Corporal Sam And Other Stories

"Our assault had been a muddle from the start. Delays, artillery-men who could not obey their orders to hold off firing, a signal that we never heard . . ."

"And now it happened that the supporting companies of the Royals had no sooner cleared the trenches than their ranks shook under a fire of grape, -- and from our own guns. There was no cure but to dash through it and take the chances, while Major Frazer, waving his sword, called on his men to follow him at the double!"

Tales of battles going awry, burglars prowling and bungling in shadows, and a desperate hand-to-hand struggle beside a midnight river are to be found in "Corporal Sam and Other Stories," by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, Cornish author of adventure novels including "The Splendid Spur."