We were up to our dead line an' fighting alone;

some plan had miscarried, I guess,

And the help we were promised had failed to

arrive. We were showing all signs of

distress.

"Our curtain of fire was ahead of us still, an'

theirs was behind us an' thick,

An' there wasn't a thing we could do for ourselves—the

few of us left had to stick.

You haven't much chance to get central an' talk