Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-31
|6SMkJ0URNEY,S END
iNKA RcShezZH0zd Vernon Bartlett

leave before being sent overseas-and
yet, as always. he was little reluctant
to leave his friends. He did not gen.
with Hawkins, for example, but they
understood each other so well that
words we're not always necessary, and
with older people or people who were
not in the Army at all-even with
Madge-no number of words could
quite bring understanding This war
was something so new that it called
forth a new and complex set of senti-
mentS in those who were engaged in it.
In the first place there was the adj
venture. Instead of having to look
forward to dreary days in an Office, or
"mugging up" a lot of law books, or
doing certain amount of work at
oxford or Cambridge, they suddenly
found that they had even more au-
thority than they had had as monitors
at school. They were in command of
men far older than themselves, and, in
the clubs of which they were made
honorary members, old fogies who
would in other circumstances have
treated them with immense superiority,
now listened with Difference when they
expressed an opinion about the Kaiser,
the strategy of Sir Douglas Haig or the
situation in Russia. Then there was
the comforting feeling of smartness
that came from we'll cut tunic, shiny
buttons and a polished Sam Browne
belt. There was the fun of knowing
that khaki predisposed every girl in its
Wearer's favor. There was the same
sort OF excitement about the idea of
going to the front as there had been,
for Raleigh, during the few hours be-
fore the match which was likely to
dnRiIn IrA l. -
get the last cap of the Rugger Fifteen.
There were, at the same time, desire
to experience this life in France for
which all this intensive training was
preparing them, and a deep-seated, re-
pressed uneaSiness lest they should fail
to live up to the high standard of
courage they had set themselves, or
should be marked out for intense pain,
manning, or possibly even death. This
fear of death seldom reached the sur
face OF the conscious mind, however,
since it was SO obviously ridiculous to
think that such young, keen, energetic
fellows might be killed But all such
things were not to be expressed in
words, so that Jimmy Raleigh sat ON
his motor cycle, his swagger cane and
British warm strapped on to the carrier,
and talked to Hawkins when he might
already be well on the way toward
Wareham, Poole, and home.
YOU'RE lucky blighter," Hawkins
said, ito have your people living SO
close. You're always buzzing of on
leave. Come and have last drink"
And, since they both realized that
this was an occaSion--this departure
of Raleigh's on his last leave before
being sent to the front-they trudged
through the mud to the officers mess,
and had two mixed vermouths, which
neither OF them cared for particularly,
amongst band of topers who looked
little aStonished to see them at the
drinkers end of the mess.
"Cheero," said Raleigh, as he climbed
on his bike again.
IF you can't be good, be careful"
counseled Hawkins.
When the motor was coaXed into ac-
ton, Jimmy Raleigh jolted and skidded
along the road through Wareham Camp.
past the high, guarded ratings and
fences Of Holton Heath, where hundreds
and hundreds of workers made more
and yet more explosives to blow the
Germans skyhigh.
He chose the longer way home.
through Bournemouth, partly because 1t
was thrilling to be In a town again after
weeks at Bovington Camp, but perhaps
still more because he knew that way
the best, and he wanted rather to see
houses, trees, roads with which he was
thoroughly familiar, than to hunt out
strange and unknown paths on this last
trip home-he was hardly conscious
that he made choice at all, and it
would never have occurred to him to
analyZe his motives.
The town was filled with soldiers.
half of them in khaki and half of
them in hospital blue. At the Westover
skating rink, which was the elegant
place to visit for tea, khaki predom-
mated; at the hospital where Raleigh
went to see If he could give Madge a
lift home on the back of his bike, al
most the only khaki to be seen was
worn by fat old doctor who had
hastily been made a major In the