! They got them with such success that there was
little left for the other platoons.

When the Subaltern came up the "show" was over. There were a great many
dead Germans lying, as they had died, behind the embankment. The thought
of taking something which they had worn never occurred to him. If it had
been he would have dismissed it on the grounds that there was no means
of sending such things home, while to add to the weight and worry of his
kit by carrying a "Pickelhaube" about, indefinitely, for the rest of
the campaign, was, of course, unthinkable.

Then the "rally" sounded, and the companies that had taken part in the
attack began to re-form. There was a considerable delay before two of
the platoons appeared at the rallying point. The men did not come in a
body but by driblets. He began to get nervous about the other two
Subalterns, and in a few minutes went to see what had happened to them.

"Lord bless you, sir, 'e's all right," said a man in answer to the
Subaltern's inquiry. "We wouldn't let no harm come to '_im_." The man
who spoke was an old soldier whom he knew well, tall, wiry,
commanding--the sort of man that a young officer leans upon, and who,
reciprocally, relies on his officer. In the old Peace days, if any
special job that required intelligence or reliance were going, he always
saw that this man got it. He had made a sort of pet of him; and now he
was openly, frankly displaying a state of mind akin to worship towards
another officer. It was defection, rank desertion. A ridiculous feeling
of jealousy surged up in the Subaltern's mind, as he turned back towards
the Company.

As he regained the road, many stretchers passed. They were no longer
things of tragedy, to be passed by with a shudder and averted eyes--he
was getting used to horror.

CHAPTER XX

DEFENCE

It was now midday, and the Officers of the two companies that had been
deployed gathered round the mess-cart. The remaining companies, who had
been kept in local reserve during the fight, were sent out to bury the
dead. The rain began to fall in torrents, and somehow the memory of
crouching under the mess-cart to get shelter has left a far more
definite and indelible impression upon the Subaltern's mind than the
actual moments of danger and excitement.

A large band of prisoners had been captured by our troops that day.
Small detachments had from time to time been captured ever since the
turn at Chaumes, but this was different.