Page:Lieutenant and Others (1915) by Sapper.djvu/178

 way—at least not this one. Though he’d like it, I know.

But then, he won’t be able to tell her. That’s the rub. I know it was only yesterday afternoon you heard him say that it was a grand day for a hunt. I know it was only last night that you were saddled up suddenly with all the other troop horses and trotted for two hours along muddy roads in the darkness. Then he dismounted—didn’t he?—and went on on foot with his men, while you and his other horse stopped behind. And you couldn’t understand why a few hours later, when the other men mounted, no one got on your back, and you were led back here. Just a casual German sniper, sitting in a tree, taking pot shots into the darkness. Just a small round hole right in the centre of his forehead and the back of his head—but we won’t think of that. That’s what happened, old man. Nothing very glorious, nothing at all heroic. It’s so ordinary, isn’t it? It has already happened hundreds of times. It’s going to happen hundreds more. Everything is going on just the same. It hasn’t made any difference. The guns are in action