A FIGHT IN A DUG-OUT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2919, 3 November 1916, Page 8

A FIGHT IN A DUG-OUT

THE ENGLISH BOY AND THE GERMAN GIANT - (By AV. L. Randall, in tlio "Daily Mail"). Ho remembered, as ho stood waiting in the trench while Time dawdled over the last five minutes before the attack, a certain visit to his dentist when the operator had left him alone for a moment or two in the detestablo chair. His sensations then, as he contemplated a. row of queerly shaped, suggestive steel instruments and a glass of faintly .steaming water, had been particularly unpleasant. That was an occasion merely, for the extraction of a back tooth; this timo it might bo his head for all lie know, that would bo missing. Yet he did not feel so "had" now as in that dentist's room. Partly, perhaps, because he had company, party because of the great, friendly thunder of the guns behind. Ho glanced' at his wrist-watch, trliicli had been compared] and set m unison with those of other lieutenants down the long line: two more minutes remained. lie looked at one of the party, a corporal, who stood near; the man was idly drumming his fingers against the stock of his riflo with a faraway expression in his eyes —not at all in the alert, picturesque attitude so dear to the picture papers at home. What was lio thinking of? Dentists? Girls? Blighty? The corporal camo back to reality, caught the lieutenant's gliinco and smiled. For the_ hour they ivcer equals, taking equal risks. Another minute. Ho recollected a small incident which occurred in Piccadilly a. few weeks ago—in Piccadilly! lie had been escorting his mother round' the West End and a woman had stared at him—ono of thoso stout, loud-voiced women —and remarked to her companion on his appearance. _ "He ain't 'alf pile; not much good 'im goin' to the war." True, he had been pale; but he had also been bilious; it was ono of the penalties of going homo when you had not the pluck to refuse the feast of good things set so freely before you. He wondered if he was as pale now. Anyhow, he was not bilious; but ho was dreadfully sleepy. 1

"Up We Col"

His w : atch showed- tho appointed hour, "Time I" he said, his voice sounding throaty to himself. "Up wo go, boys:" In a moment, with a yell, they were "over."' Ho knew .'that thoso guns, those lovely guns behind,_ would even pow be "lotting up" a 'bit liko clockwork —-there was comfort in the thought of that protective curve whioh lie visualised as arching the sky overhead. But however protective it might be, it could not control or suppress the mysterious hail of bullets and tho big shells that burst round him and his mon as thoy stumbled forward. "And this," ho thought, "will quito possibly bo the end of mo 1" I

Some fell, but the attack had to_ bo made good, and he knew .that nothing would hinder those splendid R.A.M.C. chaps from Mowing up a few minutes in their wake, as per time-table. So over the shell-pocked ground they went, a gallant company, a long, thin, shouting line defending England as surely as though thoy had been repelling invaders o her very coast, and into the German trenches —that "first lino" opposite which they had been fixed, staring and sniping, for such a weary time —they slithered. "Trenches" .was hardly the right word now; the artillery had seen to that; but it was necessary to examine them pretty thoroughly. Soldiers who emerged were, as a rule, too stunned and weak to resist effectively; here and there a- plucky group showed fight, but without much hope of success.

He entered a low doorway in tho battered earth, but a man at bis side drew liim back respectfully. It was the corporal who had smiled at him. ' "Better let me go first, sir," ho said, and he -almost pushed past. "Phool those boles do whiff!" The corporal was a big fellow, and tho lieutenant followed bim closely alon<j a passage, flashing his elcctric torch, until they came to a larger space. There, on the planked floor, a soldier lay, obviously wounded. As they entered ho turned his head foobly, and, bending down, they heard bim ask for "wasser." '■ , "Cowards —they have left liim here alone,' said the corporal as he stooped -and hold his water-bottle to the man's lips. ■ *" At Crips.

Just then the lieutenant, by tho dim illumination, perceived a shadow in a gloomy comer. Looking more attentively, he uttered a shout, and flung himself forward upon that shadow—for it held a revolver steadily aimed at tho corporal as he knelt at his mcrciful. task. The torch fell, . smashed, and was extinguished. He tore the weapon from the man's grip, and hurled it down —his first swift tiger-spring gave him that advantage; but he had need of all his strength, for his enemy was muscular and fit. The queerest notions passed through his v mmd as theyi swayed to and fro. If his moijher could see him now, with his grimy hands clawing for the other man's throat, his body twisting in the effort to evade the other man's iron grasp! If that loud-voiced, scornful woman who had called him "pile" and'dismissed hirti as no use could see him now, would she alter her verdict?

Their breaths came hot and hard; they punched and wrestled and tripped, sprang and slipped and scrambled, in dark and deadly fight, and more than once teeth crunched into the flesh of his hand—he felt warm drops flowing from it. Every now and then they cannoned into a burly form that 6tood like an invisible wall, and ho . knew that the corporal was on guard lest they should step on the wounded German with their iron-shod heels. So' these two, in that reeking, pitch-black hole, rightly , and honourably interpreted their duty—the one striving to kill the other to save an enemy. He found his strength ebbing—he was a boy, struggling against a squareshouldered, thick-jawed giant. In an extremity, ho concentrated all his remaining energy to force his wrists upward. Ho had the Sinewy throat.at last, and kept it, clutched it, squeezed it until his fingers ached; the man's struggles weakened, with muscles relaxed he sank to the floor.

■ With one knee,on his enemy's chest as a precaution, the lieutenant felt in his pockets. "Here's a match," he called, stretching out his hand. . "Lets have a light." ! _ ' "Coming, sir," said the corporal. Their hands met in the darkness.

In the gleam of the little flame they saw their man, overcome, half choked. "Kamorad!" he gurgled "komerad!" Staring down at' him, the lieutenant suddenly felt contemptuous. Tho corporal lighted a candle-end that stood on a rude shelf, a piece .of wood! stuck in tho wall, and looltcd at his officer. j "You go up to the fresh air, sir, he said. "I'll see to him."' Into the passage and out to tho ruined trench the lieutenant staggered, exhausted, and sat on the shapeless parapet. The guns had "lifted," tho shells were bursting farther ahead. Machine-gun firo had ceased —a sign that good, work had been done. After that den below the wind was cool and sweet. He bound! up roughly his smarting, bitten hand, lay hade on tho warm ground, and dropped off into a sounl shop.