Fighting with French

ut at irregular intervals shells from field guns burst over or behind the trenches, doing very little damage, but making the men nervous and irritable. When the ominous tearing sound was hear

is company. "The bark is worse than the bite at present. It's really

t by heavier guns which it seemed impossible to place. The position of the guns appeared to vary. Sometimes the reports came from the south-east, sometimes from the east, sometimes from the north-east; and in general they were louder than those of the guns which had been definit

ry evenings in the trenches the colonel sent for a number of mouth organs, and some of the officers read to them in the dug-outs by candle light.

aying?" t

h that it was Stoneway, who had

hing, playing or singing. Seems to me he can play, too. But he didn't ought to play 'Home, sweet

number of their favourite tunes, and was always ready to play them. He would usually begin by running up and down the scale, and practising tunel

ieving one another in the trenches, though this was always done in darkness. And one day, when the general commanding the division came to the village to inspect the battalion, a particularly brisk shelling caused a stampede of

t time to the fire of a heavy howitzer. A peculiar l

n Adams, and the men crouched in t

r too short, plunging into the ground just in front of the German trenches, and bespattering them with earth. The third exploded in the pond between the lines, and sent a w

ith the range-finding or t

from his coat some dust cast up by one

bombardment. Captain Adams suspected that something was going on in the German lines, and remembering the success of Kenneth and Ginge

the German trenches, and listen. You know German, Amory, I believe. You'll do the listening, then; you others keep on the watch. Don't lose your way.

l instructions, s

ails yourselves. You're not pu

r murmured when the captain had gon

by all accounts," replied Harry. "I say, I'm jolly glad h

so, it would have exposed them to enfilading fire from the British. They had carried their advanced trench close up to the border of the pond on each side, then run communicating trenches at right angles from front to rear, and there dug a straight trench along the

g work, for the ground was much cut up by shell fire, and littered with fragments of shells, empty tins, and other rubbish. There was a certain advantage in the unevenness, in that it gave cover;

n ten or a dozen paces. They heard the Germans talking and laughing in their trenches, and here and there a slight radiance marked the pl

neral murmur, but presently he realised that one man was reading aloud to the rest from a German newspaper. "The blockade of England. Great German success in the North Sea

sh eat bricks?" ask

was a

th! Look at this pi

war bread I pity them," said a third. "We

of sinking a grain

ssels; I expect the Americans won't let their sh

d of it. I want to get home to Anna and the children

nt to get back to the Savoy: I made

n. The English won't ha

hrough a loophole, then over the crown of the parapet. Here he was able to look along both the main trench and the communicating trench at right angles to it. In the former, about a dozen yards away, he saw a group of men at the entrance of a dug-out, from which a glow shone forth. It was here, evidently, that the man was read

king of domestic matters; the ex-waiter of the Savoy Hotel described his little house and garden at Peckham, and told how he had happened to meet in L

eir wriggling way to their trench without being discovered. Captain Adams was a little disappointed at the meagre result o

everal men were wounded by splinters of shells, one so seriously t

enneth sai

ehind the German lines and see if we can locate that gun? Every day we lose a man

e captai

leave for this. I'll take the first opportunity of speaking to the captain. It wou

him, at once said, as Kenneth had expected

last night's affair, you see. You'll

can find that gun. Apart from our

want to lose two useful men. Stil

e day he se

that is to say, you are not to go on if you come up against any considerable body of the enemy. And keep the matter to yourselves. You'll be supposed to be going out aga

About four miles away it passed over a canal running north and south. With these two fixed lines and a pocket luminous compass they should not wander far afield in ignorance of their general position. Much nearer t

uriosity of their comrades, but they laughed off

y managed to slip away unnoticed by the other men. Moving with even more caution than on the previous night, they crawled over the ground until they reached the ang

from a traverse a few yards away. Then Harry caught sight of three or four men coming down the communication trench, and from their gait conclude

earth from the parapet or a splash in the water at the bottom. Kenneth cautiously clambered up the earthwork, lay flat on top of the parapet, then backed until his legs hung over inside. To avoid slipping he held Harry's hands, and

farther end. Flattening themselves into the angle they waited breathlessly. The corner was so dark that they hoped to escape detection; but their hearts leapt to their mouths when the

men say. "We are running short of batteries. You

hey had disappeared, Kenneth and Harry started to go down the communication trench, stepping very slowly through the water, and halting every now and again to listen. Prese

s sticky with mud; walking was difficult. And the men behind were gaining on them. Suddenly they came to a trench a

ng?" asked a

" replied Ken

still hear the footsteps and voices of the men following them. Others might be coming towards them. Striking to the left, they went along the trench for a few yards; then, coming upon another communication trench at right angles, they stopped to cons

e ruined church standing blac

to the north-east. We'll try that direction first, at

how far

ree miles,

say

el

ly I feel sort o