Our officer asked for a man to go with him to blow a bridge up, so that
the Germans could not follow us, and I went with him. All our men had
retired. Well, to blow a bridge up we use gun-cotton and a wire fuse.
It is safe enough if you take your wire well away, but this time it
would not work. The men in running back had stepped on the wire, so we
had to go nearer to the bridge and try again. Then it would not act,
so the officer said to me, “Go back, Wells.” I said, “No, I’ll go with
you.” We were the only two on the bridge, and the Germans were shooting
at us, but our luck was in. Well, we both lay down, and I fired ten
rounds with my rifle, and he did the same with his pistol, and then
it would not work. If it had we should both have gone up with it, so
you see what a near shave we had. We made a dive back and got some
more gun-cotton, and we were making to have another go when an officer
called us back and told us it was no use us trying, so we came back:
_Sapper Wells, Royal Engineers_.