in' elbows an' absorbin'
courage w'ot comes from bein' clost, they ain't w'ot ye'd call reliable,
anny more. They can't stand the gaff as they wanst could! W'y, I was in
at the takin' av wan av their artillery positions on the Somme, lad, an'
may I be shot for a spy if we didn't find gunners chained to the wheels!
Ye don't need no searchlight to find the answer av thot, do ye now?
Their fightin' _machine_ is good, mind ye; but it ain't no more nor
less'n a red sausage machine whin iverythin's considered! But as for
the individual fightin' mon, w'y, he don't grow over there, a-tall,
a-tall!"

"That's all very well, Tim, but they kill a lot of our fellows, just the
same!"

"Shure, ivery now an' thin wan av the b'ys is sent west; but ye wouldn't
have a war all wan-sided, would ye? 'Twould be no war if ye did."

"It's all so horrible," Jeb shuddered. The mention of being "sent west"
did not appeal to him since he had learned that it was the Tommy's way
of saying that a man had been killed.

"Now, thot's where ye're wrong, lad," Tim straightened up to reach in
his breeches pockets for "the makings," but his hand came out empty and
he continued: "There's plenty av fun goin' on, an' laughs, too. I mind
me wan day whin the '75's was barkin' their throats out an' bein'
answered by God knows w'ot mighty ingines av war. We'd been brought up
clost an' was lookin' for a rush anny minute, so the men was jokin' for
the most part--thot or cussin'; 'tis all the same whin a rigiment feels
good! I was sint along to help the bombers adjust detonators an'
straighten out pins, whin I come on a little cockney lad--timid like
yeself, Jeb--holdin' a puddin' an' not knowin' w'ot to do wid it; so I
says to 'im:

"'Whin they git clost, now, pull out thot pin, count four, an' let her
fly!'

"''Ow let 'er fly?' he asks.

"'W'y, chuck 'er, ye blighter!' says I.

"'But 'ow farst must Hi count four?' he asks agin, lookin' worrit;
's'pose she goes hoff in me 'and?' he says.

"'Well,' says I, 'if she goes hoff in ye 'and, sonny, ye may stop
countin'.'

"An', Jeb," the sergeant added, "he laughed so 'twas all he could do to
keep from droppin' it; but he got the hang, so help me, an' did a man's
work thot day!"

"Oh, I couldn't do anything like that," Jeb cried despairingly. "I just
couldn't! The whole idea is horrible! And look at their submarines, all
around us everywhere!"

"Well, _look_ at 'em! Where the divil d'ye see 'em! Has anny wa