Round this drum a wire cable was coiled, and a length of the cable
stretched like a snake across the field to where it ended in a swivel,
made fast to the bottom of the riding car. It was not, strictly
speaking, a riding car. It was a straight-up-and-down basket of tough,
light wicker, no larger and very little deeper than an ordinarily fair-
sized hamper for soiled linen. Indeed, that was what it reminded one
of--a clothesbasket.
Grouped about the team and the wagon were soldiers to the number of
perhaps a third of a company. Half a dozen of them stood about the
basket holding it steady--or trying to. Heavy sandbags hung pendent-
wise about the upper rim of the basket, looking very much like so many
canvased hams; but, even with these drags on it and in spite of the
grips of the men on the guy ropes of its rigging, it bumped and bounded
uneasily to the continual rocking of the gas bag above it. Every moment
or two it would lift itself a foot or so and tilt and jerk, and then
come back again with a thump that made it shiver.
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