Three days later, a cold wind from the sea sucked all the warmth out of the forests. The swamps started to steam. Mists hung eerily over the low ground. The mosquitoes were no longer a problem. Autumn was in the air.
A few soldiers were standing in knee-high mist, before an open grave in the cemetery at Podrova. They had looked for their dead, and brought them to the cemetery.
A field-chaplain, who only days before had been preaching in a proper church, was enthusiastically doing the honours. He had come to the Front with fresh troops. In his initial bewilderment at what confronted him, he was still performing duties that, in a matter of weeks, he would leave to a layman. One of these duties was this burial. He laid his stole round his shoulders, fished a little cross out of his breast pocket, and opened his field-bible.
‘The Lord be with you,’ he began. His attention was divided between the soldiers and the words of Holy Writ. The soldiers’ faces reminded him of the colourless stone ornaments that look expressionlessly across graveyards. It wouldn’t be easy to touch their hearts.
‘For ever and ever, Amen,’ he said aloud. He saw a Major who wasn’t wearing boots. His feet were wrapped in sacking. White bandages gleamed through the rough brown cloth. He couldn’t see the face, as the man was staring into the grave.
‘My dear brothers in Christ,’ he said. ‘This is a sad occasion, on which we turn to God for support. Comrades have been taken from us. The Lord in his wisdom has willed it so.’ This was exactly what he had decided he would say in such a situation. ‘God is too great,’ he went on, ‘for us to discern His purpose. He calls, and we must follow. He is wise, and all-knowing. All we can do is to have faith, even though we do not understand!’ An NCO who was looking round at the edge of the forest in a bored way, obviously not listening, momentarily distracted him. ‘Even though we do not understand!’ he said again. Then he remembered what came next. ‘You see the sky over our heads, how lofty and exalted it is. You see the clouds above us! What are we by comparison! Modest little beings!’ He noticed a soldier with a dispatch case. He was the only one not to wear a new decoration on his chest, as if for some reason he’d been passed over at the award ceremony. ‘We must bear our sorrow with humility,’ said the padre. ‘Not inquire of God why He took one life, and spared another. God is silent and inscrutable. Only when we are returned to the earth of which we are made, will He come to us and say: There will be light! That comfort remains to us . . .’
The Major turned to the NCO: ‘I’ve got to go. My feet. It’s damned cold.’
The NCO nodded: ‘Lean on me, Major. I’ll help you.’
Making as little disturbance as possible, they left. The soldiers let them through. After a few steps, the NCO said:
‘Don’t think I’m glad to get away. I actually find it rather pleasant. Makes a change. Anyway . . . I secretly hope there’s some truth in it.’
‘Yes,’ said the Major. ‘I’d hate to think that was just another trick.’