The ground was rough, and the darkness thick; it was past midnight when they reached the east-and-west road — usually full of traffic, and not entirely7 deserted8 even on a night like this. Trains of horses were splashing through the mud, with shells on their backs, empty supply wagons9 were coming back from the front. Claude and Hicks paused by the ditch, hoping to get a ride. The rain began to fall with such violence that they looked about for shelter. Stumbling this way and that, they ran into a big artillery10 piece, the wheels sunk over the hubs in a mud-hole.
“Who’s there?” called a quick voice, unmistakably British.
“American infantrymen, two of us. Can we get onto one of your trucks till this lets up?”
“Oh, certainly! We can make room for you in here, if you’re not too big. Speak quietly, or you’ll waken the Major.” Giggles12 and smothered13 laughter; a flashlight winked14 for a moment and showed a line of five trucks, the front and rear ones covered with tarpaulin15 tents. The voices came from the shelter next the gun. The men inside drew up their legs and made room for the strangers; said they were sorry they hadn’t anything dry to offer them except a little rum. The intruders accepted this gratefully.
The Britishers were a giggly16 lot, and Claude thought, from their voices, they must all be very young. They joked about their Major as if he were their schoolmaster. There wasn’t room enough on the truck for anybody to lie down, so they sat with their knees under their chins and exchanged gossip. The gun team belonged to an independent battery that was sent about over the country, “wherever needed.” The rest of the battery had got through, gone on to the east, but this big gun was always getting into trouble; now something had gone wrong with her tractor and they couldn’t pull her out. They called her “Jenny,” and said she was taken with fainting fits now and then, and had to be humoured. It was like going about with your grandmother, one of the invisible Tommies said, “she is such a pompous17 old thing!” The Major was asleep on the rear truck; he was going to get the V.C. for sleeping. More giggles.
No, they hadn’t any idea where they were going; of course, the officers knew, but artillery officers never told anything. What was this country like, anyhow? They were new to this part, had just come down from Verdure.
Claude said he had a friend in the air service up there; did they happen to know anything about Victor Morse?
Morse, the American ace5? Hadn’t he heard? Why, that got into the London papers. Morse was shot down inside the Hun line three weeks ago. It was a brilliant affair. He was chased by eight Boche planes, brought down three of them, put the rest to flight, and was making for base, when they turned and got him. His machine came down in flames and he jumped, fell a thousand feet or more.
“Then I suppose he never got his leave?” Claude asked.
They didn’t know. He got a fine citation18.
The men settled down to wait for the weather to improve or the night to pass. Some of them fell into a doze19, but Claude felt wide awake. He was wondering about the flat in Chelsea; whether the heavy-eyed beauty had been very sorry, or whether she was playing “Roses of Picardy” for other young officers. He thought mournfully that he would never go to London now. He had quite counted on meeting Victor there some day, after the Kaiser had been properly disposed of. He had really liked Victor. There was something about that fellow . . . a sort of debauched baby, he was, who went seeking his enemy in the clouds. What other age could have produced such a figure? That was one of the things about this war; it took a little fellow from a little town, gave him an air and a swagger, a life like a movie-film, — and then a death like the rebel angels.
A man like Gerhardt, for instance, had always lived in a more or less rose-colored world; he belonged over here, really. How could he know what hard moulds and crusts the big guns had broken open on the other side of the sea? Who could ever make him understand how far it was from the strawberry bed and the glass cage in the bank, to the sky-roads over Verdure?
By three o’clock the rain had stopped. Claude and Hicks set off again, accompanied by one of the gun team who was going back to get help for their tractor. As it began to grow light, the two Americans wondered more and more at the extremely youthful appearance of their companion. When they stopped at a shell-hole and washed the mud from their faces, the English boy, with his helmet off and the weather stains removed, showed a countenance20 of adolescent freshness, almost girlish; cheeks like pink apples, yellow curls above his forehead, long, soft lashes21.
“You haven’t been over very long, have you?” Claude asked in a fatherly tone, as they took the road again.
“I came out in ‘sixteen. I was formerly22 in the infantry11.”
The Americans liked to hear him talk; he spoke23 very quickly, in a high, piping voice.
“How did you come to change?”
“Oh, I belonged to one of the Pal24 Battalions25, and we got cut to pieces. When I came out of hospital, I thought I’d try another branch of the service, seeing my pals27 were gone.”
“Now, just what is a Pal Battalion26?” drawled Hicks. He hated all English words he didn’t understand, though he didn’t mind French ones in the least.
“Fellows who signed up together from school,” the lad piped.
Hicks glanced at Claude. They both thought this boy ought to be in school for some time yet, and wondered what he looked like when he first came over.
“And you got cut up, you say?” he asked sympathetically.
“Yes, on the Somme. We had rotten luck. We were sent over to take a trench2 and couldn’t. We didn’t even get to the wire. The Hun was so well prepared that time, we couldn’t manage it. We went over a thousand, and we came back seventeen.”
“A hundred and seventeen?”
“No, seventeen.”
Hicks whistled and again exchanged looks with Claude. They could neither of them doubt him. There was something very unpleasant about the idea of a thousand fresh-faced schoolboys being sent out against the guns. “It must have been a fool order,” he commented. “Suppose there was some mistake at Headquarters?”
“Oh, no, Headquarters knew what it was about! We’d have taken it, if we’d had any sort of luck. But the Hun happened to be full of fight. His machine guns did for us.”
“You were hit yourself?” Claude asked him.
“In the leg. He was popping away at me all the while, but I wriggled28 back on my tummy. When I came out of the hospital my leg wasn’t strong, and there’s less marching in the artillery.
“I should think you’d have had about enough.”
“Oh, a fellow can’t stay out after all his chums have been killed! He’d think about it all the time, you know,” the boy replied in his clear treble.
Claude and Hicks got into Headquarters just as the cooks were turning out to build their fires. One of the Corporals took them to the officers’ bath, — a shed with big tin tubs, and carried away their uniforms to dry them in the kitchen. It would be an hour before the officers would be about, he said, and in the meantime he would manage to get clean shirts and socks for them.
“Say, Lieutenant29,” Hicks brought out as he was rubbing himself down with a real bath towel, “I don’t want to hear any more about those Pal Battalions, do you? It gets my goat. So long as we were going to get into this, we might have been a little more previous. I hate to feel small.” “Guess we’ll have to take our medicine,” Claude said dryly, “There wasn’t anywhere to duck, was there? I felt like it. Nice little kid. I don’t believe American boys ever seem as young as that.”
“Why, if you met him anywhere else, you’d be afraid of using bad words before him, he’s so pretty! What’s the use of sending an orphan30 asylum31 out to be slaughtered32? I can’t see it,” grumbled33 the fat sergeant. “Well, it’s their business. I’m not going to let it spoil my breakfast. Suppose we’ll draw ham and eggs, Lieutenant?”
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1
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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2
trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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4
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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5
ace
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| n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的 | |
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6
squint
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| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
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7
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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8
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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9
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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10
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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11
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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12
giggles
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| n.咯咯的笑( giggle的名词复数 )；傻笑；玩笑；the giggles 止不住的格格笑v.咯咯地笑( giggle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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13
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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14
winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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15
tarpaulin
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| n.涂油防水布，防水衣，防水帽 | |
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16
giggly
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| adj.傻笑的，吃吃笑的 | |
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17
pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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18
citation
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| n.引用，引证，引用文；传票 | |
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19
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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20
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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22
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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23
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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24
pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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25
battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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26
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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27
pals
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| n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙 | |
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28
wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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29
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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31
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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32
slaughtered
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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