Chapter 2

“ ... The Wabbly was meant for one purpose, the
undermining of civilian morale. To accomplish that
purpose it set systematically about the establishment
of a reign of terror; and so complete was its success
that half the population of a state was in headlong
flight within two hours. It was, first, mysterious;
secondly, deadly, and within a very few hours it had
built up a reputation for invincibility. Judged on the
basis of its first twelve hours’ work alone, it was the
most successful experiment of the war. Its effect on
civilian morale was incalculable.” (Strategic Lessons
of the War of 1941-43.--U. S. War College. Pp. 80-81.)

Two of the members of Observation-Post Fourteen gaped after the retreating monster. Sergeant Walpole scribbled on the official form. Just as the monstrous thing dipped down out of sight there was a vicious, crashing report from its hinder part. Something shrieked...

Sergeant Walpole got up, spitting sand. There was blood on the report-form in his hand. He folded it painstakingly. Of the two men who had been with him, one was struggling out of the sand as Sergeant Walpole had had to do. The other was scattered over a good many square yards of sandy beach.

“Um. They seen us,” said Sergeant Walpole, “an’ they got Pete. You’ll have to take this report. I’m goin’ after the damn thing.”

“What for?” asked the other man blankly.

“To keep it in sight,” said Sergeant Walpole. “That’s tactics. If somebody springs somethin’ you ain’t able to fight, run away but keep it in sight an’ report to the nearest commissioned officer. Remember that. Now get on. There’s monocycles in the village. Get there an’ beat that damn Wabbly thing with the news.”

He saw his follower start off, sprinting. That particular soldier, by the way, was identified by his dog-tag some days later. As nearly as could be discovered, he had died of gas. But Sergeant Walpole picked up one of the two rifles, blew sand out of the breech-mechanism, and started off after the metal monster. He walked in the eight-foot track of one of its treads. As he went, he continued the cleaning of sand from the rifle in his hands. The rifle was useless against such a monster, of course, but it is quaint to reflect that in that automatic rifle, firing hexynitrate bullets, each equivalent to a six-pounder T.N.T. shell in destructiveness, Sergeant Walpole carried greater “fire-power” than Napoleon ever disposed in battle.

The tread of the Wabbly made a perfect roadway. Presently Sergeant Walpole looked up to find himself scrutinizing somebody’s dining-room table, set for lunch. The Wabbly had crossed a house in its path without swerving. Walls, chimneys, timbers and planks, all had gone beneath its treads. But they had been pressed so smoothly flat that until Sergeant Walpole looked down at his footing, he would not have known he was walking on the wreckage of a building.

It was half an hour before he reached the village. The Wabbly had gone from end to end, backed up, and gone over the rest of it again. There was the taint of gas in the air. Sergeant Walpole halted outside the debris. His gas-mask had been blown to atoms with Observation-Post Fourteen.

“They’re tryin’ to beat the news o’ their comin’,” he reflected aloud, “which is why they smashed up the village. The telephone exchange was there ... Tillie’s under there somewheres...”