g from shock. Pictures of
partly clad ladies began to appear on the walls through the gloom. Now
and then the cellar trembled.

"Where's that old 'bus come from?" I asked.

"Ah! The pore old bitch, sir," said the soldier sadly.

"Yes, of course, but what's the matter with her?"

"She's done in, sir. But she's done her bit, she has," said my soldier,
changing the crossing of his legs. "Ah! little did she think when I used
to take 'er acrorse Ludget Circus what a 'ell of a time I'd 'ave to give
'er some day. She's a good ole thing. She's done 'er bit. She won't see
Liverpool Street no more. If medals wasn't so cheap she ought to 'ave
one, she ought."

The cellar had a fit of the palsy, and the candle-light shuddered and
flattened.

"The ruddy swine are ruddy wild to-day. Suthin's upset 'em. 'Ow long will
this ruddy war last, sir?" asked the soldier, slightly plaintive.

"I know," I said. "It's filthy. But what about your old 'bus?"

"Ah! what about 'er. She ain't 'arf 'ad a time. She's seen enough war to
make a general want to go home and shell _peas_. What she knows about it
would make them clever fellers in London who reckon they know all about
it turn green if they heard a door slam. Learned it all in one jolly old
day, too. Learned it sudden, like you gen'ally learn things you don't
forget. And I reckon I 'adn't anything to find out, either, not after
Antwerp. Don't tell me, sir, war teaches you a lot. It only shows fools
what they didn't know but might 'ave guessed.

"You know Poperinghe? Well, my trip was between there an' Wipers,
gen'ally. The stones on the road was enough to make 'er shed nuts and
bolts by the pint. But it was a quiet journey, take it all round, and
after a cup o' tea at Wipers I used to roll home to the park. It was
easier than the Putney route. Wipers was full of civilians. Shops all
open. Estaminets and nice young things. I used to like war better than a
school-boy likes Sat'd'y afternoons. It wasn't work and it wasn't play.
And there was no law you couldn't break if you 'ad sense enough to come
to attention smart and answer quick. Yes, sir.

"I knew so little about war then that I'm sorry I never tried to be a
military expert. But my education was neglected. I can only write picture
postcards. It's a pity. Well, one day it wasn't like that. It dropped on
Wipers, and it wasn't like that. It was bloody different. I wasn't
frightened, but my little inside was.

"First thing was the g