ll. For the first few moments I quite
enjoyed it. Then my eyes began to water freely, and pain badly.
Realising at once that I was being "gassed," I bade the driver rush
through the village, and as far beyond as possible.
His eyes, poor fellow, were in the same state. The car rolled and
pitched its way through, smashing into shell-holes, bounding over fallen
masonry, scraping by within a hair's-breadth of a recently smashed
lorry. On and on, like a drunken thing. Still the air was thick with the
foul gas. My eyes were burning; at last it was quite impossible to keep
them open. But I had to get through, and so with a final effort looked
ahead, and to my great relief found we were beyond the village, and the
air smelt cleaner. I told the driver to pull up, and with a final roll
the car landed its front wheels into a ditch.
For two hours afterwards I was to all intents and purposes blind. My
eyes were burning, aching and weeping. The pain at last subsided, and
collecting the apparatus we trudged off along the communication trench
to the front line. Threading our way through seemed much more difficult
than previously. The sides of the trenches had been blown in by shells a
few minutes before, and this necessitated climbing over innumerable
mounds of rubble; but working parties were quickly on the scene clearing
a way through. At last I reached the dug-out previously referred to, and
believe me, I was very thankful. The officer there seemed rather
surprised to see me.
"Hullo!" he said. "What news? Anything doing?"
"Yes," I replied. "H.Q. says they are 'blowing' in the early morning, so
I decided to come along to-night and fix up a good position for the
camera, not desiring to attract the too earnest attentions of a Bosche
sniper."
"Whose mine are they blowing?" said he. "I suppose I shall hear any
moment." Just then a message came through on the 'phone. He picked up
the receiver and listened intently. An earnest conversation was taking
place. I could gather from the remarks that H.Q. was speaking. In a few
minutes he replaced the receiver, and turning to me, said: "D shaft is
going to blow; time, 7.15 a.m."
Soon after I turned in. Rolling myself in a blanket, I lay down on a
trestle-bed in the corner, and in doing so disturbed a couple of rats,
almost as large as rabbits, which had taken up their temporary quarters
there. Apparently there were plenty of them, for several times I felt
the brutes drop on my blanke
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