to fire on a
tower in Farbus where a number of snipers were located. We had to go
in advance of our outposts and stay there till our boys were ready to
attack. About two o'clock we started out--our gun crew and a party
carrying bags of ammunition. Little Robbie, a boy who had joined up
with me at Moose Jaw, turned to me and said, "Well, Bob, this is where
I get mine, and I hope I'll get it right through the bean--life's no
pleasure to me." "Aw, cheer up," said I; "you may get a nice Blighty."
"No," said he; "I belong to a bunch that get it good and hard when it
comes at all." Poor Robbie!--he had lost all of his chums at Hooge,
and he seemed to know that his time had come. He got separated from us
when we were going down the hill, and he went to one of our other guns.
They told him where we were, and he started to walk across the open and
he got shot right through the head. Meanwhile we had sneaked forward,
taking advantage of a little flurry of snow, and we got as close to
Farbus as we dared to go. We set up our guns and at the appointed time
opened fire. The 27th had started down behind us, but the Germans saw
them and opened up, and they must have had the place packed with
machine guns, for a stream of lead swept over our heads. The attacking
party were almost wiped out; our officer had crawled up ahead and was
signalling us the range and how many rounds to fire. Tommy and I were
lying flat and working the gun. The officer saw that the attack was a
failure, and he came back to us and said, "Well, boys, we got down
here--now the thing is to get back. We'll take our time and make use
of all the cover we can find." So, shouldering our gun, away we went,
the officer leading. We started to climb the Ridge, and we were just
coming through a churchyard when _rat-a-tat-tat_! a machine gun spoke
to us from the town we had left. The Corporal jumped and fell, and
when we reached him he said, "Boys, I've got it." We bound him up as
best we could, and Tommy went in search of a stretcher to carry him out
on. But while he was gone, we tried to get the Corporal to walk a
little way. He was shot through the groin, and he wouldn't move no
matter how we coaxed. So the Sergeant and I got rough, and said, "Now,
look here, you've got to walk; if you don't, we will go away and leave
you here to die." This brought him to his senses, and leaning on our
shoulders he went forward slowly till we found the road, and then the