Both rifles spoke together. A figure detached itself from the limp lump which lay in the hollow near the enemy's lines, rose to a standing position, and beat the air with agitated arms.
Thus for a moment, then the Thing collapsed in an abject heap on the ground.
"That's all," said Bubb. "The boys in the trench are firin' now. They'll finish 'im off if 'e's not done in already."
The rifles cracked spitefully in the trench which rimmed the base of the slag-heap, the sun sank lower and the shadows lengthened. The two youngsters broke biscuits, gnawed vigorously and waited for the darkness to fall.
CHAPTER XIII
THE TRENCHES
All the night the frogs go chuckle; all the day the birds are singing,
In the pond beside the meadow; by the roadway poplar-lined;
In the field between the trenches are a million blossoms springing
'Twixt the grass of silver bayonets where the lines of battle wind;
Where man has manned the trenches for the maiming of his kind.
(From "Soldier Songs.")
The trench is a world within itself, having customs, joys and griefs peculiar to its limitations. The inmates can only claim for the most part a short existence; they have degrees of opulence and poverty, but the former is far removed from those who are legally heirs to it, and all the dwellers in the trench commune share their poverty in common. The word "ours" is on all lips; save for a few relics of outside civilisation there is nothing which a man claims as "mine." Food and drink and clothing are "ours," as also are the parcels from home, though the men to whom they are addressed have generally the privilege of opening them. Money has lost all its value: for the time being food is not sold here, and all men have to work at the same job, and they work well, for the safety of their bodies depends upon the labour of their hands. Again, in the carping times of peace a soldier may depend upon the sweat of others for his daily needs; here in the trenches he is a Socialist in the highest sense of the much-abused word.