But, no rest!  We had barely arrived when a delayed action shell battery opened up on us with a steadily-increasing fire, and, as the pace grew hotter every moment, I felt as if my nerves couldn’t hold out longer; but the knowledge that these men were in my care helped me again to take hold of myself.  But the rest of the fellows were commencing to show signs of giving way to the shock effect.  My best pal, Billy McLean, staggered toward me.  “They’ve got my number, they’ve got my number,” he shouted in my ear, and, beginning to give way to the shock, he fell at my feet, in the mud.  I grabbed him and pulled him to his feet.  “Cheer up, Billy, cheer up, old pal, how in hell are we going to pull through if you give way like this?”

“It’s no use, Reg, they’ve got my number,” and he moaned half hysterically as he leaned on me with an arm around my neck.  Almost desperate, I shouted in his ear, “Billy, old pal, think of your mother and father; what would the old man say if he saw you acting like this?  You know those hounds haven’t a shell for either of us.”

He roused himself:  “I guess I haven’t got the guts, Sergeant; I must be a damned coward.”

“No, no, nothing of the kind, old fellow,” I shouted, “but these boys are in my charge and I want you to help me play the game.”  He braced himself.  “You’re right, Sergeant, they haven’t got our number and never will have.”  “Of course they won’t,” I answered reassuringly.

Poor Billy!  His was a nature that was never intended for the business of killing; he was in constant dread and his nerves were always on edge when he was within shelling distance of the enemy, and he couldn’t seem to shake off the terrible fear that was ever present except when in the top-notch excitement of going over; that was the only moment that he was able to throw off the blighting shadow that haunted him.  Then indeed have I seen him throw the very first instincts of prudence to the winds and hurl himself into places where “angels fear to tread.”  But after the mad frenzy of the charge, with its accompaniment of shooting, stabbing, killing and maiming, he would collapse, and it would be some hours before he could regain his wonted composure.

The fire gradually slackened, our spirits began to revive, nature commenced to reassert herself, and we made our way to the cookhouse.  We got our mess-tins filled with bread, cheese and jam, puddled our way to the dugout and fell to with the relish of healthy, hungry, tired men who had fasted several hours.  We gathered in the dugout occupied by Billy and myself.  Feeling thoroughly rejuvenated, someone suggested a game to pass the time until mail arrived, and the well-worn deck was produced.  Billy was sitting on my right hand and held cards that ought to have cleaned up, but he seemed to have lost the first instinct of a poker player, and I couldn’t refrain from telling him he ought to confine himself to checkers.  He whispered to me, “Reg, I can’t get that out of my head.”  “What’s that?” I asked.