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Here and there, in a scattered cordon, stood the six trusty negro soldiers leaning motionless upon their rifles, and each throwing a shadow which looked as solid as himself. But beyond this golden plain lay a low line of those black slag-heaps, with yellow sand-valleys winding between them.
He gripped the two sides with his hands to hold himself steady. The creature had got into its long, swinging, stealthy trot, its sponge-like feet making no sound upon the hard sand. Anerley leaned back with his two hands gripping hard behind him, and he whooped the creature on. The sun had already sunk behind the line of black volcanic peaks, which look like huge slag-heaps at the mouth of a mine.
They think we're nothin' in comparison with mill-owners an' that sort, but I tell you, Henry, whatever we are an' whatever we were, we're better than the people that have taken our place. We didn't tear up the earth an' cover it with slag-heaps or turn good rivers into stinkin' sewers. We didn't pollute the rivers with filth an' poison the fish!"
B Company, on the right, had only gone 200 yards before enfilade fire was directed at them through the darkness from the slag-heaps on the right. A platoon was detached to deal with it, and its garrison, fearing encirclement, gave themselves up to the 8th Worcesters, who were coming up on the other side.
Framed in the bright light of the open doorway, it seemed to McMurdo that he had never seen a more beautiful picture; the more attractive for its contrast with the sordid and gloomy surroundings. A lovely violet growing upon one of those black slag-heaps of the mines would not have seemed more surprising.
Slag-heaps, sandbags, and desolate mounds of earth formed the scenery for his debut, while the orchestra consisted of rum jars and rifle grenades. D Company it was who had lost a sergeant through a German sniper; and the fact was duly reported.
Sometimes a mud-brick wall may be entirely denuded away, yet the position is shown by the sharp edge of the strew of potsherds on the surface. Look for any slag-heaps; these are the remains of lime burning, and show where stone buildings existed; sometimes foundations still remain.
The motor stops. This is a Headquarters, and a staff officer comes out to greet us a boy in looks, but a D.S.O. all the same! His small car precedes us as a guide, and we keep up with him as best we may. These are mining villages we are passing through, and on the horizon are some of those pyramidal slag-heaps the Fosses which have seen some of the fiercest fighting of the war.
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