It's good Kat is there.
He gazes thoughtfully at the front and says:
"Mighty fine fire-works if they weren't so dangerous."
One lands behind us.
Some recruits jump up terrified.
A couple of minutes later another comes over, nearer this time.
Kat knocks out his pipe.
"We're in for it."
Then it begins in earnest.
We crawl away as well as we can in our haste.
The next lands fair amongst us.
Two fellows cry out.
Green rockets shoot up on the sky-line. Barrage.
The mud flies high, fragments whizz past.
The crack of the guns is heard long after the roar of the explosions.
Beside us lies a fair-headed recruit in utter terror.
He has buried his face in his hands, his helmet has fallen off I fish hold of it and try to put it back on his head.
He looks up, pushes the helmet off and like a child creeps under my arm, his head close to my breast.
The little shoulders heave.
Shoulders just like Kemmerich's.
I let him be.
So that the helmet should be of some use I stick it on his behind;— not for a jest, but out of consideration, since that is his highest part.
And though there is plenty of meat there, a shot in it can be damned painful. Besides, a man has to lie for months on his belly in the hospital, and afterwards he would be almost sure to have a limp.
It's got someone pretty badly.
Cries are heard between the explosions.
At last it grows quiet.
The fire has lifted over us and is now dropping on the reserves.
We risk a look.
Red rockets shoot up to the sky.
Apparently there's an attack coming.
Where we are it is still quiet.
I sit up and shake the recruit by the shoulder.
"All over, kid!
It's all right this time."
He looks round him dazedly.
"You'll get used to it soon," I tell him.
He sees his helmet and puts it on.
Gradually he comes to.
Then suddenly he turns fiery red and looks confused.
Cautiously he reaches his hand to his behind and looks at me dismally.
I understand at once: Gun-shy.
That wasn't the reason I had stuck his helmet over it.
"That's no disgrace," I reassure him: "Many's the man before you has had his pants full after the first bombardment.
Go behind that bush there and throw your underpants away. Get along –– "
He goes off.
Things become quieter, but the cries do not cease.
"What's up, Albert?" I ask.
"A couple of columns over there got it in the neck."
The cries continued.
It is not men, they could not cry so terribly.