human
Ay, it's a bit unhealthy, went on the sergeant,
gpt
When the note gets to about B flat, said the sergeant,
human
Are many killed?
gpt
Ay, there's a good lot of casualties every day, but not so much as there was at the second battle of Wipers. That was fair terrible. You see, the Germans could not drive us back nor break our lines. That was why they started bombarding the city. I was here and saw it. Man, you should have heard the women screaming, and seen the people flying for their lives. Whole streets of houses were burning, and all the time shells were falling and bursting. How many people were killed here God only knows, but there must have been hundreds of women and children. But what did those dirty swine of Germans care! They could not break our lines, and they had lost a hundred and fifty thousand men, so they turned their big guns upon the city. 'We can kill Belgian women and children, anyhow,' they said, 'and we can smash up the old town.' Are you a bit jumpy?
human
No n-n-no;--that is, a little bit,
gpt
Oh, it's quite quiet now, replied the sergeant.
human
I will walk through with you if you like and show you round. This is the great square; one of the biggest in the world. I saw it before it was bombarded; the Cathedral and the Cloth Hall were just wonderful; see what they are now! knocked into smithereens. See the trees around, how they are twisted and burnt? That house there I saw shelled myself. I had got a bit used to the shelling by that time, but I tell you it gave me a turn. It was the biggest house in the Square, and a great bomb caught it fair in the face; it seemed as though the whole world was shaking, and the noise fair deafened you. The house went down as though it were cardboard, and other houses around fell as though to keep it company, while others caught fire. Ay, they're sweet creatures, are those German swine.
gpt
Doan't you hate 'em?
human
Hate 'em? said the sergeant;
gpt
Did they?
human
No, that time they didn't, replied the sergeant,
gpt
Have you been wounded at all?
human
Yes, I have stopped two bullets, one in the foot and another in the shoulder, but I quickly got over it. I have been wonderfully lucky. You will get used to it after a bit; you seem a plucky chap; you don't look like the sort that runs away. Although, mind you, I have seen plucky chaps hook it.
gpt
No, I'm not plucky, said Tom;
human
Wait till the shrapnel is falling around you; wait till great pieces of jagged shell mow men down on your right and on your left. Still we have stuck so far, and we must stick to the end. Still, from a military standpoint, and here the sergeant spoke judicially,
gpt
There's the room just as those poor blighters of Belgians left it, continued the sergeant.
human
See the baby's shoes, and the kiddy's dress? There are one or two pictures on the wall, not of much value, or those blooming souvenir-hunters would have got 'em.
gpt
Do you think we shall lick 'em?
human
Lick 'em! Of course we shall, said the sergeant, who had served nearly twenty years in the Army.
gpt
Mind you, it will be no easy job. Up to now they have had the upper hand of us, both in men and munitions; but we are gaining on 'em now. What I can't stand is those blooming swipes, those shirkers who sit at home and who call themselves men. I tell you I'm for conscription out and out. This is no job to be played with; if we don't put forth our strength we can't beat 'em. But just think of those swine, who read the papers and talk about beating the Germans, who strut about with their patent-leather boots and fine clothes, and try to make out that they are gentlemen, but who won't face the music; that's what sickens me. Who are we fighting for, I should like to know? We are fighting for them, and for our women, and for the old country. They think they can stop at home and criticise, and then when we have done the work, share the benefits. Great God! --and here the sergeant indulged in some unprintable language--
human
I would like to get hold of them.
gpt
Isn't it dangerous here?
human
Not just now, replied the other;
gpt
he added casually,
human
I asked you just now, said Tom,
gpt
Yes, you did, replied the sergeant,
human
And then? asked Tom,
gpt
Ah well, replied the sergeant grimly,
human
Great God! said Tom,
gpt
Wait till you have seen it, my lad,