"Quite soon--in a minute or two. Their guns will stop directly--to lift their sights and set up a barrage behind us. Then, perhaps the Boche will step over his parapet. Perhaps not!"
The last sentence rang out with uncanny distinctness, for the German guns with one accord had ceased firing. For a full two minutes there was absolute silence, while the bayonets in the opposite trenches twinkled with tenfold intent.
Then, from every point in the great Salient of Ypres, the British guns replied.
Possibly the Imperial General Staff at Berlin had been misinformed as to the exact strength of the British Artillery. Possibly they had been informed by their Intelligence Department that Trades Unionism, had ensured that a thoroughly inadequate supply of sh.e.l.ls was to hand in the Salient. Or possibly they had merely decided, after the playful habit of General Staffs, to let the infantry in the trenches take their chance of any retaliation that might be forthcoming.
Whatever these great men were expecting, it is highly improbable that they expected that which arrived. Suddenly the British batteries spoke out, and they all spoke together. In the s.p.a.ce of four minutes they deposited _thirty thousand_ high-explosive sh.e.l.ls in the Boche front-line trenches--yea, distributed the same accurately and evenly along all that crowded arc. Then they paused, as suddenly as they began, while British riflemen and machine-gunners bent to their work.
But few received the order to fire. Here and there a wave of men broke over the German parapet and rolled towards the British lines--only to be rolled back crumpled up by machine-guns. Never once was the goal reached. The great Christmas attack was over. After months of weary waiting and foolish recrimination, that exasperating race of bad starters but great stayers, the British people, had delivered "the goods," and made it possible for their soldiers to speak with the enemy in the gate upon equal--nay, superior, terms.
"Is that all?" asked Bobby Little, peering out over the parapet, a little awe-struck, at the devastation over the way.
"That is all," said Wagstaffe, "or I"m a Boche! There will be much noise and some irregular sc.r.a.pping for days, but the tin lid has been placed upon the grand attack. The great Christmas Victory is off!"
Then he added, thoughtfully, referring apparently to the star performer:--
"We _have_ been and spoiled his entrance for him, haven"t we?"
V
UNBENDING THE BOW
I
There is a certain type of English country-house female who is said to "live in her boxes." That is to say, she appears to possess no home of her own, but flits from one indulgent roof-tree to another; and owing to the fact that she is invariably put into a bedroom whose wardrobe is full of her hostess"s superannuated ball-frocks and winter furs, never knows what it is to have all her "things" unpacked at once.
Well, we out here cannot be said to live in our boxes, for we do not possess any; but we do most undoubtedly live in our haversacks and packs. And this brings us to the matter in hand--namely, so-called "Rest-Billets." The whole of the hinterland of this great trench-line is full of tired men, seeking for a place to lie down in, and living in their boxes when they find one.
At present we are indulging in such a period of repose; and we venture to think that on the whole we have earned it. Our last rest was in high summer, when we lay about under an August sun in the district round Bethune, and called down curses upon all flying and creeping insects. Since then we have undergone certain so-called "operations"
in the neighbourhood of Loos, and have put in three months in the Salient of Ypres. As that devout adherent of the Roman faith, Private Reilly, of "B" Company, put it to his spiritual adviser--
"I doot we"ll get excused a good slice of Purgatory for this, father!"
We came out of the Salient just before Christmas, in the midst of the mutual unpleasantness arising out of the grand attack upon the British line which was to have done so much to restore the waning confidence of the Hun. It was meant to be a big affair--a most majestic victory, in fact; but our new gas-helmets nullified the gas, and our new sh.e.l.ls paralysed the attack; so the Third Battle of Ypres was not yet. Still, as I say, there was considerable unpleasantness all round; and we were escorted upon our homeward way, from Sanctuary Wood to Zillebeke, and from Zillebeke to d.i.c.kebusche, by a swarm of angry and disappointed sh.e.l.ls.
Next day we found ourselves many miles behind the firing-line, once more in France, with a whole month"s holiday in prospect, comfortably conscious that one could walk round a corner or look over a wall without preliminary reconnaissance or subsequent extirpation.
As for the holiday itself, unreasonable persons are not lacking to point out that it is of the busman"s variety. It is true that we are no longer face to face with the foe, but we--or rather, the authorities--make believe that we are. We wage mimic warfare in full marching order; we fire rifles and machine-guns upon improvised ranges; we perform hazardous feats with bombs and a dummy trench. More galling still, we are back in the region of squad-drill, physical exercises, and handling of arms--horrors of our childhood which we thought had been left safely interned at Aldershot.
But the authorities are wise. The regiment is stiff and out of condition: it is suffering from moral and intellectual "trench-feet."
Heavy drafts have introduced a large and untempered element into our composition. Many of the subalterns are obviously "new-jined"--as the shrewd old lady of Ayr once observed of the rubicund gentleman at the temperance meeting. Their men hardly know them or one another by sight. The regiment must be moulded anew, and its l.u.s.tre restored by the beneficent process vulgarly known as "spit and polish." So every morning we apply ourselves with thoroughness, if not enthusiasm, to tasks which remind us of last winter"s training upon the Hampshire chalk.
But the afternoon and evening are a different story altogether. If we were busy in the morning, we are busier still for the rest of the day.
There is football galore, for we have to get through a complete series of Divisional cup-ties in four weeks. There is also a Brigade boxing-tournament. (No, that was not where Private Tosh got his black eye: that is a souvenir of New Year"s Eve.) There are entertainments of various kinds in the recreation-tent. This whistling platoon, with towels round their necks, are on their way to the nearest convent, or asylum, or ecole des Jeunes Filles--have no fear; these establishments are untenanted!--for a bath. There, in addition to the pleasures of ablution, they will receive a partial change of raiment.
Other signs of regeneration are visible. That mysterious-looking vehicle, rather resembling one of the early locomotives exhibited in the South Kensington Museum, standing in the mud outside a farm-billet, its superheated interior stuffed with "C" Company"s blankets, is performing an unmentionable but beneficent work.
b.u.t.tons are resuming their polish; the pattern of our kilts is emerging from its superficial crust; and Church Parade is once more becoming quite a show affair.
Away to the east the guns still thunder, and at night the star-sh.e.l.ls float tremblingly up over the distant horizon. But not for us. Not yet, that is. In a few weeks" time we shall be back in another part of the line. Till then--Company drill and Cup-Ties! _Carpe diem!_
II
It all seemed very strange and unreal to Second-Lieutenant Angus M"Lachlan, as he alighted from the train at railhead, and supervised the efforts of his solitary N.C.O. to arrange the members of his draft in a straight line. There were some thirty of them in all. Some were old hands--men from the First and Second Battalions, who had been home wounded, and had now been sent out to leaven "K(1)." Others were Special Reservists from the Third Battalion. These had been at the Depot for a long time, and some of them stood badly in need of a little active service. Others, again, were new hands altogether--the product of "K to the _nth_." Among these Angus M"Lachlan numbered himself, and he made no attempt to conceal the fact. The novelty of the sights around him was almost too much for his _insouciant_ dignity as a commissioned officer.
Angus M"Lachlan was a son of the Manse, and incidentally a child of Nature. The Manse was a Highland Manse; and until a few months ago Angus had never, save for a rare visit to distant Edinburgh, penetrated beyond the small town which lay four miles from his native glen, and of whose local Academy he had been "dux." When the War broke out he had been upon the point of proceeding to Edinburgh University, where he had already laid siege to a bursary, and captured the same; but all these plans, together with the plans of countless more distinguished persons, had been swept to the winds by the invasion of Belgium. On that date Angus summoned up his entire stock of physical and moral courage and informed his reverend parent of his intention to enlist for a soldier. Permission was granted with quite stunning readiness. Neil M"Lachlan believed in straight hitting both in theology and war, and was by no means displeased at the martial aspirations of his only son. If he quitted himself like a man in the forefront of battle, the boy could safely look forward to being c.o.c.k of his own Kirk-Session in the years that came afterwards. One reservation the old man made. His son, as a Highland gentleman, would lead men to battle, and not merely accompany them. So the impatient Angus was bidden to apply for a Commission--his attention during the period of waiting being directed by his parent to the study of the campaigns of Joshua, and the methods employed by that singular but successful strategist in dealing with the Philistine.
Angus had a long while to wait, for all the youth of England--and Scotland too--was on fire, and others nearer the fountain of honour had to be served first. But his turn came at last; and we now behold him, as typical a product of "K to the _nth_" as Bobby Little had been of "K(1)," standing at last upon the soil of France, and inquiring in a soft Highland voice for the Headquarters of our own particular Battalion.
He had half expected, half hoped, to alight from the train amidst a shower of sh.e.l.ls, as he knew the Old Regiment had done many months before, just after the War broke out. But all he saw upon his arrival was an untidy goods yard, littered with military stores, and peopled by British privates in the _deshabille_ affected by the British Army when engaged in menial tasks.
Being quite ignorant of the whereabouts of his regiment--when last heard of they had been in trenches near Ypres--and failing to recollect the existence of that autocratic but indispensable _genius loci_, the R.T.O., Angus took uneasy stock of his surroundings and wondered what to do next.
Suddenly a friendly voice at his elbow remarked--
"There"s a queer lot o" bodies hereaboot, sirr."
Angus turned, to find that he was being addressed by a short, stout private of the draft, in a kilt much too big for him.
"Indeed, that is so," he replied politely. "What is your name?"
"Peter Bogle, sirr. I am frae oot of Kirkintilloch." Evidently gratified by the success of his conversational opening, the little man continued--
"I would like fine for tae get a contrack oot here after the War.
This country is in a terrible state o" disrepair." Then he added confidentially--
"I"m a hoose-painter tae a trade."
"I should not like to be that myself," replied Angus, whose early training as a minister"s son was always causing him to forget the social gulf which is fixed between officers and the rank-and-file.
"Climbing ladders makes me dizzy."
"Och, it"s naething! A body gets used tae it," Mr. Bogle a.s.sured him.
Angus was about to proceed further with the discussion, when the cold and disapproving voice of the Draft-Sergeant announced in his ear--
"An officer wishes to speak to you, sir."
Second-Lieutenant M"Lachlan, suddenly awake to the enormity of his conduct, turned guiltily to greet the officer, while the Sergeant abruptly hunted the genial Private Bogle back into the ranks.
Angus found himself confronted by an immaculate young gentleman wearing two stars. Angus, who only wore one, saluted hurriedly.
"Morning," observed the stranger. "You in charge of this draft?"