I went to the car and switched my lamp on to the near wheels. The car was stuck right up to the axle.
"We shall never get out of this unaided," I said. "Put all the stuff back inside and get the hood up; we shall have to sleep here to-night."
Then, to add to the discomfiture of the situation, it began to rain, and rain like fury, and in a few minutes I was wet through to the skin. The hood leaked badly and had convenient holes in alignment to one's body, whether you were sitting lengthways or otherwise inside. I had resigned myself for a dismal night out. Two hours had passed when I heard the clatter of hoofs coming towards me in the distance and, by the direction of the sound, I could tell they were our men. I tumbled out and ran as fast as possible to the other side of the crater and reached there just as the horsemen arrived.
"Hullo!" I shouted.
"Hulloa!" came the reply, "who is it?"
"I am badly stuck, or rather my car is—in the mud in the field here. Can you hitch two or three of your horses on and help me out on to the road?"
"Certainly, if we can, sir."
"I will guide you with my lamp—by the way, where are you going?" I said.
"We are trying to get into touch with the Bosche."
"I have been in Bovincourt," I said, "but there are none there, though I heard a lot of rifle-fire just outside the village."