The singer was a private, badly wounded and being carried in on a stretcher. The subsequent verses were drowned in the roar of battle, but those standing round could see from the movement of the wounded man's lips that he was still singing. Thus it is possible for a man to find his Saviour near him even amid the horror and noise of war.
One day in 1917 we stood outside a little Y.M.C.A. at Erquinghem, lost during the German advance in the following spring, and standing there we heard 'Grandmother' speak. 'Grandmother,' it should be explained, was a mighty howitzer. It was concealed under an improvised shed carefully camouflaged, and was brought out on rails, in a horizontal position. As we watched, it was brought to the vertical and out shot a tongue of flame. The projectile was so huge we could watch its flight for miles until it disappeared from view in the distance. Listening intently we heard the explosion in the enemy's lines. Many a Y.M.C.A. on the Western Front is situated right amid the guns, and when they are fired one knows it—'Grandmother' speaking, seems to shake the very foundations of the earth.
INDIAN TROOPS AT THE SIGN OF THE RED TRIANGLE
CHAPTER XIII
THE RED TRIANGLE IN THE EAST
The Y.M.C.A. is doing excellent work—its efforts are appreciated immensely by all ranks in this force. Experience of Y.M.C.A. work in the Army has long since convinced me how invaluable its services are to us, both in peace and war.—The Late Lieut.-General Sir Stanley Maude.