Silently the two men stood in the trench, and suddenly from close at
hand there came the noise of a man climbing a dug-out shaft. It was
exactly as a faint cry of "'Ow's yer father?" came from a long way off
that a curtain just beside them moved, and a man, crouching slightly,
came out of a screened dug-out shaft into the trench. It must be
remembered that neither of our warriors had a rifle, and that bombs and
ammonal charges are not weapons with which to tackle a man you can
touch. They are apt to be impartial to friend and foe alike. . . .
Resource was necessary, and it is at moments such as these that the
national instinct for games is so invaluable. There was a
psychological moment as the crouching man came up into the trench with
his rifle and bayonet, when his chin was in the perfect position:
moreover, the sapper was a full back of merit. He kicked hard and
true, and if any one doubts the effect of a service boot on the point
of the jaw, no doubt he can experiment with the matter--at a small
cost. The Bavarian fell forward as if he had been pole-axed, and
having relieved him of his rifle the sapper held forth.
"There's a ruddy dug-out full of 'em, mate, wot was missed." They
peered down the opening, where a faint light showed. "They think we've
gone on, and they're coming up to see. Look, there's one."
The shadow of a man showed grotesquely in the flickering light, and
Samuel quivered with excitement.
"I'm a-going down the plurry steps," he affirmed, "an' I'll bomb 'em
from the bottom."
The next instant he was down the shaft and peering cautiously round the
corner; and having peered he let out one wild whoop and gently lobbed
his first bomb into the far corner. It was a bomber's paradise.
All round the walls in bunks were Bavarians--stout ones, thin ones,
drunk ones, sober ones--and the bunks were arranged in tiers one above
the other. Two men were up, getting on their equipment, and evidently
preparing to sally forth after the gentleman upstairs; but after the
first bomb burst the fog of war descended on that Hun hostel. Samuel
had just time to see the fearful mess up in the far corner before the
light went out, and then things moved. Shots came whizzing past his
head into the woodwork of the shaft, but Samuel didn't care a damn for
shots; had he not been bitten in the hand less than an hour previously?
Methodically he pulled out pins, and impartially he distributed his
favours in every direction, what time he softly sang a song that had
long been one of his favourites, and which dealt with the singer's
overmastering predilection for "fish and chips."
Suddenly he found the sapper behind him. "Stand by to 'op it like a
ruddy 'are," remarked that worthy tersely. "I'm a going to give 'em my
little present from Brighton, and it won't be 'ealthy when it goes off."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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