o be--afraid--but
to--carry on--"

It was his last word, and there could be no better. "God is good. Never
be afraid but carry on."

CHAPTER XX

"CARRY ON"

The next day but one they carried the Pilot to his grave in the little
plot outside the walled cemetery on the outskirts of the city of Albert.
It had been arranged that only a small guard should follow to the grave.
But this plan was changed. Sergeant Mackay, who was the only sergeant
left after consulting "the boys," came to Major Bayne.

"The boys feel bad, sir," he said, "that they can't go with the Pilot,
excuse me, sir, the chaplain."

"Do they?" said the major. "We want to avoid congestion in the streets,
and besides we don't want to expose the men. They are still shelling the
city, you know."

"I know, sir," replied the sergeant. "The boys have heard the shells
before, sir. And there's not so many of them that they will crowd the
streets much."

"Let them go, sergeant," said the major, and Sergeant Mackay went back
with the word to the men. "And I want you to look like soldiers," said
the sergeant, "for remember we are following a soldier to his grave."

And look like soldiers they did with every button and bayonet shining,
as they had never shone for battalion inspection.

They had passed through an experience which had left them dazed; they
had marched deliberately into the mouth of hell and had come back
stunned by what they had seen and heard, incapable of emotion. So they
thought, till they learned that the Pilot had been killed. Then they
knew that grief was still possible to them. With their grief mingled a
kind of inexplicable wrath at the manner of his death.

"If it had been the O. C. now, or any one else but Fatty Matthews," said
Sergeant Mackay in disgust, expressing the general opinion. "It is an
awful waste."

Under the figure of the Virgin and Child, leaning out in pity and appeal
over the shattered city, through marching battalions "going in" and
"coming out," the little pitiful remnant made its way, the band leading,
the Brigade and Divisional Headquarters Staffs bringing up in the rear.
The service was brief and simple, a brother chaplain reading at the
major's suggestion the Psalm which Barry had read at his last Parade
Service with the battalion.

At the conclusion of the service, the divisional commander stepped
forward and said,

"May I offer the officers and men of this battalion my respectful
sympathy with th