The Great Push

Comrade

ple lads

to drink

drink at Nou

t away t

ple lads

hed with

ree at Noue

to drink

expected a wild, whooping forward rush, but the men stepped out soberly, with the pious decision of ancient ladies going to church. In front the curtain of smoke receded, but the air stunk with its pungent odour still. A little valley formed by the caprice

air; he was alone in his little glen, and invisible birds flicked angry wings close to his ears

ed. "Shall I go back? If I do so some may ca

he was attracted towards that which engendered the fear as an urchin attra

othing," he said to himself. "Where

an trench, sure enough, with its rows of dirty sandbags, a machine-gun emplacement and a maxim peeping furtively through the loophole. A b

when something "hit him all over," as he said afterw

er and placed him in a shell-hole, after removing hi

ony. Pain gripped at the innermost parts of his being. "I

ng the bar getting shoved further and further in. For a moment he had a glimpse of his rifle lying on the groun

whizzed by his head. He raised himself upwards, hoping to get kille

nd I've seen nothing. Not a run for my money.... I suppose all the boys are dead. Lucky fellows if they die

le hung over the rim of the shell-hole. "Full of rum, the bottle is, and I'm so dry. I wish I could

he pain bit deeper into the boy. Vivid remembrances of long-past events flashed across his mind and f

front trench. On our way across I heard somebody calling "Pat! Pat!" I looked round and saw a man crawling in on his hands and knees, his head almost

1

ed?" I

d, turning over, he sat dow

muttered. "It's only wearing you o

get away from thi

," I replied. "Let

ts and put two blue crosses on his face. This would tell th

an whom we're carrying is safel

eps. A soldier was lying face downwards, groaning. A muddy ground-sheet was place

, matey?

d Pat," mutt

ked, for I did not

" said the man, sur

d,[102] but I did not recognise him even t

plied. "Wh

," he

ll dress your wound. You'll get carrie

arily. "I've been out a couple o

d for the corporal, but I could not find him

. He came to a leisurely halt and looked around him. In front, a platoon of the 20th London Regiment, losing its objective, crossed parallel to the enemy's trench. Then he saw a youth who was with him

as never seen by any of h

ed as killed in the casu