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took Gavrelle a little later. I am glad to think that they read that inscription. XXII The Summons Comes for Mr. Standfast

I slept for one and three-quarter hours that night, and when I awoke I seemed to emerge from deeps of slumber which had lasted for days. That happens sometimes after heavy fatigue and great mental strain. Even a short sleep sets up a barrier between past and present which has to be elaborately broken down before you can link on with what has happened before. As my wits groped at the job some drops of rain splashed on my face through the broken roof. That hurried me out-of-doors. It was just after dawn and the sky was piled with thick clouds, while a wet wind blew up from the southwest. The long-prayed-for break in the weather seemed to have come at last. A deluge of rain was what I wanted, something to soak the earth and turn the roads into watercourses and clog the enemy transport, something above all to blind the enemyā€™s eyesā ā€Šā ā€¦ For I remembered what a preposterous bluff it all had been, and what a piteous broken handful stood between the Germans and their goal. If they knew, if they only knew, they would brush us aside like flies.

As I shaved I looked back on the events of yesterday as on something that had happened long ago. I seemed to judge them impersonally, and I concluded that it had been a pretty good fight. A scratch force, half of it dog-tired and half of it untrained, had held up at least a couple of fresh divisionsā ā€Šā ā€¦ But we couldnā€™t do it again, and there were still some hours before us of desperate peril. When had the Corps said that the French would arrive?ā ā€Šā ā€¦ I was on the point of shouting for Hamilton to get Wake to ring up Corps Headquarters, when I remembered that Wake was dead. I had liked him and greatly admired him, but the recollection gave me scarcely a pang. We were all dying, and he had only gone on a stage ahead.

There was no morning strafe, such as had been our usual fortune in the past week. I went out-of-doors and found a noiseless world under the lowering sky. The rain had stopped falling, the wind of dawn had lessened, and I feared that the storm would be delayed. I wanted it at once to help us through the next hours of tension. Was it in six hours that the French were coming? No, it must be four. It couldnā€™t be more than four, unless somebody had made an infernal muddle. I wondered why everything was so quiet. It would be breakfast time on both sides, but there seemed no stir of manā€™s presence in that ugly strip half a mile off. Only far back in the German hinterland I seemed to hear the rumour of traffic.

An unslept and unshaven figure stood beside me which revealed itself as Archie Roylance.

ā€œBeen up all night,ā€ he said cheerfully, lighting a cigarette. ā€œNo, I havenā€™t had breakfast. The skipper thought weā€™d better get another antiaircraft battery up this way, and I was superintendinā€™ the job. Heā€™s afraid of the Hun gettinā€™ over your lines and spying out the nakedness of the land. For, you know, weā€™re uncommon naked, sir. Also,ā€ and Archieā€™s face became grave, ā€œthe Hunā€™s pourinā€™ divisions down on this sector. As I judge, heā€™s blowinā€™ up for a thunderinā€™ big drive on both sides of the river. Our lads yesterday said all the country back of Peronne was lousy with new troops. And heā€™s gettinā€™ his big guns forward, too. You havenā€™t been troubled with them yet, but he has got the roads mended and the devil of a lot of new light railways, and any moment weā€™ll have the five-point-nines sayinā€™ Good-morninā€™ā ā€Šā ā€¦ Pray Heaven you get relieved in time, sir. I take it thereā€™s not much risk of another push this morninā€™?ā€

ā€œI donā€™t think so. The Boche took a nasty knock yesterday, and he must fancy weā€™re pretty strong after that counterattack. I donā€™t think heā€™ll strike till he can work both sides of the river, and thatā€™ll take time to prepare. Thatā€™s what his fresh divisions are forā ā€Šā ā€¦ But remember, he can attack now, if he likes. If he knew how weak we were heā€™s strong enough to send us all to glory in the next three hours. Itā€™s just that knowledge that you fellows have got to prevent his getting. If a single Hun plane crosses our lines and returns, weā€™re wholly and utterly done. Youā€™ve given us splendid help since the show began, Archie. For Godā€™s sake keep it up to the finish and put every machine you can spare in this sector.ā€

ā€œWeā€™re doinā€™ our best,ā€ he said. ā€œWe got some more fightinā€™ scouts down from the north, and weā€™re keepinā€™ our eyes skinned. But you know as well as I do, sir, that itā€™s never an ab-so-lute certainty. If the Hun sent over a squadron we might beat ā€™em all down but one, and that one might do the trick. Itā€™s a matter of luck. The Hunā€™s got the wind up all right in the air just now and I donā€™t blame the poor devil. Iā€™m inclined to think we havenā€™t had the pick of his push here. Jennings says heā€™s doinā€™ good work in Flanders, and they reckon thereā€™s the deuce of a thrust cominā€™ there pretty soon. I think we can manage the kind of footler heā€™s been sendinā€™ over here lately, but if Lensch or some lad like that were to choose to turn up I wouldnā€™t say what might happen. The airā€™s a big lottery,ā€ and Archie turned a dirty face skyward where two of our planes were moving very high towards the east.

The mention of Lensch brought Peter to mind, and I asked if he had gone back.

ā€œHe wonā€™t go,ā€ said Archie, ā€œand we havenā€™t the heart to make him.

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