The Seed of Empire by Fred M. White

It was little that the returned Musketeers needed in the way of amusement or recreation just now, for it was only when the bow was relaxed that they began to realise the strain which they had gone through. The mere fact that they had nothing to do was in itself a luxury after all that they had gone through. It seemed strange, too, to sleep the night through and wake in the morning to luxury and comfort. Indeed, at first, this had been rather a difficult matter, but at the end of two or three days they were getting into it, and it was only then that they began to discuss their past experiences. After all, there seemed to be nothing to say, and the things that Nettie and Dorothy followed with breathless interest had become to them the mere commonplaces of everyday life.

"You see, there are so many of them doing it," Bentley told Dorothy. "If our men out there were properly rewarded the Victoria Cross would be as common as the Iron Cross of Germany. Occasionally some incident stands out more brightly than the rest by reason of its dramatic surroundings. Then it gets into the papers and everybody begins to talk about it. But the lucky man himself knows perfectly well that he is merely one of a crowd, and takes it all for granted. Now, I'll tell you a little thing that happened to me that did not get into the papers, and never will now. It was about two months ago, when we were being hard pressed one night. The Germans were absolutely on the top of us, indeed they were in our trench, and had they been properly supported I should not be here telling you this story at the present moment. Those chaps had taken us entirely by surprise; they had badly cut up some of our fellows the day before and they were wearing our uniform. They were led by a man who spoke excellent English, and we were all utterly deceived. It was not till they were absolutely in the trench that we discovered what was going on. Just before they charged they threw about a dozen hand grenades into the trench, and it was that that gave them away. One of those grenades lay right at my feet without exploding, and I had no idea that it was there. But the man next to me stooped and picked it up and stood there with the beastly thing in his hand. If it had exploded then it would have blown him all into little bits. And no one knew that better than himself. But he waited with it in his hand till a dozen or more Germans appeared on the edge of the trench and then he threw the grenade in the middle of them. A second or two later there wasn't one of those Germans left. The man I am talking about, and one other, drove them back with their own bombs, and about ten minutes later we had their trench instead of them having ours. This doesn't sound much in cold blood, but if you'll think it over you will see that it wants some doing."