't, 'e always thinks 'e's right an' you're just
that much big a fool not to know it. An' the younger 'e is, the more
right 'e is, an' the bigger fool you or anyone else is.

'Well, the Left'nant's enthoosy-ism cools off a bit when it begins to
rain again like as if some one had turned on the tap o' a waterfall, but
he tried to cheer himself remarkin' that most likely 'is Battery was
bein' flooded out of their dug-outs. But I could see he was beginnin' to
doubt whether the Am. Col.'s job was as cushy as he'd reckoned when the
off-lead o' Number One wagon tries a cross-Channel-swim act in one of
them four-foot deep ditches. The wagons 'ad to pull aside to let some
transport motor-lorries past an' One's off-lead that was a new 'orse just
come to the Column from Base Remounts an' had some objections to
motor-lorries hootin' in his ear an' scrapin' past a eighth of an inch
from his nose--'e side-slipped into the ditch. 'E stood there wi' the
water up to 'is shoulder an' the lead driver lookin' down on 'im an'
repeatin' rapid-fire prayers over 'im. I may say it took the best bit o'
half an hour to get that blighter on to the road again an' the Left'nant
prancin' round an' sayin' things a parrot would blush to repeat. But 'e
did more than say things, an' I'm willin' to admit it. 'E got down off
his horse an' did 'is best to coax the off-lead out wi' kind words an' a
ridin' cane. An' when they missed fire an' we got a drag-rope round the
silly brute the Left'nant laid 'old an' muddied himself up wi' the rest.
We 'ad to dig down the bank a bit at last an' hook a team on the
drag-rope, an' we pulled that 'orse out o' the mud like pullin' a cork
from a bottle. It was rainin' in tons all this time an' I fancy the
Left'nant's opinion o' the Am. Col.'s job had reined back another pace or
two, especially as he'd slipped an' come down full length in the mud when
haulin' on the drag-rope, an' had also slid one leg in the ditch well
over the boot-top in reachin' out for a good swipe wi' the cane.

'We plods off again at last, an' presently we begins to get abreast o'
some position where one o' our big siege guns was beltin' away. A bit
further on, the road took a turn an' the siege gun's shells were roarin'
along over our heads like an express train goin' through a tunnel; an'
the Left'nant kept cockin' a worried eye round every time she banged an'
presently 'e sez sharp-like to the drivers to walk out their teams and
get clear