In Action; Studies in War

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: DEATH. fumes of lyddite yet hung in the air as the loose khaki- clad line burst through the wire entanglements, raced up the last few yards of steep ascent, and flung itself into the abandoned trench. Blimy ! said one of the soldiers, as he lay flat amid a litter of brass cartridge-cases and recovered his breath with an effort. Never thought we'd get 'ere, Bill. Bill, a thick-set, dirty little man, with a podgy nose and half a week's growth of stubble on his grimedface, made no answer. On hands and knees he was prospecting for water-bottles that might yet contain a little of the precious fluid. Those he found lay with their stoppers out. He was crawling back to an accompaniment of oaths?the meaningless, unconsecutive, violent oaths of a man whose nerves have been kept too long near breaking strain?when he perceived a pair of boots overhanging the upper edge of the chalky trench. He reached up and tugged at them, and a corpse slithered heavily down into the cartridge-strewn ditch, a tiny avalanche of dirt beneath it. As it fell, an arm flopped across and knocked off the thirsty soldier's cap. The action would have terrified a man less accustomed to handlingbodies from which the life had been summarily ejected. It caused barely the half of an oath to go down to Bill's account with the Recording Angel as he snatched at the dead man's flask, and held it to his lips. Save us a drop, Bill, said the other man, watching him. My mouth's fair cracked. Bill looked at him, and, the habit of comradeship overcoming his primitive instincts, held out the flask. There ain't much, Alf, he said, as the other man greedily drank at the bottle. 'Ere, steady on?give the orf'cer a drop ! 'E's about done up. A young lieutenant huddled rather than sat just behind the...