Free As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer Page B

fired Lieutenant Makepeace led the charge and I went over
the top after ‘im followed by the rest of my section. The lieutenant was the
first to reach the wire but was immediately ‘it by several bullets, and there
were only two men ahead of me at the time. They bravely went to ‘is aid, but
fell even before they could reach ‘im. As soon as I got to the wire I spotted a
gap and ran through it, only to see Private Prescott overtake me as he charged
on towards the enemy lines. It must have been then that I was blown up by the
land mine, which may well have knocked out Private Prescott as well. “
    “Can
you be certain it was Private Prescott who overtook you?” asked the colonel,
looking puzzled.
    “In
the ‘eat of a battle, it’s ‘ard to remember every detail, sir, but I will never
forget Prescott overtakin’ me.”
    “Why’s
that?” asked the colonel.
    “Because
‘e’s my mate, and it annoyed me at the time to see ‘im get ahead of me.”
    Charlie
thought he saw a faint smile come over the colonel’s face.
    “Is
Prescott a close friend of yours?” the colonel asked, fixing his monocle on
him.
    “Yes,
sir, ‘e is, but that would not affect my judgment, and no one ‘as the right to
suggest it would.”
    “Do
you realize who you are talkie’ to?” bellowed the sergeant major.
    “Yes,
Sergeant Major,” said Charlie. “A man interested in finding out the truth, and
therefore seeing that justice is done. I’m not an educated man, sir, but I am
an ‘onest one.”
    “Corporal,
you will report... “ began the sergeant major.
    “Thank
you, Sergeant Major, that will be all,” said the colonel. “And thank you,
Corporal Trumper, for your clear and concise evidence. I shall not need to
trouble you any further. You may now return to your platoon.”
    “Thank
you, sir,” said Charlie. He took a pace backwards, saluted, did an about-turn
and marched out of the tent.
    “Would
you like me to ‘andle this matter in my own way?” asked the sergeant major.
    “Yes,
I would,” replied Colonel Hamilton. “Promote Trumper to full corporal and release
Private Prescott from custody immediately.”
    Tommy
returned to his platoon that afternoon, his left hand bandaged.
    “You
saved my life, Charlie.”
    “I
only told the truth.”
    “I
know, so did I. But the difference is, they believed you.”
    Charlie
lay in his tent that night wondering why Captain Trentham was so determined to
be rid of Tommy. Could any man believe he had the right to send another to his
death simply because he had once been to jail?
    Another
month passed while they continued the old routines before company orders
revealed that they were to march south to the Marne and prepare for a
counterattack against General van Ludendorff. Charlie’s heart sank when he read
the orders; he knew the odds against surviving two attacks were virtually
unknown. He managed to spend the odd hour alone with Grace, who told him she
had fallen for a Welsh corporal who had stood on a land mine and ended up blind
in one eye.
    Love
at first sight, quipped Charlie.
    Midnight
on Wednesday, 17 July 1918, and an eerie silence fell over no man’s land.
Charlie let those who could sleep, and didn’t attempt to wake anyone until
three o’clock the next morning. Now an acting sergeant, he had a platoon of
forty men to prepare for battle, all of whom still came under the overall
command of Captain Trentham, who hadn’t been seen since the day Tommy had been
released.
    At
three-thirty, a Lieutenant Harvey joined them behind the trenches, by which
time they were all on full battle alert. Harvey, it turned out, had arrived at
the front the previous Friday.
    “This
is a mad war,” said Charlie after they had been introduced.
    “Oh,
I don’t know,” said Harvey lightly. “I can’t wait to have a go at the Hun
myself.”
    “The
Germans ‘aven’t an ‘ope in ‘elf, as long as we can go on producin’ nutcases
like ‘im,” whispered Tommy.
    “By
the way,