i8 
LAND & WATER 
March 29, 1917 
their chests agamst the earthen wall straining like 
hounds at the. leash. 
"Now men," he said quietly, "remember we're the 
Springers, don't lose youi: heads, and — " a whistle 
sounded—" over you go." They hauled themseh-cs up, 
and with a spring were over the top. John Knighton, 
looking back over his shoulder, saw three other waves 
behind him rising up out of the earth. He advanced 
at a pace that was neither a walk nor a run, but some- 
tiiing between the two, and made for one of the planks 
thrdvvn at intervals across the tire-trench. As he crossed 
it he saw the Stokes gunners in their emplacements in 
the trench beneath him rapidly taking their gun to 
jiieces to join up with the fourth line ; one man already 
had the bomb and its " tail " over his shoulder as though 
about to perform a " turn " with a gigantic dumb-bell. 
Slipping through one of the gaps cut o\ernight in the 
intricacies of the " double-apron " wire, he heard above 
him the thin whine of shrapnel, and tongues of tlaine 
ai)peared in the air overhead, followed by scrolls of white 
smoke. There was a soft patter as the dispersing bullets 
struck the earth, and he saw men to the right and left 
of him suddenly fall out of the line as though they had 
forgotten something and falling lie very still. " It do 
seem " said his neighbour Jacob Winterbourne ; 
the sentence was never finished. John passed on. His 
throat was dry as a furnace, his nostrils were filled with 
the reek of burnt powder, his eyes dazed with dust, and 
the sweat ran down his face. Only a moment before the 
gun-layers back at the batteries, working to time, had 
turned the sight-elevating gear of their guns until the 
range-drum recorded another hundred yards. ^ The 
German front-line trench was dearly visible ; the " tail " 
of the creeping barrage had lifted. Behind that trench 
smoke-shells, each exploding as it fell in graceful stems of 
smoke embroidered with thousands of tiny sparks of burn- 
ing phosphorus, expanded into ostrich feathers of white 
vapour, which merged into a screen of mist. The next 
moment, he had leapt into the (ierman trench. 
The trench was pounded into the semblance of a dried 
water-course, and here and there lay the bloody debris 
of what had once been men. He heard groans and 
cries and savage baths to the right of him, as turning to 
the left he advanced at the head of his little bombing 
party. They bombed their way round a traverse 
as the second wave with the Lewis gunners on its 
left leapt into the trench. Pallid men in dirty grey 
uniforms crept out of holes in the earth, held up their 
liands, and gibbered for quarter ; they were bundled 
o\er the parapet and ran ridiculously, with arms above 
their heads, through the oncoming waves of the third 
and fourth line. In a few minutes the trench was won 
and the signallers were talking confidentially to the aero- 
planes whose droning hum came nearer and nearer as they 
circled overhead. Filling their empty sandbags in a 
fury of haste the men turned to " consolidate " the 
parados while the Lewis gunners emptied their trays of 
cartridges over the top at the German second-line trench. 
John Knighton, turning up a communication-trench, 
heard a loud uproarious cheer as the third wave, carry- 
ing their rifles at the short trail, leapt across the trench, 
some ahead, some behind, hke men in a hurdle race. 
He noticed a /nachine-gunner carrying the tripod 
fantastically over his shoulders, as a shepherd carries 
a lamb, with two legs in front. Behind the fourth line 
the carrying party, consisting of D Company with spare 
bombs and coils of wire slung on poles were coming up. 
Far as the eye could see, the whole countryside was alive 
with men advancing like beaters in a heath fire. 
The bombing-party advanced stealthily up the com- 
munication trench, John Knighton, as bayonet-man, 
leading the way with the safety-catch of his riilc forward. 
Behind him was No. 2, with his safety-catch back, and 
then came bomb-thrower No. i, witli a bomb-carrier 
in turn behind him. The trench suddenly widened. 
" Island Tra\-erse ! " shouted John Knighton, and stood 
still with his rifie " on guard." Bomber No. i took a little 
barrel-shaped object out of his bag. slipped a rinj; on to a 
hook of his belt, and with the palm of his hand lirmly 
claspintj the lever against the bomb, he ])ulled out the 
pin. He held the bomb against l\is hip, and then with 
a mighty ovi'rhand throw he launclu-d it over the 
" island " of >and-bags. There was a loud n'i)ort, and a 
doud of woolly white smuke rose behind the traverse. 
" Fifteen yards, five yards left," shouted the N.C.O., and 
-the bomber threw again. Then John Knighton rushed 
round the traverse with the rest of the bombing party 
on his heels. The Germans were bolting like rabbits 
with a ferret behind them. 
They were getting on. Half an hour later the major 
was telephoning remarks to the colonel, punctuated by 
frequent references to a lady named Emma : 
" Bombing attack is going very well ACC EMM.A Tlic 
artillery fire and M. G. and L. G. from my post at tlic 
Mound are very effective, enemy keep b<jlting from 
trcncii across the open ACC EMMA 1 require more 
S.A.A. for men and L. G.'s ACC EMMA The latter 
have expended approximately ten magazines and have 
done p;ood work ACC EMM.\ .\t least lifty of the enemy 
liave been forced out of tlie switcii trench and for 200 
yards East of the Nose ACC liMM.'V Lieutenant A 
lias orders to occupy the German trench immediately 
behind tlie bombing i)arty .\CC IC.MMA Will you arrange 
for artillery to lift olt the Nose ? " ^ . " 
But there came a lull ; .something had held iqi our 
left flank. Our left was " in the air," and John Knighton 
and his bombing-party found their way blocked by 
enemy bombers rusliing u]) a lateral trench at its junction 
with the communication-trench along which they were 
forcing their way. He saw a man in front of him raise 
his hand from his thigh and swing his arm over his 
shoulder ; there was a loud report, a sheet of violet 
flame, and he knew no more. 
VI. 
He lay where he fell while the tjattle surged over and 
beyond him. Many hours later some stretcher-bearers 
picked him up and carried him back to the regimental 
aid-post. He was given a hasty injection of 500 units 
of anti-tetanic serum, and then passed on in a hand-cart 
to the advanced dressing-station of the field ambulance 
where surgeons toiled all night in their overalls under the 
pallid gla,re of an acetylene lamp. His wounds were 
dressed, a waterproof envelope was tied to his button- 
hole, and he was put on one side for despatch to the 
Casualty Clearing Station. The envelope contained a 
Field Medical Card and its red-coloured border told its 
own tale to the orderlies who passed him on. But of 
what was written on that card he knew nothing. He was 
unconscious. 
He awoke in hospital at the Base. As he oi)ened 
his eyes he felt a slight j)ressure on his wrist and he saw 
the R.A.M.C. captain, whose hand was upon his jnilse, 
incline his head. At that a nurse softly opened a screen 
at the foot of his bed and shut out hi 4 view of the ward. 
His nostrils were filled with the penetrating smell of 
methylated spirit and iodoform, and in his ears was a 
rhythm of crashing waters followed always by the 
multitudinous scramble of pebbles on the beach. It was 
the beat of three succeeding waves upon the shore- that 
last pulsation of a rising tide — as, under a full moon flood- 
ing the room with her cold silver light, the great waters 
heaved and the cables of the lightship out at sea grew 
taut. There was a sudden lull : the tide was on the 
turn. He gazed at the screen and pictures passed across 
it as though his brain were full of lantern shdes. He saw 
a thatched cottage dressed with flints and a red brick 
wall covered with ivy-leaved toad-flax ; he heard the 
tinkle of sheep-bells upon a green down and in his nostrils 
was the scent of wild thyme. Then the picture faded 
away before the pattern of a gigantic weeping-willow, 
outlined in black cra.yon upon the moonlit screen, and 
his face grew troubled. The eyes in the motionless head 
followed the movements of the nurse by his bed and 
she saw a question in them. 
" What is it, sonny ? " she said as she stooped over 
him, smoothing his j)illo\v and looking down at the 
leaden f,'laze upon his face. His thumb and forefinger 
were plucking softly at the coverlet. 
She seemed very far away. " Cassn't thee tell I, 
ladv, whether we've a took thuck trench? " 
She did not know. Btit she knew that John Kni;,'hton, 
who had kept the faith that was in him, had huished his 
course. His race was run. 
" Yes," she said. 
The troubled look died (.iit of his eyes. He sighed 
with dee]) content. ;ind sighing fell itsleep, and sleeping 
went out with the tide. 
