behind, parallel to the lines. In peace-time manoeuvres one
had generally been told the direction from which to expect the enemy,
hours before he actually came; now, when the great game was being played
in real earnest, he found that he had to guess. The Uhlans might have
come unsuspecting along the road, in which case the game would be his;
or they might come blundering along from somewhere in the rear and
enfilade him, in which case the game would most assuredly be theirs.
Fortunately, the Uhlans did not come at all.

Meanwhile a very rare and lucky circumstance was beginning to be
apparent. The enemy were actually attacking from the direction they
were expected! But this was only to be a rear-guard action, so he never
saw his rations or letters again, after all.

The Senior Subaltern was left to "hold out" in a small cottage in the
firing-line until the rest had "got away." With characteristic
forethought and presence of mind he not only got his men away without
loss, but seized all luxuries in the place!

As on the day before, in getting clear away from the enemy, the Company
had to pass a large stretch of ground which was being literally peppered
with shrapnel. The noise was louder than it had seemed on the previous
day. Thunder seemed muffled beside it. Moreover, thunder rolled--seemed
to spread itself into space--but not so with bursting shells. The clap
of sound caused by one is more confined, more localised, more intense.
The earth seems to quiver under it. It suggests splitting, a terrible
splitting. Only the nerves of the young and healthy can stand it. It
would not be so bad if one could see the thing whistling through the
air, or even when it bursts; but one cannot. After the crash a man may
scream or moan, totter and fall, but for all one can see he might have
been struck down by the wrath of God.

The road safely reached, the retreat was continued, but under very
trying circumstances for the Company. The Brigadier in charge of the
rear-guard action, not having sufficient cavalry at his disposal,
ordered the Company to take up the role of flank-guard to the retreating
column. The Company, extended over a long front, had to move across
rough country, intersected with all sorts of obstacles, at the same rate
as the infantry on the road, "which," as Euclid says, "is impossible."
In war, however, the logically "impossible" is not impossible really,
only very fatiguing.

Things grew from bad to worse. The