We covered such big tracks of country, and saw so many great happenings, that it is the most difficult thing in the world to know where to start a story of the Marne; but I will come down to the time just before the battle, when we were still retiring, and had got used to marching twenty or twenty-five miles a day. We had left the Germans very sore for coming too close to us, and we had gone through a small town and entered a great wood.
While we were in the wood I had to fall out. Almost instantly I heard the sound of talking which wasn’t English, and in the distance I saw six Germans coming after me as hard as they could. I thought it was all up with me, but I said “Come on, chum, let’s clear!”--“chum” being my rifle, which I had placed on the ground. I snatched it up and sprang behind a tree, and felt fairly safe. It’s wonderful what a feeling of security a good rifle and plenty of ammunition give you. I waited till the Germans got within a hundred yards of me; then with a good aim I fetched down two; but my position was becoming very critical, as the other four dodged from tree to tree, watching for a chance to pot me, and it looked very much as if they wouldn’t have long to wait. I don’t know what would have happened, but to my intense relief three men of the 17th Field Battery, which was passing, rushed up and shouted, “Don’t move. We’ll have ’em!”
By this time the four Germans were within about fifty yards, continually sniping at me--how I blessed them for being such bad shots!--and at last they came out into the open and made straight in my direction. But they only dashed about twenty yards, for my rescuers put “paid” to the four of them, and saved me from being made a prisoner and worse, far worse, for by that time we had seen proof enough of the monstrous things they did to men they captured--things you might expect from savages, but certainly not from soldiers of a nation that boasts so much of its civilisation.
The last day of our retirement was September 4, and on that day we never saw the enemy. We had crossed and recrossed the River Marne, and had blown up bridges as we retired; but the Germans threw their own bridges over the river with amazing speed, and kept up the pursuit. Sometimes they overdid their zeal, and were a trifle too quick for their own comfort.