cal to the last syllable.
About them the dust motes danced in the light, the air hung heavy and
stagnant, smelling of chemicals, the thick sickly scent of blood, the
sharper reek of sweat. And everything about them, the roof over their
heads, the walls around, the table under their hands, the floor beneath
their feet, shook and trembled and quivered without cessation. And also
without pause the uproar of battle bellowed and shrieked and pounded in
their ears. Shells were streaming overhead, the closer ones with a rush
and a whoop, the higher and heavier ones with long whistling sighs and
screams. Shells exploding near them crashed thunderously and set the
whole building rocking more violently than ever. The rifle and
machine-gun fire never ceased, but rose and fell, sinking at times to a
rapid spluttering crackle, rising again to a booming drum-like roll. The
banging reports of bombs and grenades punctuated sharply the running roar
of gun and rifle fire.

Through all the whirlwind of noise the doctors worked steadily.
Unheeding the noise, the dust, the heat, the trembling of the crazy
building, they worked from dawn to noon, and from noon on again to dusk,
only pausing for a few minutes at mid-day to swallow beef-tea and a
biscuit, and in the afternoon to drink tepid tea. Early in the afternoon
a light shell struck a corner of the roof, making a clean hole on entry
and blowing out the other side in a clattering gust of flame and smoke,
broken tiles and splintering wood. The room filled with choking smoke
and dust and bitter blinding fumes, and a shower of dirt and fragments
rained down on the floor and table, on the doctors, and on the men lying
round the walls. At the first crash and clatter some of the wounded
cried out sharply, but one amongst them chided the others, asking had
they never heard a Fizz-Bang before, and what would the Doctor be
thinking of them squealing there like a lot of schoolgirls at a mouse in
the room? But later in the day there was a worse outcry and a worse
reason for it. The second room was being emptied, the wounded being
carried out to the ambulances that awaited them close by outside. There
came suddenly out of the surrounding din of battle four quick car-filling
rushes of sound--sh-sh-sh-shoosh--ba-ba-ba-bang! The shells had passed
over no more than clear of the cottage, and burst in the air just beyond,
and for an instant the stretcher-bearers halted hesitatingly and the
wou