The Irish standard., 1915-07-17

NV
Tho subaItern etumbIes and Falls,
| Face Forward.
myself on my face, my rifle at the
ready. Why does the order
fail to reach us? No shout comes
from the subaltern, none from the nom
CONS the nearest man a good
twenty PAGES away and then
one other only we three.
The first line Is lying shot down IN
the stubble what's the next
thing? The ground becomes alive be-
hind US and Gathering, pant.
Ing and shouting and again
the wood rumbles sullenly :.
there they are, lying fiat, breathing
hard never word
rifle to the ready and shot
after shot {. !. those are the sixth
and seventh companies they
have filled up our gaps.
up, up! At the double!"
The head is plunging on, the body
after. it, into the zone Of bullets, and
dashing forward with eyes fixed
greedily on the ground to spy out the
nearest molehill when we fling our.
selves down. And when the excited
'Down!" o'erleaps itself, we too
tumble down as If we had been swept
away. And look, 1t is advancing to
meet us, that murderous wood.
Sup! At the double!" who
can tell whether he has been hit or
not? behind there, out of the
undergrowth-that's where it came
from that's where the streak
OF bullets flashed there be-
tween the white larch trunks the beam
Of lead leaped out to meet Us I.
over there, behind that green wall,
that's where murder is sitting, and
shooting our arms and legs away from
our trunks. Stay her as she has slain
us. Rend her to pieces, as she has
rent us.
i up! At the doubled"
The body RACES on In the whirl Of
the tempest-the wood, the wood!
the last muscle is still strain.
Ing for the wood as if the
soul had leaped free Of the body, so
the body chases after it-toward the
wood lungs perforated by shot
are running still; entrails riddled by
bullets are still pressing on toward it
and If you are not hit in the
head, you are still jumping up once
more; and If you fall. you are crawling
on all fours-toward the wood /.
What's happened?
OF a sudden a deep stiffness falls.
The machines are silenced!
Not single shot, not a single squirt
OF flame there-a rustling
rising amid the underground /.
the branches overhead are swaying
frantically against each other. Look!
something is scurrying among the
trees, and pushing and hauling-now,
to crown it all, they are trying to save
their precious machines from us.
Yah! yah! The earth reverberates
duly and trembles Under our tread
=. a roar of cheers, dubbed rifles,
that's how they are coming up behind
us our reserves are driving
the last assault home they
are charging in dense mobs-sappers,
sharpshooters, riaemen ;. a tall
sapper jumps clean over mel see
how his eyes are flashing as he passes.
Up, after them there
is the heather -. there is the
entrenchment down with you
into the trench and scramble up on
hands and feet =. where are
they? Where where? there.
by that belt of frs H.. they will
have disappeared in another minute
past thick, silvory tree-trunks, through
the green beech leaves, with the sun
laughing in them, the lust of blood
charges red and naked head.
long through the undergrowth-and
nowhere is something wrigglins
away SO comically before our eyes,
and twisting with sinuous dexterity in
and out among the trees and the un.
dergrowth E. ~. there is something
clinging to the machine as II it were
angrown into the iron. Ha. ha!
lin the clearing yonder the horses
are waiting.
Let go! Run for what you are
worth-let co."
But they won't let go for
their horses are already blowing
through the underground the
wagon is straining to the traces i.
In another minute they will have
thrown their guns into the wagon
and then so-long =. am
done-the trees are dancing round and
round before my eyes catch
my foot in the root Of q tree. /.
Lay on! Lay on! They are "ours"
who have come up, and are laying on
blindly on heads, and bayoneting bent
backs and barred necks, till the whole
tangle disperses sqIealing. I
drag myself to my feet. A lad, q
mere boy, is sprawlins over and
clutching his abandoned gun {.