but the human spirit can defy all natural
laws. The balance trembled, hung, and then dropped the right way. The
enemy impetus weakened, stopped, and the ebb began.

I wanted to complete the job. Our artillery put up a sharp barrage, and
the little I had left comparatively fresh I sent in for a
counter-stroke. Most of the men were untrained, but there was that in
our ranks which dispensed with training, and we had caught the enemy at
the moment of lowest vitality. We pushed him out of La Bruyere, we
pushed him back to our old forward zone, we pushed him out of that zone
to the position from which he had begun the day.

But there was no rest for the weary. We had lost at least a third of
our strength, and we had to man the same long line. We consolidated it
as best we could, started to replace the wiring that had been
destroyed, found touch with the division on our right, and established
outposts. Then, after a conference with my brigadiers, I went back to
my headquarters, too tired to feel either satisfaction or anxiety. In
eight hours the French would be here. The words made a kind of litany
in my ears.

In the cowshed where Wake had lain, two figures awaited me. The
talc-enclosed candle revealed Hamilton and Amos, dirty beyond words,
smoke-blackened, blood-stained, and intricately bandaged. They stood
stiffly to attention.

'Sirr, the prisoner,' said Hamilton. 'I have to report that the
prisoner is deid.'

I stared at them, for I had forgotten Ivery. He seemed a creature of a
world that had passed away.

'Sirr, it was like this. Ever sin' this mornin', the prisoner seemed to
wake up. Ye'll mind that he was in a kind of dream all week. But he got
some new notion in his heid, and when the battle began he exheebited
signs of restlessness. Whiles he wad lie doun in the trench, and whiles
he was wantin' back to the dug-out. Accordin' to instructions I
provided him wi' a rifle, but he didna seem to ken how to handle it. It
was your orders, sirr, that he was to have means to defend hisself if
the enemy cam on, so Amos gie'd him a trench knife. But verra soon he
looked as if he was ettlin' to cut his throat, so I deprived him of it.'

Hamilton stopped for breath. He spoke as if he were reciting a lesson,
with no stops between the sentences.

'I jaloused, sirr, that he wadna last oot the day, and Amos here was of
the same opinion. The end came at twenty minutes past three--I ken the
time, for I had just compared my wa