Evening star., 1927-11-11
INSTALLMENT I.

Il chaos.
And four men in a thicket.
r. One of them spoke:
"A bloody Hun prison. tnacs US
NV Gawd. Where are we?
Another answered causticaily:
Monsieur. we are lost-and veS3
tired" 49,,
A third man laughed. The laugh
was short. >u 49,
you come from?"
2 from" The Frenchman'S VOICE wa
nolished. his English faultless. we
come from the tickling OF the German
bayonets."
ment gratuitously:
II don't know about you 'uns, bu!
our crowd was done in good oraer Hn0 :
proper two days ago. Gawd! Amt
there no end to 'em? Millions! And
us running. What l says is let 'em
have the blinking Channel ports ana
let's clear out. 1 wasn't noways IN
favor Of mussing up in this when the
bleeding Parliament says up and al
'em in the beginning. leastways noth'
ing except the navy"
"Drafted. I take it?" observed the
third man cOolly.
There was no answer.
The fourth man said nothing.
There was a whirr in the air
closer closer; a roar that
surged at the ear drums; terrific
crash near at hand; a tremble or the
earth like shuddering sob.
The first man echoed the sob.
Garry on! Carry on! can't carry
On. Not for hours. I've been running
for two days. / can't even sleep. My
Gawd"' :,
mo good of carrying on for bit"
snapped the third man. There's no
place to carry on to. They seem TO
be all around u.s."
"Tbat's the first one that's come
near u.s." said the Frenchman. May
he it's only-what do you call it?-a
straggler."
Like U.S." said the third man.
A flare, afar off, hung and dropped.
Nebulous, ghostlike, faint simmer
Law upon the thicket. 1t endured for
but a moment. Three men, huddled
against the tree trunks, torn, ragged
and disheveled men, stared into each
others faces. A fourth man lay out
stretched, motionless, at full length
upon the ground, as though he were
asleep or dead. His face was hidden
because it was pillowed on the earth.
"Well, I'm damned" said the third
man, and whistled softly under his
breath.
monsieur means by that?" inquired
the Frenchman politely.
"Means?" repeated the third man.
"Oh, yes. I mean it's queer. Half
an hour ago we were each a separate
bit of driftwood tossed about out there
and now here we are blown together
from the four winds and linked up as
close to each other by common stake
our ilives-as ever men could be.
say it's queer"
He lifted his rifle and, feeling out,
prodded once or twice with the butt.
It made a dull, thudding sound.
What are you doing?" asked the
Frenchman.
fancy. I'm not sure but he's the luck
Test one of the lot"
You're bloody well right he is!'
gulped the first man. II wouldn't
mind being dead If 1t was all over and
I was dead. It's the dying and the
thinking about it I can't stick"
'I can't see anything queer about
IT," The Frenchman was judicial.
He reverted to the third mans re-
mark as though no interruption had
occurred in his train of thought. I'VE
all knew it was coming, this last big
what do you call it-push of the
Boche. 1t has come. It Is gigantic.
It is tremendous. A tidal wave.
Everything has gone down before it
units all broken up. mingled one with
another, a melee. 1t has been suave
qui peut for thousands like us who
never saw each other before, who did
not even know each other existed. ]
see nothing queer in it that some of
us, though knowing nothing of each
other, yet having the same single pur.
pose. rest If only for moment, shell,
ter IL only for a moment, should have
come together here. To me it is not
queer"
"Well, perhaps you're right" said
the third man. Perhaps adventurous
would have been better than queer"
mot adventurous" dissented the
Frenchman. 'Since we have been
nothing to each other in the past, and
since our meeting now offers us col.
lectively no better chance of safety or
escape than we individually had be-
fore, there Is nothing adventitious
about it,"
Perhaps again am wrong" There
was a curious drawl in the third mans
voice now. I'm fact, will admit it
1t is neither queer nor adventurous
It is quite-oh, quite!-beyond that
1t can only be due to the considered
Vaccinations of the devil on his
throne in the pit of hell having his
bit of a fling at us-and laugh"
You're bloody well right" mumbled
the first man.
Damn said the Frenchman with
asperity. II don't understand you al
The third man laughed softly.
We'll, don't know how else to ex
plain it, them" he said. 1.-The last
"The last time" interrupted the
Frenchman. II did not get a very
good look at you when that flare wen,
up. I'll admit, but enough so that
would swear l had never seen you be
FORE"
quite So" acknowledged the third
man.
"Gawd" whispered the first man
'Look at that! Listen to that"
A light, lurid, intense, for miles
around, opened the darkness-an(
died out. An explosion rocked the
earth.
Ammunition dump" said the
Frenchman. I'm sure of 1t now. I've
never seen any of you before"
The third man now sat with hi!
rife across his knees.
The fourth man had not moved
from his original position.
II thought you were officers, blim!
If ] didn't. from the way you talked,
said the first man. Just blinkin,
Tommy and n blinking POilu!'
Monsieur" said the Frenchman
and there was a challenge in his voice
Il never forget a face"
''Nor l." said the third man quietly
"NOr other things-things that haI
pened a bit back-after they put tn
draft into England, but before the
called up the older classes. don
know Just how they worked it owe