CHAPTER XII

After their first run they began to crawl, the Corporal in front, Gunn behind him on the right, McDonald on the left. Gunn’s eyes were fixed on the Corporal’s back.

Gunn was now completely unconscious of his environment. His mind was entirely concentrated on the Corporal. As he crawled, a loud voice kept crying out within him, uttering one word: “Now.” The word appeared before his eyes like an electric sign, in varying colours, sometimes composed of enormous letters, sometimes quite tiny. The letters were made of fire and he thought he belched them from a furnace within himself. The interior of his body appeared to be full of monstrous sound, the roaring of flames. There was also, in some remote part of his body, very distant and faint, a chorus of birds, of many species, singing in beautiful harmony. The whole world had changed into sound. The sounds of his feet, touching the frosty earth, were magnified, and, as he crawled, his body seemed to rise and fall like a boat tossed from the crests of tall waves down into wave troughs and up again. The earth rolled like a sea, undulating. The air rushed past his ears with a buzzing tumult.

Now he was aware that a vast multitude of brutes was crawling with him, tracking the Corporal. He no longer feared the brutes, but felt akin to them and savagely proud of their hairy bodies and of their smell, and of their snorting breath. On all sides they rose in myriads, some enormous, some as small as ferrets, some with monstrous bellies, some as thin as snakes; all with protruding fangs and eyes that belched fire. All made the same sounds as they moved, a pattering of furred paws, like the pattering of heavy raindrops on a lake.

The Corporal halted, listened with his ear to the ground and made a sign with his hand. Gunn and McDonald halted. Then the Corporal said “up,” jumped to his feet and ran forward with a bomb in his hand. They followed him.

Gunn stumbled, fell, rose again and ran on.

The Corporal and McDonald jumped down into a hole, out of sight. Then the word, “Now,” appearing before Gunn’s eyes, expanded and burst with a crash. The sounds ceased. The flames were extinguished. For a moment he felt terribly cold. Then he growled. Instead of following the Corporal and McDonald into their hole, he rushed aside and dropped into another hole. He was panting loudly. He took out a bomb from his bag and pulled the pin. He waited, listening. The Corporal and McDonald were about eight yards away in the other hole.

“They’re gone,” said the Corporal. “See?”

“What are we to do now?” said McDonald.

“Hush!” said the Corporal. “Listen. They’re gone back there. See? Where’s Gunn?”

Then Gunn stood up in his hole and growled, “Here I am.”

He hurled the bomb into their hole.

“Christ!”

It struck McDonald in the face. He fell backwards. The bomb rolled to the ground beside him. The Corporal threw himself out of the hole and lay flat. The bomb burst, shattering McDonald’s head to a pulp, sending his steel hat flying into the air.

“There he is now,” cried Gunn, jumping out of his hole.

The Corporal raised his head, saw Guns and then jumped to his feet. The two men rushed at one another. The Corporal had his bayoneted rifle pointed. Gunn carried his rifle like a club, holding it by the barrel. He swung his weapon when he came near. The Corporal put up his weapon to ward off the blow. His rifle was knocked from his hands. He stumbled and fell. Gunn hurtled forward, tripped over the Corporal’s body and fell a few yards away, dropping his rifle.

They both got to their feet at the same time. The Corporal stooped for his rifle, but before he could catch it, Gunn was on top of him. They fell to the ground and grappled with one another. They fought in silence, breathing heavily, tossing about on the ground, rolling over and over, butting with their heads, kicking and biting like animals. In spite of Gunn’s great size and his strength, he could not overcome the Corporal, who twisted like an eel. It was impossible to hold him.

Then, suddenly, Gunn gathered himself together and threw his whole weight on the Corporal, pinning him to the ground. The Corporal began to gnash his teeth.

“Now,” cried Gunn, and again the word appeared before his eyes in letters of fire.

Then with his chest pressed against the Corporal’s writhing body, he slowly sought the throat, found it and enlaced it with his fingers and pressed fiercely. The Corporal began to go limp. Then he lay still.

Gunn clutched the throat for a long time after the Corporal had become still. Then, uttering queer sounds, he began to mangle the body with his bare hands.

Now he was really an animal, brutish, with dilated eyes, with his face bloody.

Suddenly he got up, looked about him furtively and ran off, crouching. He set out in the direction of the enemy, moving at a jog trot. Then he changed direction and began to trot about in a zig-zag course, mumbling.

They began to fire at him from somewhere. Hearing the shots he halted and uttered a queer cry, like the bellow of an animal. Then he ran on bellowing.

A bullet struck him. He fell and then jumped up at once. He waved his arms about his head and ran on, bellowing.

He was running around in a circle.

Then they turned a machine-gun on him and brought him down.

Riddled with bullets, he died, bellowing and clawing the earth.

Later, Reilly came with two Lewis gunners to look for the raiding party. When they examined Gunn they found his face and hands covered with the Corporal’s gore.

Next day, the battalion was relieved.

No. 4048 Private Daniel Reilly was the only one of Corporal Williams’ section who came back alive.

THE END