First World War Centennial

I TROTTED up and down about the country all that day, with­out ever coming to the Château or any place that looked at all familiar, and I spent the night as before under some bushes.

When morning came again, I found I was in quite an open country with no houses anywhere that I could see, and chasing about after food I was fortunate enough to catch a couple of field-mice which I ate bones and all, though I had never deigned to eat such food before. Finding a nice clear brook, I had a good long drink, and then I laid down in the water and had a good soak, for it was the first time I had been able even to try to clean myself since I had been rolled under the hoofs of that big black horse, by that dreadful shining stick.

As the country seemed so open, I decided to go up to the top of a high hill I saw in the distance, thinking that from there I might see the towers of the Château de T—. I trotted along in the hot sun for hours without the hill appear­ing to be much nearer, and got quite discouraged, for I hadn't dreamed it would be so far. But I never was one to give up easily, and so I trotted on, and on, and late in the afternoon found myself at last, at the very top. When I looked over the other side of the hill, there was no sign of anything like the Château as I had hoped, but far off in the distance I saw what I thought must be a town, and still beyond that a river, winding at the foot of hills much higher than the one I was on. I sat down to rest, and to look, and consider what I should do. If I stayed out in a place like this by myself I should certainly starve before long, and not be able to find any of my dear People, so I thought I had better try to get to the town where perhaps some Person might be kind to me, and where if I listened carefully to all that People said, I might hear something about what had hap­pened to my little Master.

I went down the hill as fast as I could, for I knew that if I did not find the town before the dark came, I should lose my way and perhaps never find it; just the same as I lost my own house, because I ran away in such a fright in the night and never looked where I was going.

When I got to the bottom of the hill, and found myself all alone in the open, with not even a bush to give me cover, I did feel nervous, but it was no use to give way to that, besides, so far as I could see there was not a Person anywhere. Indeed I could not even see any animals either, and it did seem strange when I came to think about it that I had seen so few animals anywhere I had been. It made me feel that there must be something very wrong somewhere, if even the little beasts in the fields had to hide or fly for their lives. When I had begun to think about this, I got more worried than ever, and stopped to look around me once more.

There was still the town in front of me, and off to one side from that, the river and the moun­tains, just as I had seen them from the hill-top. Between me and the town, there was a long flat plain which seemed to be all dust and dirt, and just two ridges, not very high; they hardly looked higher to me than the ridges the men make in the fields when they plough. But these were very far apart.

I decided after a bit that I would go right down the middle of that ground between the ridges, as it seemed my straightest way to the town; so I pulled myself together once more, and remem­bered to keep my tail well up and my head too so that I could see, and with my ears pricked high for listening, I trotted on as bravely as I could. I know now only too well that the path I had chosen was the deadly "No Man's Land" which lay between the British and the German trenches, and that my nervous fears had a firmer foundation than I dreamed; but I have heard People say that "Ignorance is bliss," and it was like that with me, so on I went.

The sun at this time was nearly down to the tops of the hills, and as it was shining directly in my eyes, it was very hard for me to see. I was thinking how glad I should be when it was gone, when I heard nice kind English voices coming faintly from I knew not where, and then a louder whistling call, which I understood very well as an invitation, so I turned to run to the place from which I thought it sounded. As I turned, I heard a whizzing something come from behind me and rush through the air just above my head, and then another, and an­other, and then laughter, which seemed to be quite far away and also behind me. My eyes were too blinded by the sun to see, even if I had dared to stop and look, so I tried to run even faster towards the kind whistling voices, which were louder and kinder than before, when I was suddenly knocked off my feet, and rolled over, by a terrible blow which took my breath away.

When I came to myself, the sun was gone and it was fast growing dusk, but remembering the friendly voices I tried to get on my legs again, and was dis­mayed to find after many at­tempts, that all I could do was to sit up a very little, as my hind legs were quite useless and the blood running from them. For a minute after this I lost my courage entirely and, lifting up my head, I uttered one long howl of despair, but only one, for as soon as I had done this, there came more of those whizzing things falling near me, so I lay down again and kept very quiet, hoping it would soon be dark, and that I could die in peace, if die I must.

Just as I had made up my mind to this, I heard from in front of me a dear kind English voice, calling in a whisper, "Come, boy! come!" but alas! I could not come, which the owner of the voice seemed to understand, for he kept on whispering kind encourag­ing words, and they sounded nearer and nearer, until at last I saw in the dim light that a man, the colour of the earth itself, was coming towards me, crawling and wriggling on the ground the way snakes come, and as soon as he was near enough he took me very carefully in his arms. "Poor little laddie," he said softly, "did those d—d beastly 'Uns try ter shoot yer? They shan't 'urt yer any more, if Rice P-t-e- can 'elp it," and with that he had got me somehow on his shoulders, and was squirming back the way he came. I did suffer dreadfully, but determined not to make any sound, for I had already learned that if I did, there would be more of those bullets (as I afterwards knew they were called) coming after us; and, as it was, I have never understood how we got through safely. When we got to the edge of what had looked to me like a ridge, more kind voices called out, quite loud this time, "Well done, Rice! well done, old man!" and reaching out strong hands, they caught him and me together, and pulled us down inside.

It was almost dark in that place, but I could just see that there were many men, and heard them ask somebody if they might give "them" what-for! Then a second after there was the loudest sound I ever heard in my life, and I knew no more.