Part 25 (1/2)
”Me and Stoner 'as got 'ardly nuffink,” Bill said
”How ot?” asked the officer
”You could 'ardly see it, it's so sone”
”Gone?”
”A fly fleith h the neck of 'is waterbottle,” said Bill The officer ordered both men (p 239) to be served out with a second portion
We left the village in the oing to hold a trench five kilometres north of Souchez and the Hills of Lorette The trenches to which ere going had recently been held by the French but now that portion of the line is British; our soldiers fight side by side with the French on the Hills of Lorette at present
The day was exceedingly hot, a day when rus on the roadside at every halt and when they rise again they wonder how under Heaven they are going to drag their li for the next forty minutes We passed Les Brebes, like men in a dream, pursued a tortuous path across a wide field, in the middle of which are several shell-shattered huts and soround The place was once held by a French battery and a spy gave the position away to the enean to sweep in, carrying the uns unnery, as that written large in shell-holes on that field The boround, the vicinity is pitted as if with smallpox, but two hundred yards out on any side there is not a trace of a shell, every shot went true to the mark A man with a rifle two hundred yards away could not be e But their ent for nothing: the battery had changed its position the night previous to the attack Had it reun would have escaped
The communication trench we found to be one of the widest we had ever seen; a handbarrow could have been wheeled along the floor At several points the trench was roofed with heavy pit-props and sandbags proof against any shrapnel fire It was an easy trench to march in, and we needed all the ease possible The sweat poured fros, our packs seeainst our hips felt like sand paper; the whole ot hot in our bottles and becaot some tea, a Godsend to us all
We had just stepped into a long, dark, pit-prop-roofed tunnel and (p 241) the light of the outer worldon one side, righted ainst the knees of another who sat on a seat opposite
”Will ye have a wee drop of tay, my man?” a voice asked, an Irish voice, a voice that breathed of the North of Ireland I tried to see things, but could not I rubbedtowards reedily
”There's a lot of you ones comin' up,” the voice said ”You ones!” How often have I said ”You ones,” how often do I say it still when I'rammatical ”Ye had a' must to be too late for tay!”
the voice said from the darkness
”What does he say?” asked Pryor as just ahead of me
”He says that ere almost too late for tea,” I replied and stared hard into the darkness on loo a lid on ait
”Inniskillings?” I asked
”That's us” (p 242)
”Quiet?” I asked, alluding to their life in the trench
”Not bad at all,” was the answer ”A shell caot hit”
”Killed?”
”Boys, oh! boys, aye,” was the answer; ”and seven got wounded Nine of the best, man, nine of the best Have another drop of tay?”
At the exit of the tunnel the floor was covered with blood and the flies were buzzing over it; the sated insects rose lazily as we caain and flew back over our heads
What a feast they were having on the blood of men!
The trenches into which we had coh the dug-outs were much better constructed than those in the British lines, they s and nauseous