"Oh, if you show me where to tread I'll be all right. You might as well take me back. I'm the only one here who can walk," said Mac appealingly.
After a little more persuasion, he picked his way over the bodies, and, Mac, swaying a little, stood up. He forgot to take the case of his glasses which he had been using as a pillow, though he had remembered afterwards that the glasses themselves were still on the parapet where he had been wounded. He picked his steps carefully over the prostrate forms, and then, grabbing the Ambulance man firmly by the belt, stumbled after him up the slope. They toiled down the long ridge, falling frequently into hidden holes in the thick scrub; and all the time the rifles blazed along the ridges and the bullets zipped past them in the darkness. They reached the dressing-station, where, from the sounds which reached his ears, it seemed to him many men were lying, and a crowd passed constantly to and fro. A medical officer took Mac in hand, dressed his wound as well as might be—for there was no water for such purposes—and gave him a drink. Though Mac protested he could quite well walk, the M.O. insisted on putting him on a stretcher, giving orders to the bearers to take him without delay to the hospital life-boats. And so, swaying precariously, he was taken away down the rough, steep slope, the bearers halting often to regain their breath. Then, taking not the slightest heed of his mild protests, they dumped him off the stretcher after they had gone about half a mile, spread a blanket over him and departed. He lay there peacefully for an hour or two, and then, becoming thoroughly fed up at this lack of progress and seeing no point in such delays, called out to some one he heard near him, to know what possibility there was of a further move.
"None, old boy," came the discouraging reply. "Stretchers are just about finish, and there 're dozens of stretcher-cases lying everywhere. From the looks of things you might be here for a day or two yet."
Mac thought for a minute or two and decided to take matters into his own hands. He heard some one passing along the path.
"Hullo you! Come over here," he called.
Some one approached.
"What's up, cobber?"
"If you're going to the rear you might as well take me along with you.
I can walk all right. I only want a helping hand. What about it?"
"Well, I'm a Fifth Reinforcements just landed, an' I dunno where all my mates are gone."
"All right. You might as well come along with me." And so saying, Mac stood up, shed his blanket, and went off with the man who had lost himself.