Edgar Jepson

“ Once they lay down, many would never get up again for an hour or two. George Taylor and Joe Harris let Mathilde lie down against the bank readily enough, and then they just leaned against one another. She was asleep on the instant every time; and when the column started again, they dragged her to her feet and along the road, almost sleeping still. At times they were very faint, and chilled by cold sweats. The booming of the German guns was now fainter and farther away, and the light from the burning villages was not so bright. ”

“ To most of the men it had begun to seem the natural mode of life to sit or lie in a trench with the shells bursting, about it; and to-day they talked or read or slept or played their cards without giving a thought to them. George Taylor pursued his acquisition of the French language with tranquil perseverance. It seemed to him that he was acquiring it under the most favorable circumstances from the most excellent teacher. At half-past twelve came the advance of the German infantry. They came to within five hundred yards of the trenches, and were driven back to the shelter of the farm ”

“ A murmur of disappointment ran along the trench, and George Taylor said bitterly indeed:
"Precious little food and precious little fun, and off to old England again!"
Captain Carter sent them to the road at the double, a score at a time in loose formation. George Taylor and Joe Harris, holding Mathilde's hands, pulled her along as hard as she could go. Again she giggled, and George Taylor jerked out bitterly as he ran:
"That 's it! Larf again! Larf again! Just when we 're sweating to get you out of range. Oh, the sense that some women have!" ”

“ What the hell are you talking about?" howled his suddenly indignant friend.
"You 'groused' till you got the best place in the trench to pot Germans from; an' it serves you right," said Joe Harris.
Honest indignation held George Taylor speechless; and they came down on to the rear of a company of Northamptons just formed up.
"Brought your missis with you, I see," said a man in the rear rank in the friendly tone of one setting out to make a new acquaintance. ”

“ George Taylor, for all his boiling indignation, took it as it was meant, and answered in a confidential tone of extraordinary bitterness:
"It 's always the way. You never can get a little quiet fun nowadays without the women chippin' in an' spoilin' everything."
"You may well say so," said the Northampton in a tone of genuine sympathy. "It 's them suffragettes."
"Get on there! Get on!" cried Captain Carter from the rear.
"Get on, hell!" said the Captain of the Northamptons in a tone of acrid protest. "Quick march!"
The Northamptons stepped out, and the platoon swung along after them. ”

“ She was also plied earnestly with bread and coffee; and when she had eaten and drunk her fill, she went to the people of the farm, and presently came back with three cigarettes. It was then that George Taylor, Joe Harris, and Captain Carter, smoking them, rose to the very height of luxury. The rest of the weary platoon went off to its stables; and as soon as Joe Harris and Captain Carter had finished their cigarettes, they went, too. Mathilde and George Taylor sat on yet a little while by the dying fire. They did not say anything; they did not want to talk; they could see one another's eyes. ”

“ It was not long before the German guns were booming away on their right; but it was nearly eight o'clock before a battery opened fire on the line of trenches in the middle of which the platoon was posted; and by that time they had dug themselves in in quite satisfactory fashion, and cleared much of the ground as far as a farm seven hundred yards away. As the morning wore on, it was plain that they were in a much bigger action than that of the day before; the British guns were more numerous, and the German guns far more numerous. ”

“ Joe Harris brought back his left boot and his cap. George Taylor put on the boot gratefully, and offered the cap to Mathilde in place of his own. She tried it on him, found that it fitted, and made signs to him that she preferred the one he had given her. He was pleased.
The German gun-fire grew hotter and hotter, but the casualties in the trench were trifling: three men were wounded, only one of them seriously. All the while the German infantry were coming up and massing in front. About noon they advanced to make their grand attack, and the order came to Captain Carter to retire. ”

“ Again the infantry made no impression on the intrenched English: they held them up at seven hundred yards; then the artillery beat them back. But the attack had awakened the men, and they began to talk and write letters and play nap. George Taylor and Mathilde gave one another instruction in English and French. The information their eyes conveyed to one another was not linguistic. Captain Carter slept again. Joe Harris and three other men with about thirty water-bottles crawled off to the farm on the right. The German shells had set it blazing ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1938, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 84 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”