This done, he
yanked his rifle out of the officer's shoulder and jumped to the
entrance of the pit for any others that might have escaped his fusillade
of grenades. None came.
"Billy, take those prisoners out of the dugout," sang out the
Sergeant-Major, "and get them to the rear, and tell the rest of the boys
to do the same."
"I don't know how many are there, sir."
"I'll take a look and see," and the Sergeant-Major jumped into the
dugout. In a moment he reappeared. "There are nine killed and three
wounded. Round up these three and get them to the rear and get over the
top as fast as you can."
Billy did so, catching up with his pals at the third line trench. When
he got to the sixth line, a shell exploded in front of him, hitting him
in the thigh and dislocating his hip bone, besides giving him a painful
flesh wound. He was knocked unconscious and thrown into a shell hole.
The hole was almost filled with water, but the horseshoe luck of the
Grant family was with him; when he fell in his head was just out of the
water.
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