propulsion.</p> - -<p>"Have you had many air duels?" I enquired at last, as we wandered on -through a maze of wheels and wings and propellers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, yes, one or two," he admitted, "though nothing very much!" he -hastened to add. "Some of our chaps are pretty hot stuff, though. -There's B. now, B.'s got nine so far."</p> - -<p>"An air fight must be rather terrible?" said I.</p> - -<p>"Oh, I don't know!" he demurred. "Gets a bit lively sometimes. C., one -of our chaps, had a near go coming home yesterday—attacked by five -Boche machines, well over their own territory, of course. They swooped -down on him out of a cloud. C. got one right away, but the others got -him—nearly. They shot his gear all to pieces and put his bally gun -out of commission—bullet clean through the tray. Rotten bad luck! So, -being at their mercy, C. pretended they'd got him—did a turn-over and -nose-dived through the clouds very nearly on two more Boche machines -that were waiting for him. So, thinking it was all up with him, C. -dived straight for the nearest, meaning to take a Boche down with him, -but Hans didn't think that was playing the game, and promptly hooked -it. The other fellow had been blazing away and was getting a new drum -fixed, when he saw C. was on his tail making tremendous business with -his useless gun, so Fritz immediately dived away out of range, and -C. got home with about fifty bullet holes in his wings and his gun -crocked, and—oh, here he is!"</p> - -<p>Flight-Lieutenant C. appeared, rather younger than his Captain, a long, -slender youth, with serious brow and thoughtful eyes, whom I forthwith -questioned as diplomatically as might be.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Oh, yes!" he answered, in response to my various queries, "it was -exciting for a minute or so, but I expect the Captain has been pulling -your leg no end. Yes, they smashed my gun. Yes, they hit pretty well -everything except me and my mascot—they didn't get that, by good luck. -No, I don't think a fellow would mind 'getting it' in the ordinary -way—a bullet, say. But it's the damned petrol catching alight and -burning one's legs." Here the speaker bent to survey his long legs -with serious eyes. "Burning isn't a very nice finish somehow. They -generally manage to chuck themselves out—when they can. Hello—here -comes one of our new machines—engine sounds nice and smooth!" said he, -cocking an ear. Sure enough, came a faint purr that grew to a hum, to -an ever-loudening drone, and out from the clouds an aeroplane appeared, -which, wheeling in graceful spirals, sank lower and lower, touched -earth, rose, touched again, and so, engine roaring, slid smoothly -toward us over the grass. Then appeared men in blue overalls, who -seized the gleaming monster in unawed, accustomed hands, steadied it, -swung it round, and halted it within speaking distance.</p> - -<p>Hereupon its leather-clad pilot climbed stiffly out, vituperated the -weather and lit a cigarette.</p> - -<p>"How is she?" enquired the Captain.</p> - -<p>"A lamb! A witch! Absolutely top hole when you get used to her." -The top-hole lamb and witch was a smallish biplane with no great -wing-spread, but powerfully engined, whose points N. explained to me -as—her speed, her climbing angle, her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> wonderful stability, etc., -while the Captain and Lieutenant hastened off to find the Major, who, -appearing in due course, proved to be slender, merry-eyed and more -youthful-looking than the Lieutenant. Indeed, so young-seeming was he -that upon better acquaintance I ventured to enquire his age, and he -somewhat unwillingly owned to twenty-three.</p> - -<p>"But," said he, "I'm afraid we can't show you very much, the weather's -so perfectly rotten for flying."</p> - -<p>"Oh, I don't know," said the Captain, glancing towards the witch-lamb, -"I rather thought I'd like to try this new machine—if you don't mind, -sir."</p> - -<p>"Same here," murmured the Lieutenant.</p> - -<p>"But you've never flown a Nieuport before, have you, eh?" enquired the -Major.</p> - -<p>"No, sir, but—"</p> - -<p>"Nor you either, C.?"</p> - -<p>"No, sir, still—"</p> - -<p>"Then I'll try her myself," said the Major, regarding the witch-lamb -joyous-eyed.</p> - -<p>"But," demurred the Captain, "I was rather under the impression you'd -never flown one either."</p> - -<p>"I haven't—yet," laughed the Major, and hasted away for his coat and -helmet.</p> - -<p>"Can you beat that?" exclaimed the Lieutenant.</p> - -<p>The Captain sighed and went to aid the Major into his leathern armour. -Lightly and joyously the youthful Major climbed into the machine and -sat awhile to examine and remark upon its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> unfamiliar features, while a -sturdy mechanic stood at the propeller ready to start the engine.</p> - -<p>"By the way," said he, turning to address me. "You're staying to -luncheon, of course?"</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid we can't," answered our Intelligence Officer.</p> - -<p>"Oh, but you must—I've ordered soup! Right-oh!" he called to his -mechanician; the engine hummed, thundered, and roaring, cast back upon -us a very gale of wind; the witch-lamb moved, slid forward over the -grass, and gathering speed, lifted six inches, a yard, ten yards—and -was in flight.</p> - -<p>"Can you beat that?" exclaimed the Captain enthusiastically, "lifted -her clean away!"</p> - -<p>"I rather fancy he's about as good as they're made!" observed the -Captain. Meanwhile, the witch-lamb soared up and up straight as an -arrow; up she climbed, growing rapidly less until she was a gnat -against a background of fleecy cloud and the roar of the engine had -diminished to a whine; up and up until she was a speck—until the -clouds had swallowed her altogether.</p> - -<p>"Pity it isn't clear!" said the Captain. "I rather fancy you'd have -seen some real flying. By the way, they're going to practise at the -targets—might interest you. Care to see?"</p> - -<p>The targets were about a yard square and, as I watched, an aeroplane -rose wheeling high above them. All at once the hum of the engine was -lost in the sharp, fierce rattle of a machine gun; and ever as the -biplane banked and wheeled the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> machine gun crackled. From every angle -and from every point of the compass these bullets were aimed, and -examining the targets afterwards I was amazed to see how many hits had -been registered.</p> - -<p>After this they brought me to the workshops where many mechanics were -busied; they showed me, among other grim relics, C.'s broken machine -gun and perforated cartridge-tray. They told me many stories of daring -deeds performed by other members of the squadron, but when I asked -them to describe their own experiences, I found them diffident and -monosyllabic.</p> - -<p>"Hallo!" exclaimed C., as we stepped out into the air, "here comes the -Major. He's in that cloud—know the sound of his engine." Sure enough, -out from a low-lying cloud-bank he came, wheeling in short spirals, -plunging earthward.</p> - -<p>Down sank the aeroplane, the roaring engine fell silent, roared again, -and she sped towards us, her wheels within a foot or so of earth. -Finally they touched, the engine stopped, and the witch-lamb pulled up -within a few feet of us. Hereupon the Major waved a gauntleted hand to -us.</p> - -<p>"Must stop to lunch," he cried, "I've ordered soup, you know."</p> - -<p>But this being impossible, we perforce said good-bye to these -warm-hearted, simple-souled fighting men, a truly regrettable farewell -so far as I was concerned. They escorted us to the car, and there -parted from us with many frank expressions of regard and stood side by -side to watch us out of sight.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Yesterday there was much aerial activity on our front.</p> - -<p>"Depôts were successfully bombed and five enemy machines were forced to -descend, three of them in flames. Four of ours did not return."</p> - -<p>I shall never read these oft recurring lines in the communiqués without -thinking of those three youthful figures, so full of life and the joy -of life, who watched us depart that dull and cloudy morning.</p> - -<p>Here is just one other story dealing with three seasoned air-fighters, -veterans of many deadly combats high above the clouds, each of whom has -more than one victory to his credit, and whose combined ages total up -to sixty or thereabouts. We will call them X., Y. and Z. Now X. is an -American, Y. is an Englishman, whose peach-like countenance yet bears -the newly healed scar of a bullet wound, and Z. is an Afrikander. Here -begins the story:—</p> - -<p>Upon a certain day of wind, rain and cloud, news came that the Boches -were massing behind their lines for an attack, whereupon X., Y. and -Z. were ordered to go up and verify this. Gaily enough they started -despite unfavourable weather conditions. The clouds were low, very -low, but they must fly lower, so, at an altitude varying from fifteen -hundred to a bare thousand feet, they crossed the German lines, Y. and -Z. flying wing and wing behind X.'s tail. All at once "Archie" spoke, -a whole battery of anti-aircraft guns filled the air with smoke and -whistling bullets—away went X.'s propeller and his machine was hurled -upside down;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> immediately Y. and Z. rose. By marvellous pilotage X. -managed to right his crippled machine and began, of course, to fall; -promptly Y. and Z. descended. It is, I believe, an unwritten law in -the Air Service, never to desert a comrade until he is seen to be -completely "done for"—hence Y. and Z.'s hawk-like swoop from the -clouds to draw the fire of the battery from their stricken companion. -Down they plunged through the battery smoke, firing their machine guns -point blank as they came; and so, wheeling in long spirals, their guns -crackling viciously, they mounted again and soared cloudward together, -but, there among the clouds and in comparative safety Z. developed -engine trouble. Their ruse had served, however, and X. had contrived -to bring his shattered biplane to earth safely behind the British -lines. Meanwhile Y. and Z. continued on toward their objective, but -Z.'s engine trouble becoming chronic, he fell behind more and more, -and finally, leaving Y. to carry on alone, was forced to turn back. -And now it was, that, in the mists ahead, he beheld another machine -which, coming swiftly down upon him, proved to be a German, who, -mounting above him, promptly opened fire. Z., struggling with his -baulking engine, had his hands pretty full; moreover his opponent, -owing to greater speed, could attack him from precisely what angle he -chose. So they wheeled and flew, Z. endeavouring to bring his gun to -bear, the German keeping skilfully out of range, now above him, now -below, but ever and always behind. Thus the Boche flying on Z.'s tail -had him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> at his mercy; a bullet ripped his sleeve, another smashed his -speedometer, yet another broke his gauge—slowly and by degrees nearly -all Z.'s gear is either smashed or carried away by bullets. All this -time it is to be supposed that Z., thus defenceless, is wheeling and -turning as well as his crippled condition will allow, endeavouring to -get a shot at his elusive foe; but (as he told me) he felt it was his -finish, so he determined if possible to ram his opponent and crash down -with him through the clouds. Therefore, waiting until the Boche was -aiming at him from directly below, he threw his machine into a sudden -dive. Thus for one moment Z. had him in range, for a moment only, -but the range was close and deadly, and Z. fired off half his tray -as he swooped headlong down upon his astonished foe. All at once the -German waved an arm and sagged over sideways, his great battle-plane -wavering uncertainly, and, as it began to fall, Z. avoided the intended -collision by inches. Down went the German machine, down and down, and, -watching, Z. saw it plunge through the clouds wrapped in flame.</p> - -<p>Then Z. turned and made for home as fast as his baulking engine would -allow.</p> - -<p>These are but two stories among dozens I have heard, yet these, I -think, will suffice to show something of the spirit animating these -young paladins. The Spirit of Youth is surely a godlike spirit, -unconquerable, care-free, undying. It is a spirit to whom fear and -defeat are things to smile and wonder at, to whom risks and dangers are -joyous episodes,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> and Death himself, whose face their youthful eyes -have so often looked into, a friend familiar by close acquaintanceship.</p> - -<p>Upon a time I mentioned some such thought to an American aviator, who -nodded youthful head and answered in this manner:</p> - -<p>"The best fellows generally go first, and such a lot are gone now that -there'll be a whole bunch of them waiting to say 'Hello, old sport!' -so—what's it matter, anyway?"</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>XIII.</span> <span class="smaller">YPRES.</span></h2> - -<p>Much has been written concerning Ypres, but more, much more, remains -to be written. Some day, in years to come, when the roar of guns has -been long forgotten, and Time, that great and beneficent consoler, has -dried the eyes that are now wet with the bitter tears of bereavement -and comforted the agony of stricken hearts, at such a time someone will -set down the story of Ypres in imperishable words; for round about -this ancient town lie many of the best and bravest of Britain's heroic -army. Thick, thick, they lie together, Englishman, Scot and Irishman, -Australian, New Zealander, Canadian and Indian, linked close in the -comradeship of death as they were in life; but the glory of their -invincible courage, their noble self-sacrifice and endurance against -overwhelming odds shall never fade. Surely, surely while English is -spoken the story of "Wipers" will live on for ever and, through the -coming years, will be an inspiration to those for whom these thousands -went, cheering and undismayed, to meet and conquer Death.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> - -<p>Ypres, as all the world knows, forms a sharp salient in the British -line, and is, therefore, open to attack on three sides; and on these -three sides it has been furiously attacked over and over again, so very -often that the mere repetition would grow wearisome. And these attacks -were day-long, week, and sometimes month-long battles, but Britain's -army stood firm.</p> - -<p>In these bad, dark days, outnumbered and out-gunned, they never -wavered. Raked by flanking fire they met and broke the charges of -dense-packed foemen on their front; rank upon rank and elbow to elbow -the Germans charged, their bayonets a sea of flashing steel, their -thunderous shouts drowning the roar of guns, and rank on rank they -reeled back from British steel and swinging rifle-butt, and German -shouts died and were lost in British cheers.</p> - -<p>So, day after day, week after week, month after month they endured -still; swept by rifle and machine gun fire, blown up by mines, buried -alive by mortar-bombs, their very trenches smitten flat by high -explosives—yet they endured and held on. They died all day and every -day, but their places were filled by men just as fiercely determined. -And ever as the countless German batteries fell silent, their troops in -dense grey waves hurled themselves upon shattered British trench and -dug-out, and found there wild men in tunics torn<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> and bloody and mud -bespattered, who, shouting in fierce joy, leapt to meet them bayonet -to bayonet. With clubbed rifle and darting steel they fought, these -men of the Empire, heedless of wounds and death, smiting and cheering, -thrusting and shouting, until those long, close-ranked columns broke, -wavered and melted away. Then, panting, they cast themselves back into -wrecked trench and blood-spattered shell-hole while the enemy's guns -roared and thundered anew, and waited patiently but yearningly for -another chance to "really fight." So they held this deadly salient.</p> - -<p>Days came and went, whole regiments were wiped out, but they held on. -The noble town behind them crumbled into ruin beneath the shrieking -avalanche of shells, but they held on. German and British dead lay -thick from British parapet to Boche wire, and over this awful litter -fresh attacks were launched daily, but still they held on, and would -have held and will hold, until the crack of doom if need be—because -Britain and the Empire expect it of them.</p> - -<p>But to-day the dark and evil time is passed. To-day for every German -shell that crashes into the salient, four British shells burst along -the enemy's position, and it was with their thunder in my ears that I -traversed that historic, battle-torn road which leads into Ypres, that -road over which so many young and stalwart feet have tramped that never -more may come marching back. And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> looking along this road, lined with -scarred and broken trees, my friend N. took off his hat and I did the -like.</p> - -<p>"It's generally pretty lively here," said our Intelligence Officer, -as I leaned forward to pass him the matches. "We're going to speed up -a bit—road's a bit bumpy, so hold on." Guns were roaring near and -far, and in the air above was the long, sighing drone of shells as we -raced forward, bumping and swaying over the uneven surface faster and -faster, until, skidding round a rather awkward corner, we saw before -us a low-lying, jagged outline of broken walls, shattered towers and a -tangle of broken roof-beams—all that remains of the famous old town of -Ypres. And over this devastation shells moaned distressfully, and all -around unseen guns barked and roared. So, amidst this pandemonium our -car lurched into shattered "Wipers," past the dismantled water-tower, -uprooted from its foundations and leaning at a more acute angle than -will ever the celebrated tower of Pisa, past ugly heaps of brick and -rubble—the ruins of once fair buildings, on and on until we pulled up -suddenly before a huge something, shattered and formless, a long facade -of broken arches and columns, great roof gone, mighty walls splintered, -cracked and rent—all that "Kultur" has left of the ancient and once -beautiful Cloth Hall.</p> - -<p>"Roof's gone since I was here last," said the Intelligence Officer, -"come this way. You'll see it better from over here." So we followed -him and stood to look upon the indescribable ruin.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> - -<p>"There are no words to describe—that," said N. at last, gloomily.</p> - -<p>"No," I answered. "Arras was bad enough, but this—!"</p> - -<p>"Arras?" he repeated. "Arras is only a ruined town. Ypres is a rubbish -dump. And its Cloth Hall is—a bad dream." And he turned away. Our -Intelligence Officer led us over mounds of fallen masonry and débris of -all sorts, and presently halted us amid a ruin of splintered columns, -groined arch and massive walls, and pointed to a heap of rubbish he -said was the altar.</p> - -<p>"This is the church St. Jean," he explained, "begun, I think, in the -eleventh or twelfth century and completed somewhere about 1320—"</p> - -<p>"And," said N., "finally finished and completely done for by 'Kultur' -in the twentieth century, otherwise I guess it would have lasted until -the 220th century—look at the thickness of the walls."</p> - -<p>"And after all these years of civilisation," said I.</p> - -<p>"Civilisation," he snorted, turning over a fragment of exquisitely -carved moulding with the toe of his muddy boot, "civilisation has done -a whole lot, don't forget—changed the system of plumbing and taught us -how to make high explosives and poison gas."</p> - -<p>Gloomily enough we wandered on together over rubbish-piles and -mountains of fallen brickwork, through shattered walls, past unlovely -stumps of mason-work that had been stately tower or belfry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> once, -beneath splintered arches that led but from one scene of ruin to -another, and ever our gloom deepened, for it seemed that Ypres, the -old Ypres, with all its monuments of mediæval splendour, its noble -traditions of hard-won freedom, its beauty and glory, was passed away -and gone for ever.</p> - -<p>"I don't know how all this affects you," said N., his big chin jutted -grimly, "but I hate it worse than a battlefield. Let's get on over to -the Major's office."</p> - -<p>We went by silent streets, empty except for a few soldierly figures -in hard-worn khaki, desolate thoroughfares that led between piles and -huge unsightly mounds of fallen masonry and shattered brickwork, fallen -beams, broken rafters and twisted ironwork, across a desolate square -shut in by the ruin of the great Cloth Hall and other once stately -buildings, and so to a grim, battle-scarred edifice, its roof half -blown away, its walls cracked and agape with ugly holes, its doorway -reinforced by many sandbags cunningly disposed, through which we passed -into the dingy office of the Town-Major.</p> - -<p>As we stood in that gloomy chamber, dim-lighted by a solitary oil lamp, -floor and walls shook and quivered to the concussion of a shell—not -very near, it is true, but quite near enough.</p> - -<p>The Major was a big man, with a dreamy eye, a gentle voice and a -passion for archæology. In his company I climbed to the top of a high -building, whence he pointed out, through a convenient shell hole, where -the old walls had stood long ago,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> where Vauban's star-shaped bastions -and the general conformation of what had been present-day Ypres; but -I saw only a dusty chaos of shattered arch and tower and walls, with -huge, unsightly mounds of rubble and brick—a rubbish dump in very -truth. Therefore I turned to the quiet voiced Major and asked him of -his experiences, whereupon he talked to me most interestingly and -very learnedly of Roman tile, of mediæval rubble-work, of herringbone -and Flemish bond. He assured me also that (Deo Volente) he proposed -to write a monograph on the various epochs of this wonderful old -town's history as depicted by its various styles of mason-work and -construction.</p> - -<p>"I could show you a nearly perfect aqueduct if you have time," said he.</p> - -<p>"I'm afraid we ought to be starting now," said the Intelligence -Officer; "over eighty miles to do yet, you see, Major."</p> - -<p>"Do you have many casualties still?" I enquired.</p> - -<p>"Pretty well," he answered. "The mediæval wall was superimposed upon -the Roman, you'll understand."</p> - -<p>"And is it," said I as we walked on together, "is it always as noisy as -this?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes—especially when there's a 'Hate' on."</p> - -<p>"Can you sleep?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes, one gets used to anything, you know. Though, strangely -enough, I was disturbed last night—two of my juniors had to camp over -my head, their quarters were blown up rather yesterday afternoon, and -believe me, the young beggars<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> talked and chattered so that I couldn't -get a wink of sleep—had to send and order them to shut up."</p> - -<p>"You seem to have been getting it pretty hot since I was here last," -said the Intelligence Officer, waving a hand round the crumbling ruin -about us.</p> - -<p>"Fairly so," nodded the Major.</p> - -<p>"One would wonder the enemy wastes any more shells on Ypres," said I, -"there's nothing left to destroy, is there?"</p> - -<p>"Well, there's us, you know!" said the Major, gently, "and then the -Boche is rather a revengeful beggar anyhow—you see, he wasted quite a -number of army corps trying to take Ypres. And he hasn't got it yet."</p> - -<p>"Nor ever will," said I.</p> - -<p>The Major smiled and held out his hand.</p> - -<p>"It's a pity you hadn't time to see that aqueduct" he sighed. "However, -I shall take some flashlight photos of it—if my luck holds. Good-bye." -So saying, he raised a hand to his weather-beaten trench-cap and strode -back into his dim-lit, dingy office.</p> - -<p>The one-time glory of Ypres has vanished in ruin but thereby she has -found a glory everlasting. For over the wreck of noble edifice and -fallen tower is another glory that shall never fade but rather grow -with coming years—an imperishable glory. As pilgrims sought it once to -tread its quaint streets and behold its old time beauty, so in days to -come other pilgrims will come with reverent feet and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> with eyes that -shall see in these shattered ruins a monument to the deathless valour -of that brave host that met death unflinching and unafraid for the sake -of a great ideal and the welfare of unborn generations.</p> - -<p>And thus in her ruin Ypres has found the Glory Everlasting.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>XIV.</span> <span class="smaller">WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE.</span></h2> - -<p>The struggle of Democracy and Reason against Autocracy and Brute-force, -on land and in the air, upon the sea and under the sea, is reaching its -climax. With each succeeding month the ignoble foe has smirched himself -with new atrocities which yet in the end bring their own terrible -retribution.</p> - -<p>Three of the bloodiest years in the world's history lie behind us; -but these years of agony and self-sacrifice, of heroic achievements, -of indomitable purpose and unswerving loyalty to an ideal, are surely -three of the most tremendous in the annals of the British Empire.</p> - -<p>I am to tell something of what Britain has accomplished during these -awful three years, of the mighty changes she has wrought in this -short time, of how, with her every thought and effort bent in the one -direction, she has armed and equipped herself and many of her allies; -of the armies she has raised, the vast sums she has expended and the -munitions and armaments she has amassed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> - -<p>To this end it is my privilege to lay before the reader certain facts -and figures, so I propose to set them forth as clearly and briefly as -may be, leaving them to speak for themselves.</p> - -<p>For truly Britain has given and is giving much—her men and women, her -money, her very self; the soul of Britain and her Empire is in this -conflict, a soul that grows but the more steadfast and determined as -the struggle waxes more deadly and grim. Faint hearts and fanatics -there are, of course, who, regardless of the future, would fain make -peace with the foe unbeaten, a foe lost to all shame and honourable -dealing, but the heart of the Empire beats true to the old war-cry of -"Freedom or Death." In proof of which, if proof be needed, let us to -our figures and facts.</p> - -<p>Take first her fighting men; in three short years her little army has -grown until to-day seven million of her sons are under arms, and of -these (most glorious fact!) nearly five million were <i>volunteers</i>. -Surely since first this world was cursed by war, surely never did such -a host march forth voluntarily to face its blasting horrors. They are -fighting on many battle fronts, these citizen-soldiers, in France, -Macedonia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Western Egypt and German East -Africa, and behind them, here in the homeland, are the women, working -as their men fight, with a grim and tireless determination. To-day -the land hums with munition factories and huge works whose countless -wheels whirr<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> day and night, factories that have sprung up where the -grass grew so lately. The terrible, yet glorious, days of Mons and the -retreat, when her little army, out-gunned and out-manned, held up the -rushing might of the German advance so long as life and ammunition -lasted, that black time is past, for now in France and Flanders our -countless guns crash in ceaseless concert, so that here in England one -may hear their ominous muttering all day long and through the hush of -night; and hearkening to that continuous stammering murmur one thanks -God for the women of Britain.</p> - -<p>Two years ago, in June, 1915, the Ministry of Munitions was formed -under Mr. David Lloyd George; as to its achievements, here are figures -shall speak plainer than any words.</p> - -<p>In the time of Mons the army was equipped and supplied by three -Government factories and a very few auxiliary firms; to-day gigantic -national factories, with miles of railroads to serve them, are in full -swing, beside which, thousands of private factories are controlled by -the Government. As a result the output of explosives in March, 1917, -was over <i>four times</i> that of March, 1916, and <i>twenty-eight times</i> -that of March, 1915, and so enormous has been the production of shells -that in the first nine weeks of the summer offensive of 1917 the stock -decreased by only 7 per cent. despite the appalling quantity used.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> - -<p>The making of machine guns to-day as compared with 1915 has increased -<i>twenty-fold</i>, while the supply of small-arm ammunition has become so -abundant that the necessity for importation has ceased altogether. -In one Government factory alone the making of rifles has increased -<i>ten-fold</i>, and the employees at Woolwich Arsenal have increased from a -little less than 11,000 to nearly 74,000, of whom 25,000 are women.</p> - -<p>Production of steel, before the war, was roughly 7 million tons, it -is now 10 million tons and still increasing, so much so that it is -expected the pre-war output will be doubled by the end of 1918; while -the cost of steel plates here is now less than half the cost in the -U.S.A. Since May, 1917, the output of aeroplanes has been quadrupled -and is rapidly increasing; an enormous programme of construction has -been laid down and plans drawn up for its complete realisation.</p> - -<p>With this vast increase in the production of munitions the cost of -each article has been substantially reduced by systematic examination -of actual cost, resulting in a saving of £43,000,000 over the previous -year's prices.</p> - -<p>Figures are a dry subject in themselves, and yet such figures as these -are, I venture to think, of interest, among other reasons for the -difficulty the human brain has to appreciate their full meaning. Thus: -the number of articles handled weekly by the Stores Departments is -several hundreds of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> thousands above 50 million: or again, I read that -the munition workers themselves have contributed £40,187,381 towards -various war loans. It is all very easy to write, but who can form any -just idea of such uncountable numbers?</p> - -<p>And now, writing of the sums of money Britain has already expended, I -for one am immediately lost, out of my depth and plunged ten thousand -fathoms deep, for now I come upon the following:</p> - -<p>"The total national expenditure for the three years to August 4th, -1917, is approximately £5,150,000,000, of which £1,250,000,000 is -already provided for by taxation and £1,171,000,000 has been lent to -our colonies and allies, which may be regarded as an investment." -Having written which I lay down my pen to think, and, giving it up, -hasten to record the next fact.</p> - -<p>"The normal pre-war taxation amounted to approximately £200,000,000, -but for the current financial year (1917/18) a revenue of £638,000,000 -has been budgeted for, but this is expected to produce between -£650,000,000 and £700,000,000." Now, remembering that the cost of -necessaries has risen to an unprecedented extent, these figures of -the extra taxation and the amounts raised by the various war loans -speak louder and more eloquently than any words how manfully Britain -has shouldered her burden and of her determination to see this great -struggle through to the only possible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> conclusion—the end, for all -time, of autocratic government.</p> - -<p>I have before me so many documents and so much data bearing on this -vast subject that I might set down very much more; I might descant -on marvels of enterprise and organisation and of almost insuperable -difficulties overcome. But, lest I weary the reader, and since I would -have these lines read, I will hasten on to the last of my facts and -figures.</p> - -<p>As regards ships, Britain has already placed 600 vessels at the -disposal of France and 400 have been lent to Italy, the combined -tonnage of these thousand ships being estimated at 2,000,000.</p> - -<p>Then, despite her drafts to Army and Navy she has still a million men -employed in her coal mines and is supplying coal to Italy, France, and -Russia. Moreover, she is sending to France one quarter of her total -production of steel, munitions of all kinds to Russia and guns and -gunners to Italy.</p> - -<p>As for her Navy—the German battle squadrons lie inactive, while in one -single month the vessels of the British Navy steamed over one million -miles; German trading ships have been swept from the seas and the U -boat menace is but a menace still. Meantime, British shipyards are busy -night and day; 1,000,000 tons of craft for the Navy alone were launched -during the first year of the war, and the programme of new naval -construction for 1917<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> runs into hundreds of thousands of tons. In -peace time the building of new merchant ships was just under 2,000,000 -tons yearly, and despite the shortage of labour and difficulty of -obtaining materials, 1,100,000 tons will be built by the end of 1917, -and 4,000,000 tons in 1918.</p> - -<p>The British Mercantile Marine (to whom be all honour!) has transported -during the war, the following:—</p> - -<table summary="transported during the war"> - <tr> - <td>13,000,000 </td> - <td class="left">men,</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>25,000,000 </td> - <td class="left">tons of war material,</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>1,000,000 </td> - <td class="left">sick and wounded,</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>51,000,000 </td> - <td class="left">tons of coal and oil fuel,</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>2,000,000 </td> - <td class="left">horses and mules,</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>100,000,000 </td> - <td class="left">hundredweights of wheat,</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>7,000,000 </td> - <td class="left">tons of iron ore,</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>and, beyond this, has exported goods to the value of £500,000,000.</p> - -<p>Here ends my list of figures and here this chapter should end also; -but, before I close, I would give, very briefly and in plain language, -three examples of the spirit animating this Empire that to-day is -greater and more worthy by reason of these last three blood-smirched years.</p> - - -<p class="center">No. I.</p> - -<blockquote><p>There came from Australia at his own expense, one Thomas Harper, -an old man of seventy-four, to help in a British munition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> -factory. He laboured hard, doing the work of two men, and more -than once fainted with fatigue, but refused to go home because he -"couldn't rest while he thought his country needed shells."</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center">No. II.</p> - -<blockquote><p>There is a certain small fishing village whose men were nearly -all employed in fishing for mines. But there dawned a black day -when news came that forty of their number had perished together -and in the same hour. Now surely one would think that this little -village, plunged in grief for the loss of its young manhood, had -done its duty to the uttermost for Britain and their fellows! -But these heroic fisher-folk thought otherwise, for immediately -fifty of the remaining seventy-five men (all over military age) -volunteered and sailed away to fill the places of their dead sons -and brothers.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center">No. III.</p> - -<blockquote><p>Glancing idly through a local magazine some days since, my eye was -arrested by this:</p> - -<blockquote><p>"In proud and loving memory of our loved and loving son ... who -fell in France ... with his only brother, 'On Higher Service.' -There is no death."</p></blockquote></blockquote> - -<p>Thus then I conclude my list of facts and figures, a record of -achievement such as this world has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> never known before, a record to -be proud of, because it is the outward and visible sign of a people, -strong, virile, abounding in energy, but above all, a people clean of -soul to whom Right and Justice are worth fighting for, suffering for, -labouring for. It is the sign of a people which is willing to endure -much for its ideals that the world may be a better world, wherein -those who shall come hereafter may reap, in peace and contentment, the -harvest this generation has sowed in sorrow, anguish, and great travail.</p> - -<hr class="space-above" /> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Pike's Fine Art Press</span>, 47-8, Gloster Road, Brighton.</p> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<hr class="full" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 61021-h.htm or 61021-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/1/0/2/61021">http://www.gutenberg.org/6/1/0/2/61021</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>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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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: Some War Impressions - - -Author: Jeffery Farnol - - - -Release Date: December 26, 2019 [eBook #61021] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS*** - - -E-text prepared by Tim Lindell, Martin Pettit, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made -available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/somewarimpressio00farnuoft - - - - - -SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS - - - * * * * * - -Jeffery Farnol's Great Mediaeval Romance. - - -Beltane the Smith - -BY - -JEFFERY FARNOL. - -_Author of "The Broad Highway."_ - -LIBRARY EDITION only, Crown 8vo, cloth. Handsome wrapper in -colour, with spirited picture by C. E. BROCK. Price 6/-. - -_WHAT THE PRESS HAS TO SAY_:-- - - EVENING STANDARD.--"Better than 'Ivanhoe.' 'Beltane' will - make the oldest feel young again. There is no resisting it." - - DAILY MAIL.--"The author exercises such a skilled grip - upon the imagination of the reader that one is simply obliged to - keep up with him." - - MORNING POST.--"An enthralling volume." - - SUNDAY TIMES.--"Pick up the book if it comes your way; - you will not want to drop it till you have turned the last page." - - SPHERE.--"Here is a delightful story, the scene laid in - the golden age. Every page has an adventure." - - THE LADY.--"It is certainly enthralling." - - -Mr. Farnol's Great "High Toby" Romance. - - -The Honourable Mr. Tawnish - -BY - -JEFFERY FARNOL. - -_Author of "The Amateur Gentleman," etc._ - -PRESENTATION EDITION, Foolscap 4to. Handsomely bound. - -Cloth, extra gilt, gilt top. Charmingly illustrated in colour by -CHAS. E. BROCK. Price 6/- net. - -NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION, cloth. Price 3/6 net. -Illustrated prospectus post free on application. - -_WHAT THE PRESS HAS TO SAY_:-- - - GLOBE.--"There is something delightfully attractive in - this romance." - - DAILY CHRONICLE.--"Another charming romance from the pen - of Mr. Jeffery Farnol." - - ACADEMY.--"The story is well written; Mr. C. E. Brock's - illustrations are very apt." - - EVENING STANDARD.--"It is all very exciting, and some of - it is very tender." - - DAILY MAIL.--" ... A gallant flavour of the eighteenth - century about it that is graphically aided and abetted by Mr. C. - E. Brock's masterly pictures in colours." - - SUNDAY TIMES.--"Mr. Farnol's writing is so delightful, - his characters are so lovable." - - * * * * * - - -SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS - - - * * * * * - -_BY THE SAME AUTHOR._ - -THE BROAD HIGHWAY -THE MONEY MOON -THE AMATEUR GENTLEMAN -THE HONOURABLE MR. TAWNISH -THE CHRONICLES OF THE IMP (My Lady Caprice) -BELTANE THE SMITH -THE DEFINITE OBJECT - - * * * * * - - -SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS - -by - -JEFFERY FARNOL - - -[Illustration: Logo] - - - - - - -London and Edinburgh -Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd. - - - - -TO ALL MY AMERICAN FRIENDS. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - PAGE - I.--FOREWORD 1 - - II.--CARTRIDGES 5 - - III.--RIFLES AND LEWIS GUNS 9 - - IV.--CLYDEBANK 17 - - V.--SHIPS IN MAKING 23 - - VI.--THE BATTLE CRUISERS 29 - - VII.--A HOSPITAL 41 - -VIII.--THE GUNS 49 - - IX.--A TRAINING CAMP 63 - - X.--ARRAS 73 - - XI.--THE BATTLEFIELDS 81 - - XII.--FLYING MEN 88 - -XIII.--YPRES 101 - - XIV.--WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE 110 - - - - -SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS. - - -I. - -FOREWORD. - - -In publishing these collected articles in book form (the result of my -visits to Flanders, the battlefields of France and divers of the great -munition centres) some of which have already appeared in the press both -in England and America, I do so with a certain amount of diffidence, -because of their so many imperfections and of their inadequacy of -expression. But what man, especially in these days, may hope to treat -a theme so vast, a tragedy so awful, without a sure knowledge that -all he can say must fall so infinitely far below the daily happenings -which are, on the one hand, raising Humanity to a godlike altitude -or depressing it lower than the brutes. But, because these articles -are a simple record of what I have seen and what I have heard, they -may perhaps be of use in bringing out of the shadow--that awful -shadow of "usualness" into which they have fallen--many incidents that -would, before the war, have roused the world to wonder, to pity and to -infinite awe. - -Since the greater number of these articles was written, America has -thrown her might into the scale against merciless Barbarism and -Autocracy; at her entry into the drama there was joy in English -and French hearts, but, I venture to think, a much greater joy in -the hearts of all true Americans. I happened to be in Paris on the -memorable day America declared war, and I shall never forget the -deep-souled enthusiasm of the many Americans it was my privilege to -know there. America, the greatest democracy in the world, had at last -taken her stand on the side of Freedom, Justice and Humanity. - -As an Englishman, I love and am proud of my country, and, in the -years I spent in America, I saw with pain and deep regret the -misunderstanding that existed between these two great nations. In -America I beheld a people young, ardent, indomitable, full of the -unconquerable spirit of Youth, and I thought of that older country -across the seas, so little understanding and so little understood. - -And often I thought if it were only possible to work a miracle, if -it were only possible for the mists of jealousy and ill-feeling, of -rivalry and misconception to be swept away once and for all--if only -these two great nations could be bonded together by a common ideal, -heart to heart and hand to hand, for the good of Humanity, what -earthly power should ever be able to withstand their united strength. -In my soul I knew that the false teaching of history--that great -obstacle to the progress of the world--was one of the underlying causes -of the misunderstanding, but it was an American Ambassador who put this -into words. If, said he, America did not understand the aims and hopes -of Great Britain, _it was due to the text books of history used in -American schools_. - -To-day, America, through her fighting youth and manhood, will see -Englishmen as they are, and not as they have been represented. Surely -the time has come when we should try and appreciate each other at our -true worth. - -These are tragic times, sorrowful times, yet great and noble times, -for these are days of fiery ordeal whereby mean and petty things are -forgotten and the dross of unworthy things burned away. To-day the -two great Anglo-Saxon peoples stand united in a noble comradeship for -the good of the world and for those generations that are yet to be, -a comradeship which I, for one, do most sincerely hope and pray may -develop into a veritable brotherhood. One in blood are we, in speech, -and in ideals, and though sundered by generations of misunderstanding -and false teaching, to-day we stand, brothers-in-arms, fronting the -brute for the freedom of Humanity. - -Americans will die as Britons have died for this noble cause; Americans -will bleed as Britons have bled; American women will mourn as British -women have mourned these last terrible years; yet, in these deaths, -in this noble blood, in these tears of agony and bereavement, surely -the souls of these two great nations will draw near, each to each, and -understand at last. - -Here in a word is the fulfilment of the dream; that, by the united -effort, by the blood, by the suffering, by the heartbreak endured of -these two great English-speaking races, wars shall be made to cease in -all the world; that peace and happiness, truth and justice shall be -established among us for all generations, and that the united powers -of the Anglo-Saxon races shall be a bulwark behind which Mankind may -henceforth rest secure. - -Now, in the name of Humanity, I appeal to American and to Briton -to work for, strive, think and pray for this great and glorious -consummation. - - - - -II. - -CARTRIDGES. - - -At an uncomfortable hour I arrived at a certain bleak railway platform -and in due season, stepping into a train, was whirled away Northwards. -And as I journeyed, hearkening to the talk of my companions, men much -travelled and of many nationalities, my mind was agog for the marvels -and wonders I was to see in the workshops of Great Britain. Marvels and -wonders I was prepared for, and yet for once how far short of fact were -all my fancies! - -Britain has done great things in the past; she will, I pray, do even -greater in the future; but surely never have mortal eyes looked on an -effort so stupendous and determined as she is sustaining, and will -sustain, until this most bloody of wars is ended. - -The deathless glory of our troops, their blood and agony and scorn of -death have been made pegs on which to hang much indifferent writing and -more bad verse--there have been letters also, sheaves of them, in many -of which effusions one may discover a wondering surprise that our men -can actually and really fight, that Britain is still the Britain of -Drake and Frobisher and Grenville, of Nelson and Blake and Cochrane, -and that the same deathless spirit of heroic determination animates her -still. - -To-night, as I pen these lines, our armies are locked in desperate -battle, our guns are thundering on many fronts, but like an echo -to their roar, from mile upon mile of workshops and factories and -shipyards is rising the answering roar of machinery, the thunderous -crash of titanic hammers, the hellish rattle of riveters, the whining, -droning, shrieking of a myriad wheels where another vast army is -engaged night and day, as indomitable, as fierce of purpose as the army -beyond the narrow seas. - -I have beheld miles of workshops that stand where grass grew two short -years ago, wherein are bright-eyed English girls, Irish colleens and -Scots lassies by the ten thousand, whose dexterous fingers flash nimbly -to and fro, slender fingers, yet fingers contriving death. I have -wandered through a wilderness of whirring driving-belts and humming -wheels where men and women, with the same feverish activity, bend above -machines whose very hum sang to me of death while I have watched a -cartridge grow from a disc of metal to the hellish contrivance it is. - -And as I watched the busy scene it seemed an unnatural and awful thing -that women's hands should be busied thus, fashioning means for the -maiming and destruction of life--until, in a remote corner, I paused to -watch a woman whose dexterous fingers were fitting finished cartridges -into clips with wonderful celerity. A middle-aged woman, this, tall and -white-haired, who, at my remark, looked up with a bright smile, but -with eyes sombre and weary. - -"Yes, sir," she answered above the roar of machinery, "I had two boys -at the front, but--they're a-laying out there somewhere, killed by the -same shell. I've got a photo of their graves--very neat they look, -though bare, and I'll never be able to go and tend 'em, y'see--nor lay -a few flowers on 'em. So I'm doin' this instead--to help the other -lads. Yes, sir, my boys did their bit, and now they're gone their -mother's tryin' to do hers." - -Thus I stood and talked with this sad-eyed white-haired woman who had -cast off selfish grief to aid the Empire, and in her I saluted the -spirit of noble motherhood ere I turned and went my way. - -But now I woke to the fact that my companions had vanished utterly; -lost, but nothing abashed, I rambled on between long alleys of -clattering machines, which in their many functions seemed in -themselves almost human, pausing now and then to watch and wonder and -exchange a word with one or other of the many workers, until a kindly -works-manager found me and led me unerringly through that riotous -jungle of machinery. - -He brought me by devious ways to a place he called "holy ground"--long, -low outbuildings approached by narrow, wooden causeways, swept and -re-swept by men shod in felt--a place this, where no dust or grit -might be, for here was the magazine, with the filling sheds beyond. And -within these long sheds, each seated behind a screen, were women who -handled and cut deadly cordite into needful lengths as if it had been -so much ribbon, and always and everywhere the same dexterous speed. - -He led me, this soft-voiced, keen-eyed works-manager, through -well-fitted wards and dispensaries, redolent of clean, druggy smells -and the pervading odour of iodoform; he ushered me through dining halls -long and wide and lofty and lighted by many windows, where countless -dinners were served at a trifling cost per head; and so at last out -upon a pleasant green, beyond which rose the great gates where stood -the cars that were to bear my companions and myself upon our way. - -"They seem to work very hard!" said I, turning to glance back whence we -had come, "they seem very much in earnest." - -"Yes," said my companion, "every week we are turning out--" here he -named very many millions--"of cartridges." - -"To be sure they are earning good money!" said I thoughtfully. - -"More than many of them ever dreamed of earning," answered the -works-manager. "And yet--I don't know, but I don't think it is -altogether the money, somehow." - -"I'm glad to hear you say that--very glad!" said I, "because it is a -great thing to feel that they are working for the Britain that is, and -is to be." - - - - -III. - -RIFLES AND LEWIS GUNS. - - -A drive through a stately street where were shops which might rival -Bond Street, the Rue de la Paix, or Fifth Avenue for the richness and -variety of their contents; a street whose pavements were thronged -with well-dressed pedestrians and whose roadway was filled with motor -cars--vehicles, these, scornful of the petrol tax and such-like mundane -and vulgar restrictions--in fine, the street of a rich and thriving -city. - -But suddenly the stately thoroughfare had given place to a meaner -street, its princely shops had degenerated into blank walls or grimy -yards, on either hand rose tall chimney-stacks belching smoke, instead -of dashing motor cars, heavy wains and cumbrous wagons jogged by, in -place of the well-dressed throng were figures rough-clad and grimy -that hurried along the narrow sidewalks--but these rough-clad people -walked fast and purposefully. So we hummed along streets wide or narrow -but always grimy, until we were halted at a tall barrier by divers -policemen, who, having inspected our credentials, permitted us to pass -on to the factory, or series of factories, that stretched themselves -before us, building on building--block on block--a very town. - -Here we were introduced to various managers and heads of departments, -among whom was one in the uniform of a Captain of Engineers, under -whose capable wing I had the good fortune to come, for he, it seemed, -had lived among engines and machinery, had thought out and contrived -lethal weapons from his youth up, and therewith retained so kindly and -genial a personality as drew me irresistibly. Wherefore I gave myself -to his guidance, and he, chatting of books and literature and the like -trivialities, led me along corridors and passage ways to see the wonder -of the guns. And as we went, in the air about us was a stir, a hum that -grew and ever grew, until, passing a massive swing door there burst -upon us a rumble, a roar, a clashing din. - -We stood in a place of gloom lit by many fires, a vast place whose -roof was hid by blue vapour; all about us rose the dim forms of huge -stamps, whose thunderous stroke beat out a deep diapason to the -ring of countless hand-hammers. And, lighted by the sudden glare of -furnace-fires were figures, bare-armed, smoke-grimed, wild of aspect, -figures that whirled heavy sledges or worked the levers of the giant -steam-hammers, while here and there bars of iron new-glowing from the -furnace winked and twinkled in the gloom where those wild, half-naked -men-shapes flitted to and fro unheard amid the thunderous din. Awed and -half stunned, I stood viewing that never-to-be-forgotten scene until I -grew aware that the Captain was roaring in my ear. - -"Forge ... rifle barrels ... come and see and mind where you tread!" - -Treading as seemingly silent as those wild human shapes, that -straightened brawny backs to view me as I passed, that grinned in -the fire-glow and spoke one to another, words lost to my stunned -hearing, ere they bent to their labour again. Obediently I followed the -Captain's dim form until I was come where, bare-armed, leathern-aproned -and be-spectacled, stood one who seemed of some account among these -salamanders, who, nodding to certain words addressed to him by the -Captain, seized a pair of tongs, swung open a furnace door, and -plucking thence a glowing brand, whirled it with practised ease, and -setting it upon the dies beneath a huge steam-hammer, nodded his head. -Instantly that mighty engine fell to work, thumping and banging with -mighty strokes, and with each stroke that glowing steel bar changed and -changed, grew round, grew thin, hunched a shoulder here, showed a flat -there, until, lo! before my eyes was the shape of a rifle minus the -stock! Hereupon the be-spectacled salamander nodded again, the giant -hammer became immediately immobile, the glowing forging was set among -hundreds of others and a voice roared in my ear: - -"Two minutes ... this way." - -A door opens, closes, and we are in sunshine again, and the Captain is -smilingly reminiscent of books. - -"This is greater than books," said I. - -"Why, that depends," says he, "there are books and books ... this way!" - -Up a flight of stairs, through a doorway and I am in a shop where huge -machines grow small in perspective. And here I see the rough forging -pass through the many stages of trimming, milling, turning, boring, -rifling until comes the assembling, and I take up the finished rifle -ready for its final process--testing. So downstairs we go to the -testing sheds, wherefrom as we approach comes the sound of dire battle, -continuous reports, now in volleys, now in single sniping shots, or in -rapid succession. - -Inside, I breathe an air charged with burnt powder and behold in a -long row, many rifles mounted upon crutches, their muzzles levelled -at so many targets. Beside each rifle stand two men, one to sight and -correct, and one to fire and watch the effect of the shot by means of a -telescope fixed to hand. - -With the nearest of these men I incontinent fell into talk--a chatty -fellow this, who, busied with pliers adjusting the back-sight of a -rifle, talked to me of lines of sight and angles of deflection, his -remarks sharply punctuated by rifle-shots, that came now slowly, now in -twos and threes and now in rapid volleys. - -"Yes, sir," said he, busy pliers never still, "guns and rifles is very -like us--you and me, say. Some is just naturally good and some is worse -than bad--load up, George! A new rifle's like a kid--pretty sure to -fire a bit wide at first--not being used to it--we was all kids once, -sir, remember! But a bit of correction here an' there'll put that right -as a rule. On the other hand there's rifles as Old Nick himself nor -nobody else could make shoot straight--ready George? And it's just -the same with kids! Now, if you'll stick your eyes to that glass, and -watch the target, you'll see how near she'll come this time--all right, -George!" As he speaks the rifle speaks also, and observing the hit on -the target, I sing out: - -"Three o'clock!" - -Ensues more work with the pliers; George loads and fires and with one -eye still at the telescope I give him: - -"Five o'clock!" - -Another moment of adjusting, again the rifle cracks and this time I -announce: - -"A bull!" - -Hereupon my companion squints through the glass and nods: "Right-oh, -George!" says he, then, while George the silent stacks the tested -rifle with many others, he turns to me and nods, "Got 'im that time, -sir--pity it weren't a bloomin' Hun!" - -Here the patient Captain suggests we had better go, and unwillingly I -follow him out into the open and the sounds of battle die away behind -us. - -And now, as we walked, I learned some particulars of that terrible -device the Lewis gun; how that it could spout bullets at the rate -of 600 per minute; how, by varying pressures of the trigger, it -could be fired by single rounds or pour forth its entire magazine -in a continuous, shattering volley and how it weighed no more than -twenty-six pounds. - -"And here," said the Captain, opening a door and speaking in his -pleasant voice, much as though he were showing me some rare flowers, -"here is where they grow by the hundred, every week." - -And truly in hundreds they were, long rows of them standing very neatly -in racks, their walnut stocks heel by heel, their grim, blue muzzles -in long, serried ranks, very orderly and precise; and something in -their very orderliness endowed them with a certain individuality as -it were, it almost seemed to me that they were waiting, mustered and -ready, for that hour of ferocious roar and tumult when their voice -should be the voice of swift and terrible death. Now as I gazed upon -them, filled with these scarcely definable thoughts, I was startled by -a sudden shattering crash near by, a sound made up of many individual -reports, and swinging about, I espied a man seated upon a stool; a -plump, middle-aged, family sort of man, who sat upon his low stool, his -aproned knees set wide, as plump, middle-aged family men often do. As I -watched, Paterfamilias squinted along the sights of one of these guns -and once again came that shivering crash that is like nothing else I -ever heard. Him I approached and humbly ventured an awed question or -so, whereon he graciously beckoned me nearer, vacated his stool, and -motioning me to sit there, suggested I might try a shot at the target, -a far disc lighted by shaded electric bulbs. - -"She's fixed dead on!" he said, "and she's true--you can't miss. A -quick pull for single shots and a steady pressure for a volley." - -Hereupon I pressed the trigger, the gun stirred gently in its clamps, -the air throbbed, and a stream of ten bullets (the testing number) -plunged into the bull's-eye and all in the space of a moment. - -"There ain't a un'oly 'un of 'em all could say Hoch the Kaiser' with -them in his stomach," said Paterfamilias thoughtfully, laying a hand -upon the respectable stomach beneath his apron, "it's a gun, that is!" -And a gun it most assuredly is. - -I would have tarried longer with Paterfamilias, for in his own way, -he was as arresting as this terrible weapon--or nearly so--but the -Captain, gentle-voiced and serene as ever, suggested that my companions -had a train to catch, wherefore I reluctantly turned away. But as I -went, needs must I glance back at Paterfamilias, as comfortable as -ever where he sat, but with pudgy fingers on trigger grimly at work -again, and from him to the long, orderly rows of guns mustered in their -orderly ranks, awaiting their hour. - -We walked through shops where belts and pulleys and wheels and cogs -flapped and whirled and ground in ceaseless concert, shops where -files rasped and hammers rang, shops again where all seemed riot and -confusion at the first glance, but at a second showed itself ordered -confusion, as it were. And as we went, my Captain spoke of the hospital -bay, of wards and dispensary (lately enlarged) of sister and nurses -and the grand work they were doing among the employees other than -attending to their bodily ills; and talking thus, he brought me to -the place, a place of exquisite order and tidiness, yet where nurses, -blue-uniformed, in their white caps, cuffs and aprons, seemed to me -the neatest of all. And here I was introduced to Sister, capable, -strong, gentle-eyed, who told me something of her work--how many came -to her with wounds of soul as well as body; of griefs endured and -wrongs suffered by reason of pitiful lack of knowledge; of how she -was teaching them care and cleanliness of minds as well as bodies, -which is surely the most blessed heritage the unborn generations may -inherit. She told me of the patient bravery of the women, the chivalry -of grimy men, whose hurts may wait that others may be treated first. -So she talked and I listened until, perceiving the Captain somewhat -ostentatiously consulting his watch, I presently left that quiet haven -with its soft-treading ministering attendants. - -So we had tea and cigarettes, and when I eventually shook hands with my -Captain, I felt that I was parting with a friend. - -"And what struck you most particularly this afternoon?" enquired one of -my companions. - -"Well," said I, "it was either the Lewis gun or Paterfamilias the grim." - - - - -IV. - -CLYDEBANK. - - -Henceforth the word "Clydebank" will be associated in my mind with the -ceaseless ring and din of riveting-hammers, where, day by day, hour by -hour, a new fleet is growing, destroyers and torpedo-boats alongside -monstrous submarines--yonder looms the grim bulk of Super-dreadnought -or battle-cruiser or the slenderer shape of some huge liner. - -And with these vast shapes about me, what wonder that I stood awed -and silent at the stupendous sight. But, to my companion, a shortish, -thick-set man, with a masterful air and a bowler hat very much over -one eye, these marvels were an every day affair; and now, ducking -under a steel hawser, he led me on, dodging moving trucks, stepping -unconcernedly across the buffers of puffing engines, past titanic -cranes that swung giant arms high in the air; on we went, stepping over -chain cables, wire ropes, pulley-blocks and a thousand and one other -obstructions, on which I stumbled occasionally since my awed gaze was -turned upwards. And as we walked amid these awesome shapes, he talked, -I remember, of such futile things as--books. - -I beheld great ships well-nigh ready for launching: I stared up at -huge structures towering aloft, a wild complexity of steel joists -and girders, yet, in whose seeming confusion, the eye could detect -something of the mighty shape of the leviathan that was to be; even as -I looked, six feet or so of steel plating swung through the air, sank -into place, and immediately I was deafened by the hellish racket of the -riveting-hammers. - -" ... nothing like a good book and a pipe to go with it!" said my -companion between two bursts of hammering. - -"This is a huge ship!" said I, staring upward still. - -"H'm--fairish!" nodded my companion, scratching his square jaw and -letting his knowledgeful eyes rove to and fro over the vast bulk that -loomed above us. - -"Have you built them much bigger, then?" I enquired. - -My companion nodded and proceeded to tell me certain amazing facts -which the riotous riveting-hammers promptly censored in the following -remarkable fashion. - -"You should have seen the rat-rat-tat. We built her in exactly -nineteen months instead of two years and a half! Biggest battleship -afloat--two hundred feet longer than the rat-tat-tat--launched her last -rat-tat-tat--gone to rat-tat-tat-tat for her guns." - -"What size guns?" I shouted above the hammers. - -"Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-inch!" he said, smiling grimly. - -"How much?" I yelled. - -"She has four rat-tat-tat-tat inch and twelve rattle-tattle inch -besides rat-tat-tat-tat!" he answered, nodding. - -"Really!" I roared, "if those guns are half as big as I think, the -Germans--" - -"The Germans--!" said he, and blew his nose. - -"How long did you say she was?" I hastened to ask as the hammers died -down a little. - -"Well, over all she measured exactly rat-tat feet. She was so big that -we had to pull down a corner of the building there, as you can see." - -"And what's her name?" - -"The rat-tat-tat, and she's the rattle-tattle of her class." - -"Are these hammers always quite so noisy, do you suppose?" I enquired, -a little hopelessly. - -"Oh, off and on!" he nodded, "Kick up a bit of a racket, don't they, -but you get used to it in time, I could hear a pin drop. Look! since -we've stood here they've got four more plates fixed--there goes the -fifth. This way!" - -Past the towering bows of future battleships he led me, over and under -more steel cables, until he paused to point towards an empty slip near -by. - -"That's where we built the Lusitania!" said he. "We thought she was -pretty big then--but now--!" he settled his hat a little further over -one eye with a knock on the crown. - -"Poor old Lusitania!" said I, "she'll never be forgotten." - -"Not while ships sail!" he answered, squaring his square jaw, "no, -she'll never be forgotten, nor the murderers who ended her!" - -"And they've struck a medal in commemoration," said I. - -"Medal!" said he, and blew his nose louder than before. "I fancy -they'll wish they could swallow that damn medal, one day. Poor old -Lusitania! You lose anyone aboard?" - -"I had some American friends aboard, but they escaped, thank -God--others weren't so fortunate." - -"No," he answered, turning away, "but America got quite angry--wrote -a note, remember? Over there's one of the latest submarines, Germany -can't touch her for speed and size, and better than that, she's got -rat-tat--" - -"I beg pardon?" I wailed, for the hammers were riotous again, "what has -she?" - -"She's got rat-tat forward and rat-tat aft, surface speed -rat-tat-tat knots, submerged rat-tat-tat, and then best of all she's -rattle-tattle-tattle. Yes, hammers are a bit noisy! This way. A -destroyer yonder--new class--rat-tat feet longer than ordinary. We -expect her to do rat-tat-tat knots and she'll mount rat-tat guns. -There are two of them in the basin yonder having their engines fitted, -turbines to give rat-tat-tat horse power. But come on, we'd better be -going or we shall lose the others of your party." - -"I should like to stay here a week," said I, tripping over a steel -hawser. - -"Say a month," he added, steadying me deftly. "You might begin to see -all we've been doing in a month. We've built twenty-nine ships of -different classes since the war began in this one yard, and we're going -on building till the war's over--and after that too. And this place is -only one of many. Which reminds me you're to go to another yard this -afternoon--we'd better hurry after the rest of your party or they'll be -waiting for you." - -"I'm afraid they generally are!" I sighed, as I turned and followed my -conductor through yawning doorways (built to admit a giant, it seemed) -into vast workshops whose lofty roofs were lost in haze. Here I saw -huge turbines and engines of monstrous shape in course of construction; -I beheld mighty propellers, with boilers and furnaces big as houses, -whose proportions were eloquent of the colossal ships that were to be. -But here indeed, all things were on a gigantic scale; ponderous lathes -were turning, mighty planing machines swung unceasing back and forth, -while other monsters bored and cut through steel plate as it had been -so much cardboard. - -"Good machines, these!" said my companion, patting one of these -monsters with familiar hand, "all made in Britain!" - -"Like the men!" I suggested. - -"The men," said he, "Humph! They haven't been giving much trouble -lately--touch wood!" - -"Perhaps they know Britain just now needs every man that is a man," I -suggested, "and someone has said that a man can fight as hard at home -here with a hammer as in France with a rifle." - -"Well, there's a lot of fighting going on here," nodded my companion, -"we're fighting night and day and we're fighting damned hard. And now -we'd better hurry, your party will be cursing you in chorus." - -"I'm afraid it has before now!" said I. - -So we hurried on, past shops whence came the roar of machinery, past -great basins wherein floated destroyers and torpedo-boats, past craft -of many kinds and fashions, ships built and building; on I hastened, -tripping over more cables, dodging from the buffers of snorting engines -and deafened again by the fearsome din of the riveting-hammers, until -I found my travelling companions assembled and ready to depart. -Scrambling hastily into the nearest motor-car I shook hands with this -shortish, broad-shouldered, square-jawed man and bared my head, for, -so far as these great works were concerned, he was in very truth a -superman. Thus I left him to oversee the building of these mighty -ships, which have been and will ever be the might of these small -islands. - -But, even as I went speeding through dark streets, in my ears, rising -high above the hum of our engine was the unceasing din, the remorseless -ring and clash of the riveting-hammers. - - - - -V. - -SHIPS IN MAKING. - - Build me straight. O worthy Master! - Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel, - That shall laugh at all disaster - And with wave and whirlwind wrestle! - --_Longfellow._ - - -He was an old man with that indefinable courtliness of bearing that is -of a past generation; tall and spare he was, his white head bowed a -little by weight of years, but almost with my first glance I seemed to -recognise him instinctively for that "worthy Master Builder of goodly -vessels staunch and strong!" So the Master Builder I will call him. - -He stood beside me at the window with one in the uniform of a naval -captain, and we looked, all three of us, at that which few might behold -unmoved. - -"She's a beauty!" said the Captain. "She's all speed and grace from -cutwater to sternpost." - -"I've been building ships for sixty-odd years and we never launched a -better!" said the Master Builder. - -As for me I was dumb. - -She lay within a stone's-throw, a mighty vessel, huge of beam and -length, her superstructure towering proudly aloft, her massive armoured -sides sweeping up in noble curves, a Super-Dreadnought complete from -trucks to keelson. Yacht-like she sat the water all buoyant grace from -lofty prow to tapering counter, and to me there was something sublime -in the grim and latent power, the strength and beauty of her. - -"But she's not so very--big, is she?" enquired a voice behind me. - -The Captain stared; the Master Builder smiled: - -"Fairly!" he nodded. "Why do you ask?" - -"Well, I usually reckon the size of a ship from the number of her -funnels, and--" - -"Ha!" exclaimed the Captain, explosively. - -"Humph!" said the Master Builder gently. "After luncheon you shall -measure her if you like, but now I think we will go and eat." - -During a most excellent luncheon the talk ranged from ships and books -and guns to submarines and seaplanes, with stories of battle and sudden -death, tales of risk and hardship, of noble courage and heroic deeds, -so that I almost forgot to eat and was sorry when at last we rose from -table. - -Once outside I had the good fortune to find myself between the Captain -and the venerable figure of the Master Builder, in whose company I -spent a never-to-be-forgotten afternoon. With them I stood alongside -this noble ship which, seen thus near, seemed mightier than ever. - -"Will she be fast?" I enquired. - -"Very fast--for a Dreadnought!" said the Captain. - -"And at top-speed she'll show no bow-wave to speak of," added the -veteran. "See how fine her lines are fore and aft." - -"And her gun power will be enormous!" said the Captain. - -Hard by I espied a solitary being, who stood, chin in hand, lost in -contemplation of this large vessel. - -"Funnels or not, she's bigger than you thought?" I enquired of him. - -He glanced at me, shook his head, sighed, and took himself by the chin -again. - -"Holy smoke!" said he. - -"And you have been building ships for sixty years?" I asked of the -venerable figure beside me. - -"And more!" he answered; "and my father built ships hereabouts so long -ago as 1820, and his grandfather before him." - -"Back to the times of Nelson and Rodney and Anson," said I, "great -seamen all who fought great ships! What would they think of this one, I -wonder?" - -"That she was a worthy successor," replied the Master Builder, letting -his eyes, so old and wise in ships, wander up and over the mighty -fabric before us. "Yes," he nodded decisively, "she's worthy--like the -men who will fight her one of these days." - -"But our enemies and some of our friends rather thought we had -degenerated these latter days," I suggested. - -"Ah, well!" said he very quietly, "they know better now, don't you -think?" - -"Yes," said I, and again, "Yes." - -"Slow starters always," continued he, musingly; "but the nation that -can match us in staying power has yet to be born!" - -So walking between these two I listened and looked and asked questions, -and of what I heard, and of what I saw I could write much; but for the -censor I might tell of armour-belts of enormous thickness, of guns -of stupendous calibre, of new methods of defence against sneaking -submarine and torpedo attack, and of devices new and strange; but of -these I may neither write nor speak, because of the aforesaid censor. -Suffice it that as the sun sank, we came, all three, to a jetty whereto -a steamboat lay moored, on whose limited deck were numerous figures, -divers of whom beckoned me on. - -So with hearty farewells, I stepped aboard the steamboat, whereupon -she snorted and fell suddenly a-quiver as she nosed out into the broad -stream while I stood to wave my hat in farewell. - -Side by side they stood, the Captain tall and broad and sailor-like in -his blue and gold--a man of action, bold of eye, hearty of voice, free -of gesture; the other, his silver hair agleam in the setting sun, a man -wise with years, gentle and calm-eyed, my Master Builder. Thus, as the -distance lengthened, I stood watching until presently they turned, side -by side, and so were gone. - -Slowly we steamed down the river, a drab, unlovely waterway, but a -wonderful river none the less, whose banks teem with workers where -ships are building--ships by the mile, by the league; ships of all -shapes and of all sizes, ships of all sorts and for many different -purposes. Here are great cargo-boats growing hour by hour with liners -great and small; here I saw mile on mile of battleships, cruisers, -destroyers and submarines of strange design with torpedo boats of -uncanny shape; tramp steamers, wind-jammers, squat colliers and -squatter tugs, these last surely the ugliest craft that ever wallowed -in water. Minelayers were here with minesweepers and hospital ships--a -heterogeneous collection of well-nigh every kind of ship that floats. - -Some lay finished and ready for launching, others, just begun, were -only a sketch--a hint of what soon would be a ship. - -On our right were ships, on our left were ships and more ships, a long -perspective; ships by the million tons--until my eyes grew a-weary of -ships and I went below. - -Truly a wonderful river, this, surely in its way the most wonderful -river eyes may see, a sight I shall never forget, a sight I shall -always associate with the stalwart figure of the Captain and the white -hair and venerable form of the Master Builder as they stood side by -side to wave adieu. - - - - -VI. - -THE BATTLE CRUISERS. - - -Beneath the shadow of a mighty bridge I stepped into a very smart -launch manned by sailors in overalls somewhat grimy, and, rising -and falling to the surge of the broad river, we held away for a -destroyer that lay grey and phantom-like, low, rakish, and with speed -in every line of her. As we drew near, her narrow deck looked to my -untutored eye a confused litter of guns, torpedo tubes, guy-ropes, -cables and windlasses. Howbeit, I clambered aboard, and ducking under -a guy-rope and avoiding sundry other obstructions, shook hands with -her commander, young, clear-eyed and cheery of mien, who presently -led me past a stumpy smoke-stack and up a perpendicular ladder to the -bridge where, beneath a somewhat flimsy-looking structure, was the -wheel, brass-bound and highly be-polished like all else about this -crowded craft as, notably, the binnacle and certain brass-bound dials, -on the faces whereof one might read such words as: Ahead, Astern, -Fast, Slow, etc. Forward of this was a platform, none too roomy, -where was a gun most carefully wrapped and swaddled in divers cloths, -tarpaulins, etc.--wrapped up with as much tender care as if it had -been a baby, and delicate at that. But, as the commander casually -informed me, they had been out patrolling all night and "it had blown a -little"--wherefore I surmised the cloths and tarpaulins aforesaid. - -"I should think," I ventured, observing her sharp lines and slender -build, "I should think she would roll rather frightfully when it does -blow a little?" - -"Well, she does a bit," he admitted, "but not so much--Starboard!" said -he, over his shoulder, to the bearded mariner at the wheel. "Take us -round by the _Tiger_." - -"Aye, aye, sir!" retorted the bearded one as we began to slide through -the water. - -"Yes, she's apt to roll a bit, perhaps, but she's not so bad," he -continued; "besides, you get used to it." - -Here he fell to scanning the haze ahead through a pair of binoculars, -a haze through which, as we gathered speed, ghostly shapes began to -loom, portentous shapes that grew and grew upon the sight, turret, -superstructure and embattled mast; here a mighty battle cruiser, -yonder a super-destroyer, one after another, quiet-seeming on this -autumn morning, and yet whose grim hulks held latent potentialities of -destruction and death, as many of them have proved but lately. - -As we passed those silent, monstrous shapes, the Commander named them -in turn, names which had been flashed round the earth not so long -ago, names which shall yet figure in the histories to come with -Grenville's _Revenge_, Drake's _Golden Hind_, Blake's _Triumph_, -Anson's _Centurion_, Nelson's _Victory_, and a score of other deathless -names--glorious names that make one proud to be of the race that manned -and fought them. - -Peacefully they rode at their moorings, the water lapping gently at -their steel sides, but, as we steamed past, on more than one of them, -and especially the grim _Tiger_, I saw the marks of the Jutland battle -in dinted plate, scarred funnel and superstructure, taken when for -hours on end the dauntless six withstood the might of the German fleet. - -So, as we advanced past these battle-scarred ships, I felt a sense of -awe, that indefinable uplift of soul one is conscious of when treading -with soft and reverent foot the dim aisles of some cathedral hallowed -by time and the dust of our noble dead. - -"This afternoon," said the Commander, offering me his cigarette case, -"they're going to show you over the _Warspite_--the German Navy have -sunk her so repeatedly, you know. There," he continued, nodding towards -a fleet of squat-looking vessels with stumpy masts, "those are the -auxiliaries--coal and oil and that sort of thing--ugly beggars, but -useful. How about a whisky and soda?" - -Following him down the perpendicular ladder, he brought me aft to a -hole in the deck, a small hole, a round hole into which he proceeded -to insert himself, first his long legs, then his broad shoulders, -evidently by an artifice learned of much practice. Finally his jauntily -be-capped head vanished, and thereafter from the deeps below his -cheery voice reached me. - -"I have whisky, sherry and rum--mind your head and take your choice!" - -I descended into a narrow chamber divided by a longish table and -flanked by berths with a chest of drawers beneath each. At the further -end of this somewhat small and dim apartment and northeasterly of the -table was a small be-polished stove wherein a fire burned; in a rack -against a bulkhead were some half-dozen rifles, above our head was a -rack for cutlasses, and upon the table was a decanter of whisky he -had unearthed from some mysterious recess, and he was very full of -apologies because the soda had run out. - -So we sat awhile and quaffed and talked, during which he showed me a -favourite rifle, small of bore but of high power and exquisite balance, -at sight of which I straightway broke the tenth commandment. He also -showed me a portrait of his wife (which I likewise admired) a picture -taken by himself and by him developed in some dark nook aboard. - -After this, our whisky being duly despatched, we crawled into the air -again, to find we were approaching a certain jetty. And now, in the -delicate manoeuvre of bringing to and making fast, my companions, -myself and all else were utterly forgotten, as with voice and hand he -issued order on order until, gently as a nesting bird the destroyer -came to her berth and was made fast. Hereupon, having shaken hands all -round, he handed us over to other naval men as cheery as he, who in -due season brought us to the depot ship, where luncheon awaited us. - -I have dined in many places and have eaten with many different folk, -but never have I enjoyed a meal more than this, perhaps because of -the padre who presided at my end of the table. A manly cleric this, -bright-eyed, resolute of jaw but humorous of mouth, whose white choker -did but seem to offset the virility of him. A man, I judged, who -preached little and did much--a sailor's padre in very truth. - -He told me how, but for an accident, he would have sailed with Admiral -Cradock on his last, ill-fated cruise, where so many died that Right -and Justice might endure. - -"Poor chaps!" said I. - -"Yes," said he, gently, "and yet it is surely a noble thing to--die -greatly!" - -And surely, surely for all those who in cause so just have met Death -unflinching and unafraid, who have taken hold upon that which we call -Life and carried it through and beyond the portals of Death into a -sphere of nobler and greater living--surely to such as these strong -souls the Empire they served so nobly and loved so truly will one day -enshrine them, their memory and deeds, on the brightest, most glorious -page of her history, which shall be a monument more enduring than brass -or stone, a monument that shall never pass away. - -So we talked of ships and the sea and of men until, aware that the -company had risen, we rose also, and donning hats and coats, set -forth, talking still. Together we paced beside docks and along piers -that stretched away by the mile, massive structures of granite and -concrete, which had only come into being, so he told me, since the war. - -Side by side we ascended the broad gangway, and side by side we set -foot upon that battle-scarred deck whose timbers, here and there, -showed the whiter patches of newer wood. Here he turned to give me -his hand, after first writing down name and address, and, with mutual -wishes of meeting again, went to his duties and left me to the wonders -of this great ship. - -Crossing the broad deck, more spacious it seemed than an ocean liner, I -came where my travelling companions were grouped about a grim memorial -of the Jutland battle, a huge projectile that had struck one of the -after turrets, in the doing of which it had transformed itself into -a great, convoluted disc, and was now mounted as a memento of that -tremendous day. - -And here it was I became acquainted with my Midshipmite, who looked -like an angel of sixteen, bore himself like a veteran, and spoke (when -his shyness had worn off a little) like a British fighting man. - -To him I preferred the request that he would pilot me over this -great vessel, which he (blushing a little) very readily agreed to -do. Thereafter, in his wake, I ascended stairways, climbed ladders, -wriggled through narrow spaces, writhed round awkward corners, up and -ever up. - -"It's rather awkward, I'm afraid, sir," said he in his gentle voice, -hanging from an iron ladder with one hand and a foot, the better to -address me. "You see, we never bring visitors this way as a rule--" - -"Good!" said I, crushing my hat on firmer. "The unbeaten track for -me--lead on!" - -Onward and upward he led until all at once we reached a narrow -platform, railed round and hung about with plaited rope screens which -he called splinter-mats, over which I had a view of land and water, of -ships and basins, of miles of causeways and piers, none of which had -been in existence before the war. And immediately below me, far, far -down, was the broad white sweep of deck, with the forward turrets where -were housed the great guns whose grim muzzles stared patiently upwards, -nuzzling the air almost as though scenting another battle. - -And standing in this coign of vantage, in my mind's eye I saw this -mighty vessel as she had been, the heave of the fathomless sea below, -the whirling battle-smoke about her, the air full of the crashing -thunder of her guns as she quivered 'neath their discharge. I heard the -humming drone of shells coming from afar, a hum that grew to a wail--a -shriek--and the sickening crash as they smote her or threw up great -water-spouts high as her lofty fighting-tops; I seemed to hear through -it all the ring of electric bells from the various fire-controls, and -voices calm and all unshaken by the hellish din uttering commands down -the many speaking-tubes. - -"And you," said I, turning to the youthful figure beside me, "you were -in the battle?" - -He blushingly admitted that he was. - -"And how did you feel?" - -He wrinkled his smooth brow and laughed a little shyly. - -"Really I--I hardly know, sir." - -I asked him if at such times one was not inclined to feel a trifle -shaken, a little nervous, or, might one say, afraid? - -"Yes, sir," he agreed politely, "I suppose so--only, you see, we were -all too jolly busy to think about it!" - -"Oh!" said I, taking out a cigarette, "too busy! Of course! I see! And -where is the Captain during action, as a rule?" - -"As a matter of fact he stood--just where you are, sir. Stood there the -whole six hours it was hottest." - -"Here!" I exclaimed. "But it is quite exposed." - -My Midshipmite, being a hardy veteran in world-shaking naval battles, -permitted himself to smile. - -"But, you see, sir," he gently explained, "it's really far safer out -here than being shut up in a gun-turret or--or down below, on account -of er--er--you understand, sir?" - -"Oh, quite!" said I, and thereafter thought awhile, and, receiving -his ready permission, lighted my cigarette. "I think," said I, as we -prepared to descend from our lofty perch, "I'm sure it's just--er--that -kind of thing that brought one Francis Drake out of so very many tight -corners. By the way--do you smoke?" - -My Midshipmite blushingly confessed he did, and helped himself from my -case with self-conscious fingers. - -Reaching the main deck in due season, I found I had contrived to miss -the Chief Gunner's lecture on the great guns, whereupon who so agitated -and bitterly apologetic as my Midshipmite, who there and then ushered -me hastily down more awkward stairs and through narrow openings into -a place of glistening, gleaming polish and furbishment where, beside -the shining breech of a monster gun, muscular arm negligently leaning -thereon, stood a round-headed, broad-shouldered man, he the presiding -genius of this (as I afterwards found) most sacred place. - -His lecture was ended and he was addressing a few well-chosen closing -remarks in slightly bored fashion (he had showed off his ponderous -playthings to divers kings, potentates and big-wigs at home and abroad, -I learned) when I, though properly awed by the gun but more especially -by the gunner, ventured to suggest that a gun that had been through -three engagements and had been fired so frequently must necessarily -show some signs of wear. The gunner glanced at me, and I shall never -forget that look. With his eyes on mine, he touched a lever in -negligent fashion, whereon silently the great breech slipped away with -a hiss and whistle of air, and with his gaze always fixed he suggested -I might glance down the bore. - -Obediently I stooped, whereon he spake on this wise: - -"If you cast your heyes to the right abaft the breech you'll observe -slight darkening of riflin's. Now glancin' t' left of piece you'll -per-ceive slight darkening of riflin's. Now casting your heyes right -forrard you'll re-mark slight roughening of riflin's towards muzzle of -piece and--there y'are, sir. One hundred and twenty-seven times she's -been fired by my 'and and good for as many more--both of us. Arternoon, -gentlemen, and--thank ye!" - -Saying which he touched a lever in the same negligent fashion, the -mighty breech-block slid back into place, and I walked forth humbly -into the outer air. - -Here I took leave of my Midshipmite, who stood among a crowd of his -fellows to watch me down the gang-plank, and I followed whither I -was led very full of thought as well I might be, until rousing, I -found myself on the deck of that famous _Warspite_, which our foes -are so comfortably certain lies a shattered wreck off Jutland. Here I -presently fell to discourse with a tall lieutenant, with whom I went -alow and aloft; he showed me cockpit, infirmary and engine-room; he -showed me the wonder of her steering apparatus, and pointed to the -small hand-wheel in the bowels of this huge ship whereby she had been -steered limping into port. He directed my gaze also to divers vast -shell-holes and rents in her steel sides, now very neatly mended by -steel plates held in place by many large bolts. Wherever we went were -sailors, by the hundred it seemed, and yet I was struck by the size -and airy spaciousness between decks. - -"The strange thing about the Hun," said my companion, as we mounted -upward again, "is that he is so amazingly accurate with his big guns. -Anyway, as we steamed into range he registered direct hits time after -time, and his misses were so close the spray was flying all over us. -Yes, Fritz is wonderfully accurate, but"--here my companion paused to -flick some dust from his braided cuff--"but when we began to knock him -about a bit it was funny how it rattled him--quite funny, you know. -His shots got wider and wider, until they were falling pretty well a -mile wide--very funny!" and the lieutenant smiled dreamily. "Fritz will -shoot magnificently if you only won't shoot back. But really I don't -blame him for thinking he'd sunk us; you see, there were six of 'em -potting away at us at one time--couldn't see us for spray--" - -"And how did you feel just then?" I enquired. - -"Oh, rotten! You see I'd jammed my finger in some tackle for one thing, -and just then the light failed us. We'd have bagged the lot if the -light had held a little longer. But next time--who knows? Care for a -cup of tea?" - -"Thanks!" I answered. "But where are the others?" - -"Oh, by Jove! I fancy your party's gone--I'll see!" - -This proving indeed the case, I perforce took my leave, and with a -midshipman to guide me, presently stepped aboard a boat which bore us -back beneath the shadow of that mighty bridge stark against the evening -sky. - -Riding citywards through the deepening twilight I bethought me of the -Midshipmite who, amid the roar and tumult of grim battle had been "too -busy" to be afraid; of the round-headed gunner who, like his gun, was -ready and eager for more, and of the tall lieutenant who, with death in -many awful shapes shrieking and crashing about him, felt "rotten" by -reason of a bruised finger and failing light. - -And hereupon I felt proud that I, too, was a Briton, of the same breed -as these mighty ships and the splendid fellows who man them--these -Keepers of the Seas, who in battle as in tempest do their duty unseen, -unheard, because it is their duty. - -Therefore, all who are so blest as to live within these isles take -comfort and courage from this--that despite raging tempest and -desperate battle, we, trusting in the justice of our cause, in these -iron men and mighty ships, may rest secure, since truly worthy are -these, both ships and men, of the glorious traditions of the world's -most glorious navy. - -But, as they do their duty by Britain and the Empire, let it be our -inestimable privilege as fellow Britons to do our duty as nobly both to -the Empire and--to them. - - - - -VII. - -A HOSPITAL. - - -The departure platform of a great station (for such as have eyes to -see) is always a sad place, but now-a-days it is a place of tragedy. - -He was tall and thin--a boyish figure--and his khaki-clad arm was close -about her slender form. The hour was early and their corner bleak and -deserted, thus few were by to heed his stiff-lipped, agonised smile and -the passionate clasp of her hands, or to hear her heartbreaking sobs -and his brave words of comfort; and I, shivering in the early morning -wind, hasted on, awed by a grief that made the grey world greyer. - -Very soon London was behind us, and we were whirling through a -country-side wreathed in mist wherein I seemed to see a girl's tear-wet -cheeks and a boy's lips that smiled so valiantly for all their pitiful -quiver; thus I answered my companion somewhat at random and the -waiter's proffer of breakfast was an insult. And, as I stared out at -misty trees and hedgerow I began as it were to sense a grimness in the -very air--the million-sided tragedy of war; behind me the weeping girl, -before me and looming nearer with every mile, the Somme battle-front. - -At a table hard by a group of clear-eyed subalterns were chatting and -laughing over breakfast, and in their merriment I, too, rejoiced. Yet -the grimness was with me still as we rocked and swayed through the -wreathing mist. - -But trains, even on a foggy morning, have a way of getting there at -last, so, in due season, were docks and more docks, with the funnels -of ships, and beyond these, misty shapes upon a misty sea, the gaunt -outlines of destroyers that were to convoy us Francewards. Hereupon my -companion, K., a hardened traveller, inured to customs, passports and -the like noxious things, led me through a jostling throng, his long -legs striding rapidly when they found occasion, past rank upon rank -of soldiers returning to duty, very neat and orderly, and looking, I -thought, a little grim. - -Presently the warps were cast off and very soon we were in the lift and -roll of the Channel; the white cliffs slowly faded, the wind freshened, -and I, observing that everyone had donned life-belts, forthwith girded -on one of the clumsy contrivances also. - -In mid-channel it blew hard and the destroyers seemed to be making -heavy weather of it, now lost in spray, now showing a glistening height -of free-board, and, as I watched, remembering why they were there, my -cumbrous life-belt grew suddenly very comfortable. - -Came a growing density on the horizon, a blue streak that slowly and -little by little grew into roofs, chimneys, docks and shipping, and -France was before us, and it was with almost reverent hands that I -laid aside my clumsy cork jacket and was presently on French soil. -And yet, except for a few chattering porters, the air rang with good -English voices hailing each other in cheery greetings, and khaki was -everywhere. But now, as I followed my companion's long legs past these -serried, dun-coloured ranks, it seemed to me that they held themselves -straighter and looked a little more grim even than they had done in -England. - -I stood, lost in the busy scene before me, when, hearing K.'s voice, I -turned to be introduced to Captain R., tall, bright-eyed, immaculate, -and very much master of himself and circumstances it seemed, for, -despite crowded customs-office, he whisked us through and thence before -sundry officials, who glared at me and my passport, signed, stamped, -returned it and permitted me to go. - -After luncheon we drove to a great base hospital where I was introduced -to the Colonel-Surgeon in charge, a quiet man, who took us readily -under his able guidance. And indeed a huge place was this, a place for -me of awe and wonder, the more so as I learned that the greater part of -it had come into being within one short year. - -It lies beside the sea, this hospital, where clean winds blow, its neat -roadways are bordered by green lawns and flanked by long, low buildings -that reach away in far perspective, buildings of corrugated iron, of -wood and asbestos, a very city, but one where there is no riot and rush -of traffic, truly a city of peace and brooding quietude. - -And as I looked upon this silent city, my awe grew, for the Colonel, -in his gentle voice, spoke of death and wounds, of shell-shock, -nerve-wrack and insanity; but he told also of wonderful cures, of -miracles performed on those that should have died, and of reason and -sanity won back. - -"And you?" I questioned, "have you done many such wonders?" - -"Few!" he answered, and sighed. "You see, my duties now are chiefly -administrative," and he seemed gently grieved that it should be so. - -He brought us into wards, long, airy and many-windowed, places of -exquisite neatness and order, where calm-faced sisters were busied -and smart, soft-treading orderlies came and went. Here in white cots -lay many bandaged forms, some who, propped on pillows, watched us -bright-eyed and nodded in cheery greeting; others who lay so ominously -still. - -But as I passed between the long rows of cots, I was struck with the -look of utter peace and content on so many of the faces and wondered, -until, remembering the hell whence they had so lately come, I thought I -understood. Thus, bethinking me of how these dire hurts had been come -by, I took off my hat, and trod between these beds of silent suffering -as softly as I could, for these men had surely come "out of great -tribulation." - -In another ward I saw numbers of German wounded, most of them bearded; -many there were who seemed weakly and undersized, and among them were -many grey heads, a very motley company. These, the Colonel informed -us, received precisely the same treatment as our own wounded, even to -tobacco and cigarettes. - -We followed our soft-voiced conductor through many other wards where -he showed us strange and wondrous devices in splints; he halted us -by hanging beds of weird shape and cots that swung on pulleys; he -descanted on wounds to flesh and bone and brain, of lives snatched -from the grip of Death by the marvels of up-to-date surgery, and as I -listened to his pleasant voice I sensed much of the grim wonders he -left untold. We visited X-ray rooms and operating theatre against whose -walls were glass cases filled with a multitudinous array of instruments -for the saving of life, and here it was I learned that in certain -cases, a chisel, properly handled, was a far more delicate tool than -the finest saw. - -"A wonderful place," said I for the hundredth time as we stepped out -upon a trim, green lawn. The Colonel-Surgeon smiled. - -"It took some planning," he admitted, "a little while ago it was a -sandy wilderness." - -"But these lawns?" I demurred. - -"Came to me of their own accord," he answered. "At least, the seed did, -washed ashore from a wreck, so I had it planted and it has done rather -well. Now, what else can I show you? It would take all the afternoon -to visit every ward, and they are all much alike--but there is the mad -ward if you'd care to see that? This way." - -A strange place, this, divided into compartments or cubicles where were -many patients in the familiar blue overalls, most of whom rose and -stood at attention as we entered. Tall, soldierly figures they seemed, -and yet with an indefinable something in their looks--a vagueness of -gaze, a loose-lipped, too-ready smile, a vacancy of expression. Some -there were who scowled sullenly enough, others who sat crouched apart, -solitary souls, who, I learned, felt themselves outcast; others again -crouched in corners haunted by the dread of a pursuing vengeance always -at hand. - -One such the Colonel accosted, asking what was wrong. The man looked -up, looked down and muttered unintelligibly, whereupon the Sister spoke. - -"He believes that everyone thinks him a spy," she explained, and -touched the man's bowed head with a hand as gentle as her voice. - -"Shell-shock is a strange thing," said the Colonel-Surgeon, "and -affects men in many extraordinary ways, but seldom permanently." - -"You mean that those poor fellows will recover?" I asked. - -"Quite ninety per cent," he answered in his quiet, assured voice. - -I was shown over laundries complete in every detail; I walked -through clothing stores where, in a single day, six hundred men had -been equipped from head to foot; I beheld large machines for the -sterilisation of garments foul with the grime of battle and other -things. - -Truly, here, within the hospital that had grown, mushroom-like, within -the wild, was everything for the alleviation of hurts and suffering -more awful than our fighting ancestors ever had to endure. Presently -I left this place, but now, although a clean, fresh wind blew and the -setting sun peeped out, the world somehow seemed a grimmer place than -ever. - -In the Dark Ages, humanity endured much of sin and shame and suffering, -but never such as in this age of Reason and Culture. This same earth -has known evils of every kind, has heard the screams of outraged -innocence, the groan of tortured flesh, and has reddened beneath the -heel of Tyranny; this same sun has seen the smoke and ravishment of -cities and been darkened by the hateful mists of war--but never such -a war as this of cultured barbarity with all its new devilishness. -Shell-shock and insanity, poison-gas and slow strangulation, liquid -fire and poison shells. Rape, Murder, Robbery, Piracy, Slavery--each -and every crime is here--never has humanity endured all these horrors -together until now. - -But remembering by whose will these evils have been loosed upon the -world, remembering the innocent blood, the bitter tears, the agony of -soul and heartbreak, I am persuaded that Retribution must follow as -sure as to-morrow's dawn. The evil that men do lives after them and -lives on for ever. - -Should they, who have worked for and planned this misery, escape the -ephemeral justice of man, there is yet the inexorable tribunal of the -Hereafter, which no transgressor, small or great, humble or mighty, may -in any wise escape. - - - - -VIII. - -THE GUNS. - - -A fine, brisk morning; a long, tree-bordered road dappled with fugitive -sunbeams, making a glory of puddles that leapt in shimmering spray -beneath our flying wheels. A long, straight road that ran on and on -unswerving, uphill and down, beneath tall, straight trees that flitted -past in never-ending procession, and beyond these a rolling, desolate -countryside of blue hills and dusky woods; and in the air from beyond -this wide horizon a sound that rose above the wind-gusts and the noise -of our going, a faint whisper that seemed in the air close about us -and yet to be of the vague distances, a whisper of sound, a stammering -murmur, now rising, now falling, but never quite lost. - -In rain-sodden fields to right and left were many figures bent -in diligent labour, men in weather-worn, grey-blue uniforms and -knee-boots, while on the roadside were men who lounged, or sat smoking -cigarettes, rifle across knees and wicked-looking bayonets agleam, -wherefore these many German prisoners toiled with the unremitting -diligence aforesaid. - -The road surface improving somewhat we went at speed and, as we lurched -and swayed, the long, straight road grew less deserted. Here and there -transport lorries by ones and twos, then whole convoys drawn up beside -the road, often axle deep in mud, or lumbering heavily onwards; and -ever as we went that ominous, stammering murmur beyond the horizon grew -louder and more distinct. - -On we went, through scattered villages alive with khaki-clad figures -with morions cocked at every conceivable angle, past leafy lanes bright -with the wink of long bayonets; through country towns, whose wide -squares and narrow, old-world streets rang with the ordered tramp of -feet, the stamp of horses and rumble of gun-wheels, where ruddy English -faces turned to stare and broad khaki backs swung easily beneath their -many accoutrements. And in street and square and by-street, always and -ever was that murmurous stammer of sound more ominous and threatening, -yet which nobody seemed to heed--not even K., my companion, who puffed -his cigarette and "was glad it had stopped raining." - -So, picking our way through streets athrong with British faces, dodging -guns and limbers, wagons and carts of all descriptions, we came out -upon the open road again. And now, there being no surface at all to -speak of, we perforce went slow, and I watched where, just in front, -a string of lorries lumbered heavily along, pitching and rolling very -much like boats in a choppy sea. - -Presently we halted to let a column go by, officers a-horse and a-foot -with the long files behind, but all alike splashed and spattered with -mud. Men, these, who carried their rifles anyhow, who tramped along, -rank upon rank, weary men, who showed among them here and there grim -evidence of battle--rain-sodden men with hair that clung to muddy brows -beneath the sloping brims of muddy helmets; men who tramped ankle-deep -in mud and who sang and whistled blithe as birds. So they splashed -wearily through the mud, upborne in their fatigue by that indomitable -spirit that has always made the Briton the fighting man he is. - -At second speed we toiled along again behind the lorries who were -making as bad weather of it as ever, when all at once I caught my -breath, hearkening to the far, faint skirling of Highland bagpipes, -and, leaning from the car, saw before us a company of Highlanders, -their mud-splashed knees a-swing together, their khaki kilts swaying -in rhythm, their long bayonets a-twinkle, while down the wind came the -regular tramp of their felt and the wild, frenzied wailing of their -pipes. Soon we were up with them, bronzed, stalwart figures, grim -fighters from muddy spatterdashes to steel helmets, beneath which eyes -turned to stare at us--eyes blue and merry, eyes dark and sombre--as -they swung along to the lilting music of the pipes. - -At the rear the stretcher-bearers marched, the rolled-up stretchers -upon their shoulders; but even so, by various dark stains and marks -upon that dingy canvas, I knew that here was a company that had done -and endured much. Close by me was a man whose hairy knee was black with -dried blood--to him I tentatively proffered my cigarette case. - -"Wull ye hae one the noo?" I questioned. For a moment he eyed me a -trifle dour and askance, then he smiled (a grave Scots smile). - -"Thank ye, I wull that!" said he, and extracted the cigarette with -muddy fingers. - -"Ye'll hae a sore leg, I'm thinking!" said I. - -"Ou aye," he admitted with the same grave smile, "but it's no sae -muckle as a' that--juist a wee bit skelpit I--" - -Our car moved forward, gathered speed, and we bumped and swayed on our -way; the bagpipes shrieked and wailed, grew plaintively soft, and were -drowned and lost in that other sound which was a murmur no longer, but -a rolling, distant thunder, with occasional moments of silence. - -"Ah, the guns at last!" said I. - -"Yes," nodded K., lighting another cigarette, "I've been listening to -them for the last hour." - -Here my friend F., who happened to be the Intelligence Officer in -charge, leaned forward to say: - -"I'm afraid we can't get into Beaumont Hamel, the Boches are strafing -it rather, this morning, but we'll go as near as we can get, and then -on to what was La Boiselle. We shall leave the car soon, so better get -into your tin hats." Forthwith I buckled on one of the morions we had -brought for the purpose and very uncomfortable I found it. Having made -it fairly secure, I turned, grinning furtively, to behold K.'s classic -features crowned with his outlandish-seeming headgear, and presently -caught him grinning furtively at mine. - -"They're not so heavy as I expected," said I. - -"About half a pound," he suggested. - -Pulling up at a shell shattered village we left the car and trudged -along a shell-torn road, along a battered and rusty railway line, and -presently struck into a desolate waste intersected by sparse hedgerows, -and with here and there desolate, leafless trees, many of which, in -shattered trunk and broken bough, showed grim traces of what had been; -and ever as we advanced these ugly scars grew more frequent, and we -were continually dodging sullen pools that were the work of bursting -shells. And then it began to rain again. - -On we went, splashing through puddles, slipping in mud, and ever as we -went my boots and my uncomfortable helmet grew heavier and heavier, -while in the heaven above, in the earth below and in the air about -us was the quiver and thunder of unseen guns. As we stumbled through -the muddy desolation I beheld wretched hovels wherein khaki-clad -forms moved, and from one of these damp and dismal structures a merry -whistling issued, with hoarse laughter. - -On we tramped, through rain and mud, which, like my helmet, seemed to -grow momentarily heavier. - -"K.," said I, as he floundered into a shell-hole, "about how heavy did -you say these helmets were?" - -"About a pound!" said he, fierce-eyed. "Confound the mud!" - -Away to our left and high in air a puff of smoke appeared, a -pearl-grey, fleecy cloud, and as I, unsuspecting, watched it writhe -into fantastic shapes, my ears were smitten with a deafening report, -and instinctively I ducked. - -"Shrapnel!" said F., waving his hand in airy introduction. "They're -searching the road yonder I expect--ah, there goes another! Yes, -they're trying the road yonder--but here's the trench--in with you!" - -I am free to confess that I entered that trench precipitately--so -hurriedly, in fact, that my helmet fell off, and, as I replaced it, I -was not sorry to see that this trench was very deep and narrow. As we -progressed, very slowly by reason of clinging mud, F. informed us that -this trench had been our old front line before we took Beaumont Hamel; -and I noticed many things, as, clips of cartridges, unexploded bombs, -Lewis gun magazines, parts of a broken machine gun, and various odds -and ends of accoutrements. In some places this trench had fallen in -because of rain and other things and was almost impassable, wherefore, -after much floundering and splashing, F. suggested we should climb out -again, which we did forthwith, very moist and muddy. - -And thus at last I looked at that wide stretch of country across which -our men had advanced unshaken and undismayed, through a hell the like -of which the world had never known before; and, as I stood there, I -could almost see those long, advancing waves of khaki-clad figures, -their ranks swept by the fire of countless rifles and machine guns, -pounded by high explosives, blasted by withering shrapnel, lost in the -swirling death-mist of poison-gas--heroic ranks which, rent asunder, -shattered, torn, yet swung steadily on through smoke and flame, -unflinching and unafraid. As if to make the picture more real, came the -thunderous crash of a shell behind us, but this time I forgot to duck. - -Far in front of us I saw a huge puff of smoke, and as it thinned out -beheld clouds of earth and broken beams that seemed to hang suspended a -moment ere they fell and vanished. After a moment was another puff of -smoke further to our right, and beyond this another, and again, beyond -this, another. - -"A battery of heavies," said F. - -Even as he spoke the four puffs burst forth again and upon exactly the -same ground. - -At this juncture a head appeared over the parapet behind us and after -some talk with F., came one who tendered us a pair of binoculars, by -whose aid I made out the British new line of trenches which had once -been German. So I stood, dry-mouthed, to watch the burst of those huge -shells exploding upon our British line. Fascinated, I stared until F.'s -hand on my arm aroused me, and returning the glasses with a hazy word -of thanks I followed my companions, though often turning to watch the -shooting which now I thought much too good. - -And now we were traversing the great battlefield where, not long since, -so many of our bravest had fallen that Britain might still be Britain. -Even yet, upon its torn and trampled surface I could read something of -the fight--here a broken shoulder belt, there a cartridge-pouch, yonder -a stained and tattered coat, while everywhere lay bombs, English and -German. - -"If you want to see La Boiselle properly we must hurry!" said F., and -off he went at the double with K.'s long legs striding beside him, but, -as for me, I must needs turn for one last look where those deadly smoke -puffs came and went with such awful regularity. - -The rain had stopped, but it was three damp and mud-spattered wretches -who clambered back into the waiting car. - -"K.," said I, as we removed our cumbrous headgear, "about how much do -you suppose these things weigh?" - -"Fully a ton!" he answered, jerking his cap over his eyes and -scowlingly accepting a cigarette. - -Very soon the shattered village was far behind and we were threading -a devious course between huge steam-tractors, guns, motor-lorries and -more guns. We passed soldiers a-horse and a-foot and long strings of -ambulance cars; to right and left of the road were artillery parks and -great camps, that stretched away into the distance. Here also were vast -numbers of the ubiquitous motor-lorry with many three-wheeled tractors -for the big guns. We sped past hundreds of horses picketed in long -lines; past countless tents smeared crazily in various coloured paints; -past huts little and huts big; past swamps knee-deep in mud where muddy -men were taking down or setting up other tents. On we sped through all -the confused order of a mighty army, until, chancing to raise my eyes -aloft, I beheld a huge balloon, which, as I watched, mounted up and up -into the air. - -"One of our sausages!" said F., gloved hand waving. "Plenty of 'em -round here--see, there's another in that cloud, and beyond it, another." - -So for awhile I rode with my eyes turned upwards, and thus I presently -saw far ahead many aeroplanes that flew in strange, zig-zag fashion, -now swooping low, now climbing high, now twisting and turning giddily. - -"Some of our 'planes under fire!" said F., "you can see the shrapnel -bursting all around 'em--there's the smoke--we call 'em woolly bears. -Won't see any Boche 'planes, though--rather not!" - -Amidst all these wonders and marvels our fleet car sped on, jolting and -lurching violently over ruts, pot-holes and the like until we came to -a part of the road where many men were engaged with pick and shovel; -and here, on either side of the highway, I noticed many grim-looking -heaps and mounds--ugly, shapeless dumps, depressing in their very -hideousness. Beside one such unlovely dump our car pulled up, and F., -gloved finger pointing, announced: - -"The Church of La Boiselle. That heap you see yonder was once the -Mairie, and beyond, the schoolhouse. The others were houses and -cottages. Oh, La Boiselle was quite a pretty place once. We get out -here to visit the guns--this way." - -Obediently I followed whither he led, nothing speaking, for surely -here was matter beyond words. Leaving the road, we floundered over what -seemed like ash heaps, but which had once been German trenches faced -and reinforced by concrete and steel plates. Many of these last lay -here and there, awfully bent and twisted, but of trenches I saw none -save a few yards here and there half filled with indescribable debris. -It was, indeed, a place of horror--a frightful desolation beyond all -words. Everywhere about us were signs of dreadful death--they came to -one in the very air, in lowering heaven and tortured earth. Far as -the eye could reach the ground was pitted with great shell holes, so -close that they broke into one another and formed horrid pools full of -shapeless things within the slime. - -Across this hellish waste I went cautiously by reason of torn and -twisted tangles of German barbed wire, of hand grenades and huge -shells, of broken and rusty iron and steel that once were deadly -machine-guns. As I picked my way among all this flotsam, I turned to -take up a bayonet, slipped in the slime and sank to my waist in a shell -hole--even then I didn't touch bottom, but scrambled out, all grey mud -from waist down--but I had the bayonet. - -It was in this woeful state that I shook hands with the Major of -the battery. And as we stood upon that awful waste, he chattered, I -remember, of books. Then, side by side, we came to the battery--four -mighty howitzers, that crashed and roared and shook the very earth with -each discharge, and whose shells roared through the air with the rush -of a dozen express trains. - -Following the Major's directing finger, I fixed my gaze some distance -above the muzzle of the nearest gun and, marvel of marvels, beheld -that dire messenger of death and destruction rush forth, soaring, upon -its way, up and up, until it was lost in cloud. Time after time I saw -the huge shells leap sky-wards and vanish on their long journey, and -stood thus lost in wonder, and as I watched I could not but remark on -the speed and dexterity with which the crews handled these monstrous -engines. - -"Yes," nodded the Major, "strange thing is that a year ago they -_weren't_, you know--guns weren't in existence and the men weren't -gunners--clerks an' all that sort of thing, you know--civilians, what?" - -"They're pretty good gunners now--judging by effect!" said I, nodding -towards the abomination of desolation that had once been a village. - -"Rather!" nodded the Major, cheerily, "used to think it took three long -years to make a gunner once--do it in six short months now! Pretty good -going for old England, what? How about a cup of tea in my dug-out?" - -But evening was approaching, and having far to go we had perforce to -refuse his hospitality and bid him a reluctant good-bye. - -"Don't forget to take a peep at the mine-craters," said he, and waving -a cheery adieu, vanished into his dug-out. - -Ten minutes walk along the road, and before us rose a jagged mount, and -beyond it another, uncanny hills, seared and cracked and sinister, up -whose steep slopes I scrambled and into whose yawning depths I gazed -in awestruck wonder; so deep, so wide and huge of circumference, it -seemed rather the result of some titanic convulsion of nature than the -handiwork of man. - -I could imagine the cataclysmic roar of the explosion, the smoke and -flame of the mighty upheaval and war found for me yet another horror -as I turned and descended the precipitous slope. Now, as I went, I -stumbled over a small mound, then halted all at once, for at one end of -this was a very small cross, rudely constructed and painted white, and -tacked to this a strip of lettered tin, bearing a name and number, and -beneath these the words, "One of the best." So I took off my hat and -stood awhile beside that lonely mound of muddy earth ere I went my way. - -Slowly our car lurched onward through the waste, and presently on -either side the way I saw other such mounds and crosses, by twos -and threes, by fifties, by hundreds, in long rows beyond count. And -looking around me on this dreary desolation I knew that one day (since -nothing dies) upon this place of horror grass would grow and flowers -bloom again; along this now desolate and deserted road people would -come by the thousand; these humble crosses and mounds of muddy earth -would become to all Britons a holy place where so many of our best and -bravest lie, who, undismayed, have passed through the portals of Death -into the fuller, greater, nobler living. - -Full of such thoughts I turned for one last look, and then I saw that -the setting sun had turned each one of these humble little crosses into -things of shining glory. - - - - -IX. - -A TRAINING CAMP. - - -The great training camp lay, a rain-lashed wilderness of windy levels -and bleak, sandy hills, range upon range, far as the eye could see, -with never a living thing to break the monotony. But presently, as our -car lurched and splashed upon its way, there rose a sound that grew and -grew, the awesome sound of countless marching feet. - -On they came, these marching men, until we could see them by the -hundred, by the thousand, their serried ranks stretching away and -away until they were lost in distance. Scots were here, Lowland and -Highland; English and Irish were here, with bronzed New Zealanders, -adventurous Canadians and hardy Australians; men, these, who had come -joyfully across half the world to fight, and, if need be, die for those -ideals which have made the Empire assuredly the greatest and mightiest -this world has ever known. And as I listened to the rhythmic tramp of -these countless feet, it seemed like the voice of this vast Empire -proclaiming to the world that Wrong and Injustice must cease among the -nations; that man, after all, despite all the "Frightfulness" that -warped intelligence may conceive, is yet faithful to the highest in -him, faithful to that deathless, purposeful determination that Right -shall endure, the abiding belief of which has brought him through the -dark ages, through blood and misery and shame, on his progress ever -upward. - -So, while these men of the Empire tramped past through blinding rain -and wind, our car stopped before a row of low-lying wooden buildings, -whence presently issued a tall man in rain-sodden trench cap and -burberry, who looked at me with a pair of very dark, bright eyes and -gripped my hand in hearty clasp. - -He was apologetic because of the rain, since, as he informed us, he had -just ordered all men to their quarters, and thus I should see nothing -doing in the training line; nevertheless he cheerfully offered to show -us over the camp, despite mud and wind and rain, and to explain things -as fully as he could; whereupon we as cheerfully accepted. - -The wind whistled about us, the rain pelted us, but the Major heeded it -nothing--neither did I--while K. loudly congratulated himself on having -come in waders and waterproof hat, as, through mud and mire, through -puddles and clogging sand, we followed the Major's long boots, crossing -bare plateaux, climbing precipitous slopes, leaping trenches, slipping -and stumbling, while ever the Major talked, wherefore I heeded not wind -or rain, for the Major talked well. - -He descanted on the new and horribly vicious methods of bayonet -fighting--the quick thrust and lightning recovery; struggling with me -upon a sandy, rain-swept height, he showed me how, in wrestling for -your opponent's rifle, the bayonet is the thing. He halted us before -devilish contrivances of barbed wire, each different from the other, -but each just as ugly. He made us peep through loopholes, each and -every different from the other, yet each and every skilfully hidden -from an enemy's observation. We stood beside trenches of every shape -and kind while he pointed out their good and bad points; he brought us -to a place where dummy figures had been set up, their rags a-flutter, -forlorn objects in the rain. - -"Here," said he, "is where we teach 'em to throw live bombs--you can -see where they've been exploding; dummies look a bit off-colour, don't -they?" And he pointed to the ragged scarecrows with his whip. "You -know, I suppose," he continued, "that a Mills' bomb is quite safe until -you take out the pin, and then it is quite safe as long as you hold it, -but the moment it is loosed the lever flies off, which releases the -firing lever and in a few seconds it explodes. It is surprising how -men vary, some are born bombers, some soon learn, but some couldn't be -bombers if they tried--not that they're cowards, it's just a case of -mentality. I've seen men take hold of a bomb, pull out the pin, and -then stand with the thing clutched in their fingers, absolutely unable -to move! And there they'd stand till Lord knows when if the sergeant -didn't take it from them. I remember a queer case once. We were saving -the pins to rig up dummy bombs, and the order was: 'Take the bomb in -your right hand, remove the pin, put the pin in your pocket, and at the -word of command, throw the bomb.' Well, this particular fellow was so -wrought up that he threw away the pin and put the bomb in his pocket!" - -"Was he killed?" I asked. - -"No. The sergeant just had time to dig the thing out of the man's -pocket and throw it away. Bomb exploded in the air and knocked 'em both -flat." - -"Did the sergeant get the V.C. or M.C. or anything?" I enquired. - -The Major smiled and shook his head. - -"I have a good many sergeants here and they can't all have 'em! Now -come and see my lecture theatres." - -Presently, looming through the rain, I saw huge circular structures -that I could make nothing of, until, entering the larger of the -two, I stopped in surprise, for I looked down into a huge, circular -amphitheatre, with circular rows of seats descending tier below tier to -a circular floor of sand, very firm and hard. - -"All made out of empty oil cans!" said the Major, tapping the nearest -can with his whip. "I have 'em filled with sand and stacked as -you see!--good many thousands of 'em here. Find it good for sound -too--shout and try! This place holds about five thousand men--" - -"Whose wonderful idea was this?" - -"Oh, just a little wheeze of my own. Now, how about the poison gas; -feel like going through it?" - -I glanced at K., K. glanced at me. I nodded, so did K. - -"Certainly!" said I. Wherefore the Major led us over sandy hills and -along sandy valleys and so to a dingy and weather-worn hut, in whose -dingy interior we found a bright-faced subaltern in dingy uniform -and surrounded by many dingy boxes and a heterogeneous collection of -things. The subaltern was busy at work on a bomb with a penknife, while -at his elbow stood a sergeant grasping a screwdriver, who, perceiving -the Major, came to attention, while the cheery sub. rose, beaming. - -"Can you give us some gas?" enquired the Major, after we had been -introduced, and had shaken hands. - -"Certainly, sir!" nodded the cheerful sub. "Delighted!" - -"You might explain something about it, if you will," suggested the -Major. "Bombs and gas is your line, you know." - -The sub. beamed, and giving certain directions to his sergeant, spake -something on this wise. - -"Well, 'Frightful Fritz'--I mean the Boches y'know, started bein' -frightful some time ago, y'know--playin' their little tricks with gas -an' tear-shells an' liquid fire an' that, and we left 'em to it. Y'see, -it wasn't cricket--wasn't playin' the game--what! But Fritz kept at -it and was happy as a bird, till one day we woke up an' started bein' -frightful too, only when we did begin we were frightfuller than ever -Fritz thought of bein'--yes, rather! Our gas is more deadly, our -lachrymatory shells are more lachrymose an' our liquid fire's quite -top-hole--won't go out till it burns out--rather not! So Frightful -Fritz is licked at his own dirty game. I've tried his and I've tried -ours, an' I know." - -Here the sergeant murmured deferentially into the sub.'s ear, whereupon -he beamed again and nodded. - -"Everything's quite ready!" he announced, "so if you're on?" - -Here, after a momentary hesitation, I signified I was, whereupon our -sub. grew immensely busy testing sundry ugly, grey flannel gas helmets, -fitted with staring eyepieces of talc and with a hideous snout in front. - -Having duly fitted on these clumsy things and buttoned them well under -our coat collars, having shown us how we must breathe out through the -mouthpiece which acts as a kind of exhaust, our sub. donned his own -headpiece, through which his cheery voice reached me in muffled tones: - -"You'll feel a kind of ticklin' feelin' in the throat at first, but -that's all O.K.--only the chemical the flannel's saturated with. Now -follow me, please, an' would you mind runnin', the rain's apt to weaken -the solution. This way!" - -Dutifully we hasted after him, ploughing through the wet sand, -until we came to a heavily timbered doorway that seemingly opened -into the hillside, and, beyond this yawning doorway I saw a thick, -greenish-yellow mist, a fog exactly the colour of strong absinthe; and -then we were in it. K.'s tall figure grew blurred, indistinct, faded -utterly away, and I was alone amid that awful, swirling vapour that -held death in such agonising form. - -I will confess I was not happy, my throat was tickling provokingly, -I began to cough and my windpipe felt too small. I hastened forward, -but, even as I went, the light grew dimmer and the swirling fog more -dense. I groped blindly, began to run, stumbled, and in that moment my -hand came in contact with an unseen rope. On I went into gloom, into -blackness, until I was presently aware of my companions in front and -mightily glad of it. In a while, still following this invisible rope, -we turned a corner, the fog grew less opaque, thinned away to a green -mist, and we were out in the daylight again, and thankful was I to whip -off my stifling helmet and feel the clean wind in my hair and the beat -of rain upon my face. - -"Notice the ticklin' feelin'?" enquired our sub., as he took our -helmets and put them carefully by. "Bit tryin' at first, but you soon -get used to it--yes, rather. Some of the men funk tryin' at first--and -some hold their breath until they fairly well burst, an' some won't go -in at all, so we carry 'em in. That gas you've tried is about twenty -times stronger than we get it in the open, but these helmets are a -rippin' dodge till the chemical evaporates, then, of course, they're no -earthly. This is the latest device--quite a top-hole scheme!" And he -showed us a box-like contrivance which, when in use, is slung round the -neck. - -"Are you often in the gas?" I enquired. - -"Every day--yes, rather!" - -"For how long?" - -"Well, I stayed in once for five hours on end--" - -"Five hours!" I exclaimed, aghast. - -"Y'see, I was experimentin'!" - -"And didn't you feel any bad effects?" - -"Yes, rather! I was simply dyin' for a smoke. Like to try a -lachrymatory?" he enquired, reaching up to a certain dingy box. - -"Yes," said I, glancing at K. "Oh, yes, if--" - -"Only smart for the time bein'," our sub. assured me. "Make you weep a -bit!" Here from the dingy box he fished a particularly vicious-looking -bomb and fell to poking at it with a screwdriver. I immediately stepped -back. So did K. The Major pulled his moustache and flicked a chunk of -mud from his boot with his whip. - -"Er--I suppose that thing's all right?" he enquired. - -"Oh, yes, quite all right, sir, quite all right," nodded the sub., -using the screwdriver as a hammer. "Only wants a little fixin'." - -As I watched that deadly thing, for the second time I felt distinctly -unhappy; however, the refractory pin, or whatever it was, being fixed -to his satisfaction, our sub. led the way out of the dingy hut and -going some few paces ahead, paused. - -"I'm goin' to give you a liquid-fire bomb first!" said he. "Watch!" - -He drew back his hand and hurled the bomb. Almost immediately there -was a shattering report and the air was full of thick, grey smoke and -yellow flame, smoke that rolled heavily along the ground towards us, -flame that burned ever fiercer, fiery yellow tongues that leapt from -the sand here and there, that writhed in the wind-gusts, but never -diminished. - -"Stoop down!" cried the sub., suiting the action to word, "stoop down -and get a mouthful of that smoke--makes you jolly sick and unconscious -in no time if you get enough of it. Top-hole bomb, that--what!" - -Then he brought us where those yellow flames leapt and hissed; some of -these he covered with wet sand, and lo! they had ceased to be; but the -moment the sand was kicked away up they leapt again fiercer than ever. - -"We use 'em for bombing Boche dug-outs now!" said he; and remembering -the dug-outs I had seen, I could picture the awful fate of those -within, the choking fumes, the fire-scorched bodies! Truly the -exponents of Frightfulness have felt the recoil of their own vile -methods. - -"This is a lachrymatory!" said the sub., whisking another bomb from his -pocket. "When it pops, run forward and get in the smoke. It'll sting -a bit, but don't rub the tears away--let 'em flow. Don't touch your -eyes, it'll only inflame 'em--just weep! Ready? One, two, three!" A -second explosion louder than the first, a puff of blue smoke into which -I presently ran and then uttered a cry. So sharp, so excruciating was -the pain, that instinctively I raised hand to eyes but checked myself, -and with tears gushing over my cheeks, blind and agonised, I stumbled -away from that hellish vapour. Very soon the pain diminished, was gone, -and looking up through streaming tears I beheld the sub. nodding and -beaming approval. - -"Useful things, eh?" he remarked, "A man can't shed tears and -shoot straight, an' he can't weep and fight well, both at the same -time--what? Fritz can be very frightful, but we can be more so when we -want--yes, rather. The Boches have learned that there's no monopoly in -Frightfulness." - -In due season we shook hands with our cheery sub., and left him beaming -after us from the threshold of the dingy hut. - -Britain has been called slow, old-fashioned, and behind the times, but -to-day she is awake and at work to such mighty purpose that her once -small army is now numbered by the million, an army second to none in -equipment or hardy and dauntless manhood. - -From her Home Counties, from her Empire beyond the Seas, her millions -have arisen, brothers in arms henceforth, bonded together by a spirit -of noble self-sacrifice--men grimly determined to suffer wounds and -hardship and death itself, that for those who come after them, the -world may be a better place and humanity may never again be called upon -to endure all the agony and heartbreak of this generation. - - - - -X. - -ARRAS. - - -It was raining, and a chilly wind blew as we passed beneath a battered -arch into the tragic desolation of Arras. - -I have seen villages pounded by gun-fire into hideous mounds of dust -and rubble, their very semblance blasted utterly away; but Arras, -shell-torn, scarred, disfigured for all time, is a city still--a City -of Desolation. Her streets lie empty and silent, her once pleasant -squares are a dreary desolation, her noble buildings, monuments of her -ancient splendour, are ruined beyond repair. Arras is a dead city, -whose mournful silence is broken only by the intermittent thunder of -the guns. - -Thus, as I paced these deserted streets where none moved save myself -(for my companions had hastened on), as I gazed on ruined buildings -that echoed mournfully to my tread, what wonder that my thoughts were -gloomy as the day itself? I paused in a street of fair, tall houses, -from whose broken windows curtains of lace, of plush, and tapestry -flapped mournfully in the chill November wind like rags upon a corpse, -while from some dim interior came the hollow rattle of a door, and, in -every gust, a swinging shutter groaned despairingly on rusty hinge. - -And as I stood in this narrow street, littered with the brick and -masonry of desolate homes, and listened to these mournful sounds, I -wondered vaguely what had become of all those for whom this door had -been wont to open, where now the eyes that had looked down from these -windows many and many a time--would they ever behold again this quiet, -narrow street, would these scarred walls echo again to those same -voices and ring with joy of life and familiar laughter? - -And now this desolate city became as it were peopled with the souls of -these exiles, they flitted ghostlike in the dimness behind flapping -curtains, they peered down through closed jalousies--wraiths of the men -and women and children who had lived and loved and played here before -the curse of the barbarian had driven them away. - -And, as if to help this illusion, I saw many things that were eloquent -of these vanished people--glimpses through shattered windows and beyond -demolished house-fronts; here a table set for dinner, with plates and -tarnished cutlery on a dingy cloth that stirred damp and lazily in the -wind, yonder a grand piano, open and with sodden music drooping from -its rest; here again chairs drawn cosily together. - -Wherever I looked were evidences of arrested life, of action suddenly -stayed; in one bedroom a trunk open, with a pile of articles beside -it in the act of being packed; in another, a great bed, its sheets -and blankets tossed askew by hands wild with haste; while in a room -lined with bookcases a deep armchair was drawn up to the hearth, with -a small table whereon stood a decanter and a half-emptied glass, and -an open book whose damp leaves stirred in the wind, now and then, as -if touched by phantom fingers. Indeed, more than once I marvelled to -see how, amid the awful wreckage of broken floors and tumbled ceilings, -delicate vases and chinaware had miraculously escaped destruction. Upon -one cracked wall a large mirror reflected the ruin of a massive carved -sideboard, while in another house, hard by, a magnificent ivory and -ebony crucifix yet hung above an awful twisted thing that had been a -brass bedstead. - -Here and there, on either side this narrow street, ugly gaps showed -where houses had once stood, comfortable homes, now only unsightly -heaps of rubbish, a confusion of broken beams and rafters, amid which -divers familiar objects obtruded themselves, broken chairs and tables, -a grandfather clock, and a shattered piano whose melody was silenced -for ever. - -Through all these gloomy relics of a vanished people I went slow-footed -and heedless of direction, until by chance I came out into the wide -Place and saw before me all that remained of the stately building which -for centuries had been the Hotel de Ville, now nothing but a crumbling -ruin of noble arch and massive tower; even so, in shattered facade and -mullioned window one might yet see something of that beauty which had -made it famous. - -Oblivious of driving rain I stood bethinking me of this ancient city: -how in the dark ages it had endured the horrors of battle and siege, -had fronted the catapults of Rome, heard the fierce shouts of barbarian -assailants, known the merciless savagery of religious wars, and -remained a city still only for the cultured barbarian of to-day to make -of it a desolation. - -Very full of thought I turned away, but, as I crossed the desolate -square, I was aroused by a voice that hailed me, seemingly from beneath -my feet, a voice that echoed eerily in that silent Place. Glancing -about I beheld a beshawled head that rose above the littered pavement, -and, as I stared, the head nodded and, smiling wanly, accosted me again. - -Coming thither I looked into a square opening with a flight of steps -leading down into a subterranean chamber, and, upon these steps a woman -sat knitting busily. She enquired if I wished to view the catacombs, -and pointed where a lamp burned above another opening and other steps -descended lower yet, seemingly into the very bowels of the earth. To -her I explained that my time was limited and all I wished to see lay -above ground, and from her I learned that some few people yet remained -in ruined Arras, who, even as she, lived underground, since every day -at irregular intervals the enemy fired into the town haphazard. Only -that very morning, she told me, another shell had struck the poor Hotel -de Ville, and she pointed to a new, white scar upon the shapeless -tower. She also showed me an ugly rent upon a certain wall near by, -made by the shell which had killed her husband. Yes, she lived all -alone now, she told me, waiting for that good day when the Boches -should be driven beyond the Rhine, waiting until the townsfolk should -come back and Arras wake to life again: meantime she knitted. - -Presently I saluted this solitary woman, and, turning away, left -her amid the desolate ruin of that once busy square, her beshawled -head bowed above feverishly busy fingers, left her as I had found -her--waiting. - -And now as I traversed those deserted streets it seemed that this -seemingly dead city did but swoon after all, despite its many grievous -wounds, for here was life even as the woman had said; evidences of -which I saw here and there, in battered stovepipes that had writhed -themselves snake-like through rusty cellar gratings and holes in wall -or pavement, miserable contrivances at best, whose fumes blackened the -walls whereto they clung. Still, nowhere was there sound or sight of -folk save in one small back street, where, in a shop that apparently -sold everything, from pickles to picture postcards, two British -soldiers were buying a pair of braces from a smiling, haggard-eyed -woman, and being extremely polite about it in cryptic Anglo-French; -and here I foregathered with my companions. Our way led us through -the railway station, a much-battered ruin, its clock tower half gone, -its platforms cracked and splintered, the iron girders of its great, -domed roof bent and twisted, and with never a sheet of glass anywhere. -Between the rusty tracks grass and weeds grew and flourished, and the -few waybills and excursion placards which still showed here and there -looked unutterably forlorn. In the booking office was a confusion -of broken desks, stools and overthrown chairs, the floor littered -with sodden books and ledgers, but the racks still held thousands of -tickets, bearing so many names they might have taken anyone anywhere -throughout fair France once, but now, it seemed, would never take -anyone anywhere. - -All at once, through the battered swing-doors, marched a company of -soldiers, the tramp of their feet and the lilt of their voices filling -the place with strange echoes, for, being wet and weary and British, -they sang cheerily. Packs a-swing, rifles on shoulder, they tramped -through shell-torn waiting-room and booking-hall and out again into -wind and wet, and I remember the burden of their chanting was: "Smile! -Smile! Smile!" - -In a little while I stood amid the ruins of the great cathedral; its -mighty pillars, chipped and scarred, yet rose high in air, but its long -aisles were choked with rubble and fallen masonry, while through the -gaping rents of its lofty roof the rain fell, wetting the shattered -heap of particoloured marble that had been the high altar once. Here -and there, half buried in the debris at my feet, I saw fragments of -memorial tablets, a battered corona, the twisted remains of a great -candelabrum, and over and through this mournful ruin a cold and rising -wind moaned fitfully. Silently we clambered back over the mountain of -debris and hurried on, heedless of the devastation around, heartsick -with the gross barbarity of it all. - -They tell me that churches and cathedrals must of necessity be -destroyed since they generally serve as observation posts. But I have -seen many ruined churches--usually beautified by Time and hallowed by -tradition--that by reason of site and position could never have been so -misused--and then there is the beautiful Chateau d'Eau! - -Evening was falling, and as the shadows stole upon this silent city, -a gloom unrelieved by any homely twinkle of light, these dreadful -streets, these stricken homes took on an aspect more sinister and -forbidding in the half-light. Behind those flapping curtains were pits -of gloom full of unimagined terrors whence came unearthly sounds, -stealthy rustlings, groans and sighs and sobbing voices. If ghosts did -flit behind those crumbling walls, surely they were very sad and woeful -ghosts. - -"Damn this rain!" murmured K., gently. - -"And the wind!" said F., pulling up his collar. "Listen to it! It's -going to play the very deuce with these broken roofs and things if it -blows hard. Going to be a beastly night, and a forty-mile drive in -front of us. Listen to that wind! Come on--let's get away!" - -Very soon, buried in warm rugs, we sped across dim squares, past -wind-swept ruins, under battered arch, and the dismal city was behind -us, but, for a while, her ghosts seemed all about us still. - -As we plunged on through the gathering dark, past rows of trees that -leapt at us and were gone, it seemed to me that the soul of Arras -was typified in that patient, solitary woman who sat amid desolate -ruin--waiting for the great Day; and surely her patience cannot go -unrewarded. For since science has proved that nothing can be utterly -destroyed, since I for one am convinced that the soul of man through -death is but translated into a fuller and more infinite living, so do I -think that one day the woes of Arras shall be done away, and she shall -rise again, a City greater perhaps and fairer than she was. - - - - -XI. - -THE BATTLEFIELDS. - - -To all who sit immune, far removed from war and all its horrors, to -those to whom when Death comes, he comes in shape as gentle as he -may--to all such I dedicate these tales of the front. - -How many stories of battlefields have been written of late, written to -be scanned hastily over the breakfast-table or comfortably lounged over -in an easy chair, stories warranted not to shock or disgust, wherein -the reader may learn of the glorious achievements of our armies, of -heroic deeds and noble self-sacrifice, so that frequently I have heard -it said that war, since it produces heroes, is a goodly thing, a -necessary thing. - -Can the average reader know or even faintly imagine the other side of -the picture? Surely not, for no clean human mind can compass all the -horror, all the brutal, grotesque obscenity of a modern battlefield. -Therefore I propose to write plainly, briefly, of that which I saw on -my last visit to the British front; for since in blood-sodden France -men are dying even as I pen these lines, it seems only just that -those of us for whom they are giving their lives should at least -know something of the manner of their dying. To this end I visited -four great battle-fields and I would that all such as cry up war, its -necessity, its inevitability, might have gone beside me. Though I have -sometimes written of war, yet I am one that hates war, one to whom the -sight of suffering and bloodshed cause physical pain, yet I forced -myself to tread those awful fields of death and agony, to look upon the -ghastly aftermath of modern battle, that, if it be possible, I might -by my testimony in some small way help those who know as little of war -as I did once, to realise the horror of it, that loathing it for the -hellish thing it is, they may, one and all, set their faces against war -henceforth, with an unshakeable determination that never again shall -it be permitted to maim, to destroy and blast out of being the noblest -works of God. - -What I write here I set down deliberately, with no idea of -phrase-making, of literary values or rounded periods; this is and shall -be a plain, trite statement of fact. - -And now, one and all, come with me in spirit, lend me your mind's eyes, -and see for yourselves something of what modern war really is. - -Behold then a stretch of country--a sea of mud far as the eye can -reach, a grim, desolate expanse, its surface ploughed and churned by -thousands of high-explosive shells into ugly holes and tortured heaps -like muddy waves struck motionless upon this muddy sea. The guns are -silent, the cheers and frenzied shouts, the screams and groans have -long died away, and no sound is heard save the noise of my own going. - -The sun shone palely and a fitful wind swept across the waste, a -noxious wind, cold and dank, that chilled me with a sudden dread even -while the sweat ran from me. I walked amid shell-craters, sometimes -knee-deep in mud, I stumbled over rifles half buried in the slime, on -muddy knapsacks, over muddy bags half full of rusty bombs, and so upon -the body of a dead German soldier. With arms wide-flung and writhen -legs grotesquely twisted he lay there beneath my boot, his head half -buried in the mud, even so I could see that the maggots had been busy, -though the -- had killed them where they clung. So there he lay, this -dead Boche, skull gleaming under shrunken scalp, an awful, eyeless -thing, that seemed to start, to stir and shiver as the cold wind -stirred his muddy clothing. Then nausea and a deadly faintness seized -me, but I shook it off, and shivering, sweating, forced myself to stoop -and touch that awful thing, and, with the touch, horror and faintness -passed, and in their place I felt a deep and passionate pity for all he -was a Boche, and with pity in my heart I turned and went my way. - -But now, wherever I looked were other shapes, that lay in attitudes -frightfully contorted, grotesque and awful. Here the battle had raged -desperately. I stood in a very charnel-house of dead. From a mound of -earth upflung by a bursting shell a clenched fist, weather-bleached and -pallid, seemed to threaten me; from another emerged a pair of crossed -legs with knees up-drawn, very like the legs of one who dozes gently on -a hot day. Hard by, a pair of German knee-boots topped a shell crater, -and drawing near, I saw the grey-green breeches, belt and pouches, and -beyond--nothing but unspeakable corruption. I started back in horror -and stepped on something that yielded underfoot--glanced down and saw a -bloated, discoloured face, that, even as I looked, vanished beneath my -boot and left a bare and grinning skull. - -Once again the faintness seized me, and lifting my head I stared round -about me and across the desolation of this hellish waste. Far in the -distance was the road where men moved to and fro, busy with picks and -shovels, and some sang and some whistled and never sound more welcome. -Here and there across these innumerable shell holes, solitary figures -moved, men, these, who walked heedfully and with heads down-bent. And -presently I moved on, but now, like these distant figures, I kept my -gaze upon that awful mud lest again I should trample heedlessly on -something that had once lived and loved and laughed. And they lay -everywhere, here stark and stiff, with no pitiful earth to hide their -awful corruption--here again, half buried in slimy mud; more than once -my nailed boot uncovered mouldering tunic or things more awful. And -as I trod this grisly place my pity grew, and with pity a profound -wonder that the world with its so many millions of reasoning minds -should permit such things to be, until I remembered that few, even -the most imaginative, could realise the true frightfulness of modern -men-butchering machinery, and my wonder changed to a passionate desire -that such things should be recorded and known, if only in some small -measure, wherefore it is I write these things. - -I wandered on past shell holes, some deep in slime, that held nameless -ghastly messes, some a-brim with bloody water, until I came where three -men lay side by side, their hands upon their levelled rifles. For a -moment I had the foolish thought that these men were weary and slept, -until, coming near, I saw that these had died by the same shell-burst. -Near them lay yet another shape, a mangled heap, one muddy hand yet -grasping muddy rifle, while, beneath the other lay the fragment of a -sodden letter--probably the last thing those dying eyes had looked upon. - -Death in horrible shape was all about me. I saw the work wrought by -shrapnel, by gas, and the mangled red havoc of high-explosive. It only -seemed unreal, like one that walked in a nightmare. Here and there upon -this sea of mud rose the twisted wreckage of aeroplanes, and from where -I stood I counted five, but as I tramped on and on these five grew to -nine. One of these lying upon my way I turned aside to glance at, and -stared through a tangle of wires into a pallid thing that had been a -face once comely and youthful; the leather jacket had been opened at -the neck for the identity disc as I suppose, and glancing lower I saw -that this leather jacket was discoloured, singed, burnt--and below -this, a charred and unrecognisable mass. - -Is there a man in the world to-day who, beholding such horrors, would -not strive with all his strength to so order things that the hell of -war should be made impossible henceforth? Therefore, I have recorded in -some part what I have seen of war. - -So now, all of you who read, I summon you in the name of our common -humanity, let us be up and doing. Americans--Anglo-Saxons, let our -common blood be a bond of brotherhood between us henceforth, a bond -indissoluble. As you have now entered the war, as you are now our -allies in deed as in spirit, let this alliance endure hereafter. -Already there is talk of some such League, which, in its might and -unity, shall secure humanity against any recurrence of the evils the -world now groans under. Here is a noble purpose, and I conceive it the -duty of each one of us, for the sake of those who shall come after, -that we should do something to further that which was once looked upon -as only an Utopian dream--the universal Brotherhood of Man. - - - "The flowers o' the forest are a' faded away." - - -Far and wide they lie, struck down in the flush of manhood, full of the -joyous, unconquerable spirit of youth. Who knows what noble ambitions -once were theirs, what splendid works they might not have wrought? Now -they lie, each poor, shattered body a mass of loathsome corruption. Yet -that diviner part, that no bullet may slay, no steel rend or mar, has -surely entered into the fuller living, for Death is but the gateway -into Life and infinite possibilities. - -But, upon all who sit immune, upon all whom as yet this bitter war -has left untouched, is the blood of these that died in the cause of -humanity, the cause of Freedom for us and the generations to come, this -blood is upon each one of us--consecrating us to the task they have -died to achieve, and it is our solemn duty to see that the wounds they -suffered, the deaths they died, have not been, and shall not be, in -vain. - - - - -XII. - -FLYING MEN. - - -A few short years ago flying was in its experimental stage; to-day, -though man's conquest of the air is yet a dream unrealised, it has -developed enormously and to an amazing degree; to-day, flying is -one of the chief factors of this world war, both on sea and land. -Upon the Western front alone there are thousands upon thousands of -aeroplanes--monoplanes and biplanes--of hundreds of different makes -and designs, of varying shapes and many sizes. I have seen giants -armed with batteries of swivel guns and others mounting veritable -cannon. Here are huge bomb-dropping machines with a vast wing-spread; -solid, steady-flying machines for photographic work, and the light, -swift-climbing, double-gunned battle-planes, capable of mounting two -thousand feet a minute and attaining a speed of two hundred kilometres. -Of these last they are building scores a week at a certain factory I -visited just outside Paris, and this factory is but one of many. But -the men (or rather, youths) who fly these aerial marvels--it is of -these rather than the machines that I would tell, since of the machines -I can describe little even if I would; but I have watched them -hovering unconcernedly (and quite contemptuous of the barking attention -of "Archie") above white shrapnel bursts--fleecy, innocent-seeming -puffs of smoke that go by the name of "woolly bears." I have seen them -turn and hover and swoop, swift and graceful as great eagles. I have -watched master-pilots of both armies, English and French, perform -soul-shaking gyrations high in air, feats quite impossible hitherto -and never attempted until lately. There is now a course of aerial -gymnastics which every flier must pass successfully before he may call -himself a "chasing" pilot; and, from what I have observed, it would -seem that to become a pilot one must be either all nerve or possess no -nerve at all. - -Conceive a biplane, thousands of feet aloft, suddenly flinging its nose -up and beginning to climb vertically as if intending to loop the loop; -conceive of its pausing suddenly and remaining, for perhaps a full -minute, poised thus upon its tail--absolutely perpendicular. Then, the -engines switched off, conceive of it falling helplessly, tail first, -reversing suddenly and plunging earthwards, spinning giddily round and -round very like the helpless flutter of a falling leaf. Then suddenly, -the engine roars again, the twisting, fluttering, dead thing becomes -instinct with life, rights itself majestically on flashing pinions, -swoops down in swift and headlong course, and, turning, mounts the wind -and soars up and up as light, as graceful, as any bird. - -Other nerve-shattering things they do, these soaring young demi-gods of -the air, feats so marvellous to such earth-bound ones as myself--feats -indeed so wildly daring it would seem no ordinary human could ever -hope to attain unto. But in and around Paris and at the front, I -have talked with, dined with, and known many of these bird-men, both -English, French and American, and have generally found them very human -indeed, often shy, generally simple and unaffected, and always modest -of their achievements and full of admiration for seamen and soldiers, -and heartily glad that their lives are not jeopardised aboard ships, -or submarines, or in muddy trenches; which sentiment I have heard -fervently expressed--not once, but many times. Surely the mentality of -the flier is beyond poor ordinary understanding! - -It was with some such thought in my mind that with my friend N., -a well-known American correspondent, I visited one of our flying -squadrons at the front. The day was dull and cloudy, and N., deep -versed and experienced in flying and matters pertaining thereto, shook -doubtful head. - -"We shan't see much to-day," he opined, "low visibility--_plafond_ only -about a thousand!" Which cryptic sentence, by dint of pertinacious -questioning, I found to mean that the clouds were about a thousand -feet from earth and that it was misty. "_Plafond_," by the way, -is aeronautic for cloud-strata. Thus I stood with my gaze lifted -heavenward until the Intelligence Officer joined us with a youthful -flight-captain, who, having shaken hands, looked up also and stroked a -small and very young moustache. And presently he spoke as nearly as I -remember on this wise:-- - -"About twelve hundred! Rather rotten weather for our -business--expecting some new machines over, too." - -"Has your squadron been out lately?" I enquired, (I have the gift of -inquiry largely developed). - -"Rather! Lost four of our chaps yesterday--'Archie' got 'em. Rotten bad -luck!" - -"Are they--hurt?" I asked. - -"Well, we know two are all right, and one we think is, but the -other--rather a pal of mine--" - -"Do you often lose fellows?" - -"Off and on--you see, we're a fighting squadron--must take a bit of -risk now and then--it's the game y'know!" - -He brought me where stood biplanes and monoplanes of all sizes and -designs, and paused beside a two-seater, gunned fore and aft, and with -ponderous wide-flung wings. - -"This," he explained, "is an old battle-plane, quite a veteran -too--jolly old 'bus in its way, but too slow, it's a 'pusher,' you see, -and 'tractors' are all the go. We're having some over to-day--top-hole -machines." Here ensued much technical discussion between him and N. as -to the relative merits of traction and propulsion. - -"Have you had many air duels?" I enquired at last, as we wandered on -through a maze of wheels and wings and propellers. - -"Oh, yes, one or two," he admitted, "though nothing very much!" he -hastened to add. "Some of our chaps are pretty hot stuff, though. -There's B. now, B.'s got nine so far." - -"An air fight must be rather terrible?" said I. - -"Oh, I don't know!" he demurred. "Gets a bit lively sometimes. C., one -of our chaps, had a near go coming home yesterday--attacked by five -Boche machines, well over their own territory, of course. They swooped -down on him out of a cloud. C. got one right away, but the others got -him--nearly. They shot his gear all to pieces and put his bally gun -out of commission--bullet clean through the tray. Rotten bad luck! So, -being at their mercy, C. pretended they'd got him--did a turn-over and -nose-dived through the clouds very nearly on two more Boche machines -that were waiting for him. So, thinking it was all up with him, C. -dived straight for the nearest, meaning to take a Boche down with him, -but Hans didn't think that was playing the game, and promptly hooked -it. The other fellow had been blazing away and was getting a new drum -fixed, when he saw C. was on his tail making tremendous business with -his useless gun, so Fritz immediately dived away out of range, and -C. got home with about fifty bullet holes in his wings and his gun -crocked, and--oh, here he is!" - -Flight-Lieutenant C. appeared, rather younger than his Captain, a long, -slender youth, with serious brow and thoughtful eyes, whom I forthwith -questioned as diplomatically as might be. - -"Oh, yes!" he answered, in response to my various queries, "it was -exciting for a minute or so, but I expect the Captain has been pulling -your leg no end. Yes, they smashed my gun. Yes, they hit pretty well -everything except me and my mascot--they didn't get that, by good luck. -No, I don't think a fellow would mind 'getting it' in the ordinary -way--a bullet, say. But it's the damned petrol catching alight and -burning one's legs." Here the speaker bent to survey his long legs -with serious eyes. "Burning isn't a very nice finish somehow. They -generally manage to chuck themselves out--when they can. Hello--here -comes one of our new machines--engine sounds nice and smooth!" said he, -cocking an ear. Sure enough, came a faint purr that grew to a hum, to -an ever-loudening drone, and out from the clouds an aeroplane appeared, -which, wheeling in graceful spirals, sank lower and lower, touched -earth, rose, touched again, and so, engine roaring, slid smoothly -toward us over the grass. Then appeared men in blue overalls, who -seized the gleaming monster in unawed, accustomed hands, steadied it, -swung it round, and halted it within speaking distance. - -Hereupon its leather-clad pilot climbed stiffly out, vituperated the -weather and lit a cigarette. - -"How is she?" enquired the Captain. - -"A lamb! A witch! Absolutely top hole when you get used to her." -The top-hole lamb and witch was a smallish biplane with no great -wing-spread, but powerfully engined, whose points N. explained to me -as--her speed, her climbing angle, her wonderful stability, etc., -while the Captain and Lieutenant hastened off to find the Major, who, -appearing in due course, proved to be slender, merry-eyed and more -youthful-looking than the Lieutenant. Indeed, so young-seeming was he -that upon better acquaintance I ventured to enquire his age, and he -somewhat unwillingly owned to twenty-three. - -"But," said he, "I'm afraid we can't show you very much, the weather's -so perfectly rotten for flying." - -"Oh, I don't know," said the Captain, glancing towards the witch-lamb, -"I rather thought I'd like to try this new machine--if you don't mind, -sir." - -"Same here," murmured the Lieutenant. - -"But you've never flown a Nieuport before, have you, eh?" enquired the -Major. - -"No, sir, but--" - -"Nor you either, C.?" - -"No, sir, still--" - -"Then I'll try her myself," said the Major, regarding the witch-lamb -joyous-eyed. - -"But," demurred the Captain, "I was rather under the impression you'd -never flown one either." - -"I haven't--yet," laughed the Major, and hasted away for his coat and -helmet. - -"Can you beat that?" exclaimed the Lieutenant. - -The Captain sighed and went to aid the Major into his leathern armour. -Lightly and joyously the youthful Major climbed into the machine and -sat awhile to examine and remark upon its unfamiliar features, while a -sturdy mechanic stood at the propeller ready to start the engine. - -"By the way," said he, turning to address me. "You're staying to -luncheon, of course?" - -"I'm afraid we can't," answered our Intelligence Officer. - -"Oh, but you must--I've ordered soup! Right-oh!" he called to his -mechanician; the engine hummed, thundered, and roaring, cast back upon -us a very gale of wind; the witch-lamb moved, slid forward over the -grass, and gathering speed, lifted six inches, a yard, ten yards--and -was in flight. - -"Can you beat that?" exclaimed the Captain enthusiastically, "lifted -her clean away!" - -"I rather fancy he's about as good as they're made!" observed the -Captain. Meanwhile, the witch-lamb soared up and up straight as an -arrow; up she climbed, growing rapidly less until she was a gnat -against a background of fleecy cloud and the roar of the engine had -diminished to a whine; up and up until she was a speck--until the -clouds had swallowed her altogether. - -"Pity it isn't clear!" said the Captain. "I rather fancy you'd have -seen some real flying. By the way, they're going to practise at the -targets--might interest you. Care to see?" - -The targets were about a yard square and, as I watched, an aeroplane -rose wheeling high above them. All at once the hum of the engine was -lost in the sharp, fierce rattle of a machine gun; and ever as the -biplane banked and wheeled the machine gun crackled. From every angle -and from every point of the compass these bullets were aimed, and -examining the targets afterwards I was amazed to see how many hits had -been registered. - -After this they brought me to the workshops where many mechanics were -busied; they showed me, among other grim relics, C.'s broken machine -gun and perforated cartridge-tray. They told me many stories of daring -deeds performed by other members of the squadron, but when I asked -them to describe their own experiences, I found them diffident and -monosyllabic. - -"Hallo!" exclaimed C., as we stepped out into the air, "here comes the -Major. He's in that cloud--know the sound of his engine." Sure enough, -out from a low-lying cloud-bank he came, wheeling in short spirals, -plunging earthward. - -Down sank the aeroplane, the roaring engine fell silent, roared again, -and she sped towards us, her wheels within a foot or so of earth. -Finally they touched, the engine stopped, and the witch-lamb pulled up -within a few feet of us. Hereupon the Major waved a gauntleted hand to -us. - -"Must stop to lunch," he cried, "I've ordered soup, you know." - -But this being impossible, we perforce said good-bye to these -warm-hearted, simple-souled fighting men, a truly regrettable farewell -so far as I was concerned. They escorted us to the car, and there -parted from us with many frank expressions of regard and stood side by -side to watch us out of sight. - -"Yesterday there was much aerial activity on our front. - -"Depots were successfully bombed and five enemy machines were forced to -descend, three of them in flames. Four of ours did not return." - -I shall never read these oft recurring lines in the communiques without -thinking of those three youthful figures, so full of life and the joy -of life, who watched us depart that dull and cloudy morning. - -Here is just one other story dealing with three seasoned air-fighters, -veterans of many deadly combats high above the clouds, each of whom has -more than one victory to his credit, and whose combined ages total up -to sixty or thereabouts. We will call them X., Y. and Z. Now X. is an -American, Y. is an Englishman, whose peach-like countenance yet bears -the newly healed scar of a bullet wound, and Z. is an Afrikander. Here -begins the story:-- - -Upon a certain day of wind, rain and cloud, news came that the Boches -were massing behind their lines for an attack, whereupon X., Y. and -Z. were ordered to go up and verify this. Gaily enough they started -despite unfavourable weather conditions. The clouds were low, very -low, but they must fly lower, so, at an altitude varying from fifteen -hundred to a bare thousand feet, they crossed the German lines, Y. and -Z. flying wing and wing behind X.'s tail. All at once "Archie" spoke, -a whole battery of anti-aircraft guns filled the air with smoke and -whistling bullets--away went X.'s propeller and his machine was hurled -upside down; immediately Y. and Z. rose. By marvellous pilotage X. -managed to right his crippled machine and began, of course, to fall; -promptly Y. and Z. descended. It is, I believe, an unwritten law in -the Air Service, never to desert a comrade until he is seen to be -completely "done for"--hence Y. and Z.'s hawk-like swoop from the -clouds to draw the fire of the battery from their stricken companion. -Down they plunged through the battery smoke, firing their machine guns -point blank as they came; and so, wheeling in long spirals, their guns -crackling viciously, they mounted again and soared cloudward together, -but, there among the clouds and in comparative safety Z. developed -engine trouble. Their ruse had served, however, and X. had contrived -to bring his shattered biplane to earth safely behind the British -lines. Meanwhile Y. and Z. continued on toward their objective, but -Z.'s engine trouble becoming chronic, he fell behind more and more, -and finally, leaving Y. to carry on alone, was forced to turn back. -And now it was, that, in the mists ahead, he beheld another machine -which, coming swiftly down upon him, proved to be a German, who, -mounting above him, promptly opened fire. Z., struggling with his -baulking engine, had his hands pretty full; moreover his opponent, -owing to greater speed, could attack him from precisely what angle he -chose. So they wheeled and flew, Z. endeavouring to bring his gun to -bear, the German keeping skilfully out of range, now above him, now -below, but ever and always behind. Thus the Boche flying on Z.'s tail -had him at his mercy; a bullet ripped his sleeve, another smashed his -speedometer, yet another broke his gauge--slowly and by degrees nearly -all Z.'s gear is either smashed or carried away by bullets. All this -time it is to be supposed that Z., thus defenceless, is wheeling and -turning as well as his crippled condition will allow, endeavouring to -get a shot at his elusive foe; but (as he told me) he felt it was his -finish, so he determined if possible to ram his opponent and crash down -with him through the clouds. Therefore, waiting until the Boche was -aiming at him from directly below, he threw his machine into a sudden -dive. Thus for one moment Z. had him in range, for a moment only, -but the range was close and deadly, and Z. fired off half his tray -as he swooped headlong down upon his astonished foe. All at once the -German waved an arm and sagged over sideways, his great battle-plane -wavering uncertainly, and, as it began to fall, Z. avoided the intended -collision by inches. Down went the German machine, down and down, and, -watching, Z. saw it plunge through the clouds wrapped in flame. - -Then Z. turned and made for home as fast as his baulking engine would -allow. - -These are but two stories among dozens I have heard, yet these, I -think, will suffice to show something of the spirit animating these -young paladins. The Spirit of Youth is surely a godlike spirit, -unconquerable, care-free, undying. It is a spirit to whom fear and -defeat are things to smile and wonder at, to whom risks and dangers are -joyous episodes, and Death himself, whose face their youthful eyes -have so often looked into, a friend familiar by close acquaintanceship. - -Upon a time I mentioned some such thought to an American aviator, who -nodded youthful head and answered in this manner: - -"The best fellows generally go first, and such a lot are gone now that -there'll be a whole bunch of them waiting to say 'Hello, old sport!' -so--what's it matter, anyway?" - - - - -XIII. - -YPRES. - - -Much has been written concerning Ypres, but more, much more, remains -to be written. Some day, in years to come, when the roar of guns has -been long forgotten, and Time, that great and beneficent consoler, has -dried the eyes that are now wet with the bitter tears of bereavement -and comforted the agony of stricken hearts, at such a time someone will -set down the story of Ypres in imperishable words; for round about -this ancient town lie many of the best and bravest of Britain's heroic -army. Thick, thick, they lie together, Englishman, Scot and Irishman, -Australian, New Zealander, Canadian and Indian, linked close in the -comradeship of death as they were in life; but the glory of their -invincible courage, their noble self-sacrifice and endurance against -overwhelming odds shall never fade. Surely, surely while English is -spoken the story of "Wipers" will live on for ever and, through the -coming years, will be an inspiration to those for whom these thousands -went, cheering and undismayed, to meet and conquer Death. - -Ypres, as all the world knows, forms a sharp salient in the British -line, and is, therefore, open to attack on three sides; and on these -three sides it has been furiously attacked over and over again, so very -often that the mere repetition would grow wearisome. And these attacks -were day-long, week, and sometimes month-long battles, but Britain's -army stood firm. - -In these bad, dark days, outnumbered and out-gunned, they never -wavered. Raked by flanking fire they met and broke the charges of -dense-packed foemen on their front; rank upon rank and elbow to elbow -the Germans charged, their bayonets a sea of flashing steel, their -thunderous shouts drowning the roar of guns, and rank on rank they -reeled back from British steel and swinging rifle-butt, and German -shouts died and were lost in British cheers. - -So, day after day, week after week, month after month they endured -still; swept by rifle and machine gun fire, blown up by mines, buried -alive by mortar-bombs, their very trenches smitten flat by high -explosives--yet they endured and held on. They died all day and every -day, but their places were filled by men just as fiercely determined. -And ever as the countless German batteries fell silent, their troops in -dense grey waves hurled themselves upon shattered British trench and -dug-out, and found there wild men in tunics torn and bloody and mud -bespattered, who, shouting in fierce joy, leapt to meet them bayonet -to bayonet. With clubbed rifle and darting steel they fought, these -men of the Empire, heedless of wounds and death, smiting and cheering, -thrusting and shouting, until those long, close-ranked columns broke, -wavered and melted away. Then, panting, they cast themselves back into -wrecked trench and blood-spattered shell-hole while the enemy's guns -roared and thundered anew, and waited patiently but yearningly for -another chance to "really fight." So they held this deadly salient. - -Days came and went, whole regiments were wiped out, but they held on. -The noble town behind them crumbled into ruin beneath the shrieking -avalanche of shells, but they held on. German and British dead lay -thick from British parapet to Boche wire, and over this awful litter -fresh attacks were launched daily, but still they held on, and would -have held and will hold, until the crack of doom if need be--because -Britain and the Empire expect it of them. - -But to-day the dark and evil time is passed. To-day for every German -shell that crashes into the salient, four British shells burst along -the enemy's position, and it was with their thunder in my ears that I -traversed that historic, battle-torn road which leads into Ypres, that -road over which so many young and stalwart feet have tramped that never -more may come marching back. And looking along this road, lined with -scarred and broken trees, my friend N. took off his hat and I did the -like. - -"It's generally pretty lively here," said our Intelligence Officer, -as I leaned forward to pass him the matches. "We're going to speed up -a bit--road's a bit bumpy, so hold on." Guns were roaring near and -far, and in the air above was the long, sighing drone of shells as we -raced forward, bumping and swaying over the uneven surface faster and -faster, until, skidding round a rather awkward corner, we saw before -us a low-lying, jagged outline of broken walls, shattered towers and a -tangle of broken roof-beams--all that remains of the famous old town of -Ypres. And over this devastation shells moaned distressfully, and all -around unseen guns barked and roared. So, amidst this pandemonium our -car lurched into shattered "Wipers," past the dismantled water-tower, -uprooted from its foundations and leaning at a more acute angle than -will ever the celebrated tower of Pisa, past ugly heaps of brick and -rubble--the ruins of once fair buildings, on and on until we pulled up -suddenly before a huge something, shattered and formless, a long facade -of broken arches and columns, great roof gone, mighty walls splintered, -cracked and rent--all that "Kultur" has left of the ancient and once -beautiful Cloth Hall. - -"Roof's gone since I was here last," said the Intelligence Officer, -"come this way. You'll see it better from over here." So we followed -him and stood to look upon the indescribable ruin. - -"There are no words to describe--that," said N. at last, gloomily. - -"No," I answered. "Arras was bad enough, but this--!" - -"Arras?" he repeated. "Arras is only a ruined town. Ypres is a rubbish -dump. And its Cloth Hall is--a bad dream." And he turned away. Our -Intelligence Officer led us over mounds of fallen masonry and debris of -all sorts, and presently halted us amid a ruin of splintered columns, -groined arch and massive walls, and pointed to a heap of rubbish he -said was the altar. - -"This is the church St. Jean," he explained, "begun, I think, in the -eleventh or twelfth century and completed somewhere about 1320--" - -"And," said N., "finally finished and completely done for by 'Kultur' -in the twentieth century, otherwise I guess it would have lasted until -the 220th century--look at the thickness of the walls." - -"And after all these years of civilisation," said I. - -"Civilisation," he snorted, turning over a fragment of exquisitely -carved moulding with the toe of his muddy boot, "civilisation has done -a whole lot, don't forget--changed the system of plumbing and taught us -how to make high explosives and poison gas." - -Gloomily enough we wandered on together over rubbish-piles and -mountains of fallen brickwork, through shattered walls, past unlovely -stumps of mason-work that had been stately tower or belfry once, -beneath splintered arches that led but from one scene of ruin to -another, and ever our gloom deepened, for it seemed that Ypres, the -old Ypres, with all its monuments of mediaeval splendour, its noble -traditions of hard-won freedom, its beauty and glory, was passed away -and gone for ever. - -"I don't know how all this affects you," said N., his big chin jutted -grimly, "but I hate it worse than a battlefield. Let's get on over to -the Major's office." - -We went by silent streets, empty except for a few soldierly figures -in hard-worn khaki, desolate thoroughfares that led between piles and -huge unsightly mounds of fallen masonry and shattered brickwork, fallen -beams, broken rafters and twisted ironwork, across a desolate square -shut in by the ruin of the great Cloth Hall and other once stately -buildings, and so to a grim, battle-scarred edifice, its roof half -blown away, its walls cracked and agape with ugly holes, its doorway -reinforced by many sandbags cunningly disposed, through which we passed -into the dingy office of the Town-Major. - -As we stood in that gloomy chamber, dim-lighted by a solitary oil lamp, -floor and walls shook and quivered to the concussion of a shell--not -very near, it is true, but quite near enough. - -The Major was a big man, with a dreamy eye, a gentle voice and a -passion for archaeology. In his company I climbed to the top of a high -building, whence he pointed out, through a convenient shell hole, where -the old walls had stood long ago, where Vauban's star-shaped bastions -and the general conformation of what had been present-day Ypres; but -I saw only a dusty chaos of shattered arch and tower and walls, with -huge, unsightly mounds of rubble and brick--a rubbish dump in very -truth. Therefore I turned to the quiet voiced Major and asked him of -his experiences, whereupon he talked to me most interestingly and -very learnedly of Roman tile, of mediaeval rubble-work, of herringbone -and Flemish bond. He assured me also that (Deo Volente) he proposed -to write a monograph on the various epochs of this wonderful old -town's history as depicted by its various styles of mason-work and -construction. - -"I could show you a nearly perfect aqueduct if you have time," said he. - -"I'm afraid we ought to be starting now," said the Intelligence -Officer; "over eighty miles to do yet, you see, Major." - -"Do you have many casualties still?" I enquired. - -"Pretty well," he answered. "The mediaeval wall was superimposed upon -the Roman, you'll understand." - -"And is it," said I as we walked on together, "is it always as noisy as -this?" - -"Oh, yes--especially when there's a 'Hate' on." - -"Can you sleep?" - -"Oh, yes, one gets used to anything, you know. Though, strangely -enough, I was disturbed last night--two of my juniors had to camp over -my head, their quarters were blown up rather yesterday afternoon, and -believe me, the young beggars talked and chattered so that I couldn't -get a wink of sleep--had to send and order them to shut up." - -"You seem to have been getting it pretty hot since I was here last," -said the Intelligence Officer, waving a hand round the crumbling ruin -about us. - -"Fairly so," nodded the Major. - -"One would wonder the enemy wastes any more shells on Ypres," said I, -"there's nothing left to destroy, is there?" - -"Well, there's us, you know!" said the Major, gently, "and then the -Boche is rather a revengeful beggar anyhow--you see, he wasted quite a -number of army corps trying to take Ypres. And he hasn't got it yet." - -"Nor ever will," said I. - -The Major smiled and held out his hand. - -"It's a pity you hadn't time to see that aqueduct" he sighed. "However, -I shall take some flashlight photos of it--if my luck holds. Good-bye." -So saying, he raised a hand to his weather-beaten trench-cap and strode -back into his dim-lit, dingy office. - -The one-time glory of Ypres has vanished in ruin but thereby she has -found a glory everlasting. For over the wreck of noble edifice and -fallen tower is another glory that shall never fade but rather grow -with coming years--an imperishable glory. As pilgrims sought it once to -tread its quaint streets and behold its old time beauty, so in days to -come other pilgrims will come with reverent feet and with eyes that -shall see in these shattered ruins a monument to the deathless valour -of that brave host that met death unflinching and unafraid for the sake -of a great ideal and the welfare of unborn generations. - -And thus in her ruin Ypres has found the Glory Everlasting. - - - - -XIV. - -WHAT BRITAIN HAS DONE. - - -The struggle of Democracy and Reason against Autocracy and Brute-force, -on land and in the air, upon the sea and under the sea, is reaching its -climax. With each succeeding month the ignoble foe has smirched himself -with new atrocities which yet in the end bring their own terrible -retribution. - -Three of the bloodiest years in the world's history lie behind us; -but these years of agony and self-sacrifice, of heroic achievements, -of indomitable purpose and unswerving loyalty to an ideal, are surely -three of the most tremendous in the annals of the British Empire. - -I am to tell something of what Britain has accomplished during these -awful three years, of the mighty changes she has wrought in this -short time, of how, with her every thought and effort bent in the one -direction, she has armed and equipped herself and many of her allies; -of the armies she has raised, the vast sums she has expended and the -munitions and armaments she has amassed. - -To this end it is my privilege to lay before the reader certain facts -and figures, so I propose to set them forth as clearly and briefly as -may be, leaving them to speak for themselves. - -For truly Britain has given and is giving much--her men and women, her -money, her very self; the soul of Britain and her Empire is in this -conflict, a soul that grows but the more steadfast and determined as -the struggle waxes more deadly and grim. Faint hearts and fanatics -there are, of course, who, regardless of the future, would fain make -peace with the foe unbeaten, a foe lost to all shame and honourable -dealing, but the heart of the Empire beats true to the old war-cry of -"Freedom or Death." In proof of which, if proof be needed, let us to -our figures and facts. - -Take first her fighting men; in three short years her little army has -grown until to-day seven million of her sons are under arms, and of -these (most glorious fact!) nearly five million were _volunteers_. -Surely since first this world was cursed by war, surely never did such -a host march forth voluntarily to face its blasting horrors. They are -fighting on many battle fronts, these citizen-soldiers, in France, -Macedonia, Mesopotamia, Palestine, Western Egypt and German East -Africa, and behind them, here in the homeland, are the women, working -as their men fight, with a grim and tireless determination. To-day -the land hums with munition factories and huge works whose countless -wheels whirr day and night, factories that have sprung up where the -grass grew so lately. The terrible, yet glorious, days of Mons and the -retreat, when her little army, out-gunned and out-manned, held up the -rushing might of the German advance so long as life and ammunition -lasted, that black time is past, for now in France and Flanders our -countless guns crash in ceaseless concert, so that here in England one -may hear their ominous muttering all day long and through the hush of -night; and hearkening to that continuous stammering murmur one thanks -God for the women of Britain. - -Two years ago, in June, 1915, the Ministry of Munitions was formed -under Mr. David Lloyd George; as to its achievements, here are figures -shall speak plainer than any words. - -In the time of Mons the army was equipped and supplied by three -Government factories and a very few auxiliary firms; to-day gigantic -national factories, with miles of railroads to serve them, are in full -swing, beside which, thousands of private factories are controlled by -the Government. As a result the output of explosives in March, 1917, -was over _four times_ that of March, 1916, and _twenty-eight times_ -that of March, 1915, and so enormous has been the production of shells -that in the first nine weeks of the summer offensive of 1917 the stock -decreased by only 7 per cent. despite the appalling quantity used. - -The making of machine guns to-day as compared with 1915 has increased -_twenty-fold_, while the supply of small-arm ammunition has become so -abundant that the necessity for importation has ceased altogether. -In one Government factory alone the making of rifles has increased -_ten-fold_, and the employees at Woolwich Arsenal have increased from a -little less than 11,000 to nearly 74,000, of whom 25,000 are women. - -Production of steel, before the war, was roughly 7 million tons, it -is now 10 million tons and still increasing, so much so that it is -expected the pre-war output will be doubled by the end of 1918; while -the cost of steel plates here is now less than half the cost in the -U.S.A. Since May, 1917, the output of aeroplanes has been quadrupled -and is rapidly increasing; an enormous programme of construction has -been laid down and plans drawn up for its complete realisation. - -With this vast increase in the production of munitions the cost of -each article has been substantially reduced by systematic examination -of actual cost, resulting in a saving of L43,000,000 over the previous -year's prices. - -Figures are a dry subject in themselves, and yet such figures as these -are, I venture to think, of interest, among other reasons for the -difficulty the human brain has to appreciate their full meaning. Thus: -the number of articles handled weekly by the Stores Departments is -several hundreds of thousands above 50 million: or again, I read that -the munition workers themselves have contributed L40,187,381 towards -various war loans. It is all very easy to write, but who can form any -just idea of such uncountable numbers? - -And now, writing of the sums of money Britain has already expended, I -for one am immediately lost, out of my depth and plunged ten thousand -fathoms deep, for now I come upon the following: - -"The total national expenditure for the three years to August 4th, -1917, is approximately L5,150,000,000, of which L1,250,000,000 is -already provided for by taxation and L1,171,000,000 has been lent to -our colonies and allies, which may be regarded as an investment." -Having written which I lay down my pen to think, and, giving it up, -hasten to record the next fact. - -"The normal pre-war taxation amounted to approximately L200,000,000, -but for the current financial year (1917/18) a revenue of L638,000,000 -has been budgeted for, but this is expected to produce between -L650,000,000 and L700,000,000." Now, remembering that the cost of -necessaries has risen to an unprecedented extent, these figures of -the extra taxation and the amounts raised by the various war loans -speak louder and more eloquently than any words how manfully Britain -has shouldered her burden and of her determination to see this great -struggle through to the only possible conclusion--the end, for all -time, of autocratic government. - -I have before me so many documents and so much data bearing on this -vast subject that I might set down very much more; I might descant -on marvels of enterprise and organisation and of almost insuperable -difficulties overcome. But, lest I weary the reader, and since I would -have these lines read, I will hasten on to the last of my facts and -figures. - -As regards ships, Britain has already placed 600 vessels at the -disposal of France and 400 have been lent to Italy, the combined -tonnage of these thousand ships being estimated at 2,000,000. - -Then, despite her drafts to Army and Navy she has still a million men -employed in her coal mines and is supplying coal to Italy, France, and -Russia. Moreover, she is sending to France one quarter of her total -production of steel, munitions of all kinds to Russia and guns and -gunners to Italy. - -As for her Navy--the German battle squadrons lie inactive, while in one -single month the vessels of the British Navy steamed over one million -miles; German trading ships have been swept from the seas and the U -boat menace is but a menace still. Meantime, British shipyards are busy -night and day; 1,000,000 tons of craft for the Navy alone were launched -during the first year of the war, and the programme of new naval -construction for 1917 runs into hundreds of thousands of tons. In -peace time the building of new merchant ships was just under 2,000,000 -tons yearly, and despite the shortage of labour and difficulty of -obtaining materials, 1,100,000 tons will be built by the end of 1917, -and 4,000,000 tons in 1918. - -The British Mercantile Marine (to whom be all honour!) has transported -during the war, the following:-- - - - 13,000,000 men, - 25,000,000 tons of war material, - 1,000,000 sick and wounded, - 51,000,000 tons of coal and oil fuel, - 2,000,000 horses and mules, - 100,000,000 hundredweights of wheat, - 7,000,000 tons of iron ore, - - -and, beyond this, has exported goods to the value of L500,000,000. - -Here ends my list of figures and here this chapter should end also; -but, before I close, I would give, very briefly and in plain language, -three examples of the spirit animating this Empire that to-day is -greater and more worthy by reason of these last three blood-smirched -years. - - -No. I. - - There came from Australia at his own expense, one Thomas Harper, - an old man of seventy-four, to help in a British munition - factory. He laboured hard, doing the work of two men, and more - than once fainted with fatigue, but refused to go home because he - "couldn't rest while he thought his country needed shells." - - -No. II. - - There is a certain small fishing village whose men were nearly - all employed in fishing for mines. But there dawned a black day - when news came that forty of their number had perished together - and in the same hour. Now surely one would think that this little - village, plunged in grief for the loss of its young manhood, had - done its duty to the uttermost for Britain and their fellows! - But these heroic fisher-folk thought otherwise, for immediately - fifty of the remaining seventy-five men (all over military age) - volunteered and sailed away to fill the places of their dead sons - and brothers. - - -No. III. - - Glancing idly through a local magazine some days since, my eye was - arrested by this: - - "In proud and loving memory of our loved and loving son ... who - fell in France ... with his only brother, 'On Higher Service.' - There is no death." - - -Thus then I conclude my list of facts and figures, a record of -achievement such as this world has never known before, a record to -be proud of, because it is the outward and visible sign of a people, -strong, virile, abounding in energy, but above all, a people clean of -soul to whom Right and Justice are worth fighting for, suffering for, -labouring for. It is the sign of a people which is willing to endure -much for its ideals that the world may be a better world, wherein -those who shall come hereafter may reap, in peace and contentment, the -harvest this generation has sowed in sorrow, anguish, and great travail. - - -PIKE'S FINE ART PRESS, 47-8, Gloster Road, Brighton. - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOME WAR IMPRESSIONS*** - - -******* This file should be named 61021.txt or 61021.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/1/0/2/61021 - - -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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