hem drone
intolerably. Thunder-clap followed thunder-clap, long jets of white
flame pierced the darkness, and now and again the very air seemed to
kindle, and brilliant sheets and shreds of flame blazed and crackled
round us. Above there was a noise as though thousands of devilish
creatures were rushing along, helter-skelter, with inconceivable
rapidity, howling, shrieking, screaming, wailing, laughing, exulting,
whistling and gibbering.

The shells burst over and beyond the belt of trees in front of us.
Vivid, multicoloured scintillations and innumerable glittering stars
flashed out and thronged the sky. At times the shells fell so thickly
that a white flame of dazzling brilliancy would dart writhing along the
tree-tops with lightning speed. The booming of the guns and the terrible
screeching of the shells continued unabated. We were blinded, deafened,
and all our senses were confused.

At last the tumult began to die down. I looked round, curious to see
the effect on the other men. Frequent flashes still lit up every detail
of our surroundings.

Everyone had stopped working. Most of us were gazing ahead, thoroughly
scared. Standing next to me was someone who said he had always wanted to
see a bombardment and now he was satisfied. He was not at all
frightened, being one of the few who realized that we had been in no
danger. By the light of the gun-flashes I saw, a few yards in front of
me, one of our men, a young nervous fellow, stretched out at full
length, trembling, and sobbing hysterically and clutching at the grass
with hands that opened and closed in mad spasms. Another man was
cowering down by one of the trucks, his face buried in his arms.

Our Sergeant approached. He was quite unafraid and had a rather bored
look on his face. Two men were walking beside him. One of them, a
Corporal, who a few hours before had complained that we were having no
excitement, was saying in a strained, halting voice, that he felt very
unwell, that he had hurt his knee, and would like to go back to camp.
The other, a small, broad-shouldered, full-chested, squat individual,
with a flat nose and a brutal face--the champion light-weight boxer of
our unit--implored the Sergeant in whining tones to let him go home. The
Sergeant, however, told him to shut up and go on with his work.

Gradually the firing became less and less frequent, until finally it
died down altogether. Soon the big yellow disc of the moon rose above
the tree-tops