et to slaying....

"And they won't know what's it for?"

But did that matter? Would it be any better if they were aware of the
cause of the fight? One lived in a land and loved it. Surely, that was
sufficient?

In his mind, he could still see the soldiers, but always they were
moving in the dark. He could see very vividly the man who had asked
Perkins to write to his wife ... and it seemed to him that he was still
demanding of passers-by that they should write to her. "Tell 'er I'm all
right," he kept on saying. "So far, any'ow!..."

He turned over on his side, dragging the clothes about his head, and
tried to shut out the vision of the soldiers marching through the fields
of France, but he could not shut it out. They still marched, endlessly,
ceaselessly marched....

6

When they got to Scotland Yard, there was a great crowd of men waiting
to be enlisted.

"You'd better come again, Gilbert," Henry said. "You'll have to hang
about here all day, and then perhaps you won't be reached!"

"I think I'll hang about anyhow," Gilbert answered.

He had become queerly quiet since the beginning of the War. The old,
light-hearted, exaggerated speech had gone from him, and when he spoke,
his words were abrupt and colourless. He took his place at the end of
the file of men, and as he did so, the man in front of him, a
fringe-haired, quick-eyed youth with a muffler round his neck, turned
and greeted him. "'Illoa, myte!" he said with the cheery friendliness of
the East End. "You come too, eih?"

Gilbert answered, "Yes, I thought I might as well!"

"Well 'ave to wyte a 'ell of a time," the Cockney went on. "Some of
'em's bin 'ere since six this mornin'. Gawblimey, you'd think they was
givin' awy prizes. I dunno wot the 'ell I come for. I jus' did, sort
of!..."

Some one standing by, turned to a recruiting sergeant and whispered
something to him, pointing to the guttersnipes in the queue.

"Fight!" said the recruiting sergeant. "Gawd love you, guv'nor, they'd
fight 'ell's blazes, them chaps would!"

Henry tried again to induce Gilbert to fall out of the queue and wait
until there was more likelihood of being enlisted quickly, but Gilbert
would not be persuaded.

"You'll have to get something to eat," Henry urged. "They'll never get
near you until this evening, and if you've got to fall out to get food,
you might as well fall out now!"

"I think I'll wait," Gilbert repeated. "Perhaps," he went on, "you'll
get me so