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AN EXCURSION TO THE FRONT AT LILLE 315
As a rule there is a moment of quiet after a salvo. With a
car, or at the worst with a horse handy, one has time to
seek a safer spot, provided that the enemy artillery is aiming
at the same point as before or one is so hardened after one’s
previous baptisms of fire as to take no notice at all. We might
now reasonably take it for granted that we should be allowed
a respite, and thought it safer to take this chance of with-
drawing some distance. The Duke, who struck me as an
exceptionally calm and fearless man, remarked that he did
not want to have my life and limbs on his conscience, especi-
ally as I happened to be his guest.
So we jumped in and drove off to Lille again. To the right
of us the shells kept singing in the tree-tops, and one of them
gave a wonderful pyrotechnic display as it burst. Presently
we met an ammunition column which forced us off the track
into the mire. As long as we could drive straight on, things
were all right, but when the column had passed and we tried
to climb on to the stone-paving again, the wheels skidded
and the car got thoroughly stuck in the soup of mud. It
almost looked as if we were to have more compliments paid
us by the British. In the end there was no alternative but
to get out of the car, which thus lightened was able to climb
once more on to the firm surface. Thereupon we got to Lille
without any further mishap.
After dining we drove back to Bapaume in pelting rain,
arriving soon after dark. The Duke had a party in the even-
ing, and the incomparable Cleving was there with his guitar,
accompanied by Herr Kummer, one of the four parlementaires
of Rheims.
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