Alone In The Trenches Read Online Free

one else to boss
you about, so I’m going to act like your big brother, and tell you to go and hunker down in that nice room of yours until the morning. Night, night, Annette, and watch the bugs don’t
bite. Only, out here you know they will! I’ll come and see you tomorrow as soon as I can.”
    In the bedroom I thought to myself, “
But what if Charlie doesn’t come back?
” And then I tearfully remembered Dad and Michel. I even spared a grudging thought for Mum,
too. She was probably worrying herself silly wondering where I’d gone while she tried to get some food into Grandma. But it was too late now. I’d told my big fib. I couldn’t
change my story – what would Charlie think of me? And anyway I didn’t want to go back to the lonely farm without the protection of my father and brother. I felt very alone and sorry for
myself as I wept into my grubby handkerchief.

    The sound of a harmonica floated up to my window from the yard, and a quavering voice began to sing:
    ‘There’s a lamp that’s always burning
    Outside a cabin by the sea
    And beside its lonely hearth
    I know you think of me.
    There’ll be long, long nights of waiting
    Until our dreams come true
    And I’m sitting hand in hand
    Around that fire with you…’
    In the distance I could hear the deep rumble of gunfire. Charlie and I were in for a very long night too.

CHAPTER THREE
    In fact I slept very well and I was up with the lark. When I’d splashed some cold water on my face I went down to the yard. Charlie was nowhere to be seen but Ginger
Phipps was there.
    “Good kip, miss?” he asked. I said it had been. “Glad to hear it,” he said. “Now, we’re not to worry, and of course I do because he’s such a good pal of
mine, but we’ve had a message sent down about Charlie.
He’s
OK, but Captain Garvey ain’t so clever, and apparently it was a bit of a do getting him home. Charlie’ll
be along in a while, but he’s spent a few hours getting some sleep in a dug-out up near the line. So just you sit tight for a while ’til he gets here.”
    “What’s a dug-out?” I asked. He looked at me, amazed I didn’t know.
    “Well, I suppose you wouldn’t, would you? It’s what it sounds like. To make sure the lads aren’t open to all weathers up at the front, we dig out a few extra holes in the
ground and cover them over. It’s amazing what you can do with a length of old corrugated iron and a few lumps of wood. Your dug-out becomes a home away from home after a while. Somewhere to
do the crossword when Jerry’s not chucking stick-bombs or doing his best to knock your head off.”
    It was a long hour or two before Charlie arrived. He hobbled into the yard, covered in mud from head to toe, carrying a pack that looked far too heavy for one man. A few of the soldiers turned
and gave him a cheer. He dropped the pack and sank down on a bench.
    “Seems your Private Perkins is a bit of a hero,” remarked Corporal Warren, as he walked past. “Comes as something of a surprise to me, I must say. You’re obviously a good
influence on him, young lady.”
    A little knot of men had gathered around Charlie. Like the nosey girl I am, I went over.
    “Well, make room for my lucky charm,” said Charlie, beaming at me. “Am I glad to see you!”
    “Tell us the gory details, Chas,” said one of the men. “How did it go?”
    “Not much to say, lads…”
    “Not what we heard,” said another.
    “Well, since you ask,” Charlie said, between puffs on a cigarette he’d been handed. “It was black as the ace of spades out there. Couldn’t see your hand in front of
your face. We made it out into No Man’s Land all right, though it was a long old crawl. And then those new cutters of mine started making short work of the wire. Except I’ll tell you
the strangest thing. Once you start pushing the wire this way and that, with no stars to see I’m blowed if you don’t lose all sense what’s east or west.

    “So you got