We had not got far when our adventures commenced. A big shrapnel bursting right over us. Fortunately we had heard it coming, so had time to get behind a wall. The fragments of the shell beat down on the ground like Brobdingnagian hailstones.
After that the firing from both sides seemed to become general, and it was evident that the attack was developing seriously.
Out in the open, as I have said, there was no cover whatever, so there was nothing for it but to attempt to get across the mile of “No man’s land” at the double.
Some soldiers, who were going across also, set the pace to start with. I must regretfully confess, however, that I am long past athletics, and even in my best days was never much of a pedestrian, so I very soon had to give in and take it easily.
And came up with reinforcements hurrying forward ([see page 165])
To face page 172
My companion, who was quite a young man, could without a doubt have run the whole distance, but he good-naturedly slowed down to remain with me.
Apart from my lack of stamina, I was somewhat severely handicapped for sprinting, as, at the Commandant’s quarters I had been given the butt-end of a big shell as “a little souvenir” of my visit to Asiago.
It certainly was an interesting trophy, though a trifle weighty, as may be imagined, and I did not want to leave it behind if I could help it, as I have a mania for collecting war “curios” for my studio; but it was a terrible temptation to drop it now and chance getting another later on. However, I stuck to it like grim death and, I may add, eventually brought it to London.