Part 25 (1/2)
Bob's fingers closed on his brother's like a vice.
”Thank G.o.d!” he murmured, ”I'm not hit at all. I trod on an unexploded sh.e.l.l, and gave my leg an infernal wrench just as our fellows had to fall back. I couldn't move a yard, and got collared in consequence, and when it was dark they brought me along here. Where are you hurt, Den?”
”Welt over the head with a rifle-b.u.t.t,” whispered Dennis excitedly. ”I say, old chap, if we've any luck, I'll get you out of this. Do you know the lie of the land?”
”Yes, we're about a mile and a half in front of our new first line. Do you think you could rub my leg? You'll have to take the gaiter off; I've had several shots at it, but my fingers are all to pieces trying to get over some of their wire, and I couldn't slip the buckle for little apples.”
Dennis had the gaiter undone in a moment, and Bob writhed as his brother felt the injured limb.
”You've got no end of a sprain, old man,” whispered Dennis. ”No wonder you couldn't walk. Your instep's swollen up as big as my two fists, and there's nothing for it but rest and cold water bandages to put you right.”
”H'm! If I didn't know you for my own brother, I should put you down as a near relation of the late lamented Mr. Job,” said Bob Dashwood, with a wry face. ”But never mind, keep on rubbing. I'm feeling more life in it already. But, I say, Den, this is a weird place we're in. These German fellows don't seem to take their gruel like our chaps. It's a gruesome thing to hear a man cry.”
”And it's worse to hear a man die, Bob,” said Dennis solemnly. ”I don't fancy from what the doctor said that many of these poor wretches will be here when the sun rises.”
It was indeed a trying thing to be there, in the darkness with those sounds of human suffering all about them, and it made them both very anxious to make a start for that freedom which seemed such a long way off. Every now and then a piercing cry rose above the constant undercurrent of moans, and the sobbing was distressing in the extreme.
A strong man from the far side of the barn calling piteously on ”_Mutterchen_,” made them both think of their own ”little mother”; and after Dennis had rubbed for several minutes until the palms of his hands were terribly hot, Bob clutched his shoulder and whispered: ”For goodness' sake, old chap, let's chance our arm! I can't stand any more of this!”
”Just as you like,” a.s.sented his brother, strapping the gaiter loosely round the limb again. ”If you can't walk you must crawl, and when you can't crawl I'll carry you; but I wish my head wouldn't ache so confoundedly. Do you notice no one's been near this place since they brought you in? That tells me the sanitary squad will be busy to-morrow.”
He helped Bob up as he spoke, not to his feet, for he could not put the right one to the ground; but by pa.s.sing an arm round Dennis's neck he managed to hop to the door, which was only a yard away, and there they paused to take their bearings before leaving the shelter of the barn.
Every step was as painful to the one as to the other, but the night air was very sweet, and the hope of liberty sweeter.
”This door opens to the east,” whispered the Captain. ”Consequently, our road lies yonder; and, by Jove! it is a road too! What stunning chaps the British gunners are when they're properly supplied with ammunition!”
”You're quite sure you're right, old man?” said Dennis. ”The sh.e.l.ls are bursting yonder like one o'clock.”
”Exactly!” was Bob's dry rejoinder. ”That's the German barrage falling behind our new line. It's about there we shall probably get pipped on the post, brother of mine. That barrage lies between us and safety.”
Overhead the sh.e.l.ls rushed, clanging, booming, whistling, screeching, according to their different species and calibre; and every now and then a star-sh.e.l.l burst in the sky, lighting everything up for a few seconds in an unearthly brilliance.
”So long as we're between the two fires,” said Bob, as they began their perilous journey, ”there is nothing much to fear, it seems to me. The next mile is No Man's Land with a vengeance; after that it will be Dante's Inferno with the lid off.”
Every time a star-sh.e.l.l burst the fugitives flung themselves on to the ground. After one of those enforced pauses, and before they had covered a quarter of a mile, they rested for quite a considerable time at the edge of an enormous crump-hole, and, Dennis still having his haversack, they divided its contents and ate ravenously.
”I suppose we shall be returned missing,” said Bob. ”But surely the governor will keep the news back for a day or two on the mater's account. Let's get a move on, old chap; our non-appearance is robbing him of all the satisfaction he'd have got out of a fine day's work.” And as they went on again, the Captain using a Mauser rifle which Dennis had picked up as a crutch, he told his brother how completely successful the British advance had been up to the moment when the Reeds.h.i.+res were obliged to fall back. The battalion had lost terribly, but we had taken two villages, and what we had we meant to hold.
At the end of another quarter of a mile they took cover again very suddenly; no star-sh.e.l.l that time, but a very businesslike German high explosive, which scooped up tons of earth, and it was followed by another and another, which all burst in their immediate neighbourhood.
”I say, Bob, this is getting rather serious,” said Dennis. ”They're shortening their fuses for some reason or other, and we're just in the line of fire. I wish there was a safe spot where we could lie up until we see what it means. What's the matter with that building over there with the broken chimney shaft? The beggars are sh.e.l.ling right and left of it as though they didn't want it to get hit--mean to use it when they counter-attack, I suppose; and if we're questioned, I must pa.s.s you off as my prisoner, eh?”
”It certainly is getting sultry,” a.s.sented Captain Bob. ”Let's try that place yonder. One may as well get killed by falling bricks inside as by T.N.T. in the open.”
His voice grew very solemn as he added: ”I believe it was in front of that place that our battalion got its fearful gruelling, and poor old A company was wiped out.”
It was the only building anywhere visible, and a zigzag walk between sh.e.l.l craters brought them to it.
A bristling hedge of very thick barbed wire was the first thing they encountered; but, thanks to another star-sh.e.l.l, they discovered an opening at the back leading to what had evidently been a brewery in the piping times of peace. The shattered sheds about the yard and the half-ruined main building had been sandbagged and strengthened by the enemy's engineers, as though they had intended to hold it.