THE FIRST HUNDRED THOUSAND

By Ian Hay

PIP: A ROMANCE OF YOUTH.
GETTING TOGETHER.
THE FIRST HUNDRED THOUSAND.
SCALLY: THE STORY OF A PERFECT GENTLEMAN. With Frontispiece.
A KNIGHT ON WHEELS.
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY. Illustrated by Charles E. Brock.
A SAFETY MATCH. With frontispiece.
A MAN'S MAN. With frontispiece.
THE RIGHT STUFF. With frontispiece.



TO MY WIFE




PUBLISHERS' NOTE


The "Junior Sub," who writes the following account of the experiences
of some of the first hundred thousand of Kitchener's army, is, as the
title-page of the volume now reveals, Ian Hay Beith, author of those
deservedly popular novels, _The Right Stuff, A Man's Man, A Safety
Match_, and _Happy-Go-Lucky_.

Captain Beith, who was born in 1876 and therefore narrowly came within
the age limit for military service, enlisted at the first outbreak of
hostilities in the summer of 1914, and was made a sub-lieutenant in
the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. After training throughout the
fall and winter at Aldershot, he accompanied his regiment to the front
in April, and, as his narrative discloses, immediately saw some
very active service and rapidly rose to the rank of captain. In the
offensive of September, Captain Beith's division was badly cut up and
seriously reduced in numbers. He has lately been transferred to
a machine-gun division, and "for some mysterious reason"--as he
characteristically puts it in a letter to his publishers,--has been
recommended for the military cross.

The story of _The First Hundred Thousand_ was originally contributed
in the form of an anonymous narrative to _Blackwood's Magazine_.
Writing to his publishers, last May, Captain Beith describes the
circumstances under which it was written:--

"I write this from the stone floor of an outhouse, where the pig meal
is first accumulated and then boiled up at a particularly smelly
French farm, which is saying a good deal. It is a most interesting
life, and if I come through the present unpleasantness I shall
have enough copy to last me twenty years. Meanwhile, I am using
_Blackwood's Magazine_ as a safety-valve under a pseudonym."

It is these "safety-valve" papers that are here offered to the
American public in their completeness,--a picture of the great
struggle uniquely rich in graphic human detail.

4 PARK STREET




CONTENTS

BOOK ONE
BLANK CARTRIDGES

I. AB OVO
II. THE DAILY GRIND
III. GROWING PAINS
IV. THE CONVERSION OF PRIVATE M'SLATTERY
V. "CRIME"
VI. THE LAWS OF THE MEDES AND PERSIANS
VII. SHOOTING STRAIGHT
VIII. BILLETS
IX. MID-CHANNEL
X. DEEDS OF DARKNESS
XI. OLYMPUS
XII. ... AND SOME FELL BY THE WAYSIDE
XIII. CONCERT PITCH

BOOK TWO
LIVE ROUNDS

XIV. THE BACK OF THE FRONT
XV. IN THE TRENCHES--AN OFF-DAY
XVI. "DIRTY WORK AT THE CROSS-ROADS TO-NIGHT"
XVII. THE NEW WARFARE
XVIII. THE FRONT OF THE FRONT
XIX. THE TRIVIAL ROUND
XX. THE GATHERING OF THE EAGLES
XXI. THE BATTLE OF THE SLAG-HEAPS




"K(1)"

_We do not deem ourselves A 1,
We have no past: we cut no dash:
Nor hope, when launched against the Hun,
To raise a more than moderate splash.

But yesterday, we said farewell
To plough; to pit; to dock; to mill.
For glory_? Drop it! _Why? Oh, well--
To have a slap at Kaiser Bill.

And now to-day has come along.
With rifle, haversack, and pack,
We're off, a hundred thousand strong.
And--some of us will not come back.

But all we ask, if that befall,
Is this. Within your hearts be writ
This single-line memorial_:--
He did his duty--and his bit!