Evening star., 1930-06-25
|! Continued From Yesterdays Starr

In the trenches there was silence
again. The shelling and nervous, un-
easy bursts of rifle fire had died away.
AND yet, Stanhope thought, even had
ne NOT been warned a big German
stack WAS expected, he would not treat
THIS silence as one treated those other
pauses In the usual desultory firing
known as the morning hate" In
every mans face there was a tense
look. Sometimes it was difficult to
ar2use men to satisfactory alertness
during the "stand-to"; today it seemed
9S though they were all on tiptoe.
People talked of the lull before the
storm-At was a hackneyed sort of
phrase, but one which kept recurring
20 the mind this morning.
The sldy was heavy with rain, but the
air was pot so cold as it had been, and
. clammF mist was rising. AS soon as
ne had been his round of the trenches
Stanhopa warmed up, and his headache
Iessened. He resolutely refused TO think
OF that Vile business last night, OF that
lonely, cionvivial dinner with Hilbert
and old JTTotter. But at every traverse
he expected to meet Osborne-tall gray
haired, serious, and quiet, but always
rant and understanding. 1t wasn't
Esible to think of him lying dead
ar the German parapet, and yet 1t
as also not possible to avoid thinking
i'm. His body could not be seen
when Very lights went up. Per-
ps the Germans had taken him in
. bury him. Perhaps he had not been
killed after all-no. there was no hope
in that direction, for Corpl. Crooks had
seen the damage the grenade had done
TO him. Perhaps his useless, empty
body had slid down into some shell
hole to decay with all the other cor
ruption and filth Of No Mans Land.
God! how could one be expected to
keep sane out here? He walked a few
yards down a communication trench,
and took long drink of whisky
from his pocket flask.
Raleigh's platoon was as smart as
: any. The firing platform had been re-
paired after the devastation left by
lrdys company, and the trench was
ecently clean Stanhope felt an ab-
urd warm feeling that Barford fellows
Sdid not let one down. Hibbert's men,
on the other hand, looked cowed and
sullen, for they knew they had no
leader in the event of an attack Sergt.
Rusholme had done his best with
Osborne's section, but Osborne had
gone SO quietly about his business that
nobody had realized his value to the
full until his death. In Trotters sector,
on the other hand there was a general
atmosphere of cheerfulnesS. Somehow
this news tnat he had Deen made sec
ond in command had reached the men.
and they were almost as proud about
It as if they had been promoted them
selves. It was odd, thought Stanhope,
how wide a field of influence each
cer had. Odd, and little pathetic,
for what could a young fellow straight
out from school-a fellow like Jimmy
Raleigh, for example-do against metal
that hurtled through the air with the
speed of an express train? The whole
thing was so damned unfair-men
against machines. liquid fire, poison gas.
And all these men, with childlike sim
plicity, looked to their officer, their
sergeant, or to one Of themselves, to give
them the example how to die. There
was hsroism, all right but what was
the good of heroism In a slaughter
house?
Damn this waiting about! why
didn't the attack begin?
Along the trench Raleigh stood gazing
into No Mans Land with a periscope.
It was all fantastic and weird. The
whole sky was turning pale gray. and
he wished Dennis were with him so
that they could remember together a
wSek end at FTeshwater, in the Isle of
Ight, when they had gone out before
gawn with local fisherman to pull up