We were behind the lines at Merville in 1914. It was raining hard and
it was night. "Smudger" Smith, from Lambeth, was on night guard. The
horses were pulling their pegs out of the mud and getting loose, and
"Smudger" was having a busy time running around and catching them and
knocking the pegs in again with a mallet.
[Illustration: "Wot, yer loose again, yer blighter?"]
The sergeant-major, with a waterproof sheet over his head, visited the
lines. "Smudger," seeing something moving about in the dark, crept up,
and muttered, "Wot, yer loose again, yer blighter?"--and down went the
sergeant-major.--_W.S. (late Queen's Bays), 2 Winsover Road, Spalding._
Mons, 1914--Not Moscow, 1812!
In 1914 we of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade were going up to support the
infantry somewhere near Mons, and when nearing our destination we saw
several wounded being carried from the line.
Following them, seemingly quite unconcerned, was an infantry transport
driver, who cut a queer figure. He was wearing a stocking hat, and was
mounted on an old mule. Thrown over the mule, with the tail-end round
the mule's neck, was a German's blood-bespattered overcoat.
[Illustration: "Napoleon's retreat from Moscow ain't in it wiv this!"]