andled they should have gone through us like rotten wood. But the
whole outfit was bungled. It looked good enough country for the use of
them, but the men who made our position had had an eye to this
possibility. The great monsters, mounting a field-gun besides other
contrivances, wanted something like a highroad to be happy in. They
were useless over anything like difficult ground. The ones that came
down the main road got on well enough at the start, but Blenkiron very
sensibly had mined the highway, and we blew a hole like a diamond pit.
One lay helpless at the foot of it, and we took the crew prisoner;
another stuck its nose over and remained there till our field-guns got
the range and knocked it silly. As for the rest--there is a marshy
lagoon called the Patte d'Oie beside the farm of Gavrelle, which runs
all the way north to the river, though in most places it only seems
like a soft patch in the meadows. This the tanks had to cross to reach
our line, and they never made it. Most got bogged, and made pretty
targets for our gunners; one or two returned; and one the Americans,
creeping forward under cover of a little stream, blew up with a time
fuse.

By the middle of the afternoon I was feeling happier. I knew the big
attack was still to come, but I had my forward zone intact and I hoped
for the best. I remember I was talking to Wake, who had been going
between the two zones, when I got the first warning of a new and
unexpected peril. A dud shell plumped down a few yards from me.

'Those fools across the river are firing short and badly off the
straight,' I said.

Wake examined the shell. 'No, it's a German one,' he said.

Then came others, and there could be no mistake about the
direction--followed by a burst of machine-gun fire from the same
quarter. We ran in cover to a point from which we could see the north
bank of the river, and I got my glass on it. There was a lift of land
from behind which the fire was coming. We looked at each other, and the
same conviction stood in both faces. The Boche had pushed down the
northern bank, and we were no longer in line with our neighbours. The
enemy was in a situation to catch us with his fire on our flank and
left rear. We couldn't retire to conform, for to retire meant giving up
our prepared position.

It was the last straw to all our anxieties, and for a moment I was at
the end of my wits. I turned to Wake, and his calm eyes pulled me
together.

'If they can't re