THE FIRST HUNDRED THOUSAND Being the Unofficial Chronicle of a Unit of "K(1)" BY IAN HAY [Illustration: CAPTAIN IAN HAY BEITH] By Ian Hay PIP: A ROMANCE OF YOUTH. GETTING TOGETHER. THE FIRST HUNDRED THOUSAND. SCALLY: THE STORY OF A PERFECT GENTLEMAN. With Frontispiece. A KNIGHT ON WHEELS. HAPPY-GO-LUCKY. Illustrated by Charles E. Brock. A SAFETY MATCH. With frontispiece. A MAN'S MAN. With frontispiece. THE RIGHT STUFF. With frontispiece. TO MY WIFE PUBLISHERS' NOTE The "Junior Sub," who writes the following account of the experiences of some of the first hundred thousand of Kitchener's army, is, as the title-page of the volume now reveals, Ian Hay Beith, author of those deservedly popular novels, _The Right Stuff, A Man's Man, A Safety Match_, and _Happy-Go-Lucky_. Captain Beith, who was born in 1876 and therefore narrowly came within the age limit for military service, enlisted at the first outbreak of hostilities in the summer of 1914, and was made a sub-lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. After training throughout the fall and winter at Aldershot, he accompanied his regiment to the front in April, and, as his narrative discloses, immediately saw some very active service and rapidly rose to the rank of captain. In the offensive of September, Captain Beith's division was badly cut up and seriously reduced in numbers. He has lately been transferred to a machine-gun division, and "for some mysterious reason"--as he characteristically puts it in a letter to his publishers,--has been recommended for the military cross. The story of _The First Hundred Thousand_ was originally contributed in the form of an anonymous narrative to _Blackwood's Magazine_. Writing to his publishers, last May, Captain Beith describes the circumstances under which it was written:-- "I write this from the stone floor of an outhouse, where the pig meal is first accumulated and then boiled up at a particularly smelly French farm, which is saying a good deal. It is a most interesting life, and if I come through the present unpleasantness I shall have enough copy to last me twenty years. Meanwhile, I am using _Blackwood's Magazine_ as a safety-valve under a pseudonym." It is these "safety-valve" papers that are here offered to the American public in their completeness,--a picture of the great struggle uniquely rich in graphic human detail. 4 PARK STREET CONTENTS BOOK ONE BLANK CARTRIDGES I. AB OVO II. THE DAILY GRIND III. GROWING PAINS IV. THE CONVERSION OF PRIVATE M'SLATTERY V. "CRIME" VI. THE LAWS OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS VII. SHOOTING STRAIGHT VIII. BILLETS IX. MID-CHANNEL X. DEEDS OF DARKNESS XI. OLYMPUS XII. ... AND SOME FELL BY THE WAYSIDE XIII. CONCERT PITCH BOOK TWO LIVE ROUNDS