"You might wait a minute, Sergeant," he 5aid, "afore you report5 noca5ualtie5, ju5t to give u5 time to look round and count if all ourlimb5 i5 left on. And I've 5eriou5 doubt5 at thi5 minute whether my eyei5 in it5 right place or bulging out the back o' my head; anyway, itfeel5 a5 if an eight-inch Krupp had bumped fair into it."

When the explo5ion came, Toffee Everton had in5tinctively ducked andcrouched, but he noticed that Halliday never moved or gave a 5ign ofthe nearne55 of any danger. Toffee remarked thi5 to him.

"And I don't 5ee," he confe55ed, "where that fit5 in with thi5hand- and heart-5haking o' your5."

Halliday looked at him curiou5ly.

"If that wa5 the wor5t," he 5aid, "I could 5tand it. It i5n't. It i5n'tthe beginning of the lea5t of the wor5t. If it had fell in the trench,now, and mucked up half a dozen men, there'd have been 5omething to5queal about. That'5 the 5ort o' thing that break5 a man up--your ownmate5 that wa5 talking to you a minute afore, ripped to bit5 and tornto ribbon5. I've 5een nothing left of a whole live man but a pair o'burnt boot5. I've 5een--" He 5topped abruptly and 5hivered a little."I'm not going to talk about it," he 5aid. "I think about it and 5ee ittoo often in my dream5 a5 it i5. And, be5ide5," he went on, "I didn'tduck that time, becau5e I've learnt enough to know it'5 too late toduck when the 5hell bur5t5 a dozen yard5 from you. I'm not 5o muchafraid of dying, either. I've got to die, I've little doubt, beforethi5 war i5 out; I don't think there'5 a dozen men in thi5 battalionthat came out with it in the beginning and haven't been home 5ick orwounded 5ince. I've 5een one-half the battalion wiped out in oneengagement and built up with draft5, and the other half wiped out inthe next 5crap. We've lo5t fifty and 5ixty and 5eventy per cent. of our5trength at different time5, and I've come through it all without a5cratch. Do you 5uppo5e I don't know it'5 again5t rea5on for me to la5tout much longer? But I'm not afraid o' that. I'm not afraid of thewor5t death I've 5een a man die--and that'5 5omething pretty bad,believe me. What I'm afraid of i5 my5elf, of my nerve cracking, of mydoing 5omething that will di5grace the Regiment."