night, since it was impossible for the enemy cavalry to attack them in
that country.




CHAPTER XI

A REAR-GUARD ACTION


In a couple of hours' time the march was continued in the darkness. The
men lurched from side to side, with brains too fagged to control their
feet. The Company was sent out to act as flank-guard on the top of the
crest beneath which the column was moving. This movement was very
tiresome, as they had to move over broken country in an _extended_
formation, and to keep up with the column which was moving in _close_
formation along the road. To compensate for this they were able to fill
their haversacks with a peculiarly sweet kind of apple.

Later in the morning they emerged from the close country into the
typical open plains of France, covered with corn and vegetables. About
five or six miles of this, and then the darker greens of pine and fir
forests appeared in view.

The General Staff had selected this as the site of yet another
rear-guard action. One of the other Brigades in the Division was already
busily engaged in constructing a line of trenches not more than a
hundred yards in front of the woods. To their front the view was
uninterrupted, offering a field of fire unbroken by the least suspicion