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Updated: June 9, 2025
E.W. Styles who was attached to the 149th Trench-Mortar Battery was unhappily killed during the German offensive; a great friend whom I shall always miss. My bombing orderly, L.-C. Fairclough, was also killed during the same operations. When I joined the 7th N.F. they were stationed at St. Jean in Alnwick Camp. And here the battalion said good-bye to the Brigade.
"So far, so good," Fairclough said; "but I am afraid that we shall be disturbed, before we have made another trip. No doubt, some of the natives followed the cutter along the shore, yesterday. I don't suppose they recognized what your object was, as you did not enter the stream; but when they saw the brig going the same way this morning, I have no doubt that they set off in this direction.
Harry did not hear the answer, when Hardy returned, but Fairclough said to him: "It has gone down another quarter of an inch since I looked at it, half an hour ago; and it was as low, then, as I have ever seen it. "Mr. Hardy, you had better send the men aloft, and furl the main top-sail, altogether; and run down the fore stay-sail. We can get it up again, as soon as the first burst is over.
Presently, this seemed to roll down the mast, till it reached the top-sail yard; then it broke into two, and these rolled out until they remained stationary, one at each end of the yard. Harry had never seen this phenomenon before. "What is it?" he asked Fairclough, in an awed voice. "They are often seen, before the outburst of a severe tempest.
A mere handful of men, gaunt, hollow-cheeked, and exhausted, their faces dead white and their clothes almost in rags, it was one of the saddest parades I can remember. During this visit to the line I first had the services of Pte. Fairclough of the 5th N.F. as my Brigade Bombing Orderly, and he remained with me in that capacity till I left the Brigade in 1918.
"Let half your men go on with their work, Mr. Hardy, and the others stand to their arms." Not a single foe was visible, but the arrows still flew fast from among the trees. "Open fire!" Fairclough said. "Fire anywhere among the bushes. I don't suppose that we shall hit them, but it may frighten them. They can't know much about firearms."
"Wait a minute, till it has cleared off a little," the lieutenant said; and then, to the midshipman who had accompanied him: "Go to the captain, and tell him that there is more smoke than I like, and ask him to come below. Tell him I think the pumps had better be rigged, and the hose passed down." Fairclough, who was accompanied by Harry, joined him just as he was about to descend the ladder.
This varied, in width, from two miles to a quarter of a mile; and the depth of water, at the eastern extremity of the straits, was found to be insufficient for vessels of a large tonnage, though navigable for ordinary native craft. The island itself was some twenty-five miles long and fifteen miles wide; being, as Fairclough calculated, about a third larger than the Isle of Wight.
You will, of course, wish to deliver your despatch personally to him and, as we shall acquaint him with its import, he will no doubt be prepared to give you an answer, forthwith." Without further words, the officials returned to their boats. "They are a surly set of beggars," Fairclough said, as they rowed off. "I don't think there is much chance of cooperation in that quarter.
"There is not much doubt what the reply will be," Fairclough said. "No; and on the whole, I don't see that the Governor is to be blamed; though of course, he has not given us the principal reason, which is his objection to our flag being seen flying beside the Dutch among the islands. Still, there is a good deal in what he says." "I think so, too.
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