reafter.

I cannot speak as they deserve of the gallant work of the Indian
regiments. The severity of their losses is eloquent testimony. 'Boomer'
Barrett came down the field, shot through the face, cheerfully
announcing his good luck: 'I've got a soft one, right through the
cheek.' I have spoken of the 53rd Sikhs. They lost their four senior
officers, killed. But every regiment had brave leaders to mourn. One
thinks with grief and admiration of that commander, a noble and greatly
beloved man, whom a bullet struck down, so that he died without
recovering consciousness several days later. Though the body's tasks
were finished, his mind worked on the fact that his men had been
temporarily checked, and he kept up the cry, 'What will they say in
England? The ---- fell back; ---- failed them.' Even so, when duty has
become life's ruling atmosphere,

One stern tyrannic thought which makes
All other thoughts its slave,

it matters little that the body should fail. The mind labours yet,
fulfilling its unconscious allegiance.

He went, unterrified,
Into the Gulf of Death.

In my aid-post we carried on, secure beneath our canopy of racing
shells. The slope gave cover against 'over' bullets, except when it was
necessary to walk about. Early in the afternoon, during a lull, a
doctor appeared and asked if it was safe to bring up his ambulances. I
told him 'Yes'; there were dropping bullets, but very little
shell-fire. He replied that he would come immediately. But the supply
of shells greatly quickened, and he did not appear again till near
darkness, when he brought two motor ambulances, taking five sitting and
four lying cases in each. He promised to return, but did not. Apart
from these eighteen, only the walking wounded got away, pushing back
into our noisy and perilous hinterland.

About four o'clock the Turks, in reply to our intense bombardment, put
a brief but terrific fire on the mounds, blowing up men on every side.
I decided to clear out to where, round the corner, an old wall gave
upright shelter. As our first exodus swung round, a huddled, hobbling
mass, two 'coal-boxes' burst in quick succession, each closer than the
last shell before it. I shouted 'Duck!' We ducked, then made a few
yards and ducked for the second time. A perfect sleet of wind and steel
seemed to pass overhead. But no one was hit, and we were round the
corner, where, I fear, I dropped the Cherub with considerable emphasis
on h