"Then kill this ball; go on--kill it. Damme, boy; you're jumping about like an old woman looking for a flea in a bed. Move, boy, move; the ball's the flea, and you're the old trout. Bite it, boy, bite it; stamp on it; take out your fork and stick it with that." The ball came to rest; the new arrival mopped his brow. "Did I ever tell you how to kill a man with your dinner fork, by sticking it into his neck? I will some day; it's a good death for a Hun." "Did you catch that there swine, sergeant?" Another voice from the squad took up the tale. "Did I catch him? Did I catch him? If I hadn't caught him, Percival, I wouldn't be here now. I wouldn't dare look an exempted indispensable in the face--let alone you. And for a fat man he ran well." "Didn't 'e fight?" Marmaduke had more or less recovered his breath. "Fight!" O'Shea grinned at the recollection. "He looked up; he saw me about five yards away; he gave one squawk like the female ducked-billed platypus calling to her young, and he faded round the traverse like the family do when the landlord comes for the rent. Come here, O'Sullivan--and break up the home." Marmaduke retired, to be replaced by a brawny Irishman. "I caught him, O'Sullivan--hit, man, hit--just as he reached his dug-out. Kick it, man; you can't use your butt from there. Jab, jab--you blighter; for God's sake use your gun as if you loved it. He stuck in the door, O'Sullivan, for half a second. There's the ball--that's his back. Go on. Good, good." With an awful curse the Irishman lunged and the ball dropped to the ground. "Dead," O'Shea grinned. "That's what I did; through the back. But the blamed thing stuck; I couldn't get it out. What do you do then, Marmaduke?" "Put a round in, sargint, and blow it out." "Good boy, Marmaduke. You'll be a Field-Marshal before you've done. That's what I did too; and I blew the swine down the entrance. Now then, half with sticks and half with rifles; go on--fight----" This, as I said, was one of Jimmy's better stories. Incidentally it had the merit of being true. . . .