English fiction -- 20th century; English poetry -- 20th century; Short stories, English; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
“No,” said the boy with professional scorn. “If a Runner starts
noticin’ such things he’d better chuck. In the middle of the Row, just
before the old dressin’-station you referred to, sir, it come over me
that somethin’ ahead on the duckboards was just like Auntie Armine,
waitin’ beside the door; an’ I thought to meself ’ow truly comic it
would be if she could be dumped where I was then. In ’alf a second I
saw it was only the dark an’ some rags o’ gas-screen, ’angin’ on a bit
of board, ’ad played me the trick. So I went on up to the supports an’
warned the leaf-men there, includin’ Uncle John. Then I went up Rake
Alley to warn ’em in the front line. I didn’t hurry because I didn’t
want to get there till Jerry ’ad quieted down a bit. Well, then a
Company Relief dropped in--an’ the officer got the wind up over some
lights on the flank, an’ tied ’em into knots, an’ I ’ad to hunt up me
leaf-men all over the blinkin’ shop. What with one thing an’ another,
it must ’ave been ’alf-past eight before I got back to the supports.
There I run across Uncle John, scrapin’ mud off himself, havin’
shaved--quite the dandy. He asked about the Arras train, an’ I said,
if Jerry was quiet, it might be ten o’clock. ‘Good!’ says ’e. ‘I’ll
come with you.’ So we started back down the old trench that used to run
across Halnaker, back of the support dug-outs. _You_ know, sir.”
Keede nodded.
“Then Uncle John says something to me about seein’ Ma an’ the rest of
’em in a few days, an’ had I any messages for ’em? Gawd knows what made
me do it, but I told ’im to tell Auntie Armine I never expected to see
anything like _her_ up in our part of the world. And while I told him
I laughed. That’s the last time I _’ave_ laughed. ‘Oh--you’ve seen
’er, ’ave you?’ says he, quite natural-like. Then I told ’im about the
sand-bags an’ rags in the dark, playin’ the trick. ‘Very likely,’ says
he, brushin’ the mud off his puttees. By this time, we’d got to the
corner where the old barricade into French End was--before they bombed
it down, sir. He turns right an’ climbs across it. ‘No thanks,’ says I.
‘I’ve been there once this evenin’.’ But he wasn’t attendin’ to me. He
felt behind the rubbish an’ bones just inside the barricade, an’ when
he straightened up, he had a full brazier in each hand.
“‘Come on, Clem,’ he says, an’ he very rarely give me me own name. ‘You
aren’t afraid, are you?’ he says. ‘It’s just as short, an’ if Jerry
starts up again he won’t waste stuff here. He knows it’s abandoned.’
‘Who’s afraid now?’ I says. ‘Me for one,’ says he. ‘I don’t want _my_
leaf spoiled at the last minute.’ Then ’e wheels round an’ speaks that
bit you said come out o’ the Burial Service.”
For some reason Keede repeated it in full, slowly: “If, after the
manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth
it me if the dead rise not?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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