All of a sudden I was startled by a rattle of musketry in the direction of the wood. There was silence; then several more shots followed by a rushing, tearing noise, and yells.
Almost at the same moment the ammunition party emerged breathlessly from the wood.
I ran forward to where the men were dropping the ammunition boxes on the ground, and falling exhausted. For a moment or two they were too breathless to speak. I counted the men: there were 12 of them, and the six boxes of ammunition had safely arrived.
But where were Septimus and the corporal? All was silent in the wood. I turned to the nearest man who was by this time sitting up, holding his head in his hands.
"Where is Mr. D'Arcy and Corporal Brown?" I asked.
"God knows, sir! They stayed to cover our retirement."
"What happened?"
"We found the ammunition dump, sir, and were just beginning to move the boxes when we heard some one moving. We grabbed our rifles and waited. There seemed to be quite a number crawling around us. Mr. D'Arcy ordered us to retire at once, and get the ammunition away at any cost; he said he would stay behind and cover our retreat, and Corporal Brown offered to stay with him. We hadn't got far, sir, when they opened fire; bullets hit the trees and whizzed over our heads. Then we heard a rush and some yells. I distinctly heard something in German, and Mr. D'Arcy's voice shout back: 'Kamarade be damned!' Then there was a scuffle; that's all I know."
My heart beat wildly as I listened to this story. Good God! what did that silence mean? There was no further time to be lost.
I ordered a relief party and led the way into the wood. There was not a sound to be heard as we crept forward on our hands and knees towards the spot where the ammunition had been found.