December 21, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
His First Action 
Bv Gerard Shaw 
» Que hears little of the flighting beyond the main Fronts. 
But this is a vivid deseriplion of a skirmish with the 
Turks 'ahich took place some months ago on the edge of 
the Arabian desert. 
THE platoon wa.s marching along in the grey light 
before the dawn through trailing clouds of slowly- 
rising mist, winding between big clumps of 
sword grass and dark trees dripping moisture from 
cacli drooping leaf. The men's footsteps were silent on 
the soft ankle-deep sand, tlie only sound was the occa- 
sional splashing of the water in their bottles, or the crack 
of a dry stick underfoot. The sky grew lighter and lighter, 
and soon the sun's burning edge showed above the trees, 
mounting slowlj' and relentlessly into the blue clear sky, 
melting away the last wreaths of mist. The heat 
grew with each hour, the cool sand became burning dust, 
dense suffocating clouds of it hung above the plodding 
soldiers, dark patches of sweat began to show round the 
crossed straps of their equipment, pale dtist powdered 
their rifles and packs, and showed in muddy streaks on 
their streaming faces. Hoiu" after hour they tramped 
steadily on, now and then shifting their slung rifles from 
one shoulder to the other or stumbling in the deepening 
sand. 
Hour after hour at the same unvarj'ing pace with 
never a halt, their tunics now black with sweat, their 
eyes fixed on the ground, their shoulders stooped forward, 
here and there the fours broken as some tired soldier 
dropped towards the rear. Each man marched silently 
looking neither to the right nor left, intent only on keeping 
his place and saving his strength. 
Yet the thoughts of some wandered to cool seas and 
creamy foam washing round weed-covered rocks, or to 
fresh green grass and gurgling streams, others remembered 
their favourite inns far away on English village greens, 
or driving sea-fogs rushing hke smoke before south-west 
gales roaming through wet trees. 
An English Vision 
One in particular had always a vision of a little grej' 
stone cottage on the edge of a windy rain-swept moor, 
where cold rains rattled on the window-panes, and cold 
winds whistled in the chimnej's, and beat and twisted 
the stunted thorn trees. He was a recruit for the first 
time on active service. All through the long hot day 
the same vision floated before his eyes, the grey cottage 
and the green rairt-soaked turf and the grey clouds 
sweeping across the skj-. Only when a halt was called 
and the tired men dropped out and drank sparingly from 
their water bottles, then the vision faded and he thought 
only of his precious water and struggled with the desire 
to drink it all at once. 
At last, as the sun was slanting down towards the 
west, the platoon was marched into a small wood where 
large leaved shrubs spread beneath tall trees. The order 
was given to extend and lie down under cover of the 
bushes, gladly the tired men obc\-ed, sinking from sight 
among tlie leaves where they remained, still and in- 
visible. The recruit lay prone, his forehead resting on 
ills rifle stock, on to which the sweat trickled from his face. 
After the nightmare of burning sun and scorching sand 
and choking dust this wood was a paradise. As he rested 
he listened to the tvyittering notes of man\- birds ; their 
song came down faintly from the tree tops, but lilled the 
whole air ; a milkj' light filtered through the green arches 
of trees, and the broad leaves of the bushes gently swayed 
in the lightly moving airs. He watched with interest 
the many insects which crept along the grass stems, or 
leapt from twig to twig : tiny leaf hoppers, busy ants, 
bright coloured beetles, and delicate, silent winged flies. 
He lay absolutely still, not moving even when a lieu- 
tenant came creeping along on hands and knees com- 
manding silence, nor when a connecting file came breath- 
lessly crawling up with the news that the enemy were 
coming, still he listened in a dream to the shrill humming 
of myriads of tiny gnats and the whispering music of the 
. birds, and idly wondered if a small black ant would succeca 
in carrying off a dead beetle which it was trying to drag 
thnougii a forest of tangled grass and weeds. Only when 
a distant rattling of rifle lire came from far away on the 
left, he raised his head a little, and carefully breaking off 
a leaf or two, made a spy-hole to fire from. 
The Ambush 
All now lay tense and expectant, ^yaiting for the first 
sight of the enemy ; the firing on the left died away and 
rose again to a continuous crackle, then died down once 
more ; perhaps the enemy liad retired, no message had 
come through. For a quarter of an hour more they lay 
with straining ^yes and ears, motionless- and invisible. 
SuddenU^ tlip recruit became aware of four or five ligmes 
in a clear space between two clumps of pampas grass ; 
they were walking slowly and cautiously towards the left 
flank, their eyes all turned in that direction and evidently 
quite unaware of the ambush close to them. It was 
almost like looking into a picture, so quietly and un- 
expectedly had they appeared, their uniforms were diffe- 
rent, he understood that they were the enemy, and passed 
the word along, and in breathless excitement the whole 
line waited the order to fire. But as yet the Captain 
made no sign. Black soldiers, this time with a few white 
among them, slowly advanced across their front, creeping 
and crouching behind every clump of grass and bush, 
with eyes only for the known enemy before them and in 
full \iew from the side position. Then at last came the 
word to fire. Every man pressed his trigger, and the 
song of the birds was drowned in the continuous banging 
of the rifles, as the men lay and worked their bolts at high 
speed. 
Almost half the enemy fell, wounded or killed, in the 
first few seconds, those who remained fled back to the 
nearest cover and returned the fire till reinforcements 
came doubling up. Soon they found where the line 
ended, and came charging up in masses, the bullets were 
whipping through the bushes, and throwing little spurts 
of dust and dry leaves, into the air on every side as the 
enemy neared the wood. The recruit lay firing steadily, 
and watching the running figures fall here and there, and 
wondering when the time would come to get up, and if 
the order would be " Advance," or " Retire." 
It was " Retire," the enemy's numbers were greatly 
superior and they were working round the flank. He rose 
and ran back thirty paces, instinctively keeping the 
correct inter\'al, and flung himself down between his two 
neighbour?. Another five rounds were fired, then tlie 
line of running figures retired again, almost to the far 
edge of the wood, whcvc they dropped behind a low bank 
which gave good cover, and bayonets were fixed. The 
enemy were now among the bushes and firing from their 
thick cover, bullets were striking everywhere and men 
were falling. 
Invisible in the bushes the enemy got into position for 
.a charge and came yeUing and racing forwards. The 
recruit leapt up as the enemy reached them ; two black 
soldiers with shining ebony faces and wild eyes were 
upon him, he fired into the first and before he had fallen, 
parried the other's thrust, and sent his rifle butt crashing 
iiito his skull. The recruit saw his right-hand n<"ighbour 
fall and more and more blacks entering the wood, some 
firing from behind trees, and others rushing up with fixed 
bayonets. Three more attacked him. He ran at the 
first, thrusting violently at him, his bayonet went through 
the man's chest, and before he could draw it out, the 
second had lunged wildly at him, piercing the upper part 
of his right arm, he saw the black's j-ellow, glaring eyes, 
his white teeth bared, and his broad nose wrinkled in a 
grin of rage, then the same moment he was flung back- 
wards by a shouting crowd, and saw his comrades falling 
back all along the line. Picking himself up, he ran on 
among the 6nemy, furiously thrusting at their backs as, 
he went, and hoping in the confusion to rejoin his own 
side, everything was turmoil and confusion, some enemy 
soldiers turned on him, and he ran, dodging among the 
