ted by a woman
perfectly distraught with grief, who explained that two days ago her
little son had disappeared into "ce bois la" never to come out again.

"Si votre fils vive encore, il reviendra, bien sur, Madame. S'il est
mort, moi, je ne peux pas vous aider." Terrible to relate, the sight of
such grief annoyed rather than saddened him.

The advance was continued until it was quite dark, when the Battalion
denuded the usual hayrick, and "dossed down" in the usual stubble
field.

CHAPTER XIX

AN ADVANCED-GUARD ACTION

At about eleven o'clock the next morning his Company Commander--the
Captain was leading as the Major was now second in command of the
Battalion--told the Subaltern to ride back to the transport wagons and
get some fresh maps and some chocolate which he had left in one of the
carts. It was pleasant to get a ride, and to rest one's feet for awhile,
so he took his time in getting back to the transport.

No sooner had he reached the wagons than a gun boomed. He thought
nothing of that, however. Guns were always going off, at the oddest
times, and without any apparent reason. Four seconds later another
rolled out, followed closely by a third, fourth and fifth. Soon a
regular cannonade broke out. There was obviously mischief in the air, so
he crammed the maps hastily into his haversack and the chocolate into
his pocket and regained the Battalion as soon as he could on the
exhausted animal. Even as he was pressing forward, he heard the crackle
of musketry somewhere out of sight on the left.

Of course, the very thing that he had feared had happened. His Company
had been rapidly deployed and had already disappeared over the crest. He
explained matters to the Major who was in command of the remainder
during the Colonel's absence; dismounted, and set off on foot towards
the sounds of the firing. He ran against the Company Sergeant-Major in
charge of the ammunition, who told him where his Platoon was.

The next thing was to cross the fire-swept crest. Now, crossing
fire-swept crests is manifestly unpleasant--especially if you are alone.
If you are leading fifty men at least one and half times as old as you
are, who look to you for guidance and control, it is not so bad. Bravery
is very closely allied to "conspicuous gallantry," and "conspicuous
gallantry" in the field is almost impossible when there is no one to
look on. But he was too tired to worry much whether he was hit or not,
and his Platoon