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Show By VICTOR ROUSSEAU 0 ' protest rose. The corporal pulled him down. "F.asy; don't funk, lad; easy," he s.houttd. Orseguard Orse-guard Bayncs sit down and hurst into tears. lie felt up his sleeve for his handkerchief, but Iciore he had found it his head went down on his arms, and he was snoring. h"r to the left cheers arose, which were taken up along the line. "Hooray!" they cried. " 'Frc come the puns! Now we sharn't be long." The batteries rolled past in splendid alignment, the yellow muzzles of the puns black against the sky line. Suddenly a distant boom broke the deep silence, and with a roar a shell spun through the air and dropped among the horses. The batteries wheeled and disappeared dis-appeared through smoke wreaths, the drivers lashing lash-ing their mount furiously. Boom! sounded again; and with the slow roar of a train a shell plunged into the ground not fifty yards away, scattering a circle of steel fragments, and splashing up a shower rf smcking earth. Another fell nearer; the enemy were getting the range. And now heaven was filled with them. They shrieked and howled on their long journey; they fell right, left, in front, behind; escapes appeared miraculous. Sometimes the acrid fumes hung overhead in a yellow, sickening cloud. Men rose up, shaking their f.sts at the mute sky. "Lie down, you bl.irsted fools!" cried others. "You'r droring the fire of their 'ole blooming lattery." On. the flunk a bugle pvalcd. "Advance ad-var.ee!" ad-var.ee!" it called. Instantly Orseguard Paynes, who had snored through the shell f.rc, was on hii feet, with a thousand others, stumbling forward over the uneven ground. Their lips were blue with fear, but the habits of the parade-ground held them and drove them on. Mot of their rifles were still ighted to fifteen hundred yards. Fear verged upon fury; they leaped from among the scattering shell splinters, cursing the enemy and one another. Sometimes a knot would bunch, and then the bullets bul-lets hissed past them like hailstones; and all the while shells whined out of the distant sky and plunged, roaring, into the ground beside them. Orsc-guarJ Orsc-guarJ Eaync's rifle stubbed Corporal Herring in the side, and he turned on him furiously. "Fcr tuppence 'alfpenny I'd bash yer blooming fyce in!" he screamed, as llicy raced neck and neck together toward the safety zone. Men began falling thickly. Sonic, shot through the brain, would spin round and round, their features feat-ures horribly contorted, their fingers clutching the air. Others, who had fallen down and could not get up again, stared wide-eyed at their wounds, in stupid resentment and astonishment. "Git out of my vy, damn you!" Corporal Herring screamed to Dutchy. as they lay dn to breathe. An instant later the sky seemed to fall in on them, beer!" It was very comfortable there in the soft grass, and he could hac gone to sleep but for the thir?t which tortured him. There was another thing disturbed him, too, and that was the grinning face of Dutchy, lying in the grass, ten paces distant. "Stop that. Keep your fice strife!'' shouted Corporal Cor-poral Herring. "Pore beggar, 'e carnt 'c!p 'iscll," he addod. reflectively. re-flectively. "They'll 'avc to spidc 'im under pretty quick, or VII swell 'crriblc. Thenk Gord, I'm out of it." Then it occurred to him that he might as well possess pos-sess himself of Dutchy's water-bottle; but when he tried to crawl toward it an agonizing pain shot through him. He essayed to raise himself upon his hands and knees, but his hands turned sideways, and his feet had no more sensation than horseshoes. horse-shoes. The distance seemed tremendous. "I'll 'avc a bit of a nap, and r?ceeTl when it gits cooler," thought Herring, sinking back into the grass and watching a vulture circling over him. Dut a few minutes later his strength returned. He clambered over the corpse and seized the water-bottle, water-bottle, draining it eagerly; then sprang to his feet and hastened after his troop. Bullets whined overhead, over-head, but none touched him. "To hell with them!" he shouted, waving his arms. "Follow me, boys!" The whole line leaped up with a roar. t thirst, winking away the flics, and Dutchy was bade again and grinning at him. "'Ow did you git back, Dutchy?" he thought he said, but only the rattling cf air came through hi3 open jaws. A vutlure swooped down from the blue, and now-hung now-hung poised directly over 1dm, as though some hand had nailed it to the firmament. Then, one by ono out of the distance, pin-points appeared, at equal intervals, grew larger, and hung poised in their places, motionless against their background of cloudless sky. "You'll 'avc to wite a long time for your dinner, mytc," thought Corporal Herring, mentally apostrophizing apos-trophizing the leader. As if in answer one simultaneous simul-taneous movement seemed to communicate itsel' to each. They swept downward and circled over hici, their wings outspread, their daws contracted tightly against their breasts, He quivered in abject fear. -- "My Gord," he whimpered, "what will I do? Suppose Sup-pose a snike should bite me?" The rustling grass seemed to bttoken a snake's stealthy approach, and in anticipation he could feci the smooth contraction of the sleek coils about him. From where he lay he could perceive the mud-colored felt covering of Dutchy's water-bottle, which had been torn from its supporting strap, and rested between the corpse' CORPORAL IILRRING flattened bis stomach stom-ach against the ground. He had shifted his ammunition pouches onto his haunches, so that he might embrace his Mother Earth more cl.i-cly, and the cartridges cart-ridges had dribbled out into a small metallic metal-lic pile on either side of him. He had lost his pull-through, pull-through, and hi shoulder ached vilely from the kick of his foul rifle. With bleeding nails he scratched at a small mound of earth in front of tim, which he had made compact with stones. "If cr.e of them things 'its me, it'll 'it me in me 'cad." reflected the Corporal. Corporal Herring's world consisted of a fiery Ul. burning in a zone of blue, some distant boulder?, bould-er?, horrid with rolling riile f.re. and the long yellow yel-low grass wisps that bcr.t under the f.tful wind. Through these he could distinguish, on each side ff him, familiar prot.lcs: Dutchy, the squarehead; Sot'.y; and Ors: guard Paynes. Coar: pleasantries were bandied between them. Overhead the bullets were humming like honey lees. At times one whittled past him, or a little purt cf dust aro&c cloie by; then Corporal Herring's Her-ring's stomach turned to water, and be shouted seme jest coarser than the rest. It was his first general engagement. "Did you hear that one"'" quavered Orseguard Paynes, with frimulated interest, as something buder than the rest wcr.t booming by. "Shetup, you fool!" s.aid Corporal Herring, 'Thet's a pompon shell." Five miles from flank to flank, unseen ly their invisible foes, five thousand tnrn lay prone, held 0 the ground by that unceasing shower which hooted over them. They knew that somewhere t :m directing mind controlled them, and they lay f'nerc, eager, as all recruits, to charge. Two hundred hun-dred yards in front was a safety zone, from which, incc gained, they might advance uninjured almost up to the enemy's trenches. Many had tried this perilous passage; it was strewn thickly with corpses, which made Mrange. irregular depressions ii the waist-high grasses. High overhead, mere specks in the blue, the vul-lires vul-lires waited. They had followed the trail of dead transport animals which marked the progress of lie column. Corporal Herring shuddered as he siuiiUcd up at thern. He had seen flocks of these nMc scaengers, clustered on dead liors.es, too 1 rged to rise, their bald head whiter than leprosy, l'ieir curved beaks indicative of horrible repletion. The oun's hot trail blazed in the zenith of the lracn tky. Mirages danced over the staring plain houses where there had been rocks, boulders vhere trees had grown, rivers of gurgling water. Ah. thoie waters of the mirages! How they 1 need l'r them a they flattened themselves bc-ti bc-ti iU lh.it pitiless glare, the swollen tongues lolling loni their panting mouths! They almost envied lie dead win-, with open jaw and clenched fingers, 1 icd the long slope behind them. Dust whitened their gaunt, nr. shaven faces; dust I id r aVeil the moi-t n'ds i f thor drained water I t'lrj; Jvit dogged thnr re their matted hiir, and f or sweat-stiffened shoulder straps. One man, shot through the brain, twined and entwined his f.ngers ceaselessly, winking away the f.ck that clustered upon his faring eyeballs. Under : eh.tco'ate stain Ins face was whiter than a clown's. Some sucked the sweet roots of grass-ilj'lri grass-ilj'lri to relieve thnr intolerable thirst; some, rrnicrtd ravenous through fear, cruiuhel thnr f rgeney rations of beef and chocolate in their dry Wiuths, and coul 1 not swallow them. AnS everywhere Fear reigned, fear that woulJ have Crivei them in hraJlotig flight lut fcr that sweep-" sweep-" sleet tl r.ickel aboe them; fear that increased B the slow hours went by wl.i'e they lay helpless. A hare 1 'ated through the gra toward Herring, and sat. Ue 1 on her hau'uhev watching him. He saw her l.ttle heart thumping tumultu ju!y. ' Hey, put!" be veiled, anj f!U:ig bi bat at her. "Eenk! Brnk!" shouted the soldier. as she sped so!tly cWn the l.r.e uio ,,,. d;Jtan:e. "Ikr.k. Eenk. Charing Cross. Cheated; all abo.irl. lydie. penny I ill the " The hat twirled through the air and j floated back, wuh a, tele through fie brim r.o wider than a Irai pcrciL "If my 'cad 'ad t in there." . lie corpora! nurmurcd. a he crowr.ed himself, j T: ' v. M- dr j man sud.Jtr.ty began t cheke and ' h.ir--r the ffr.'u--. J. then his heal drorped arJ .j h" r- I b-vVward. Tl.e f.e de:crded on him. O- rf r Pijiri stared at trie ccrp- one mcment " a-.5 t' r- -prarg to hi f. "Advance." he yelled. I; "Follow me. Ioyi; to hell with tLcra!" A storm of i I I ' :-: N-VX . I . F yrj "it.NK! It.NKl" U0tTLD TQE SOLDItRS AS S1IU ITLD DOWN lilt LINE. , V : 1 "Fix bay'nits!" the corporal screamed, and led his men right into the trenches. A giant Boer, with a patriarch beard, leaped up with a pistol. The corporal had loit his rifle, but he seized his antagon-iit antagon-iit round the wait and grappled with him. The Dutchman's hat fell o(T, and his bald head looked exactly like a vulture's. They swayed backward and forward, u-itil the corporal stumbled and fell full length into the burning sand. He gasped and spluttered, splut-tered, and opened bis eyes; he was back where he had been lying, and the hideous leer of Dutchy confronted con-fronted him. Overhead there pascd the shadow of wir.gs. "Stop thct, I sy. Stop it!" he screamed, shaking his clenched hands at Dutchy. "You bloomin' squarehead, will you stop grinnin' at me?" He meant to tAe him by the throat and choke him. but Dutchy disappeared, and in his place stood the wlvite ter.ts of the encampment bellying in the wind. The company cocks were boiling bully beef with compressed com-pressed vegetables over a fire cf wet wood. "Silly fools." yrlled the corporal, "you've fergot to put in l'ie pertyter." The cocks threw down their utensils uten-sils and advanced with threatening gestures, bjt the c- rpcral was ret afraid. He knew that they were o-.ly phantoms. Something that he knew very well, had always known in the mo?t ntimate manner, wis lying upon the veld, thirsting with an unquenchable and everything was lost in a choking fog. A shell had dropped between them. As the smoke thinned the corporal saw Dutchy grinning at him. "GU out, jou grinnin' swine!' he howled. Lutch's grin widened, and his eyeteeth showed in the corners of his mouth like fane's. "Wot's the matter, Dutchy?" a4.cd Corporal Hrrring. "I don't know." Dutchy whimpered. "My ec hurt. I think I'm going blind." He ;t-l Up uncertainly, spreading his arms, and tottered forward. "Lie down, you blarsteJ foci." Corporal Herring shouted. "Lie down. I sy." And Dutchy lay down obediently, but all his memters reached the ground at the same instant, and he doubled upon him.eh' like an acrobat He wi only the shell of a man. "My Gord!" the corporal whimpered, trembling. "My Gord!" screamed Orseguard Paynes, pointing point-ing and gibbering at lum. "Watcher all staring at rr.e for " aked Herring resentfully. "WVt's hup? Were '. all these flies ccme from? I fell d"wn over a stone." He tried It rise, but lis b ank under hint, and looking d"W-n, he saw a crimson stain widening upon his tanic. His moj'.h opc-ed. and he locked at it in fotlih amazement. "I wonder were I'm 'it?" he thought- "111 'avc t be 'ere till they pek me up. I suppose. They'll strd me down to the bic Vrspi''. and then wot O fer "If one of them things 'its me, I'm a dead 'un. Gord syve me and get me out of cre," prayed Corporal Cor-poral Herring. "If this keeps up we'll orl be corpses, myte," said Scotty, moutcning his cracked lips with his swollen ton gue. "Oh. I dunno," the corporal responded. "A bloke's a juggins if 'e gits 'issclf killed in 'js fust f.ght. thet's wet I sy." "Ah! and wot abart thet bloke there?" aiked Scotty. sneering. "And wot abart Fagin at Paarde-t Paarde-t arg? Nice wy to die. thct. ain't it? Its a public noonnce, thet's wet it i. myte. A ncar.c and fewer for mine, thet's my tyste." "Ho! wet's the difference?" asked Corporal Herring. Her-ring. It'i ctl one. ain't it? X didn't feel r.u.Tir.k." "Ow d'ycu know 'e didn't feel nufhek?" Scotty prrsisted. " 'Ow do you know wot it feels l.ke at crl?" The chorus cf a sor.g came rolling out of the distance: dis-tance: "Brike the tews to rr.uwer, Tell 'er tbet I loTe 'er. Ki "er dear, sweet fyce fer me. and sy I an r.o mere; Bnlee the news to rviwer. Sy there is no other. . 1 knees. Only ten paces distant! He heard the breath hiss through his swollen lips as he strained his avid eyes toward it; but not a muscle would repond to his mind's promptings, and the corpse still lay; facing him with its deriding smile. Slowly, after unaccountable epochs, his fears subsided. sub-sided. And now he no longer suffered from that torturing thirst. His mind was clearer than crystal, but he could no longer reason inductively, for the sentinel of his consciousness had fallen at bis post, and ideas, no longer usherenl in wif!i sequence, poured through his brain with quick, fantastic imagery. "Wy are my 'ands so wet?" he thought. "It must be ryning and I fergot to arsk the ole woman for 'cr umbreller." Present))- he was aware of companies that moved toward him. With thera were prisoners, and all gazed at him mournfully as they passed by. "Wy, there' Fagm," he whispered. "I saw 'im killed at I'aardeb urg." But nobody noticed him; only Fagin, as he paised. indicated two empty place in one file of fours. The corporal rose. Before him lay a hideous thing that writhed and twisted, beating out a tattoo upon the ground with hands ar.d heels. "My Gr.rd," he thoupM. "thet's me!" The tattoo ceaed suddenly, the thing fell backward, and, with a swoop, the vultures alighted. Coprrltbt, f o, hy Urrr Urotber; m.11 rtgbtm renrred. i 1 . t |