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Barry Whalen thought carefully of what he should say, because the instinct of the friend who loved his friend had told him that, since the night at De Lancy Scovel's house when the name of Mennaval had been linked so hatefully with that of Byng's wife, there had been a cloud over Rudyard's life; and that Rudyard and Jasmine were not the same as of yore. "Naturally she was upset," he repeated.
Byng's attack on the 21st was along a ten-mile front north of the Ancre, and the first day gave him Beaucourt, Achiet-le-Petit, Bucquoy, Courcelles, and Moyenneville. On the 22nd he extended his attack from Albert to the Somme and advanced two miles to a line between Albert and Bray.
Simultaneously Byng's army pressed forward from Bapaume to the Canal du Nord which runs north from Péronne. But this after all was ground we had held for a year in 1917-18, and the Hindenburg lines might serve the Germans as well in 1918-19. More significant of the coming debacle was the success of Horne's First Army, which now intervened and extended the line of Byng's attack.
Byng-bahadur "Byng the Brigadier" was in command of a force again within three days of the news of the first massacre; and because he was Byng, with Byng's record, and Byng's ability to handle loyal natives, the men who succeeded to the reins packed him off at once with a free hand, and with no other orders than to hit, hit hard, and keep on hitting. "Go for them, Byng, old man.
There were no American troops in General Byng's drive. The forces were composed solely of English, Scots, Irish and Welsh a combination that more than once before in this war had proved too much for the Germans to combat successfully. It was a happy army that slept on reconquered territory on the night of November 20,1917. Men talked of nothing but the most glorious victory since the Marne.
Mappin, the celebrated surgeon, looked round the little group of which he was the centre at Glencader, Rudyard Byng's castle in Wales.
"It isn't a very long story," said Major Derevaux. "As you perhaps know, General Byng's drive against the Germans has been one of the greatest successes since the Battle of the Marne." Hal nodded. "Well," the major continued, "I have been stationed with General Pitain at Verdun, where I last saw you.
The old man had to be carried to Byng's tent, for a round shot had disabled him, and he had himself set down by the tent-door, where the General sat on a camp-stool. "General-sahib, I have not been asked for advice; I am here to offer it." The huge black dome of heaven was punctuated by a billion dots of steely white that looked like pin-pricks.
The French won the copse round the house, but a party of the British Guards held the house itself throughout the day. The whole of Byng's brigade was required to man this hotly-contested post. Amid shell and shot, and the blazing fragments of part of the buildings, this obstinate contest was continued.
The king refused to pardon, and Byng was accordingly shot. The expedition against Minorca was begun while nominal peace still lasted. On the 17th of May, three days before Byng's battle, England declared war, and France replied on the 20th of June. On the 28th, Port Mahon surrendered, and Minorca passed into the hands of France.
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