e position! Surrender to the men whom we had sworn to conquer! The
Army which had set out to make an advance must not surrender!

I was dog-tired, and a bit stupefied; but that was the feeling which
possessed me. I remember that a dead German lay in the trench close
behind me, and that his rifle had fallen from his nerveless hand.
Seizing the rifle by the barrel, I blindly and recklessly attacked
them; I had a grim sort of feeling that if I was to die, I would die
fighting. I remember, too, that I comforted myself with the thought
that no one depended on me, and that I had no near relatives to bemoan
my death.

It may be that my position gave me an advantage, otherwise they, being
three, must have mastered me easily, although one of them was badly
wounded; still, one desperate man can do much. I was thirty-nine years
of age, and although not bred a soldier, I was an athlete. I was an
old rowing blue, too, and that means good muscles and a strong heart.
I weighed only a little over twelve stone, but I had not an ounce of
spare flesh, and I was desperate. I had a little advantage in reach,
too; I am over six feet in height, and long in limb.

But it was an unequal battle, and I knew they were bearing me down.
One of my arms was numb, too; I expect it was from a blow, although I
never felt it. I saw the look of murder in their eyes, as little by
little they pressed me back. Then a change came.

It seems like a fantastic dream now, and the new-comer appeared to me
more like a visitant from another world than tangible flesh and blood.
I expect it was because my eyesight was failing me. My strength was
gone, and I remember panting for life, while sparks of fire flitted
before my eyes. I fell against the side of the trench, and watched the
new-comer, who leapt upon two of the Germans, and hurled them from him
as though they had been five-year-old children. It seemed to me that I
had never seen such a feat of strength. A second later I knew that my
antagonists would never fight again, and then my own senses departed.

'It's all right, sir, it's all right! You'll be as fresh as a daisy in
a few minutes. There, that's better. You've fought a great fight!'

The voice seemed to stir something within me, and I felt myself in my
right mind with a flash. Moreover, he had taken me to a place of
comparative safety.

'Edgecumbe!' I cried, 'how in Heaven's name----!

'I've turned up like a bad penny, sir, haven't