winds, and several had fled along the
track or across the fields. Moreover, the enemy's artillery fire was
pitiless, continuous, and distracting. The affair had, however, to be
carried through.

The first thing to be done was to detach the truck half off the rails
from the one completely so. To do this the engine had to be moved to
slacken the strain on the twisted couplings. When these had been
released, the next step was to drag the partly derailed truck backwards
along the line until it was clear of the other wreckage, and then to
throw it bodily off the rails. This may seem very simple, but the dead
weight of the iron truck half on the sleepers was enormous, and the
engine wheels skidded vainly several times before any hauling power was
obtained. At last the truck was drawn sufficiently far back, and I
called for volunteers to overturn it from the side while the engine
pushed it from the end. It was very evident that these men would be
exposed to considerable danger. Twenty were called for, and there was an
immediate response. But only nine, including the major of volunteers and
four or five of the Dublin Fusiliers, actually stepped out into the
open. The attempt was nevertheless successful. The truck heeled further
over under their pushing, and, the engine giving a shove at the right
moment, it fell off the line and the track was clear. Safety and success
appeared in sight together, but disappointment overtook them.

The engine was about six inches wider than the tender, and the corner of
its footplate would not pass the corner of the newly overturned truck.
It did not seem safe to push very hard, lest the engine should itself be
derailed. So time after time the engine moved back a yard or two and
shoved forward at the obstruction, and each time moved it a little. But
soon it was evident that complications had set in. The newly derailed
truck became jammed with that originally off the line, and the more the
engine pushed the greater became the block. Volunteers were again called
on to assist, but though seven men, two of whom, I think, were wounded,
did their best, the attempt was a failure.

Perseverance, however, is a virtue. If the trucks only jammed the
tighter for the forward pushing they might be loosened by pulling
backwards. Now, however, a new difficulty arose. The coupling chains of
the engine would not reach by five or six inches those of the overturned
truck. Search was made for a spare link. By a so