We were fairly had. The 30th knew every foot of Sghurr Mohr. I
spent three days huntin' 'em in the snow, but they went off on our
remounts about twenty mile that night."
"Do you always do this sham-fight business?" I asked.
"Once inside an Area you must look after yourself; but I tell you that a
fight which means that every man-Jack of us may lose a week's pay isn't
so damn-sham after all. It keeps the men nippy. Still, in the long run,
it's like whist on a P. & O. It comes out fairly level if you play long
enough. Now and again, though, one gets a present--say, when a Line
regiment's out on the 'heef,' and signifies that it's ready to abide by
the rules of the game. You mustn't take head-money from a Line regiment
in an Area unless it says that it'll play you; but, after a week or two,
those clever Linesmen always think they see a chance of making a pot, and
send in their compliments to the nearest I.G. Then the fun begins. We
caught a Line regiment single-handed about two years ago in
Ireland--caught it on the hop between a bog and a beach. It had just
moved in to join its brigade, and we made a forty-two mile march in
fourteen hours, and cut it off, lock, stock, and barrel. It went to
ground like a badger--I _will_ say those Line regiments can dig--but we
got out privily by night and broke up the only road it could expect to
get its baggage and company-guns along. Then we blew up a bridge that
some Sappers had made for experimental purposes (_they_ were rather
stuffy about it) on its line of retreat, while we lay up in the mountains
and signalled for the A.
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