, and anybody at home talks to me about the glory of
war, I shall be d----d rude to him." That is an extract from the letter
of an officer who has seen too much of the grim and ugly side of the
campaign to find any romance in it. Yet out of all the horror there
emerge incidents of conspicuous bravery that strike across the
imagination like sunbeams, and cast a glow even in the darkest corners
of the stricken field.

Valor is neither a philosophy nor a calculation. The soldier does not
say to himself, "Look here, Atkins,

'One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name.'"

He goes into the business of war determined to get it over as quickly as
possible,[E] and when he does something stupendous, as he does nearly
ever day, it is just because the thing has to be done, and he is there
to do it. Tommy Atkins doesn't stop to think whether he is doing a brave
thing, nor does he wait for orders to do it; he just sets about it as
part of the day's work, and looks very much abashed if anybody applauds
him for it.

For instance, there is a man in the Buffs (the story is told by a driver
of the Royal Marine Artillery), who picked up a wounded comrade and
carried him for more than a mile under a vicious German fire that was
exterminating nearly everything. It was a fine act of heroism. "Yet if
anybody were to suggest the V.C. he'd break his jaw," says the writer,
"and as he's a man with a 4.7 punch the men of his regiment keep very
quiet about it."

Some fine exploits are recorded of the Artillery. When the Munster
Fusiliers were surrounded in one extended engagement a driver of the
R.F.A. named Pledge, who was shut up with them, was asked to "cut
through" and get the assistance of the Artillery. Lance-Corporal John
McMillan, Black Watch, thus describes what happened: "Pledge mounted a
horse and dashed through the German lines. His horse was brought to the
ground, and, as we afterwards discovered, he sustained severe injuries
to his legs. Nothing daunted, he got his horse on its feet, and again
set off at a great pace. To get to the artillery he had to pass down a
narrow road, which was lined with German riflemen. He did not stop,
however, but dashed through without being hit by a single bullet. He
conveyed the message to the artillery, which tore off to the assistance
of the Munsters, and saved the situation."

The saving of the guns is always an operation that calls for
intrepidity, and many expl