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314 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
we had was altogether insufficient, for the wagons stood at
several rnetres from one another. The further we advanced
the denser the little tufts of wool in the sky seemed to be.
Then we met an officer who told us that the Austrian battery
was not yet working and that it would be more than risky to
continue in the direction we had taken. Probably the where-
abouts of the ammunition column had been discovered through
aviators. Although the enemy could not see it, they had
trained the fire from several batteries on the sector where it
was bound to be. The uncanny whistling sounds kept piercing
the air ; and so we thought it wisest to leave this dangerous spot.
Just as we were getting near our car and had reached the
road, we were honoured with a salvo from an English battery.
The four shots followed at short intervals, and all of them
seemed to be seeking our car. The first shrapnel shell burst
some ten metres above ground just in front of us and the car,
and I had a very distinct sensation of being within its zone
of dispersion and wondered that I did not feel a sudden twinge
in some part of my body. The other two shells burst a little
to the side of the first. Then came the fourth—a devilishly
impudent fellow ! He came straight at us and the death-
whistle rang in my ears. He arrived from the south-west. The
air seemed to hiss and splutter and burn where he tore along.
The whistling sound came nearer, passed just over our heads
and died away behind us. We all three bent down so to bring
our heads a metre nearer to the ground. This movement is
entirely instinctive, and even officers who have been many
times under fire resort to this device. But in time one gets
rid of the habit, realising how little it avails. I have sub-
sequently heard artillery officers say that when the whining
sound seems closest and one thinks that the projectile is upon
one, it has in reality passed by. We wondered at what height
above us this shell had passed. The Duke estimated the
distance at eight or ten metres, the Prince at fifteen at the
most. To me it seemed so near that I almost expected to see
my fur cap singed by the fire. But the most remarkable
thing about this amiable greeting from the British was that
whilst the three first shells burst, this fourth one never ex-
ploded at all. Had it done so we should in all probability
have been flung to the ground. The projectile passed by
us whole and entered the soft, wet earth some distance
behind us.
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