"In the Army you are certain to receive what you get."—Trench2 Proverb.
A rifleman lay snoring in the soft slush on the floor of the trench, his arms doubled under him, his legs curved up so that the knees reached the man's jaw3. As I touched him he shuffled4 a little, turned on his side, seeking a more comfortable position in the mud, and fell asleep again. A light glowed in the dug-out and someone in there was singing in a low voice a melancholy5 ragtime6 song. No doubt a fire was now lit in the corner near the wall, my sleeping place, and Bill Teake was there preparing a mess-tin of tea.
The hour was twilight7, the hour of early stars and early star-shells, of dreams and fancies and longings8 for home. It is then that all objects take on strange shapes, when every jutting9 traverse becomes alive with queer forms, the stiff sandbag becomes a gnome10, the old dug-out, leaning wearily on[199] its props11, an ancient crone, spirits lurk12 in every nook and corner of shadows; the sleep-heavy eyes of weary men see strange visions in the dark alleys13 of war. I entered the dug-out. A little candle in a winding14 sheet flared15 dimly in a niche16 which I had cut in the wall a few days previous. Pryor was sitting on the floor, his hands clasped round his knees, and he was looking into infinite distances. Bill Teake was there, smoking a cigarette and humming his ragtime tune17. Two other soldiers were there, lying on the floor and probably asleep. One was covered with a blanket, but his face was bare, a sallow face with a blue, pinched nose, a weak, hairy jaw, and an open mouth that gaped18 at the rafters. The other man lay at his feet, breathing heavily. No fire was lit as yet.
"No rations19 have arrived?" I asked.
"No blurry20 rations," said Bill. "Never no rations now, nothink now at all. I 'ad a loaf yesterday and I left it in my pack in the trench, and when I come to look for't, it was gone."
"Who took it?" I asked.
"Ask me another!" said Bill with crushing irony21. "'Oo ate the first bloater? Wot was the size of my great grandmuvver's boots when she was twenty-one? But 'oo pinched my loaf? and men in this crush that would[200] pinch a dead mouse from a blind kitten! Yer do ask some questions, Pat!"
"Bill and I were having a discussion a moment ago," said Pryor, interrupting. "Bill maintains that the Army is not an honourable22 institution, and that no man should join it. If he knew as much as he knows now he would never have come into it. I was saying that——"
"Oh, you were talkin' through yer 'at, that's wot you were," said Bill. "The harmy a place of honour indeed! 'Oo wants to join it now? Nobody as far as I can see. The married men say to the single men, 'You go and fight, you slackers! We'll stay at 'ome; we 'ave our old women to keep!' Sayin' that, the swine!" said Bill angrily. "Them thinkin' that the single men 'ave nothin' to do but to go out and fight for other men's wives. Blimey! that ain't 'arf cheek!"
"That doesn't alter the fact that our cause is just," said Pryor. "The Lord God of Hosts is with us yet, and the Church says that all men should fight—except clergymen."
"And why shouldn't them parsons fight?" asked Bill. "They say, 'Go and God bless you' to us, and then they won't fight themselves. It's against the laws of God, they say. If we 'ad all the clergymen, all the M.P.'s, the Kaiser and Crown Prince, Krupp and von Kluck, and all these 'ere blokes wot tell us[201] to fight, in these 'ere trenches23 for a week, the war would come to an end very sudden."
Pryor rose and tried to light a fire. Wood was very scarce, the paper was wet and refused to burn.
"No fire to-night," said Bill in a despondent24 voice. "Two pieces of wood on a brazier is no go; they look like two crossbones on a 'earse."
"Are rations coming up to-night?" I asked. The ration wagons26 had been blown to pieces on the road the night before and we were very hungry now.
"I suppose our grub will get lost this night again," said Bill. "It's always the way. I wish I was shot like that bloke there."
"Where?" I asked.
"There," answered Bill, pointing at the man with the blue and pinched face who lay in the corner. "'E's gone West."
"No," I said. "He's asleep!"
"'E'll not get up at revelly, 'im," said Bill. "'E's out of the doin's for good. 'E got wounded at the door and we took 'im in. 'E died." ...
I approached the prostrate27 figure, examined him, and found that Bill spoke28 the truth.
"A party has gone down to Maroc for rations," said Pryor, lighting29 a cigarette and puffing30 the smoke up towards the roof. "They'll be back by eleven, I hope. That's[202] if they're not blown to pieces. A lot of men got hit going down last night, and then there was no grub when they got to the dumping ground."
"This man," I said, pointing to the snoring figure on the ground. "He is all right?"
"Dead beat only," said Pryor; "but otherwise safe. I am going to have a kip now if I can."
So saying he bunched up against the wall, leant his elbow on the brazier that refused to burn, and in a few seconds he was fast asleep. Bill and I lay down together, keeping as far away as we could from the dead man, and did our best to snatch a few minutes' repose31.
We nestled close to the muddy floor across which the shadows of the beams and sandbags crept in ghostly play. Now the shadows bunched into heaps, again they broke free, lacing and interlacing as the lonely candle flared from its niche in the wall.
The air light and rustling32 was full of the scent33 of wood smoke from a fire ablaze34 round the traverse, of the smell of mice, and the soft sounds and noises of little creeping things.
Shells travelling high in air passed over our dug-out; the Germans were shelling the Loos Road and the wagons that were coming along there. Probably that one just gone over had hit the ration wagon25. The light of the candle failed and died: the night full[203] of depth and whispering warmth swept into the dug-out, cloaked the sleeping and the dead, and settled, black and ghostly, in the corners. I feel asleep.
Bill tugging35 at my tunic36 awoke me from a horrible nightmare. In my sleep I had gone with the dead man from the hut out into the open. He walked with me, the dead man, who knew that he was dead. I tried to prove to him that it was not quite the right and proper thing to do, to walk when life had left the body. But he paid not a sign of heed37 to my declamation38. In the open space between our line and that of the Germans the dead man halted and told me to dig a grave for him there. A shovel39 came into my hand by some strange means and I set to work with haste; if the Germans saw me there they would start to shell me. The sooner I got the job done the better.
"Deep?" I asked the man when I had laboured for a space. There was no answer. I looked up at the place where he stood to find the man gone. On the ground was a short white stump40 of bone. This I was burying when Bill shook me.
"Rations 'ave come, Pat," he said.
"What's the time now?" I asked, getting to my feet and looking round. A fresh candle had been lit; the dead man still lay in the corner, but Pryor was asleep in the blanket.
[204]
"About midnight," said my mate, "or maybe a bit past. Yer didn't 'arf 'ave a kip."
"I was dreaming," I said. "Thought I was burying a man between the German lines."
"You'll soon be burying a man or two," said Bill.
"Who are to be buried?" I asked.
"The ration party."
"What!"
"The men copped it comin' up 'ere," said Bill. "Three of 'em were wiped out complete. The others escaped. I went out with Murney and O'Meara and collared the grub. I'm just goin' to light a fire now."
"I'll help you," I said, and began to cut a fresh supply of wood which had come from nowhere in particular with my clasp-knife.
A fire was soon burning merrily, a mess-tin of water was singing, and Bill had a few slices of bacon on the mess-tin lid ready to go on the brazier when the tea came off.
"This is wot I call comfy," he said. "Gawd, I'm not arf 'ungry. I could eat an 'oss."
I took off the tea, Bill put the lid over the flames and in a moment the bacon was sizzling.
"Where's the bread, Bill?" I asked.
"In that there sandbag," said my mate, pointing to a bag beside the door.
I opened the bag and brought out the loaf.[205] It felt very moist. I looked at it and saw that it was coloured dark red.
"What's this?" I asked.
"Wot?" queried41 Bill, kicking Pryor to waken him.
"This bread has a queer colour," I said. "See it, Pryor."
Pryor gazed at it with sleep-heavy eyes.
"It's red," he muttered.
"Its colour is red," I said.
"Red," said Bill. "Well, we're damned 'ungry any'ow. I'd eat it if it was covered with rat poison."
"How did it happen?" I asked.
"Well, it's like this," said Bill. "The bloke as was carryin' it got 'it in the chest. The rations fell all round 'im and 'e fell on top of 'em. That's why the loaf is red."
We were very hungry, and hungry men are not fastidious.
We made a good meal.
When we had eaten we went out and buried the dead.
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1
ration
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| n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应 | |
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2
trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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3
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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4
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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6
ragtime
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| n.拉格泰姆音乐 | |
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7
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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8
longings
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| 渴望，盼望( longing的名词复数 ) | |
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9
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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10
gnome
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| n.土地神；侏儒，地精 | |
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11
props
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| 小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋 | |
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12
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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13
alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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14
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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15
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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16
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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17
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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18
gaped
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| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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19
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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20
blurry
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| adj.模糊的；污脏的，污斑的 | |
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21
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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22
honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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23
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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24
despondent
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| adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的 | |
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25
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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26
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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27
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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28
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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29
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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30
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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31
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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32
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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33
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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34
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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35
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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36
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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37
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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38
declamation
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| n. 雄辩，高调 | |
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39
shovel
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| n.铁锨，铲子，一铲之量；v.铲，铲出 | |
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40
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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41
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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