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It seemed that the walls of the trenches had been built out of corpses, for one recognised the uniforms of French men and Huns. They were built out of them, though whether by design or accident it was impossible to tell. We came to a group of men, doing some repairing; that part of the trench had evidently been strafed last night.
As he sat staring he spoke now and then, spoke to himself, for there was no one to listen to him. "We beat them," he said once. "We gave them the damnedest beating. We strafed them proper, and they ran. The Prussian Guards they was." His accent betrayed him. He must have come from Lancashire, from some grimy Lancashire town, from Warrington or Bolton, from Liverpool itself perhaps, or Manchester.
They bombed and strafed the little farm-towns and villages. They scattered radioactives that killed as many as the bombing. And after they had gone away, this other ship came." "The Damnthing? She bore the head of a beast with three very big horns?" "That's the one. They did a little damage, at first. When the captain found out what had happened to us, he left some food and medicines for us."
"Either," said Dick, "we must break through the bars of Melchard's cage, or keep hidden inside it. The bosses of this mob, you see, won't give a damn how many of their people get strafed as long as they suppress us, and get back what I've got in my pocket." They were now not fifty yards from the horse-trough in front of "The Goat in Boots."
Well, that was something in the way of heavy artillery, and gradually our gun-power grew and grew, until we could "answer back," and give more than came to us; but meanwhile the New Army had to stand the racket, as the Old Army had done, being strafed by harassing fire, having their trenches blown in, and their billets smashed, and their bodies broken, at all times and in all places within range of German guns.
They were inured to the sea and its hardships; many of them were part owners of their own craft, even the man in the red Salvation Army jersey tittivating the six-pounder gun in the last little ship of the line. Exactly how they "strafed" the immoral and ubiquitous Hun submarine it is inexpedient to say.
Others are doomed to remain in the trenches for the rest of their lives not the trenches of the front-line where they've been strafed by the Hun, but the trenches of physical curtailment where self-pity will launch wave after wave of attack against them. It won't be easy not to get the "wind up." It'll be difficult to maintain normal cheerfulness.
We did not know what the row was about, but suppose that the officer in charge had been thus strafed in public, either for bringing us there or allowing us to have beer. At any rate, we were hurried out to await our train on the platform. A small circle soon formed round us, largely made up of sailors, whom we concluded must be on indefinite leave.
I'll get strafed to blazes anyhow ... I hope you'll get me out of the scrape, sir. 'Don't you worry, my lad, I said. 'I'll make it all square when I get back to town. I'll make for Bradfield, for this place is a bit conspicuous. Goodbye, Archie. You're a good chap and I'll see you don't suffer.
"I will lend you an orderly to act as guide if it's any benefit to you." Thanking him, I gladly accepted the offer. Breakfast over, I collected my apparatus and stood to watch the sections which Fritz "strafed" the most. By practising this method it has made it possible for me to do my work in comfort on previous occasions.
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