'That's it,' said Smith, 'that's just the damned shame of the whole thing. There are lots of men who are simply terrified the whole time they're out, but just go on sticking it by sheer guts—will-power, or whatever you like—that's having the wind-up, and you can't prevent it. It just depends how you're made. I suppose there really are some people who don't feel fear at all—that fellow Drake, for example—though I'm not sure that there are many. Anyhow, if there are any they don't deserve much credit though they do get the V.C.'s. Then there are the people who feel fear like the rest of us and don't make any effort to resist it, don't join up or come out, and when they have to, go back after three months with a blighty one, and get a job, and stay there——'
'And when they are here wangle out of all the dirty jobs,' put in Foster.
'Well, they're the people with "cold feet" if you like,' Smith went on, 'and as you say, Penrose has never been like that. Fellows like him keep on coming out time after time, getting worse wind-up every time, but simply kicking themselves out until they come out once too often, and stop one, or break up suddenly like Penrose, and——'
'And the question is—ought any man like that to be shot?' asked Foster.
'Ought any one who volunteers to fight for his —— country be shot?' said another.
'Damn it, yes,' said Constable; he was a square, hard-looking old boy, a promoted N.C.O., and a very useful officer. 'You must have some sort of standard—or where would the army be?'
'I don't know,' said Foster, 'look at the Australians—they don't have a death-penalty, and I reckon they're as good as us.'
'Yes, my son, perhaps that's the reason'—this was old Constable again—'the average Australian is naturally a sight stouter-hearted than the average Englishman—they don't need it.'
'Then why the hell do they punish Englishmen worse than Australians, if they can't even be expected to do so well?' retorted Foster; but this piece of dialectics was lost on Constable.
'Anyhow, I don't see that it need be such an absolute standard,' Smith began again, thoughtfully; he was a thoughtful young fellow. 'They don't expect everybody to have equally strong arms or equally good brains; and if a chap's legs or arms aren't strong enough for him to go on living in the trenches they take him out of it (if he's lucky). But every man's expected to have equally strong nerves in all circumstances, and to go on having them till he goes under; and when he goes under they don't consider how far his nerves, or guts, or whatever you call it, were as good as other people's. Even if he had nerves like a chicken to begin with he's expected to behave as a man with nerves like a lion or a Drake would do....'