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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of With Haig on the Somme, by D. H. Parry
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: With Haig on the Somme
+
+Author: D. H. Parry
+
+Illustrator: Archibald Webb
+
+Release Date: October 21, 2008 [EBook #26982]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH HAIG ON THE SOMME ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Barbara Kosker, Lindy Walsh and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+WITH HAIG ON THE SOMME
+
+
+
+
+WITH HAIG ON THE SOMME
+
+
+BY
+
+
+D. H. PARRY
+
+_Author of "Gilbert the Outlaw"; "The Scarlet Scouts"; "The V.C.: Its
+Heroes and their Valour," etc. etc._
+
+
+WITH FOUR COLOUR PLATES BY
+
+ARCHIBALD WEBB
+
+
+CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD
+
+London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
+
+
+
+
+First Published 1917 [Illustration: "The Commandant threw up his arms
+and pitched backward; Dennis dropped his weapon and caught him as he
+fell"]
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS
+
+  CHAPTER                                                    PAGE
+
+   1. AN UNCENSORED LETTER READ ALOUD                           1
+
+   2. OFF TO THE FRONT                                         14
+
+   3. "AT TEN O'CLOCK SHARP!"                                  22
+
+   4. HIS FIRST TIME UNDER FIRE                                33
+
+   5. HOW DENNIS CAME IN FOR A TASTE OF DISPATCH RIDING        42
+
+   6. A TERRIBLE ADVENTURE AT DAWN                             50
+
+   7. A FRIEND IN NEED                                         60
+
+   8. IN THE ENEMY TRENCHES                                    70
+
+   9. IN THE SNIPER'S LAIR                                     78
+
+  10. IN WHICH DENNIS MEETS CLAUDE LAVAL, PILOTE AVIATEUR      87
+
+  11. A DARING DASH                                            97
+
+  12. IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY                               107
+
+  13. A MAD GAMBLE FOR LIBERTY                                116
+
+  14. THE SING-SONG IN THE DUG-OUT                            128
+
+  15. "REEDSHIRES!--GET OVER!"                                136
+
+  16. THE SILENCING OF THE GUNS                               146
+
+  17. THE EXPLOITS OF A COMPANY                               155
+
+  18. WITH THE LEWIS GUN--AND AFTER                           163
+
+  19. WHAT THEY LEARNED ON THE GERMAN TELEPHONE               173
+
+  20. THE LAST RUNG OF A BROKEN LADDER                        183
+
+  21. VON DUSSEL'S REVENGE                                    191
+
+  22. THE ROW IN THE RESTAURANT                               200
+
+  23. "GAS!"                                                  210
+
+  24. THE CHATEAU AT THE TRENCH END                           219
+
+  25. FROM KITE BALLOON TO SADDLE                             229
+
+  26. UNDER THE GERMAN EAGLE                                  240
+
+  27. ON THE PART DENNIS PLAYED IN THE RECAPTURE OF BIACHES   247
+
+  28. THE EXCITING ADVENTURES OF "CARL HEFT"                  255
+
+  29. AN OLD FRIEND--AND A BITTER ENEMY!                      265
+
+  30. UNDER THE ENEMY WALL                                    275
+
+  31. WITH DASHWOOD'S BRIGADE                                 284
+
+  32. THE REWARDS OF VALOUR                                   295
+
+
+
+
+  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+  "THE COMMANDANT THREW UP HIS ARMS AND PITCHED             _Frontispiece_
+  BACKWARD; DENNIS DROPPED HIS WEAPON, CAUGHT HIM
+  AS HE FELL"
+
+                                                                      PAGE
+
+  "DENNIS FLUNG HIS BOMBS INTO THE SPACE AND
+  TREMENDOUS EXPLOSIONS ENSUED"                                         96
+
+  "BEFORE THE GERMANS REALISED WHAT WAS HAPPENING,
+  THERE WAS AN UGLY BIT OF BAYONET WORK"                               150
+
+  "NOTHING COULD CHECK THE VICTORIOUS RUSH"                            286
+
+
+
+
+WITH HAIG ON THE SOMME
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+An Uncensored Letter Read Aloud
+
+
+Private Harry Hawke, of the 2/12th Battalion Royal Reedshire Regiment
+(T.F.), sat on the step of the fire trench, his back against the
+parapet, busy with the bolt of his rifle.
+
+There were two things he loved more than anything else in life, and that
+rifle was one of them. The other was his platoon commander, Captain Bob
+Dashwood, who chanced to be coming along the communication at the
+moment, and the Cockney private's eyes lit up as he saw him.
+
+"Hallo, Hawke! All quiet?" said Captain Dashwood with a jerk of his head
+in the direction of the German lines, only one hundred and twenty yards
+across the mangled strip of Dead Man's Land that intervened.
+
+"Quiet as the bloomin' grave, sir," replied Harry Hawke with a grin,
+though he had almost to shout to make himself heard.
+
+A howitzer battery was shelling the enemy from the wood on the left, and
+the Germans were replying with "crumps," which luckily all went wide.
+
+"Seen anything more of that sniper that picked Marshall and Brown off
+last night?" questioned the captain.
+
+"Not likely, sir. I got 'im 'arf an hour after we took over the relief,"
+grinned the marksman of A Company, pointing with an oily finger to a
+fresh notch cut on the rifle stock. "He tumbled out of the willer tree
+flat, same as if you chucked a kipper from the top of a bus."
+
+Dashwood smiled, and the smile was reflected with interest in the
+wizened, mahogany-coloured face that looked up at his own from under the
+rim of the steel helmet.
+
+"You're a terrible chap, Hawke," he said. "How many does that make?"
+
+"Seventeen with the rifle, sir, but I've kept no tally of all I've done
+in wiv the bayonet," and he caressed his beloved weapon.
+
+"Don't get up, Hawke," said his officer, moving along the trench. "I'm
+only going to take a squint at the beggars," and as the private dropped
+back into his seat again, Bob Dashwood put his foot on the fire step and
+raised his head above the parapet.
+
+He looked across a broken waste, full of shell holes and mine craters,
+with a line of barbed wire fencing that followed the curve of the white
+enemy trench capped by sandbags.
+
+The marksman, having got rid of an imaginary speck of rust that had
+troubled his soul, replaced the bolt, and was putting away the oil rag,
+when there was a sharp stifled gasp, followed by a slithering fall, and
+Captain Dashwood lay in a heap among the white wet mud at the bottom of
+the trench. His cap had spun round and dropped into a sump, and the
+blood was pouring down his face and neck as Hawke reached him.
+
+"'Strewth, he's dead, and it's my fault!" he moaned, as a sergeant and
+several other men ran up.
+
+"It was nobody's fault but his own," said the sergeant savagely. "I've
+warned him a dozen times--and he's not dead, either. Pass the word
+there. We must get him down to the aid post sharp."
+
+While Hawke supported the battered head upon his knee the sergeant
+hastily applied a field dressing, and when a couple of bearers came
+running along the communication trench they laid the wounded man
+carefully on the stretcher, Hawke watching the receding figures with a
+dazed look until the angle hid them from view.
+
+"Now, you rotter, I've got to get you set!" he muttered, bending down
+and peering into the periscope with his rifle gripped tightly in his
+hands.
+
+Two or three days later news came up that the captain, still
+unconscious, had been sent to London straightway from the base hospital,
+and then for several weeks they heard no more of him, and a fresh notch
+cut on the stock of the Mark III. gave Private Harry Hawke very little
+satisfaction.
+
+"If I hadn't told him that all was clear he'd never have shoved his 'ead
+over the blinkin' sandbags," he kept muttering to himself. "Home ain't
+like home without a mother, and I reckon 'e was father and mother to us
+all art 'ere. Wish I was dead--I'm fed up!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"By Jove, mater, this is good news indeed. Fancy Dennis being gazetted
+to our battalion after all!" and Captain Bob's face lit up as he looked
+across the breakfast table with the telegram that had just arrived in
+his hand. "Only got a week's kit leave too, which means that he's to
+join at once. I'll put him through his facings and show him just what to
+get and what not to get, and if the Medical Board will only pass me fit
+for service again we can go over together. He will be here this morning
+too!"
+
+A chorus of delight went up from the four youngsters on one side of the
+table, and Master Billy Dashwood, aged eight, clapped his hands and
+overturned the milk jug.
+
+"Billy, Billy!" said his mother reprovingly. "When will you learn to
+behave yourself and to take care?"
+
+"When will you let me join the Boy Scouts?" retorted her youngest born,
+gazing up at the ceiling with the face of an innocent cherub, and Mrs.
+Dashwood was obliged to smile as she looked at her eldest son.
+
+"Your father will be very pleased, Bob," she said. "There have been
+Dashwoods in the regiment for generations, and it is nice to feel that
+both my boys will be in a battalion in their father's brigade."
+
+"You should be very proud, madame, that yours is such a military
+family," said a young man who sat opposite to the children with his back
+to the tall windows. "Let me see, you will now have four members serving
+at this great crisis?"
+
+"Yes, it is an honour of which I am indeed more than proud, Monsieur Van
+Drissel," said his hostess.
+
+"But Uncle Eric doesn't count--he's only at the War Office, and they do
+nothing there," interposed the irrepressible Billy.
+
+"I shall send you out of the room if you're rude," said his mother. "The
+War Office is a most important branch."
+
+It was a pleasant room in a charming house, whose grounds sloped down to
+the ornamental water in Regent's Park, and if one had not known it, one
+might have imagined it to be one of those countless English homes into
+which the war had not penetrated.
+
+Captain Bob, looking very different now from the crumpled figure at the
+bottom of the trench, had escaped death from the sniper's bullet by a
+fraction of an inch, but he had made quick recovery, and before his
+month's sick furlough was at an end he was already secretly yearning to
+get back again. He knew that there was a great push in contemplation,
+and his only fear was that he might not be in it.
+
+Everything in that room spoke of comfort and money, and everything was
+very English, except the young man with his back to the windows, and the
+young woman with the dark eyes on the opposite side of the table.
+
+Lieutenant Van Drissel, of the Belgian army, whose wound, received in
+the fighting outside Dixmude long months before, obstinately refused to
+heal, found himself in very pleasant quarters, thanks to the hospitality
+of Mrs. Dashwood, who had also given his sister an asylum as French
+governess to the small fry.
+
+Like Captain Bob, he was in khaki, but the contrast between the two
+officers was very striking. The one was lean and athletic in every line
+of his figure, with laughing grey eyes in a handsome face; the other, a
+stolid, fair-haired Fleming, whose square visage would have been rather
+colourless and commonplace but for the pleasant smile which showed his
+white teeth.
+
+He followed Mrs. Dashwood's every movement with the expression of a
+grateful dog, and waited upon her hand and foot, doing his best to
+justify his presence there.
+
+"Ah, you have better luck than I, Dashwood," he said in perfect English,
+with a doleful shrug of his shoulders.
+
+"Don't worry, Van Drissel; keep smiling, as my fellows sing," laughed
+Captain Bob encouragingly. "Your turn will come, and we shall both march
+into Berlin one of these days."
+
+"It is a long time," said the Belgian lieutenant gravely. "Even Ottilie
+here loses heart," and he looked across the table at his sister.
+
+Mademoiselle Ottilie, as dark as her brother was fair, heaved a deep
+sigh and made a funny little gesture with her hands. "For myself, I
+dread to go back to poor Belgium," she murmured in broken English. "I
+wish it might be possible that perhaps I might stay here for evaire--you
+are all to me so kind."
+
+"Mamma," said Billy with a perfectly grave face as he mimicked her
+accent, "I wish it might be possible that perhaps I could have that last
+piece of toast, eh?"
+
+"Billy, go out of the room," said Mrs. Dashwood severely, but
+Mademoiselle Ottilie threw an impulsive arm round the young monkey's
+neck, and looked appealingly at his mother.
+
+"Oh, no, please not, madame. He is so young," she interposed.
+
+"Well," said Captain Bob, rising, "I think it's the weather that has
+given you the hump, old chap. Still raining," and he glanced at the
+windows. "What do you say to a game of billiards? I'll play you three
+hundred up if you like."
+
+"With all my heart," replied Van Drissel, getting up with a limp and
+opening the door for Mrs. Dashwood, and the two officers went into the
+billiard-room, whence they were no more seen for a couple of hours.
+
+"Hard luck," said Bob Dashwood at last, as the Belgian missed an easy
+shot. "And you've left them for me, too. I'm afraid your leg is worrying
+you."
+
+"Oh, that is nothing," replied his companion with a wry smile, as he
+limped towards the scoring board. "You only want five to win."
+
+"And there they are," said Bob apologetically, as the white ball
+followed the red into a pocket. "But, you know, you're playing a very
+good game."
+
+"It is nice of you to say so," replied the Belgian. "Unhappily, I have
+so much time for practice these days," and he lit a cigarette. "There is
+not much news in the papers this morning."
+
+"The calm before the storm, my boy," smiled the captain with a twinkle
+of his grey eyes. "There will be some big news directly. By Jove! you
+ought to see the munitions they're piling up behind us. It is
+incredible! The worst of it is, our sector simply swarms with spies, and
+the beggars get to know everything almost as soon as we know it
+ourselves; in fact, sometimes before.
+
+"They're very slick," the captain went on. "As a matter of fact, Germans
+often come over into our lines in British uniforms, and they are so
+thundering clever that you can't tell the difference. Why, not long ago,
+I yarned for half an hour with a major of the R.E., as I thought--didn't
+tell him much, luckily, but we hadn't parted five minutes when he was
+'wanted,' and there was no end of a hunt, but he managed to get clear,
+and a genuine English major was within an ace of being shot in mistake
+for him if he hadn't been recognised by one of the staff in time."
+
+"Ah, there you are," said Van Drissel. "When do you think Sir Douglas
+Haig will make a move?"
+
+"Almost directly," said Captain Bob. "The day before I was wounded I had
+it on first-rate authority that---- Hallo! here's my young brother.
+Excuse me, Van Drissel," and without further ceremony he darted into the
+hall as a lad in the uniform of the O.T.C., who had just got out of a
+taxi, flew up the steps three at a time and dashed in with a shout.
+
+"Why, Bob, old boy!"
+
+"Dennis, dear old man! This is a bit of luck! How are you?"
+
+"Top-hole!" laughed the new-comer, beaming all over his face, which was
+a clean-shaven, boyish reproduction of his brother's, brown as a berry
+from the arduous training he had undergone with the Artists', and,
+breaking loose from Bob's grip, he kissed his mother tenderly.
+
+"You got my wire, dear little mater, but you didn't expect me so soon.
+It is good to be home again, even if it's only 'How d'you do?' and
+'Bye-bye.' But isn't it fine putting me in Bob's battalion? How are the
+kids? And, I say, mater, is there any grub going? I didn't wait for
+breakfast before I left, and I'm hungry as a hunter."
+
+The wounded Belgian lieutenant in the adjoining room bit his lips as he
+overheard the joyful greetings. The rain had cleared, and as he stood
+looking out where the trim lawn sloped down to the water, he saw a
+couple of English Tommies in hospital blue sculling round one of the
+tufted islets.
+
+"Dennis, let me introduce you to Lieutenant Van Drissel, of the Belgian
+army," said Bob, coming in as Van Drissel turned round. "This is my
+brother whom we have been talking about," and the two shook hands.
+
+"Glad to meet you," said Dennis frankly.
+
+"Lucky bargee," smiled Van Drissel. "Isn't that right?"
+
+"Ah, you speak English? Yes, it is quite right. I am," laughed Dennis.
+
+"He speaks everything under the sun," said his brother. "And, by the
+way, Dennis is a great stunt on languages. You two will be able to make
+us feel thoroughly ashamed of ourselves. My regular verbs are as rusty
+as a trench button."
+
+"Will you smoke?" said the Belgian, producing a silver cigarette-case.
+
+"Not just now, thanks. I'm going to have some grub first, and if you
+don't mind I'll bunk upstairs and get a sluice."
+
+"That boy is one of the best in the world, although he's my own
+brother," explained Bob Dashwood when Dennis had gone.
+
+"How old?"
+
+"Eighteen and a half," replied Bob.
+
+"It is young to be killed," said Van Drissel gravely.
+
+"But he isn't killed yet. Never knew such a fellow for falling on his
+feet. Of course, we all have to take our chances out there, but I don't
+mind betting you he comes off with a D.S.O. or a Military Cross, or
+something or other. You will hear of him yet, mark my words."
+
+Thanks to Bob's experience, the kit buying did not take long, and in
+three days the boy sported his service uniform, to the rather oppressive
+admiration of Billy and the huge delight of his sisters. The Medical
+Board, too, had passed Bob as fit for service again, and the kit leave
+went like a flash.
+
+Altogether, it had been a great week, with Dennis like a sea breeze
+filling the house with his wonderful spirits. There were people to
+dinner almost every evening, among them Uncle Eric, who was a staff
+captain at the War Office.
+
+And then it all came to an end, and the last night arrived, and the
+mother and her two soldier sons sat down to dinner alone.
+
+Mademoiselle Ottilie pleaded a headache, and her brother also invented
+an excuse for being absent.
+
+"You would like to be together," he had said confidentially in Bob's
+ear.
+
+"They are very charming and considerate," said Mrs. Dashwood when Bob
+told her. "I do not care very much for Belgians, as a rule, but the Van
+Drissels are exceptionally nice people."
+
+Dennis said nothing, but he had his own thoughts. He did not like
+mademoiselle's bright black eyes, and the lieutenant's perpetual smile
+had begun to get on his nerves.
+
+Mrs. Dashwood had kept up very bravely, though her heart was sad enough
+in all conscience, and when eleven o'clock struck, and Dennis, who had
+been living at high pressure, suddenly yawned and said: "Would you mind,
+mater, if I turned in? I'm as tired as a dog." Mrs. Dashwood made no
+demur, but signed to her eldest son to remain a little longer.
+
+"Come into the drawing-room, Bob," she said, when they heard Dennis
+close his bedroom door with a bang. "I have a letter from your father
+which I want you to read. I did not show it to Dennis because he is
+excited enough already."
+
+"Any news, dear?" questioned the captain as they seated themselves on
+the great padded settee, into which one sank so luxuriously that one
+never wanted to get out of it again.
+
+"Yes, there is news. I suppose he has really told me more than he ought
+to have done. The date of the Great Push is fixed. But here is the
+letter; it only came this evening, and you can read it aloud to me."
+
+As he did so, Captain Bob's eyebrows lifted, for the brigadier had been
+remarkably outspoken.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"We are going to make a simultaneous advance, we and the French on our
+right," he wrote in one place. "Our sector will bear the brunt of it.
+The thing has been kept wonderfully quiet, and so far the enemy knows
+nothing. All their attention is turned on the 'Clown' Prince's insane
+operations against Verdun, and the German General Staff seem to have
+forgotten the Somme region altogether, and to underrate the British as
+usual. But there will be a big surprise for them.
+
+"My fellows are in fine fettle; in fact, so is the whole army corps in
+this region," he continued. "You should see the artillery we have massed
+ready for the preliminary bombardment, which promises to be the biggest
+in history. I hope Bob will be out in time, but I have no news of
+Dennis, and, between ourselves, I am not really sorry."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"By Jove! the governor's let himself go for once in his life," said Bob,
+when he had finished the letter. "Half a minute, mater, I'll show you
+all these places on the map, and then when the thing comes off you will
+be able to follow it," and, going out into the hall where his brother's
+kit was ready for the morning and his own simple outfit with it, he
+returned with a chart of that sector of the British line where it joined
+up with the French.
+
+The ormolu clock on the mantelpiece struck half-past twelve before he
+had finished his lecture, which Mrs. Dashwood followed with the keenest
+interest, and when at last they got up, the brave little mother clung to
+him for a moment, very near to the breaking point.
+
+"You will look after Dennis, Bob, as far as you can?" she said in a
+hushed voice. "He is very young and very impetuous, and regards the
+whole thing as a glorious game to be played as keenly as he plays
+rugger."
+
+"You know I will do all I can, darling," he said, taking her face in his
+hands and kissing it, and then she passed out, and he switched off the
+lights.
+
+When the drawing-room door closed a figure rose from behind the settee,
+where he had crouched all the time, and Anton Van Drissel dusted the
+knees of his khaki trousers.
+
+"Ach Himmel!" he muttered in German. "It is worth a stiff back to have
+heard what I have heard to-night!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+Off to the Front
+
+
+He stood quite still for fully five minutes to make sure that they had
+really gone, and then he stole with catlike tread over the noiseless
+carpet, and, opening the door, listened again.
+
+The billiard-room was at the opposite end of the vestibule, and, closing
+the door gently behind him, he switched on the electric light, which
+revealed Mademoiselle Van Drissel evidently waiting for him.
+
+"What have you learned, Anton?" she whispered in German.
+
+"I have learned everything, my little wife," he replied. "We leave this
+house to-morrow, as soon as those two fools have gone to catch their
+boat-train."
+
+"Zo!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands. "I, for one, shall be
+delighted. I shall have but one regret."
+
+"And what is that, Ottilie?" inquired her husband.
+
+"That I shall not be able to twist the neck of that detestable little
+pig-dog, Billy, before I go. Ach, Anton, you do not know how I hate the
+little beast!"
+
+"I do not love him myself," said the spy, seating himself beside her.
+"Listen, this is a good opportunity for us to talk without interruption,
+and there is much to be arranged. You will stay in London; I shall cross
+over to-morrow night from the usual place, for my information must be
+in the Kaiser's hands without delay. It is now June 20, and the great
+attack is to take place on the first day of July."
+
+As he spoke he drew out a pocket-book, and the girl leaning over his
+shoulder read the words he wrote down rapidly while all he had overheard
+was still fresh in his memory.
+
+"Is it possible?" murmured his female confederate. "Our time has not
+been wasted after all, then. Our people knew what they were doing when
+they sent us to this house."
+
+"Our people always know what they are doing," said the sham Belgian,
+with a cunning leer. "What would you have? A family, the father of which
+is a brigadier-general at the front; the eldest son also a captain at
+the front; and the young boy on the point of joining the Army. They were
+just the very people likely to talk, to say nothing of that greatest
+fool of all, Uncle Staff Captain, who told me a great deal when he dined
+here on Wednesday. Ottilie, these English are lunatics, and it is not
+for nothing that we have opened their letters for the last six months
+without their discovering it. Still, I must confess I had never expected
+a piece of luck so complete and so timely as this," and he tapped the
+notebook in which he had recorded everything.
+
+He stooped towards her and kissed with as much affection as lies in the
+German nature to bestow upon anyone outside itself, and when he spoke
+again his whisper was very earnest.
+
+"You had a headache to-night--good. You can make the excuse in the
+morning to visit the pharmacy in Shaftesbury Avenue. I need not tell you
+where you will really go. But tell them that word must be sent to Fritz
+Hoffer to take me off at the old spot at seven o'clock to-morrow night."
+
+"Are you certain of a train that will get you there in time?"
+
+"I shall not bother about trains," he replied. "The Kilburn Rifles are
+doing coast duty there, and I will borrow Dennis Dashwood's motor-bike
+ten minutes after their car has left for Charing Cross. I shall be in
+the vicinity of Folkestone before their train arrives, and may possibly
+pass them in the Channel."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Sure everything's in?" said Captain Bob with a keen glance round the
+hall, which looked so pathetically empty now that the little pile of
+brown cases had been carried to the car. "Well, time's up. Au revoir,
+mon lieutenant. I must air my bad French, you know," and he shook hands
+warmly with the "Belgian officer," who stood bareheaded on the step to
+see them off. "Hope to meet you over there one of these days. Buck up
+and get all right, you know."
+
+"We shall meet, never fear; perhaps sooner than you think," said Van
+Drissel with a quiet smile. "Good-bye and good luck to you both."
+
+Then the skunk saluted, and the car drove off, Mademoiselle Ottilie
+waving her handkerchief. Now they were gone, and as the three little
+girls filed back into the hall wiping their eyes, the Van Drissels
+exchanged a look.
+
+"You have nothing that matters if you leave it behind?" said the man.
+
+"Nothing at all--a refugee is not supposed to have belongings," replied
+his wife.
+
+"Very well, do not go yet until you have heard me start the engine. Then
+when I have gone, walk quietly out of the house just as you are. They
+might trace a taxi."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The motor-car came to a stand outside Charing Cross Station, and Mrs.
+Dashwood's heart seemed to come to a stand with it. In less than half an
+hour she knew she would have parted with her boys, perhaps for the last
+time, but she kept a brave face as Bob helped her out, and they found
+themselves on the fringe of the busy throng that every day marks the
+departure of the boat-train.
+
+There were not quite so many people as usual, for nearly all leave had
+been stopped.
+
+A porter, well over military age, followed them through the barrier on
+to No. 2 platform, where the long train was waiting. Three men of the
+Lincolns, loaded with packs and rifles and bulging haversacks, were
+looking for three seats in the same compartment.
+
+A family of eight, of assorted sizes, were gathered round a short
+private of the A.S.C., all talking at once. Farther along, a very pale
+officer of the Northamptons, going out for the first time, stood with
+three ladies, keeping his end up very well. Three lieutenants going back
+from short leave, and lucky to get it, stood chattering, with red V's on
+the back of their tunics, and as he passed them Dennis saw that they
+belonged to the Northumberland Fusiliers.
+
+Bob had secured places in the Pullman, and they walked along the train
+until they reached it, and read the name "Clementina, seats 1-19," and
+when their clobber had been put inside they stood on the curving
+platform, watching the scene.
+
+A chaplain with three stars on his black shoulder-straps and a pipe in
+his mouth was talking to a tall curate, and two French officers in the
+new blue-grey uniform, with black belts and gaiters, gave a touch of
+unusual colour as they passed backwards and forwards through the groups.
+One of them had a long beard; the other, a merry little man talking very
+good English to three friends, wore the red ribbon of the Military Cross
+on his breast.
+
+Quite a number of British staff officers came along, one with a very
+purple face, and the three Lincolns, who had been turned out of a
+second-class carriage, made their way back again in search of a third.
+
+A collector came along and examined the tickets, and everyone drew a
+little closer to his carriage door.
+
+"Only five minutes now," said Bob, glancing at the clock.
+
+The staff officer with the purple face sat in his corner in the
+dining-car, but almost everybody else was still out on the platform.
+
+Then the railway officials moved quietly among the little groups,
+saying: "Time is up, gentlemen. Please take your seats," and the little
+groups separated, the officers climbing into the carriages.
+
+From the rear of the platform a low whistle sounded, and another
+official pressed a button close to the clock at the other end and blew a
+little note himself. That was all, and almost imperceptibly the
+boat-train glided away, with here and there a wave of a khaki arm, and
+from the third-class compartments at the end a heedless cheer from some
+youngsters who were going back again and did not seem to mind.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"What is this, Smithson?" said Mrs. Dashwood, as the parlourmaid handed
+her an envelope when she reached home.
+
+"Mademoiselle asked me to give it to you as soon as you arrived, ma'am,"
+said the maid, and she opened the letter.
+
+    "My husband and I are much obliged to you for your
+    hospitality," the German girl had written in scornful mood. "We
+    shall not trouble you any further, as we have learned all we
+    came to know. Gott strafe the English, and in particular your
+    detestable little boy.
+
+    "OTTILIE VAN DRISSEL."
+
+"Good heavens! What vile ingratitude!" exclaimed Mrs. Dashwood. "I have
+harboured spies!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A drizzling rain blurred the Channel, and it was high tide.
+
+The lap of the wavelets on the pebbles sounded in the ears of a sentry
+who swung suddenly round and challenged, rather surprised to see by the
+scarlet band that the man who had approached to within two paces of him
+unheard was a staff officer.
+
+"That's all right, my boy, you needn't look so flurried," said the
+"brass hat." "Do you know if the boat has gone over yet?"
+
+"I ain't seen her, sir, but, then, you can't see much in this drizzle.
+But I'll tell you what happened last night, sir; them there lights
+showed again up yonder."
+
+"That is precisely what I have been sent down to investigate," said his
+interrogator.
+
+"We are all certain there's something going on," said the sentry,
+"though they ain't been seen for ten days now."
+
+They stood side by side looking inland, and the staff officer, with his
+hands behind the back of his drab mackintosh, pressed the button of a
+tiny electric torch rapidly three times.
+
+The sentry was only a boy, and he talked volubly, not heeding the
+melancholy call of a sea-bird from the water.
+
+"Ah, well, I think we shall have them to-night," said the staff officer.
+"I see you have still got the old Mark II.?"
+
+"Yes, sir," smiled the unsuspecting lad. "They took the others away from
+us when we came down on this job."
+
+"Let me look at it," said the staff captain, holding out his hand, and
+the moment his fingers closed round the rifle the boy dropped senseless
+on to the stones, felled by a smashing blow from the heavy butt.
+
+"You'll do!" said his assailant, and, laying the rifle down and
+gathering up the skirts of his mackintosh, he walked deliberately into
+the sea!
+
+A collapsible boat, rowed by two men in German naval uniforms, was
+rising and falling on the top of the tide, and in another moment the men
+were pulling out into the rain blur with their mysterious passenger.
+
+No one spoke, until the nose of the boat met the dark grey hull of the
+submarine waiting less than a quarter of a mile out, and as the beam of
+a searchlight suddenly flashed through the mist, the top of the
+periscope sank noiselessly beneath the waves, and Captain Von Dussel,
+alias Van Drissel, sank with it.
+
+"Good luck again, Kamerad?" inquired the commander as they stood in the
+conning-tower.
+
+"The best of good luck this time, Heffer," laughed the spy. "How soon
+can you put me ashore on the other side?"
+
+"As soon as I have accomplished a little scheme of my own," replied the
+commander of the U50, with a strange glitter in his eyes. "The boat is
+coming out of Folkestone now."
+
+"That is not my affair," said Von Dussel.
+
+"No, it is mine," replied the commander haughtily. "In less than an hour
+I shall send her to the bottom."
+
+"You will do no such thing," said the spy in a low piercing voice,
+producing a Browning pistol and clapping it to his head. "In an hour I
+must be in France. The news I carry is worth the loss of forty Channel
+steamers. Hesitate another moment, and I will shoot you like a dog!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+"At Ten o'Clock Sharp!"
+
+
+"Hawke!"
+
+"Sir!" And the marksman of A Company jumped across the floor of the
+trench to the door of the dug-out with surprising alacrity, as the merry
+laughing face of Dennis Dashwood showed in the square hole in the wall
+of the parados.
+
+From the moment Bob Dashwood had made Dennis known to Harry Hawke as "my
+brother," that worthy had attached himself to the new arrival with the
+same devotion he showed to the captain, and the more he saw of Dennis
+the more devoted he became.
+
+"Hawke," said the subaltern, "I'm going over to-night, and I want three
+old hands to go with me. The Divisional C.O. wishes the enemy wire
+examined, and I've put in for the job. You can come if you fancy it.
+What do you say?"
+
+"I says yus!" cried Harry Hawke, with a widening of the grin that
+puckered his dirty, mahogany-coloured face. "Better let me pick you out
+two more, sir, what knows the game."
+
+"Right-o!" assented Dennis. "Of course, it all depends on whether their
+guns start strafing our trench at dusk. If not, and everything is fairly
+quiet, we'll move out at ten sharp," and he consulted his wristlet
+watch--Mrs. Dashwood's last present.
+
+"What's this conspiracy? Can't I be in it too?" said a strange voice
+that made Harry Hawke jump round, ready to salute, but his hand dropped
+to his side again, for it was only an Australian corporal, who had come
+along the trench behind him unnoticed.
+
+"Why, Dan, old fellow! Where on earth have you sprung from?" cried
+Dennis, emerging from his burrow and seizing the outstretched hand as
+though he never meant to let it go again.
+
+"It isn't a long story, Dennis," laughed the corporal, who was a
+broad-shouldered young fellow a year or two the boy's senior. "They've
+just moved our crowd in behind the brigade on your right, and the first
+person I set eyes on was Uncle Arthur, who happens to know our old man.
+So, as we are in the reserve trenches and nothing doing, I asked leave
+to come over here to see you, and got it too. Uncle told me you had only
+just arrived. How long have you been here?"
+
+"Forty-eight hours," said Dennis. "Come and see my quarters."
+
+His cousin ducked his head and followed him down the three steps that
+led into the dug-out.
+
+"'Will you walk into my parlour, said the spider to the fly,'" murmured
+Dan Dunn.
+
+"Quite so," laughed Dennis. "But we haven't room for even a spider's
+web, though the rats are an infernal nuisance."
+
+"There are worse things in this world than rats," said his cousin,
+looking round at the little square cave excavated months before by the
+Germans in the chalky soil, and seating himself on one of the two cots.
+"Who's your room-mate?"
+
+"My brother Bob. He's our platoon commander, you know. He'll be in
+presently for tea. But, I say, isn't this just ripping?"
+
+"It's certainly better than Gallipoli," said Dunn with a quiet,
+retrospective smile. "Gad, Dennis, that was an awful hash up!" And he
+blew a cloud of tobacco smoke to circle upwards among the shelves and
+lockers, where all sorts of things were stowed away.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said Private Hawke, thrusting his head in at the
+door. "You didn't answer this gentleman's question. Does he want to come
+with us to-night?"
+
+"Oh, yes--did you mean that, Dan? It's like this," explained Dennis.
+"The Boches have been putting up some fresh wire over yonder, and they
+want to know at D.H.Q. whether it's permanent or temporary. I rather
+fancy there's a bit of a raid on the cards, and I'm going out to
+reconnoitre."
+
+"Do I mean it!" laughed his cousin. "As long as I report myself at
+sun-up it's all right."
+
+"Very well, Hawke, my cousin will go with us."
+
+"Then we'll only want one other man, sir, and I'll warn Tiddler. He can
+smell Germans in the dark."
+
+"That doesn't take much doing," smiled Dennis. "They're a filthy crowd,
+anyhow. Ten o'clock sharp! And ask Smithers if that kettle's boiling."
+
+Harry Hawke had scarcely removed his drab figure from the doorway when
+Captain Dashwood blotted out the light and dived in upon them with a
+dexterity born of much practice.
+
+His greeting with the Australian cousin was warm enough, but they both
+saw something unusual in his face as Dan squeezed up on the cot and made
+room for him.
+
+"Read this, Dennis," he said. "The mater's just sent it over," and he
+tossed Ottilie's farewell letter across the dug-out.
+
+"The pigs!" cried Dennis hotly. "I can't say it doesn't surprise me,
+because it does; but, you know, I never tumbled either to the man or to
+his sister. What does the governor say?"
+
+"He's very sick," replied Bob. "Especially as he gave the whole show
+away in his letter. Luckily the mater took it from the postman herself,
+and she doesn't think they can possibly have seen it. But there it
+is--one never knows. It is the beastly ingratitude that gets over me.
+The mater rigged that girl out from top to toe, and paid her jolly well,
+too, and Van Drissel had the run of the house, and then went away with
+three boxes of the brigadier's cigars into the bargain. A German isn't a
+human being when you come to look at it--he's just a mean beast, a bully
+when he's top dog, and a grovelling worm when he's cornered. Does your
+crush take many prisoners, Dan?"
+
+Dan Dunn smiled, and his faultless teeth gleamed in the coffee-brown of
+his face.
+
+"Am I compelled to answer that question, your worship?" he said, with an
+odd twinkle in his grey eyes, but he had already answered it to their
+complete satisfaction. "Do you?" he said.
+
+"A few Saxons now and again, when they put up their hands," replied
+Captain Bob. "They're sick to death of the whole business, but Prussians
+or Bavarians, no. We've 'had some,' and we're not looking for more
+trouble."
+
+Smithers made his appearance from the adjoining dug-out, which was their
+kitchen, and when Bob had fixed up the folding table and Dennis had
+dragged a Tate sugar box, which acted as cupboard, into the centre of
+the floor, they drank hot tea, which was good, and ate sardines and
+bread and butter, and finished up with jam, which Dan Dunn passed with
+an apologetic grin.
+
+"No, thanks; we had enough of that at Anzac," he said. "Forty flies to
+the spoonful and enteric to follow. Our boys put in a requisition for
+apricot so that you could see them better, but it didn't come off."
+
+After tea they smoked and talked over things, especially the new
+divisions that were marching up in a never-ending stream, and the huge
+shell stores at the artillery dumps, which had struck Dan Dunn very
+forcibly as his battalion passed them. And then Bob, having duties to
+attend to, went away in the gathering dusk, and they hung a ground sheet
+over the door and lit a candle, and Dan, with his huge arms behind his
+head, told in his quiet drawl of Quinn's Post and Lone Pine, and had
+hard things to say about the Higher Command, to all of which Dennis
+listened, enthralled, with his elbows on his knees.
+
+At five minutes to ten by the wristlet watch there came a cough from the
+other side of the ground sheet, and Dan picked himself up.
+
+"Right-o, Hawke!" called Dennis, with a glance at the watch. "Here's a
+spare revolver for you, Dan, or would you rather have a rifle?"
+
+"Rifle's in the way if it's a long crawl," said his cousin. "I'll take
+the Smith and Wesson, old man."
+
+Dennis settled his cap firmly on his head and extinguished the candle.
+On either side of the door of the dug-out, as they pulled aside the
+ground sheet and came up the steps, a dark figure loomed--Harry Hawke
+and his chum, Tiddler.
+
+Against the lighter grey of the sky one could make out the ragged edge
+of the sandbags, and a little way off the rosy glow from a brazier
+showed through the trench mist which hung low over the ground.
+
+"The listening post knows we're coming through 'em, sir; they're lying
+out in front of the bay on the left," volunteered Hawke.
+
+"Very well," said Dennis in a low voice, "the idea is this: we want to
+strike a bee-line--barring shell holes, of course--straight out to their
+wire. You and Tiddler will keep twenty yards behind to cover us if
+necessary, but no firing unless you are absolutely obliged. You
+understand that?"
+
+Both men whispered "Yus, sir!" in a ready chorus, and Dennis led the way
+to the bay in the trench, and climbed on to the fire step.
+
+Another figure stood motionless there, his rifle on a sandbag before
+him, and everything was unusually still.
+
+"Anything moving?" said Dennis, in the man's ear.
+
+"Haven't known it so quiet all the week, sir," was the reply. "But don't
+forget there's a machine-gun yonder, thirty paces to the left of the
+willow stump, and they generally shove one of their posts out in front
+of that, sir."
+
+"I won't forget," said Dennis. "Come on, Dan! Over we go!" And the next
+moment four dark forms clambered across the parapet and dropped on to
+their faces on the other side.
+
+A little way out, glued to the ground with their eyes and ears wide
+open, our listening post lay, and as they crawled towards it one of the
+men tapped with the toe of his boot to let them know that their coming
+had been heard.
+
+A long way off to southward, so far that it came only as a dull booming,
+the German guns were shelling the French lines intermittently, and there
+was the sharp bark of rifles to the north.
+
+"How long do you calculate it will take us to reach their wire, Baker?"
+whispered Dennis to the last man of the listening post as he crawled up
+beside him.
+
+"Somewhere about ten minutes, sir," was the reply. "There's one biggish
+crump-hole straight ahead, and two more on the left a bit farther on,
+and there's a tidy lot of dead lying out there."
+
+Shoulder to shoulder Dennis and Dan crept forward across that No Man's
+Land, the wind rustling in the tangled grass, bringing with it the acrid
+odour of unburied corpses. Dan's hand encountered one of them, and he
+nudged his cousin to work away more to the right.
+
+This brought them to the edge of the first crump-hole, and glancing
+every few yards at the luminous dial, they kept on for some distance
+unchecked.
+
+"We ought to be on it now," murmured Dennis. "It's a quarter of an hour
+since we left the listening post." And he felt cautiously to the full
+extent of his arms, but without encountering an upright standard.
+
+They did not know it, but they had passed through a gap!
+
+"Hold on!" whispered the Australian; "I thought I heard something quite
+close on the left there."
+
+Dennis heard it, too, at the same moment. It was like the solemn rattle
+of earth falling into a newly made grave.
+
+"It's only the chalk settling in those other crump-holes Baker warned us
+about," he said, after they had listened breathlessly for a few moments.
+"Our two fellows must have gone wide and struck them."
+
+But he was wrong. The crump-holes were on the left, far behind, if they
+had only known it; and it was from their right rear that a sudden
+muffled exclamation came out of the stillness.
+
+"'Evins!" said Tiddler, as he felt the sharp barbs of a low-stretched
+strand bury themselves in the slack of his pants. "'Arry, I'm 'ung up!"
+
+"Shut yer 'ead! What's the trouble?" growled his companion; and as Harry
+Hawke groped for his mate he shook the strand; the well-known jangle of
+an empty bully-beef tin warning them all that they had struck one of the
+simplest expedients of modern warfare, freely used by both sides.
+
+A tin dangling on the barbed wire does not ring like a cracked bell
+unless somebody touches it; and from the darkness just in front and
+above their heads, Dan and Dennis heard a guttural whisper, and,
+realising that they were immediately under the enemy's parapet, lay as
+flat as playing cards.
+
+"It's those two fellows of mine," breathed Dennis in his cousin's ear.
+"But how the dickens have we passed the wire without giving the alarm?"
+
+Dan, with recollections of Anzac fresh upon him, remembered that slither
+of earth from those crump-holes on the left.
+
+"I'll bet you anything there's a party gone out to your trench, and
+they've shifted a section of the wire to let them through," he replied.
+"We may meet them on the way back. Don't move! We know, anyhow, that
+their new wire's not fixed!"
+
+Voices were humming above them now, and the German trench guards were
+evidently on the alert. Still nothing happened, and Dennis was just
+congratulating himself that their presence there was unsuspected when
+there was a sharp sound from the top of the sandbags, and a pistol light
+soared above their heads, illuminating the darkness.
+
+For a moment everything was distinctly visible, although they themselves
+were so far hidden by the German sandbags; but as Dennis looked back
+over his shoulder, he saw the luckless Tiddler lying prone and helpless
+in the open, and the white face of Hawke telling out strong in the
+glare.
+
+A hoarse shout from the German trench went up as the pistol flare died
+down, showing that they had been seen.
+
+"Give us a hand, matey; I ain't 'arf caught!" entreated Tiddler, who,
+resting principally on his face and one knee, was making violent efforts
+to disengage himself.
+
+"'Old still!" growled Hawke, producing his nippers and snapping the
+strand in two places, leaving a short piece about a foot in length
+embedded in the tough cloth. "Now yer clear; back out of it." And as he
+seized his rifle a green star-shell soared overhead, and there was an
+ear-splitting screech above them.
+
+"That's high velocity," whispered Dan Dunn, as they heard the splosh of
+a heavy shell in rear of the British parapet, followed by a deafening
+explosion and a red flame. "We've drawn them this time, old man, but I
+can't make out why these beggars in the trench here don't fire. I'm for
+making a bolt for it before they start. What do you say?"
+
+Dennis gathered his legs under him, and signalled with his arm to Hawke
+and Tiddler to go back, and expecting nothing but death for themselves,
+the two cousins suddenly jumped up under the very noses of the men
+lining the parapet behind them, and sprinted for the gap in the barbed
+wire.
+
+One bullet sang by Dan's ear, and another spurted up the chalk dust a
+few feet ahead of Dennis, and as the vicious rat-tat of the machine-gun
+farther down the trench opened, they found themselves at the edge of a
+deep crump-hole, into which they rolled.
+
+It was cover from the machine-gun, at any rate, but a cry of surprise
+broke from the young lieutenant's lips as he landed on something soft at
+the bottom of the hole, something which gripped him with a similar cry
+of surprise.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A shell-burst eighty yards away drowned the crack of Dan Dunn's
+revolver, and two out of the three Germans who had taken refuge in the
+same place rolled back and lay very still, just as another star-shell, a
+bright white one this time, broke above them and lit up the hole like
+day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+His First Time Under Fire
+
+
+Over the edge leapt Hawke and his companion, and Hawke shortened his
+bayonet as he saw his idol's brother clutching the Saxon in tight
+embrace.
+
+"Stand clear, sir!" he shouted, but the German's hands went up above his
+head, and in a quavering voice he cried, "Kamerad! Mercy, officer! I am
+married with two little ones, and this hateful war is not my fault!"
+
+Harry Hawke's bayonet was only half its length from the man's ribs when
+Dennis put it aside.
+
+"Strewth, Tiddler! I can't see no difference myself between one Boche
+and another," grumbled Hawke. "It's one more prisoner to feed, and Lloyd
+George talks about economy."
+
+"I will tell you," said the Saxon, crouching down as half a dozen shells
+in quick succession hummed overhead. "We were sent out to reconnoitre
+your trench. You passed us just now, and we hid ourselves here. There is
+going to be an attack in a few minutes, only you gave the alarm a little
+sooner."
+
+"Do you hear that, Dan?" said Dennis. "We must let them know somehow."
+
+"Hum! If we'd nine lives apiece like a cat there might be some sense in
+risking eight of them," said the Australian corporal. "But it's no good
+stirring out of this hole just yet. Look at that!"
+
+A perfect hurricane of shells was going over now, and the air was filled
+with a succession of explosions.
+
+"They're firing shrapnel!" shouted Tiddler in Dennis's ear. "You can
+tell by the white burst and the sound of the flying balls, but we're
+safe enough in here for the present."
+
+He dropped into a sitting position as he spoke, and instantly sprang up
+again with a yell.
+
+"Are you hit?" said Dennis, feeling himself turn pale.
+
+"No, I ain't hit, sir, but I'm 'urt. You don't do your jobs 'arf
+properly, 'Arry!" And he exhibited the piece of barbed wire on which,
+forgetting all about it, Tiddler had sat down heavily.
+
+Hawke's uproarious laughter as he disengaged the offending thing sounded
+oddly to Dennis in the midst of that fearful din that shook the ground
+and brought the chalk rattling down into the hollow, but it was the
+first time he had been under fire, and he was yet to learn the absolute
+disregard of danger which the best and worst alike learn in the
+trenches.
+
+"What's the strength of the attack?" said Dan Dunn to their prisoner,
+while the two privates went through the pockets of the men he had shot.
+
+"Three battalions of us, and we were told the Brandenburgers were to be
+brought up in reserve," replied the Saxon. "Look! they are beginning
+now. That is a smoke shell that has just burst to cover our advance, and
+the other guns have ceased."
+
+A dense white cloud rolled along the ground in front of the crump-hole,
+and Hawke and Tiddler instantly faced round, gripping their rifles as
+they looked up the jagged slope behind them.
+
+"Don't say no this time, sir," said the Cockney private, "or there'll be
+a rare shermozzle darn 'ere if some of the blighters come on top of us
+in the dark."
+
+"You can do as you like, Hawke," replied Dennis abstractedly. "But, I
+say, Dan, I can't stick this any longer. I wonder if our chaps would
+hear us if we shouted together?"
+
+"Don't shout!" said the Saxon, pulling his sleeve. "See, they are going
+past now."
+
+Looking up, Dennis made out a bunch of men against the smoke cloud
+passing on either side of their hole, and his impulse was to scramble up
+out of it and empty his revolver into their midst.
+
+"What's the northernmost limit of the attack just here?" he said to the
+Saxon, speaking in such excellent German that the man was obviously
+surprised.
+
+"Ten yards this side of the machine-gun, Herr Officer, and they will
+keep well within it," he added. "They are Prussians on that gun, and
+they don't care who they kill as long as they hit somebody."
+
+"Look here, Dan, you can stay where you are if you like," said Dennis.
+"I'm off!"
+
+"Wait a moment--don't be an ass," expostulated his cousin. "What's your
+plan? I'm with you if there's an earthly chance of doing anything."
+
+"It's this," replied Dennis, slipping his revolver back into its case.
+"The top of our parapet is a couple of feet higher than that
+machine-gun emplacement. I noticed that yesterday. I'm going to crawl
+out under the line of their fire, and I'll bet you I'm back in our
+trench in ten minutes."
+
+"It's risky," said his cousin. "But not as bad as Lone Pine. What about
+the prisoner?"
+
+"If I am alive and we have not carried your trench," said the Saxon very
+earnestly, "I shall report myself to your people before daybreak."
+
+"All right, that's a promise," said Dennis, and he climbed cautiously up
+to the lip of the hole and peeped over.
+
+A wave of the enemy had just passed on, swallowed up in the dense vapour
+of the smoke-bombs, and as the two cousins flung themselves on their
+faces they heard the Lee-Enfields opening from their own trench.
+
+So long as the smoke lasted they were safe from detection, but the whole
+air seemed alive with singing bullets, and Dennis felt a jar all along
+his right side as one of our own shots carried off the heel of his boot.
+
+"Keep your direction, for Heaven's sake!" he called over his shoulder.
+"We've a hundred yards to go in a straight line," and then no one spoke,
+as the quartet wormed themselves on their stomachs as fast as they could
+crawl, parallel with the two trench lines which bordered that strip of
+No Man's Land.
+
+Tiddler's bayonet was wrenched from the muzzle of his rifle, and a
+bullet chipped the brim of Hawke's steel helmet.
+
+"Now look out for yourselves," called Dennis. "We're level with the
+gun," and, trying to squeeze themselves flatter, if such a performance
+had been humanly possible, they heard the rhythmical tac-tac abreast of
+them and the weird whistle of the deadly stream of bullets a few feet
+above their heads.
+
+"That's better," said Dan Dunn when they had left it behind them. "Where
+shall we turn off, old chap?"
+
+"Not yet," replied Dennis through his clenched teeth. "A bit farther,
+and then we shall have to face the music of our own men. That's why I'd
+rather have come on this job alone."
+
+"Are you playing up for the V.C.?" he heard his cousin say, but he made
+no answer, and at the end of another couple of minutes he paused to take
+breath.
+
+"Talk abart a bloomin' obstacle race--I got fust prize at Aldershot at
+the regimental sports--but this 'ere takes the cake," said Harry Hawke,
+as he and Tiddler overtook them.
+
+"Hawke!" said Dennis sharply, "we're going to turn here and make for our
+own trench. Do you know any signal or any call that would prevent our
+platoon blazing at us?"
+
+"Let's get a bit nearer fust," replied Harry Hawke. "Then I'll tip 'em a
+whistle. Wust of it is, the Boches are so bloomin' ikey--they 'aven't
+'arf played us up before--but we'll try it on," and he said something to
+his companion.
+
+Still on their faces, but swinging round at right angles now, the little
+party groped its perilous way towards their own sandbags, hearing the
+roar of the fight apparently limited in their direction by the spot on
+which the German machine-gun was working.
+
+In front of them all was quiet.
+
+The whole air trembled with the roar of firing, but perhaps the most
+trying thing to the nerves was the sudden transition from brilliant
+glare to black darkness in the momentary intervals between the
+extinguishing of one star-shell and the bursting of the next. For an
+instant they would see the line of their trench standing out as clear as
+at noonday, with the glint of bayonets above the sandbags, and then it
+would be blotted out, to be lit up again the next moment.
+
+When they had crawled to within fifty yards of it, Harry Hawke thrust
+two fingers into his gash of a mouth and let loose a piercing whistle.
+
+"Now, Tiddler, pipe up!" he shouted, and their two voices rose in a
+discordant rendering of a popular trench song, their rifles waving
+wildly the while.
+
+At any other time Dennis would have been constrained to laugh at the
+incongruity of their choice, but Harry Hawke knew what he was doing, and
+that no German could have imitated the Cockney twang in which they
+brayed their chant at the top of their strident voices.
+
+  "There's a silver linin'--froo the dyark clard shinin',
+   Turn the dyark clard inside art till the boys come 'ome!"
+
+they howled, and as a fresh star-shell lit up the trench they saw a man
+in khaki thrust his head and shoulders over the topmost bag and look
+under his hand in their direction.
+
+"Cut it out, 'Arry--there's Ginger Bill, and 'e's 'eard!" cried
+Tiddler, jumping to his feet. "Run for all you're worth, sir!"
+
+His companions needed no second bidding, and in another minute they were
+clambering up the outer face of the parapet and falling in a heap on to
+the fire step inside.
+
+"Well, I'm blowed!" said Ginger Bill, as they picked themselves up.
+
+"And you ain't the only one," panted Harry Hawke. "Where's the other
+chaps?"
+
+And then he saw that Ginger Bill was bleeding badly.
+
+"Ordered over there at the double--ain't none of you got any ears?" said
+Ginger Bill, pointing to the hand-to-hand scrimmage which seemed to end
+in front of the Dashwoods' dug-out.
+
+Harry Hawke, very excusably overstepping the deference due to
+commissioned rank, clutched the skirt of Dennis's tunic and nearly
+pulled him backwards.
+
+"We four ain't no good, sir, in that scrum, but there's a shell-proof
+bomb store not a minute's run down this 'ere traverse. We could give 'em
+socks then!"
+
+"Bravo, Hawke!" shouted Dennis. "Come on, Dan; he's right!" And they
+tore along the traverse like men possessed.
+
+Back they came, Hawke and Tiddler girdled with a belt of racket bombs,
+Dennis and Dan Dunn each laden with two bags of that deadly variety so
+handy to the arm of the bowler.
+
+Ginger Bill gave them a cheer as they went past him, but they heard
+nothing and saw nothing but that solid mass of grey German uniforms,
+wedged like herrings in a barrel where they had no right to be--in a
+British trench!
+
+Without a moment's hesitation Dennis sprang on to the parados, and
+hurled bomb after bomb with perfect aim into the grey mass, which
+instantly began to yell and squirm as panic seized it. Nothing human
+could withstand that terrific shower that rained upon the victorious
+Saxons, who had been recovering their second wind; and as a lucky shell
+from one of our 18-pounders put the Prussian machine-gun out of action,
+Dan Dunn mounted the parapet, leaving the trench clear for Hawke and
+Tiddler.
+
+The four advanced steadily, bombing as they went.
+
+"Hold on!" sang a voice as Dennis reached the mouth of the next
+traverse. And, looking down, he saw that it was Bob who spoke, and
+behind him thirty or forty men of the platoon, who had been forced to
+take refuge there from the overwhelming rush of the enemy.
+
+"Oh, it's you, is it?" cried the captain, darting out, revolver in hand.
+"Come on, boys! The bombers have got a move on them; it's our turn now!"
+And as Dennis launched a long ball, the men of the platoon poured out
+into the trench again and clambered over the hideous carpet of dead and
+dying.
+
+Without hesitation Dennis leapt across the traverse, and was soon at the
+head of the bayonet party, Dan Dunn keeping neck and neck with him on
+the parapet, and only when he groped to the bottom of his second bag and
+found it empty did he jump down and flatten himself against the side of
+the trench.
+
+"Here, what's wrong?" he shouted, as his own men came pouring back.
+
+"Order's come to retire, sir; we've got to fall back on the next
+trench!" cried a panting private.
+
+"Oh, hang it! I thought we'd got the beggars out!" exclaimed the lad,
+almost overthrown by the jostling crowd with packs and rifles that
+streamed past him. "I wonder what's become of Bob?"
+
+Tiddler and Harry Hawke were nowhere to be seen, and Bob was equally
+invisible; but there could be no doubt about the order, for a
+staff-captain, his uniform stained with the white chalk, came running
+along the trench, crying: "Retire! Hurry up, there! Here come the
+Bavarians!"
+
+"But I say, sir," expostulated Dennis, "isn't this all wrong? We've
+piled the Saxons up six deep behind us yonder, and surely we can hold on
+here?"
+
+"The order has been given by the Brigade Commander. Who the deuce are
+you, young man, to dispute it?" thundered the staff-captain furiously.
+
+Dan Dunn saw his cousin's eyes suddenly blaze and his clear-cut face
+turn crimson as he whipped out his revolver and covered the speaker!
+
+The Australian's first impression was that in the excitement of it all
+his cousin had gone stark staring mad--he had seen such things happen in
+Anzac.
+
+"Great Scott, Den! Do you know what you're doing?" he yelled, flinging
+his powerful arms round him.
+
+But he was too late. The barrel of the revolver gleamed blue in the
+lurid glare of a big H.E. which burst behind them, and Dennis had
+already pressed the trigger!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+How Dennis Came in for a Taste of Dispatch Riding
+
+
+The staff cap, with its scarlet band and gold-edged peak, spun round in
+the air and dropped half a dozen yards away, as its late wearer sprang
+on to the parapet and vanished out of sight.
+
+"Great Scott! Are you mad, Dennis?" shouted Dan, still holding him
+tightly; but there was no madness in the boy's face as he turned it to
+his cousin.
+
+"You blithering ass! You seventeen different assorted kinds of an utter
+idiot!" yelled Dennis. "I know that man--he is a German spy, and you've
+made me miss him!"
+
+Dan Dunn's arms released their grip and fell nerveless to his sides.
+
+"Old chap!" he exclaimed in a voice of bitter regret. "How was I
+possibly to tell that? Perhaps it's not too late now!" And he bounded on
+to the sandbags, but there was no sign of Anton van Drissel.
+
+For a moment they leaned side by side over the parapet, trying to
+penetrate the darkness that once more enveloped No Man's Land, and then
+as Captain Bob came hurrying up, blowing his whistle for all he was
+worth to recall the retiring platoon, Dennis drew his own, and the
+shrill signal brought the men tumbling back again into the fire trench.
+
+"Line up!" cried the captain as Dennis and Dan, both speaking at once,
+told him what had happened.
+
+"I knew something had gone wrong," said Bob bitterly. "What a thousand
+pities the skunk got clear! Well, it's no use crying over spilt milk,
+and the artillery's on them now. Do you hear that?"
+
+The momentary lull was broken by a tremendous booming from our guns in
+the rear, and a hurricane of shells began to burst on the German front
+line trench and the ground beyond it, a steady, systematic bombardment,
+which grew in volume and increased in intensity.
+
+"Do I hear it?" shouted Dennis. "One can't help hearing it. What do you
+mean?"
+
+"I mean," replied his brother, making himself heard with considerable
+difficulty, "that it is the beginning of the artillery preparation,
+which will continue day and night without ceasing for the next week.
+After that the great push is coming. That is what I mean!"
+
+The 18-pounders, the 9.2's, the big howitzers farther to the rear--guns
+of every kind and calibre blended in one infernal concert, which
+extended for more than eighty miles, from the Yser to the Somme.
+
+"If those Brandenburgers are wise they'll stay where they are to-night,"
+said the Australian corporal. "Hallo, Fritz! Why, Dennis, here's your
+prisoner, after all."
+
+A white-faced man, crying "Kamerad!" at the top of his voice, climbed in
+over the sandbags, trembling like a leaf, and Dennis saw that it was
+indeed the Saxon he had captured at the bottom of the crump-hole over
+there.
+
+"I told you I would come," said the prisoner. "I am sick of it all--it
+is horrible. The Emperor is a man without heart. He takes good care to
+keep out of harm's way, and sends us to our death by the thousand.
+Himmel! Look! This was my company!" And he lifted his quivering hands as
+he saw the litter of corpses that filled the trench from side to side.
+"We are told that you kill all prisoners and all the wounded, but I do
+not believe that. They feed us on lies and very little bread, while our
+officers have wine and even pianos in their dug-outs," and the
+nerve-shattered man burst into tears.
+
+Captain Bob was in the act of giving instructions to one of his
+sergeants to pass the deserter to the rear, when another "brass hat"
+came along the trench--the genuine article this time, and one of the
+best, for it was Brigadier-General Dashwood himself, followed by his
+brigade-major.
+
+The brigadier was a thick-set, soldierly looking man, fit as a fiddle in
+spite of the grey hairs which mingled with his brown moustache, and his
+eyes lit up as he saw his two sons still safe and well.
+
+He was not one of those officers who paid a hasty visit now and then to
+the lines, ducking his head when his guide said, "Duck, sir!" where the
+wall of the traverse was low, and who, after a perfunctory glance about
+him through a gold-rimmed monocle went back again to headquarters,
+"having seen nothing and learned nothing." General Dashwood knew that he
+had a certain section of the front to defend, and did his work
+thoroughly, and the whisper often ran along the fire trench by night as
+well as day: "Look out, boys, here's the brigadier!"
+
+He listened to all they had to tell him, and questioned the deserter
+closely, turning to his brigade-major several times and exchanging a
+meaning nod.
+
+"The battalion has done very well, but that is nothing new," he said
+with a proud smile. "Still, it won't hurt them to hear my opinion. You'd
+better come with me, Dennis; there'll be nothing more doing here
+to-night, and I want someone to go to Divisional Headquarters with a
+message. You'll be back at your post by daylight," and, after picking
+his way along the trench to the far end and examining the German line
+carefully through a periscope, he returned, to find the men of Bob's
+platoon lifting out the dead Saxons and laying them on the reverse side
+of the parados to await the arrival of the sanitary squad with their
+picks and shovels.
+
+"Well, so long, old chap," said Dan Dunn, as Dennis passed him. "I've
+enjoyed my visit. When you look me up I hope we shall be able to give
+you an equally good time. Fearfully sorry I spoiled your shot."
+
+The cousins shook hands, and as Dennis followed his father and the
+brigade-major, Bob carried Dan into their dug-out, where he found that
+Australian panacea for all evils--hot tea.
+
+It was only a short walk to Brigade Headquarters, a couple of cottages
+by the roadside under the lee of a rising bank which had so far
+preserved them from the German shells. One red lamp burned there, and a
+sentinel stood by the doorway, leaning on his rifle.
+
+"I'm sorry you have got that confounded cigarette habit so soon," said
+Dashwood senior with a dry smile. "But you will find a box on that
+table, and you can amuse yourself while we get out a report."
+
+Dennis looked round the bare little room, contrasting it with their
+luxurious home in London. A flagged map was pinned on one wall, some
+British warms and mackintoshes hung on pegs, a couple of field
+bedsteads, whose disarranged blankets showed that they had been hastily
+left when the alarm was given, occupied one end, everything else was
+bare and comfortless.
+
+Standing in the doorway, Dennis heard the click of a typewriter, and
+could not help catching some of the report as his father paced backwards
+and forwards, filling a pipe with his favourite mixture as he dictated.
+
+"Three Saxon battalions delivered a surprise attack at 10.35 to-night,
+and one of them succeeded in penetrating my first line trench, No. ----,
+through the failure of a machine-gun, which was put out of action by an
+H.E.," began the brigadier. "The 2/12th Royal Reedshire Battalion,
+Platoons 1 and 2, behaved with great gallantry, and scarcely a man of
+the enemy was left alive. The bodies were lying six deep when I visited
+the position. Some confusion was caused by a German in British staff
+uniform making his way along the trench shouting 'Retire!' but I have
+the honour to report that through the initiative of Second-Lieutenant
+Dashwood, of the battalion, and Corporal Daniel Dunn, of the
+Australians, gallantly supported by two privates, whose names I shall
+forward later on, and who successfully bombed the enemy, the attack
+completely broke down, and was not supported by the Brandenburg
+Division, which, I am informed by a prisoner, was waiting in reserve."
+
+When Dennis heard his own name mentioned he stepped out into the
+darkness with a strange tingling all over him. It seemed like
+eavesdropping to listen any more, but he knew that proud thrill in his
+father's voice, and the boy's heart beat high with a great happiness.
+
+Some horses, picketed under the lee of the bank, fidgeted at their
+shackles, and over everything was the thunder of that incessant
+bombardment which, as Bob had said, was to go on night and day. He was
+watching the shrapnel bursting in the distance far over the German
+lines, where our guns were delivering a barrage fire to isolate the
+front enemy trenches from food and supports, when the sentry called to
+him.
+
+"The general is asking for you, sir," said the man, and Dennis stepped
+back and re-entered the cottage.
+
+"Here you are, my boy," said his father. "You know the way to Divisional
+Headquarters. There are a couple of motor-cycles standing at the end of
+the cottage, take your pick and away with you."
+
+"You will find the road has been badly shelled at the next village,"
+said the brigade-major, holding up his map-case and tracing the route
+Dennis would have to follow. "And here, at this point, the supply column
+got it rather badly earlier in the night--there may be wagons still
+lying about. When you've passed that it's all plain sailing."
+
+"Do I report to you, sir, on my return?" inquired the boy.
+
+"Yes," said the brigadier. "Then you can leave the bike and rejoin your
+company. I could have 'phoned this, but it's all experience, and may
+stand you in good stead."
+
+Perhaps the brigade-major, as he nodded a cheery good night, understood
+the father's wish to place the youngster out of danger, if it were only
+for a few hours, but as Dennis swung into the saddle and waved his hand,
+neither he nor the brigadier foresaw the things that were going to
+happen.
+
+The road was a fairly straight one, and Dennis found the shell holes
+without difficulty, shutting off his engine only just in time as he
+plunged down into the first of them like Quintus Curtius of old.
+
+"Hang it, that's a bad start," he laughed when he found the machine had
+sustained no injury, but it took him a good five minutes to get it up
+again, and after that he was more careful.
+
+A little farther on he encountered a supply column of the A.S.C., and
+coasted by them without much difficulty, until at last a red lantern
+gleaming above a green one told him that he had reached Divisional
+Headquarters.
+
+There he found the staff busy, and a good deal of quiet bustle as the
+various brigade commanders' reports arrived, and a telegraphic operator
+in a shell-proof dug-out was transmitting the night's news to Sir
+Douglas Haig at ----.
+
+Dennis handed in his dispatch, which was duly read by the
+lieutenant-general commanding the division, a florid officer with a
+white moustache, who held the communication in one hand while he rubbed
+his chin thoughtfully with the other.
+
+"Where is the officer from General Dashwood?" he inquired suddenly, and
+word was passed for Dennis.
+
+The divisional general looked him up and down for a moment, and his brow
+cleared. "If you are not wanted immediately I should like you to carry
+a query for me to the officer commanding the brigade on the right of the
+division," he said. "There is something I do not quite understand in his
+report, and unfortunately, the field wire has broken down somewhere and
+we can't get through to him. Is your machine in order?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Dennis, and the general turned to a shorthand clerk.
+
+"Just take this down, will you? And type it out quickly," he said, and
+he rapidly dictated to the man.
+
+"Captain Thompson," he said when he had finished, "kindly explain to
+this officer how he is to reach Donaldson," and the staff captain took
+the young lieutenant to the large scale map at the end of the room,
+where everything was marked out in squares, each numbered and lettered.
+
+The captain was lucid, and Dennis quick of intelligence, and in less
+than five minutes from entering the room he was turning his cycle round
+and darting off on his new mission.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+A Terrible Adventure at Dawn
+
+
+The Divisional Headquarters had been fixed at a spot where several roads
+branched off like the sticks of a fan, and the one Dennis followed was a
+typical French chaussee, paved down the centre and bordered on either
+side by tall trees.
+
+It had been a good deal cut up by the passage of distribution columns,
+but its surface was fairly free from shell holes, and he covered the
+distance without much difficulty, a slight drizzle blowing in his face
+as he hung low over the handle-bars with his eyes fixed on the acetylene
+beam in front of him.
+
+A man riding in the opposite direction whizzed past with a shout of,
+"Cheer-oh!" and he was not challenged until he drew near the brigade.
+
+"Thought there was something wrong with the wire," said the C.O. "I've
+been trying to get through for the last half-hour."
+
+"A wiring party went out just before I left, sir, to look for the
+damage," said Dennis.
+
+"Very well, take this back to the general--that will tell him all he
+wants to know," and Dennis retraced his way, rather enjoying the ride,
+although it had not proved particularly exciting so far.
+
+But the excitement was to come. Overhead the scream and whistle of our
+shells never ceased, but he was growing used to the thunder of the
+bombardment, until there was an explosion not far ahead in the centre of
+the road, and he slowed down with a glance over his shoulder.
+
+"That's the enemy replying," he murmured, as another shell fell in the
+dark fields on the left, and another and another, so quickly that he
+lost count of them.
+
+"Bit of a danger zone, this," he thought. "The sooner I'm through it the
+better," but as his thumb sought a lever there was a blinding flash very
+close to him, and following on the heels of the explosion he felt his
+machine quiver and the front tyre burst with a report like a rifle shot.
+
+"By Jingo! I'm done," he cried, jumping off as his head-lamp went out.
+"That's shrapnel. Now what's to be done? The tyre's in ribbons!"
+
+As he looked ahead his heart gave a bound as he saw a motor-car pull up
+some forty yards away and the driver spring out on to the road. Dennis
+left the damaged cycle where it was and ran forward.
+
+"I say, I'm in no end of a hat, chauffeur. Can you give me a hand?" he
+cried.
+
+The man stared at him with a white face, apparently dazed, and replied
+in a shaky voice: "Can you give _me_ a hand, sir? Look at this!" and
+unshipping one of his lamps he turned the light on to the car.
+
+Sitting rigidly erect was the body of a staff officer, decapitated.
+
+"Great heavens!" exclaimed Dennis, bending over with eyes of horror as
+he recognised the officer who less than half an hour before had shown
+him his own route at Divisional Headquarters. "It's Captain Thompson!"
+
+"It was Captain Thompson, and one of the nicest gentlemen I've ever
+driven," said the man. "I don't know what to do. He told me he was
+taking a message to the French general on the other side of Hardecourt,
+and that it was of the very greatest importance. We were doing sixty
+miles an hour, even on this road, when that shell copped us."
+
+There were sobs in the man's voice as he pointed to the leather
+dispatch-case still clutched tightly in the dead hand.
+
+"Look here," said Dennis. "My machine's smashed up. How long would it
+take you to reach the French lines?"
+
+"A quarter of an hour--twenty minutes at the outside. But what's the
+good of that, sir? I can't speak a word of their blooming language."
+
+"I can," said Dennis, gently disengaging the wallet. "I'll carry the
+dispatch, and I'll drive if you like, if your nerve's gone."
+
+"My nerve's all right, sir. Haven't any left after eighteen months of
+this job," and as Dennis climbed into the front seat, the chauffeur
+turned the handle over and the engine began to whir.
+
+It was good to turn one's back on that hideous thing, and when they
+heard the headless trunk topple over on to the floor of the car behind
+them, both shivered, and the chauffeur's knuckles stood out white as he
+gripped the steering-wheel.
+
+"I've seen two officers, one a brigadier-general, treated the same way,
+and their shover huddled forward against the screen dead as a door
+nail," said the man. "That was up near St. Julien, when Princess Pat's
+got wiped out; but it sort of hits you when you know the man, and this
+was his own car too. You'd better have your papers ready now, sir;
+they'll stop us at yonder white house."
+
+The examining post at the little cabaret detained them, but did not hold
+them up more than a moment or so.
+
+"A dispatch for Monsieur le General," said Dennis to the sergeant in
+charge, who recoiled as he saw the tragedy that had taken place.
+
+"_Decapite, mon Dieu!_" he exclaimed. "Pass, mon lieutenant," and they
+proceeded, leaving a red pool on the road where the car had halted.
+
+While Dennis was inside the farmhouse a crowd of commiserating officers
+surrounded the car, and they would have rid it of its grim burden and
+interred poor Thompson among the little harvest of rude crosses that
+marked where their own dead were laid, but when one of them, who spoke
+English, suggested so doing, the chauffeur said "No."
+
+"Beg your pardon, sir, but he'll be better buried in our own lines,
+where they'll give him the Last Post and all that." He was protesting
+when Dennis came out again quickly.
+
+"It's a very good thing we took the bull by the horns," he said. "That
+message was tremendously important, and the general has been good enough
+to say all kinds of nice things about our bringing it along. We've got
+to go back top speed to Divisional Headquarters," and he stepped in.
+
+All the officers saluted the dead man as the motor started on its return
+journey, and already the darkness was giving place before a ghostly grey
+feeling in the east, which was not light as yet, but heralded the near
+approach of dawn.
+
+The chauffeur turned up his coat collar, for it had grown very cold, and
+he could not get rid of the oppression of that dread something which
+they were carrying--that something which a short hour before had been so
+full of life and vigour and kindly thought for all with whom it had come
+in contact.
+
+"I shall put in for a rest after this," said the man as they repassed
+the post at the cabaret, and he opened out the engines. "They tell me
+there's going to be a week of this firing, and upon my sam, I don't
+think I can stand it now!"
+
+"I suppose one gets used to the guns," said Dennis. "But what an
+infernal row they make!"
+
+"Been out here long, sir?" said the chauffeur, whose quick eye had
+detected the newness of his companion's uniform, notwithstanding the
+chalk stains which were the result of his adventure earlier in the
+evening.
+
+"As a matter of fact, I haven't been up at the front three days yet,
+but, of course, I've done a lot of training at Romford with the
+Artists'," replied Dennis.
+
+"Lord! you don't know you're born yet, in a manner of speaking, sir,"
+said the driver with a little toss of his head. "You've got a lot to go
+through before you've seen as much as I have. Blow 'em! Those Boches are
+still at it," and he craned his head forward over his wheel. "They've
+got the range of this blooming road to a T. I don't funk risks, but
+it's madness to shove ahead through that!" And he slowed the car down as
+a rain of shells crashed among the trees in front of them, bringing half
+a dozen tall poplars down on to the road itself, while the whole
+_terrain_ to their left hand was alive with bursts of high explosives.
+
+"Well, what's to be done? I must reach the general at once. Isn't there
+another way round?"
+
+"There's only this turning on the right, sir," replied the man. "It
+seems to be pretty clear, and it will run us close behind our own line.
+I've been there before, and we can double back past General Dashwood's
+headquarters."
+
+"Right-o!" assented Dennis eagerly, and the car swung into a narrow
+track between two swelling rises that had not long before been peaceful
+farm land under cultivation.
+
+It was little more than a cart track, and they plunged and swayed like a
+boat on a choppy sea, the wheels now mounting the bank at a dangerous
+angle in the uncertain light of the dawn.
+
+"It's better going a bit farther ahead," said the chauffeur. "You sit
+tight, and I'll bring you through somehow."
+
+The words had scarcely left his lips when everything seemed to be
+suddenly swallowed up in a soul-terrifying roar. A vivid orange flame
+rose skyward, and as Dennis soared upward through the air and fell with
+a plump into a field of beetroot, the world turned black and he lost
+consciousness.
+
+How long he lay he did not know, but when he opened his eyes it was
+almost light, and the face of his wristlet watch had been smashed to
+atoms.
+
+For a few seconds he remained quite still, not daring to move from fear
+of what movement might tell him, but at last, sitting up, he felt
+himself all over and breathed a sigh of deep thankfulness to find that
+he had no bones broken.
+
+He remembered that they had been running into an avenue where the trees
+met overhead and formed a species of tunnel, and the avenue was still
+there before him, one of the poplars headless like poor Captain
+Thompson, and showing a great white scar where the shell had caught it.
+
+And then he rose to his feet, to find himself half a dozen yards from
+the narrow road, his heart standing still as he saw the mangled chassis
+of the motor, entirely stripped of its body works, reared up on one end
+at the edge of the crater.
+
+The whole road seemed to have been scooped out to the depth of several
+feet, and how he had escaped destruction was little short of miraculous.
+The skirt of his own tunic was rent to rags and ribbons, his Sam Browne
+belt, map-case, and glasses were gone, and the French general's message
+with them, and a great sob shook the lad as he walked slowly to the
+ruined car.
+
+The first thing he saw was a human leg swathed to the knee in a stained
+puttee, and a stride farther on was the rest of his companion, so
+shockingly mutilated that it was only with an effort he could bring
+himself to examine it.
+
+"Poor chap, poor chap!" he muttered. "An end like this after eighteen
+months at the wheel!"
+
+There was no trace of the captain's body; it was probably buried deep
+in the shell hole, or else plastered far and wide over the hillside with
+the debris of the motor.
+
+He stooped and opened the chauffeur's coat, which bulged suggestively,
+and drew out a little case containing his identification papers and
+driver's licence, perhaps also letters from home.
+
+Pulling himself together, he placed the case in one of his own breast
+pockets which had escaped injury, with a soldier's "small book" he had
+picked up from one of the dead Saxons in their own trench as a memento
+to send home to his mother, and then he looked about him, without seeing
+sign or trace of living thing or human habitation.
+
+There was a green wheatfield on his right hand, from which the mist was
+curling away, and in the glory of the dawn overhead the larks were
+trilling. A patch of scarlet poppies was almost startling in its
+vividness, and beyond the poppies a long ribbon of yellow mustard was
+backed by a thick wood.
+
+"Where on earth am I?" was the thought that passed through his brain.
+"This poor chap said the road would bring us near to our firing line,
+and I may be able to borrow another motor-bike there. I must return to
+the French headquarters and get that message duplicated, or I'm not
+worth my salt."
+
+He straightened one of his leggings which had been twisted round, and,
+skirting the shell hole, started out on his voyage of discovery, feeling
+rather dizzy at first, but surprised to find that his cap was still upon
+his head, for he had not yet been served out with a trench helmet.
+
+The narrow way wound along the edge of the wood through a hollow, the
+banks of which were clothed with purple scabious, and he had gone some
+distance before he thought of taking his bearings by the sun, which
+showed him that he was heading due south.
+
+"I'm on the right road, anyhow," he muttered, and then he suddenly
+stopped and crouched low.
+
+In the mist wreath that still filled the hollow he had caught sight of a
+figure in uniform, which recalled the field grey of the Saxon. The man
+was standing motionless beside a clump of trees that tufted the skyline,
+and, uncertain whether he could gain the shelter of the wood behind him
+unseen, Dennis was looking backwards over his shoulder when the decision
+was taken very unexpectedly out of his hands by the appearance of
+another man, who suddenly covered him with a rifle from the bank top not
+a yard away, and challenged him in German.
+
+"_Wer da!_" said the man, and although he recognised that his
+interrogator was wearing a French uniform, Dennis unthinkingly replied
+to the question in German also.
+
+"I am an English officer," he said. "Perhaps you will be good enough to
+direct me to our nearest brigade."
+
+The man rose slowly from the wet wheat which had concealed his coming,
+and, still covering Dennis with his rifle, slid down the bank until he
+was within arm's length, a thick-set Alsatian corporal, powerful as a
+bull.
+
+"So," he said with a short laugh, as he seized Dennis by the collar.
+"You are an English officer, are you? We shall see. We had one of your
+sort through our lines yesterday--a staff captain, who gave us orders
+from the British general which turned out to be false. Come along, my
+pig. We will see what our captain has to say to you. English officers do
+not speak German with a Prussian accent. You are a Boche, I tell you;
+and you will breakfast off ball cartridge unless I am very wrong!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A Friend in Need
+
+
+Dennis Dashwood laughed aloud, but though there was genuine amusement in
+his voice at the beginning, it quickly tailed off into a broken quiver,
+for the lad was still suffering from the effect of the shell burst.
+
+"You will laugh on the other side of your mouth directly, if I know
+anything," said his captor gravely.
+
+"I am quite content to leave that to the judgment of your officer, my
+friend," replied Dennis in French. "But have the goodness not to shake
+me like a rat. I've got a splitting headache as it is."
+
+"Ha, you spies speak all languages. _Ma foi!_ What a lot of clever
+scoundrels you are!" grunted the Alsatian corporal. "What a pity, for
+you have not got a really bad face when one comes to look at it."
+
+"Is it far to your headquarters?" inquired his prisoner wearily.
+
+"Not far, so you had better make the most of it. It will be your last
+walk on earth. How beautiful is the song of the lark! The little animals
+do not seem to mind the gunfire at all. Do you have larks in Prussia?"
+
+"I hope we shall, my corporal, when you and I get there with our
+battalions," but the corporal was impervious to the harmless jest, and
+squared his shoulders as they came in sight of his commander's post.
+
+The other man whom Dennis had seen on the slope had come down and joined
+them, and the pair marched their prisoner in with a brisk, businesslike
+stride.
+
+The French trench ended, or began, whichever way you like to take it, in
+a wood of oaks, and the smoke of many fires drifted among the
+tree-trunks. At the door of a dug-out a group of officers sat round a
+trestle table taking their coffee, and they all looked up as the
+corporal cried, "_Halt_, prisoner!" and saluted with his rifle.
+
+"Mon Commandant, I found this man hiding by the roadside behind yonder.
+He speaks German and French and all the languages under the sun, and I
+am convinced he is a spy."
+
+The commandant was a spare, black-bearded man, whose uniform of horizon
+blue gave one rather the impression that it had been made by a
+dressmaker, but on the left breast was a little strip of crimson and
+green ribbon, showing that he had won the Military Cross during the war.
+He had black leggings and narrow black belts, and the wristbands of his
+shirt were spotlessly clean.
+
+"What have you to say for yourself, prisoner?" said the commandant,
+eyeing him keenly from top to toe, through the chalk and dirt that
+encrusted him, and Dennis in excellent French told him who he was.
+
+"Where is the dispatch of which you speak?" was the next question, and
+Dennis pointed to his torn tunic. "It was destroyed when the car was
+blown up, Monsieur le Commandant," he replied.
+
+"But you must still have some proofs of your identity. What is that in
+his pocket?" And the commandant, who had lit a cigarette, pointed with
+the match.
+
+The corporal thrust his hand into the drab tunic and produced two things
+which he laid on the table by the long loaf from which the officers had
+cut slices to dip in their coffee.
+
+"Ha!" said the commandant, opening the wallet. "You told me your name
+was Dashwood, but here it is given as Alfred Robinson."
+
+"I brought that away from the body of the man who drove me," explained
+Dennis. "That is the English chauffeur's licence from Scotland Yard."
+
+"And this?" continued the officer, his face becoming graver as he
+examined the German soldier's "small book." "Here you are described as
+Hans Schrettelmeyer, Private in the 24th Reserve Battalion of the 108th
+Saxons; how do you account for it?"
+
+"That I picked up in the fire trench of my own battalion when we
+repulsed the attack last night," said Dennis, drawing himself up a
+little and colouring indignantly as he found his position becoming
+serious.
+
+"Oh, come, you are evidently fond of picking things up, my friend," said
+the commandant with a dry smile. "Is there anything else that you have
+found that will help you?"
+
+"I have my own identification disc," said the lad hotly, and then he bit
+his lips as he groped between his shirt and undervest.
+
+"Unfortunately, monsieur, it has also gone!" he exclaimed, turning pale.
+
+"Ah, well, I do not think we want it," said the commandant, tilting his
+chair backwards. "We have had several of your kind prowling about our
+lines lately--one only last night, and an example is necessary. You are
+a spy, my friend, and that is the end of the matter."
+
+"Look here, sir, this is all bosh!" exclaimed Dennis hotly in his own
+language, realising for the first time that appearances were dead
+against him.
+
+"Quite right, my boy," laughed one of the other officers in English.
+"You are all Boche. I think there is very little doubt about that."
+
+The commandant leaned across the table and said something in a low voice
+to the others, and they all nodded.
+
+"May I be permitted to make an observation, sir?" said the lad.
+
+"With pleasure," replied the commandant, bowing politely.
+
+"A very short question over your wire to Monsieur le General commanding
+this army corps will convince you that I am what I tell you I am," said
+Dennis.
+
+"Even if I thought there were any necessity it would, unfortunately, be
+impossible," said the commandant in a cold voice. "Your wires are not
+the only ones that suffer, and ours has undergone some damage during the
+night. It may be two hours before it is repaired, and you must not be
+surprised if we make short shrift of you."
+
+"But, monsieur!" expostulated Dennis. "This is an outrage! My country
+and yours are firm friends, and I repeat, upon my word of honour, that I
+am an Englishman."
+
+The officer who had laughed at him and who spoke English, said in an
+undertone: "Do you know, monsieur le commandant, I should feel
+inclined--with all due respect I say it--to postpone the execution. I
+must confess this boy is a marvellous linguist, and there is not a trace
+of fear in his bearing."
+
+"My dear Laval, for myself I am convinced, and I shall take all
+responsibility," replied the commandant. "Prisoner, if you would like to
+write a letter to your friends you are at liberty to do so. We will
+endeavour to forward it afterwards. Also, if you care to avail yourself
+of the good offices of our chaplain they are at your disposal. But do
+not waste time, for you will be shot in half an hour," and he made a
+grave inclination with his head to intimate that the interview was at an
+end.
+
+A contemptuous smile passed across the young lieutenant's face, and he
+bowed in return.
+
+"Very well, sir, I can only say that you will be sorry for this
+decision," he said. "I have a fountain pen--will somebody kindly lend me
+a sheet of paper?"
+
+One of the officers at the table handed him a blank form, at the same
+time offering his cigarette-case.
+
+"No, thanks, I won't smoke," said the boy, and, sitting down on a billet
+of wood, he laid the paper on his knee.
+
+    "DEAR PATER," he wrote with a steady hand. "It seems a
+    rotten thing to have to tell you, but the French are going to
+    shoot me for a spy. The fool man in command here, who was
+    probably a successful pork butcher before the war started,
+    declines to communicate with headquarters, and I rather hope
+    you'll rub it into him when you learn all. It seems I speak
+    German too well, and I should not be surprised if the sham
+    English 'brass hat' who upset them last night were that
+    scoundrel, Van Drissel, whom I nearly shot."
+
+He got thus far, the Alsatian corporal standing rigidly at his elbow,
+when he became aware of a bustle at the table, and looked up.
+
+A French _liaison_ officer had just arrived, and was explaining his
+mission to the group, while the commandant read a dispatch he had
+brought.
+
+Dennis sprang to his feet, and the laugh which brought the corporal's
+grip on to his collar again turned every eye towards him.
+
+"Good morning, mon Capitaine!" he cried. "Will you be good enough to
+tell the commandant the circumstances under which we met last night, and
+why I came to your headquarters with a message?"
+
+"My dear lieutenant," said the _liaison_ officer. "Enchanted to meet you
+again! But what in the name of heaven has happened to you?"
+
+"Nothing to what was going to happen in a few minutes if you had not
+arrived," replied Dennis, unable to repress the triumph he felt at the
+consternation in the faces of his judges.
+
+"_Ciel_, mon Commandant!" exclaimed the _liaison_ officer. "It is a very
+fortunate thing for you that I came in time. If you had shot this young
+Englishman, Father Joffre would have had something to say about it."
+
+In a few words he established the prisoner's identity beyond any shadow
+of doubt, and the good-hearted fellows were round him in a moment,
+clamouring out their apologies, while the commandant, with tears
+rolling into his beard, kissed him on both cheeks.
+
+Dennis was ashamed that he had called him a pork butcher, for the poor
+man was pathetically apologetic, and trembled like a leaf at the thought
+of what might have been.
+
+"You certainly gave me a very tight squeeze for the moment," laughed the
+lad. "But it was a string of extraordinary coincidences that might have
+deceived anyone."
+
+"Then our general's reply has not reached your headquarters?" queried
+the _liaison_ officer.
+
+"Unhappily not," said Dennis. "It is somewhere among the wreckage of the
+car and the remains of those two poor fellows."
+
+"Never mind," said his preserver. "We will let you into a little secret.
+The dispatch you brought to us was a request that this division should
+join with your nearest brigades in a raid on the enemy's lines. The
+Allied artillery is even now lengthening its fuses, and we are on the
+point of giving the Germans a surprise. Will you find your way back,
+or----" And he made an expressive wave of his hand in the direction of
+the German trenches.
+
+"If Monsieur le Commandant has no objection, and somebody will lend me a
+revolver, I should love to take part with the battalion that was going
+to shoot me," laughed the boy.
+
+"_Cher ami!_" cried the black-bearded officer. "You heap the coals of
+fire upon my head. You and I will march together!"
+
+While Dennis swallowed a cup of coffee the commandant dived into his
+dug-out and reappeared with a revolver case, which he buckled on the
+boy with his own hands; and meanwhile the little group at the wood fires
+had snatched up their rifles and donned their blue-painted steel
+helmets, and were falling in by companies, eager to exchange the
+monotony of trench warfare for a brisk dash at the hated foe.
+
+The Alsatian corporal, a typical poilu, still kept very close to his
+late prisoner, but there was an altogether different look in his eyes
+now.
+
+"I should never have forgiven myself, mon lieutenant," he blurted out,
+as he slung his rifle behind his back and festooned himself with racket
+bombs. "I hope monsieur will bear me no ill will for my stupidity."
+
+"It is nothing, my friend," said Dennis laughing. "A brave man should do
+what he thinks to be his duty, and you did yours. What is the distance
+to the enemy trench?"
+
+"About a hundred metres, mon lieutenant," replied the corporal, "and
+uphill all the way. _Voila!_ There goes the signal!"
+
+A low blast on a whistle, and the long grey-blue line went quickly
+forward among the trees, and jumped down into the deep excavation which
+wound like a dirty white ribbon along the outskirts of the wood.
+
+The 75's were barking loudly in their rear, the shells now falling
+behind the enemy trench, the sandbags of which showed in an irregular
+line on the slope against the sunrise.
+
+The _liaison_ officer had come with them thus far, and was looking at
+his watch.
+
+"_Bon chance_, lieutenant," he said. "Unhappily, I may only see the
+attack launched, but I hope this will not be our last meeting."
+
+"My boys, it is time!" cried the commandant. "_En avant!_" And, climbing
+swiftly over their parapet, the active little poilus scampered up the
+hill through the yellow charlock.
+
+Half-way up every man flung himself flat upon his face, and looking
+back, Dennis saw the second line coming over to their support. Again the
+whistle sounded, the little blue figures jumped up, scurrying like
+rabbits, and the machine-guns on the German trench opened fire.
+
+Down on their faces sank the first line again, so suddenly that an
+onlooker might have thought that everyone of them had been shot, and as
+Dennis found himself in a bed of stinging nettles close to the ruins of
+a cottage, with the corporal and the commandant on either side of him,
+he caught the distant sound of an English yell away to the left, and
+knew that the British raid had been well timed, and was acting in
+concert with his new friends.
+
+For an instant the commandant, whistle in mouth, lifted his head and saw
+that his supports had come up to within twenty yards of their comrades.
+
+"Now, my dear friend," he mumbled, giving Dennis's arm a warm squeeze.
+"One bound, and we shall be there!"
+
+The whistle shrilled loudly, and, jumping to his feet, the commandant
+shouted, "Forward with the bayonet! _Vive la patrie!_"
+
+Instantly the sandbags in front of them bristled with heads wearing flat
+caps, and the volley from the mausers mingled with the murderous tac-tac
+of machine-guns.
+
+It floated dimly through the boy's mind that he had no right to be
+hazarding life and limb in that place, but the joy of that mad rush with
+a fight at the end of it banished the thought on the spot, and, scarcely
+conscious of those few remaining yards which they traversed at top
+speed, he found himself scaling the sandbags.
+
+Above him was the commandant, sword in one hand and revolver in the
+other, but as the active little man poised for an instant on the top of
+the parapet and fired into the trench at his feet, he threw up his arms
+and pitched backward, Dennis dropping his weapon to dangle at his wrist,
+and catching him as he fell at the foot of the obstacle.
+
+"It is nothing," gasped the French officer, clutching at his throat, but
+the blood was pouring between the fingers of his hand.
+
+"He is wrong," said Dennis, as the Alsatian corporal knelt beside him.
+"We must get him back under cover at once. It is only a surgeon who can
+stop this haemorrhage."
+
+"And I haven't thrown a bomb yet!" growled the corporal, tossing the
+racket he held in his hand over the top of the sandbags.
+
+Its explosion seemed to satisfy him for the moment, and passing his
+powerful arms under the commandant's shoulders, while Dennis lifted his
+legs, they walked carefully backwards down the slope again beneath a
+whistling hail of bullets.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+In the Enemy Trenches
+
+
+By great good fortune, when they reached the crumpled ruins of the
+cottage, they found two stretcher-bearers kneeling among the nettles, on
+the look-out for casualties. They had seen them coming, and the
+stretcher was already unrolled, and as they laid him upon it the wounded
+man motioned with his hand.
+
+"Stand round me," he said in a husky whisper, speaking with difficulty.
+"Do not let them see who it is that is hit."
+
+One of the brancardiers placed a pad under the commandant's ear, and
+passed a bandage round his neck.
+
+"Tighter, tighter!" motioned the sufferer. "How is it going? For me, I
+do not mind if you pull my head off, provided we take the trench."
+
+Dennis peeped through a crack in the wall and bent over him.
+
+"The attack has been completely successful," he said. "The supports are
+swarming in now."
+
+"_Vive la patrie!_" cried the wounded man, whose grey-blue tunic was
+stained crimson with his own blood. "I thank you from the bottom of my
+heart, lieutenant. Again you heap the coals of fire upon me."
+
+Then he fainted.
+
+"Come along, Alphonse," said one of the stretcher-bearers to his
+companion. "We must get him to the surgeon at once."
+
+"And we," said the Alsatian corporal, touching Dennis on the arm. "Shall
+we return up yonder?"
+
+The commandant's revolver lay among the nettles, Dennis picked it up,
+and the pair raced side by side again up the trampled slope.
+
+Lithe and active as Dennis was, his new friend, loaded with his pack and
+hung about with bulging wallets and strings of racket bombs, was over
+the parapet before him, and the boy's after-recollection of the ten
+minutes that followed was a chaotic jumble of mad slaughter.
+
+The French infantry were in terrible earnest, and out to kill. They had
+old scores to wipe off, and at the outset nothing could stay them.
+
+Figures in blue grey and figures in greeny grey wrestled and fought in
+the drifting smoke, and what with the hideous gas helmets and their huge
+goggles, and the mediaeval-looking trench helmets, Dennis seemed to have
+suddenly found himself in the company of weird demons from some other
+world.
+
+Men stabbed and hewed and hacked at each other. Others, gripped in tight
+embrace, were seen revolving in a species of grim waltz, until a chance
+bullet or a piece of shell ended the dance of death.
+
+The wounded squeezed themselves against the boarded sides, the dead lay
+where they fell, and the living took no notice of either. If there was
+any shouting the guns drowned it, and the lust of slaughter was in every
+face.
+
+"I do not think there will be any poison gas," shouted the Alsatian
+corporal, whose name was Aristide Puzzeau. "The wind is in the wrong
+quarter, but you never know what these Boches are up to."
+
+He handed him a gas helmet, which he took from a dead comrade, and
+without waiting for any thanks, Corporal Puzzeau pursued his way.
+
+Dug-out after dug-out he bombed, and when his supply was exhausted he
+unslung his rifle with its long, thin bayonet, Dennis following upon his
+heels.
+
+The barrage fire, playing a couple of hundred yards in rear of the
+German parados, effectually kept the enemy's supports in check, and
+Dennis wisely possessed himself of a steel helmet, for the shrapnel had
+a habit of raining down on friend and foe alike, but after they had gone
+some distance in a northerly direction, they found that the enemy had
+recovered from the first surprise, and a strong counter-attack was
+forcing a company of poilus back.
+
+At first it was difficult to find where the enemy sprang from, until
+Puzzeau located the mouth of a subterranean dug-out from which they
+poured in rushes, and, crouching down, he waited at one side of the
+opening like a terrier at a rat-hole, Dennis standing beside him with a
+revolver in his hand.
+
+"Wait, do you hear that?" said Puzzeau. "There are plenty more of them
+inside," and they waited.
+
+"Good morning, my pig!" said Puzzeau, lunging forward, and the sergeant
+reeled against the trench boards.
+
+Almost before he could recover his weapon the opening was filled with a
+surge of men, and Dennis emptied a revolver into the middle of them.
+
+"That is the style!" grunted the corporal approvingly, as a dull shout
+boomed from the dug-out and those behind paused. "If there were only
+half a dozen of us here now, or, better still, a bomb-thrower," and,
+lifting up his powerful voice, he bellowed to a man he knew: "Rabot,
+surely there are some bombs left?"
+
+"That is all very well," replied Rabot. "I have been sent myself for
+reinforcements. Do you know every officer of our company is down, and
+the men are falling back?"
+
+"There is something yonder that will serve our purpose," cried Dennis,
+pointing to an ugly grey muzzle behind an iron loophole on the parados.
+
+It was almost opposite to the door of the dug-out, and before the
+Alsatian knew what he was doing, Dennis had scrambled up to the
+machine-gun emplacement and vanished. The next moment his head appeared
+round one side of it.
+
+"Stand clear!" he yelled, waving with his arm, and vanished again.
+
+"Who is that?" inquired Rabot. "He looks English and speaks French like
+Monsieur le President."
+
+"You will hear him speak German out of that gun in a moment," laughed
+the corporal. "_Voila!_ there she goes. And to think we were going to
+shoot that boy less than an hour ago!"
+
+Dennis, who had qualified as a machine-gun officer, had indeed lighted
+upon a piece of great good fortune, for under the gun he found three
+Germans recently bayoneted and the cartridge-jacket in position. He had
+only to depress the muzzle to send a stream of bullets straight into the
+mouth of the dug-out.
+
+The stream ceased in a moment, and they saw him beckoning to them.
+
+"Look yonder!" he cried, as the corporal and Rabot joined him. "The
+rabbits will not bolt again if we can leave someone here, but the
+company is in difficulties, and we are wanted. Can you take charge, _mon
+garcon_? See, the mechanism is quite simple; it works like this," and he
+loosed half a dozen rounds by way of illustration.
+
+"Stay here and do as the lieutenant has shown you if they show their
+noses again," said the corporal, and Rabot took his post at the
+machine-gun.
+
+The French soldier is intelligent because he has imagination, and Rabot
+understood. Corporal Puzzeau understood also, and his eyes danced as
+Dennis bounded along the top of the parados towards the retreating
+company.
+
+They were bunched up in the trench, and some of them were even
+scrambling out over the other side, when that slim brown figure in the
+uniform of their British Allies with one of their own helmets on his
+head, and the corporal behind him, appeared above them.
+
+"Comrades of the 400th of the Line!" cried Dennis. "You are surely not
+going back to Paris? Berlin lies in this direction. Follow me, and I
+will show you the way."
+
+"_Vive la patrie!_" bellowed Corporal Puzzeau, and the men who had
+recoiled, took up the shout and scaled the wall of the parados again.
+
+A furious rat-tat-tat sounded a little way off, and Dennis heard Puzzeau
+laugh.
+
+"It is only Rabot," he said. "He has learnt the trick already."
+
+In a few minutes the ground behind the German trench was strewn with
+bodies in field grey, and it was with some difficulty that Dennis and
+the corporal could check the victorious company from penetrating into
+the zone of their own artillery barrage fire. As it was, a good many of
+the helmets were dented, and not a few of the poilus paid the toll of
+their own eagerness.
+
+"Mon lieutenant, if I return to our own lines," said the Alsatian
+corporal, "the general shall hear of this thing you have done. In the
+name of my country I thank you," and he held out his hand.
+
+Dennis shook it, and laughed. "There is nothing to make a fuss about,
+corporal," he said. "We've taken the trench, anyhow; and as I see our
+right brigade yonder, who seem to have been lucky also, I think I'll get
+along now and join them."
+
+He was gone before Aristide Puzzeau could say any more, and after a
+quick sprint he came up with an English Fusilier battalion consolidating
+the position they had just secured.
+
+"Hallo, Dashwood!" hailed a voice, as a very young officer with a very
+large eyeglass turned round and stared at him. "You look as though
+you've had a rough night of it. Where on earth have you sprung from?"
+
+"I've been with the French for a spell," said Dennis, looking down
+ruefully at his tattered uniform. "Where shall I find my crush?"
+
+"Good heavens! they're miles away," said his interrogator, who had been
+with Dennis in the same training corps. "Pretty good raid, what? What
+price Romford after this? Bet you a lemon squash your C.O. will
+reprimand you for appearing on parade improperly dressed."
+
+"I'll chance that, Jimmy. So long, old man," and he threaded his way
+past the rear of the brigade, not without some good-humoured banter at
+his dishevelled appearance.
+
+It was twelve o'clock in the day when, rather leg weary, he struck the
+nearest battalion of his own brigade, and arrived in time to find
+himself once more in the very thick of it.
+
+During the fighting on their right General Dashwood's command had lain
+doggo, but word had just come that they, too, were now to make a
+surprise attack on the enemy's first line trench, and smoke bombs were
+already preparing the way for them.
+
+"By Jove! Den. The governor's been tearing his hair about you!" was
+Bob's greeting as they met on the fire-step. "You look pretty well
+knocked. Better turn in, old man, for a spell."
+
+"Turn in be hanged!" cried Dennis. "Here, Hawke, you've no business with
+three bags of bombs. Give one of them to me. I'm going to be in this."
+
+He had scarcely fitted the leather strap to his shoulder when his
+brother, who had been looking at his watch for the last minute said:
+"Ready, boys! Get over!" And the Reedshires cleared the parapet with a
+low glad murmur.
+
+Dennis had lost all count of time, and only knew that he had crossed
+the strip of "No Man's Land" with his platoon, somehow, and was bursting
+bombs mechanically along the German trench.
+
+Turning round as he came to a narrow door on his left, he was surprised
+for the moment to find the French corporal no longer at his elbow, and
+his laugh of amusement as he entered alone sounded odd and hollow.
+
+With abrupt suddenness he ran down a flight of thirty wooden steps
+leading from the end of a short passage into a large hall, lit by
+electric light.
+
+The huge underground dug-out was empty, save for some wounded Germans in
+bunks, and with a glance at the pictures on the walls, and the piano on
+a platform, he ran towards another door at the far end.
+
+"Great Scott! they've got a regular town here!" he exclaimed aloud,
+gazing at the floor of the inner dug-out, which was quite thirty feet
+below the level on which he stood. "More electric light, and cases of
+ammunition enough for an army corps!"
+
+"Perhaps you would like to count them, Dashwood?" said a mocking voice
+behind him.
+
+But before he could turn round a coward's blow flung him forward into
+space. The electric lights went out, and while he was still falling he
+heard the heavy slam of the shell-proof door boom out of the darkness
+above him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+In the Sniper's Lair
+
+
+"You hound!" shouted the lad, as with great presence of mind he held his
+right arm aloft with the last bomb tightly clutched in his fingers.
+
+There was a moment of agonised suspense which seemed extraordinarily
+protracted, and then he alighted, unhurt, on a pile of blankets, the
+unexploded bomb still in his hand!
+
+"Thank Heaven!" were his first words as he lay, his heart beating
+furiously and his overwrought frame quivering from the shock.
+
+The atmosphere of the vault--for it was nothing less--was close and
+stuffy, and there was a greasy smell in the still air, emanating from
+some lubricant used to protect the stocks of spare rifles which he was
+presently to discover.
+
+"By Jupiter! if this bomb had gone off down here there wouldn't be much
+of me left," he muttered, gathering himself up and remembering that he
+had placed a spare torch in one of his breast pockets.
+
+He was thankful then that he had not had time to change his tattered
+tunic, and, drawing it out, he pressed the button and played the bright
+beam up and down the vault.
+
+It was one of those marvellous underground constructions for which the
+Germans seem to have a positive genius. The chalk had been excavated for
+trench building, the walls were boarded, and square balks of timber
+supported the roof in a double row of pillars.
+
+He could not count the cases of ammunition--there were so many--nor the
+stacks of rifles that were stored in the place, but he saw enough to
+convince him that he had made a very important haul, if only things were
+going well above ground.
+
+The distance he had fallen surprised him when he mounted the steps, but
+the steel door resisted all his efforts to open it, and though he
+thundered with his fists, there was no response from the other side.
+
+"I've got to get out of this somehow," he thought, and, descending to
+the floor again, he made a minute inspection of the vast dug-out without
+finding any means of egress, until he came to an open case of rifle
+ammunition, from which several packets of cartridges had been removed.
+
+As he read the description printed on the others he felt cold air
+blowing on him from somewhere not far away. At first he thought there
+must be some hidden ventilation shaft, but the draught was low down and
+fluttered the tatters of his abbreviated tunic.
+
+"It's a jolly odd thing," he murmured, turning his light in the
+direction of the current. "Surely there is not another dug-out below
+this one?"
+
+He passed round the angle of some piled-up boxes stamped with strange
+hieroglyphics, and then he stood still, for there was another door, the
+entrance to a gallery, as he saw in a moment.
+
+But this time it led upward in a rather steep slope, and the floor was
+marked with the print of heavy boots, showing that the passage had been
+well used.
+
+"I suppose it would take a month of Sundays to come across some revolver
+ammunition, and then the chances are it wouldn't fit these French
+chambers," he thought, examining the commandant's second revolver, which
+had only one charge left. "Anyway, I must find where this leads to."
+And, veiling the light with his fingers, he entered the gallery.
+
+The sides had been roughly smoothed and faced by the pioneers' shovels,
+and he shivered involuntarily, for it was cold.
+
+Making no noise, he crept for some distance in a straight line, until he
+came to a right-angle bend in the gallery, which he followed for sixty
+or seventy yards, and then switched off his torch as a loud explosion,
+not far ahead, seemed to drive the air against his cheeks, followed by
+the acrid odour of a German cartridge.
+
+For an instant he believed himself to have penetrated an enemy sap, but
+now he knew that somewhere close in front lurked a German sniper!
+
+Dennis Dashwood dropped on to one knee and peered along the passage. A
+faint light filtered through the darkness and a voice boomed dully.
+
+"That is my first miss to-day," came the words in German. "This wind has
+given me a bloodshot eye, and I am shivering. Will you go back and bring
+me a couple of bottles of wine, Joachim?"
+
+"With pleasure, Kamerad," said another voice, and the light was blotted
+out as a figure rose from the ground where he had been sitting on his
+heels. Dennis made out the outline of the sniper stretched at full
+length on a blanket, his rifle in front of him on a wooden stand, but it
+was too far to get back unseen, for the man was slouching heavily
+towards him, and in another moment discovery would be inevitable.
+
+Dennis raised his right arm and fired his last cartridge, and the
+messenger fell forward, dead as a herring.
+
+With a startled shout of surprise the sniper faced about, but Dennis was
+upon him, and, locked in a terrible embrace, the pair fell with a crash
+on to the chalky floor.
+
+All fatigue seemed to vanish from the boy's limbs as he and his opponent
+rolled over and over, and he strained every nerve in a struggle which he
+knew could have only one end.
+
+For a whole minute the narrow passage was filled with the sound as of a
+terrific dog fight, for Dennis had managed to get his head well fixed
+under the sniper's jaw, effectually preventing any words leaving his
+lips. Instead there came a stream of weird snarls and hisses and
+spluttering coughs, accompanied by the savage kicking of heavy boots
+against the walls of the gallery.
+
+Their arms were round each other, and they struck out with their knees,
+but the thin muscular frame proved more than a match for the stouter
+man, and at last, pinning him down in a corner, where he panted quite
+out of breath, Dennis withdrew his head, and they looked into each
+other's faces by the light that filtered in again through a crevice at
+the end of the tunnel.
+
+"You'd better surrender without any more fuss," said Dennis. "Perhaps
+you don't know that we've taken your first line trench. Otherwise I
+shouldn't be here."
+
+"You are a liar," was the polite reply. "All Englishmen are liars."
+
+"Have it your own way," said Dennis with a superior smile, as he began
+to get his own breathing under control. "Judging from your official
+statements, and your Bethmann-Hollweg, Germany hasn't much reputation
+for truth-telling! So you are the beast we've been trying to locate, are
+you?"
+
+The man had a red moustache, the ends of which lifted as he smiled.
+
+"Yes, I am the beast; the 'great blonde beast' your papers are so fond
+of talking about," he said ironically. "I've been here for a month, and
+I have shot on an average twenty of your fools every day."
+
+"Well, you'll shoot no more," said Dennis grimly.
+
+"That we shall see," retorted the man, suddenly stiffening his spine and
+almost succeeding in reaching a sitting position.
+
+Up went the lad's arm and down came his clenched fist full on the bridge
+of the German's nose, dropping him back again. He had slid the French
+officer's empty revolver into its case, and as the man blinked at him
+with the water in his eyes from the force of the blow, Dennis drew it
+and clapped the cold muzzle to his ear.
+
+"Now will you surrender?" he said, and he saw a wave of terror pass over
+the German's face.
+
+"Yes, yes--don't shoot. I will surrender!" he cried, but as he spoke the
+beam of daylight was eclipsed, and Dennis looked up.
+
+It was an artfully contrived place, for the tunnel ended against a
+little scarp of chalk, through which a crescent-shaped hole had been
+cut, commanding a wide view of the English trench and looking from the
+outside like an innocent, natural crevice. Immediately behind it was a
+steel grating, firmly embedded in the sides of the tunnel, and on one of
+the bars the muzzle of the sniper's rifle was laid, its stock resting on
+an ingenious wooden fork, which could be raised or lowered by a rack and
+pinion.
+
+Through the crescent-shaped opening a human face looked in, and a voice,
+which Dennis instantly recognised, gave warning of more trouble.
+
+"What-oh, Fritz!" said Harry Hawke. "You shouldn't speak so loud. As you
+can't come art and I can't come in, 'ere's a little present for yer."
+And he stepped back with a loud chuckle.
+
+"Hold on, Hawke, you ass!" shouted Dennis at the top of his voice, but
+he was too late. Harry Hawke had already drawn the pin and lobbed a hand
+grenade neatly through the crevice.
+
+Dennis knew that there were less than five seconds between him and
+eternity, but bracing his foot against the side of the tunnel, he
+suddenly wrenched the German sniper on top of him and lay there.
+
+"Ach, I have you now!" laughed the man triumphantly, but his words were
+drowned by the explosion, and as the end of the passage was blown into
+the open air, the steel grating with it, Dennis felt the man he clutched
+grow strangely limp in his hands, and his own face bathed as with a hot
+rain.
+
+"That's the way to do 'em in, Tiddler. What-oh, it's put the tin hat on
+one of 'em, and not 'arf, it 'asn't!"
+
+"Yes, you confounded jackass; and it's nearly put the tin hat on me!"
+exclaimed Dennis, rolling the thing which had once been a man to one
+side with a shudder.
+
+Harry Hawke's face was a picture. Consternation at what might have
+happened, and a huge joy that it had not happened, struggled for
+mastery, and between the two the game little Cockney broke down and
+sobbed like a child.
+
+"Why didn't yer sing out, sir?" he wailed.
+
+"I did sing out, my boy, but you sang in! However, never mind. How is it
+going?" said Dennis, squeezing the disconsolate one's shoulder.
+
+"We've got the trench, sir," said Tiddler, whose face was as white as
+Hawke's under the dirt that grimed it. "Our chaps are consolidating the
+position now."
+
+"Then one of you go and bring my brother here," said Dennis. "You go,
+Tiddler; and Hawke, come with me."
+
+A great rent had been torn in the mouth of the sniper's gallery, and the
+sniper himself was not good to look upon, every rag of clothing having
+been stripped from his back and lower limbs by the bomb, while a couple
+of yards farther on lay the man whom Dennis had shot.
+
+Picking his way past them, Dennis flashed his torch on again, and,
+followed by Hawke, made his way back into that underground storehouse,
+which had so nearly been his grave.
+
+As he entered it he gave a prodigious yawn, and felt an indescribable
+lassitude creep over him.
+
+"I'm frightfully tired, Hawke. I've been through a lot since we crawled
+over to their wire last night, and I'm hanged if I can keep up much
+longer. You see those steps? A spy fellow pitched me down them neck and
+crop. I fell just here, with a bomb in my hand too!"
+
+"Lumme!" ejaculated his listener, as Dennis sat down heavily on the pile
+of blankets, just as the shell-proof door above them was opened from the
+other side.
+
+Lights flashed into the lower vaults, and several officers chorused
+their surprise, among them Captain Bob. Tiddler had not yet reached him,
+and Bob was searching anxiously for some trace of his brother.
+
+"My hat!" he cried. "We've touched lucky to-day, but Dennis can't
+possibly be down there. I'll go back and question No. 2 Platoon; he may
+have gone to the right."
+
+"Arf a mo', sir!" sang out Harry Hawke. "'E is 'ere right enough, and
+bust me if he ain't snorin' already!"
+
+Hawke, looking up the steps, saw the group part and General Dashwood
+himself come quickly down the ladder, and the store of shot and shell
+and the piles of rifles were as nothing to the brigadier as he saw the
+boy he thought he had lost for ever lying on the blanket pile, sleeping
+the sleep of physical exhaustion.
+
+"That blood's nothing, sir," explained the delighted private, coming to
+attention. "It ain't 'is own. I can show you the man wot that come art
+of. 'E was that sniper we never could spot, and I reckon it was 'arf me
+and 'arf Mr. Dashwood wot killed him." And he gave his listeners a brief
+outline of what had happened, as Dennis had told him on their way there
+from the tunnel.
+
+"And I sent him out of harm's way, as I thought!" was the brigadier's
+inaudible whisper under his moustache, and then aloud he said: "Get
+four men and carry him back to his own dug-out. It will do him good to
+sleep the clock round, and he will do it better there."
+
+So, oblivious of the jolting, Dennis Dashwood was borne across what had
+lately been No Man's Land, and was now ours, and tucked up tenderly in
+his bunk, where, if he did not exactly sleep the clock round, he
+certainly did not open an eyelid until sunrise next morning.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+In which Dennis Meets Claude Laval, Pilote Aviateur
+
+
+When Dennis awoke he saw Captain Bob looking at him, and he became
+conscious of a very pleasant odour of coffee permeating the dug-out.
+
+"Oh, I say, why didn't you turn me out before, old chap?" Dennis cried.
+"I shall be late for the blooming inspection."
+
+"Never mind about that," laughed his brother. "And it's no use looking
+about for your duds; we've moved into new quarters over yonder, and all
+our clobber's gone across, but I've had some breakfast brought in here
+for you, so peg in, and tell me the whole story. There are some funny
+yarns knocking about, and I left the governor doing a sort of war dance.
+He only left out the whoop from deference to the B.M.'s feelings. But
+all joking apart, old chap, the pater's in the very seventh heaven of
+delight, for a letter has come from some wounded French officer who has
+recommended you for the Military Medal."
+
+Dennis sprang out of his bunk, fresh as paint, and flung himself on the
+coffee and bacon ravenously, and while he ate he talked in his simple
+boyish way, making light of his own share in the story, and Captain Bob,
+filling in the gaps for himself, beamed like the rising sun which flung
+a rosy glow into that dismal mud-hole.
+
+"By Jove! old chap, I congratulate you heartily," he said, grasping his
+brother by both shoulders. "If you go on like this you'll either go far,
+or you'll be very suddenly nipped in the bud. You mustn't take too many
+chances, Dennis, for the sake of the little mater at home. But this is
+good news!"
+
+"Some have greatness thrust upon them, and I've had the luck to be one
+of those," said Dennis, looking rather ashamed of himself. "I did
+nothing at all, old man, that you wouldn't have done, or any of our
+crush. It just happened to come my way, and it just happened to come out
+all right, but I don't know which was the worst--that ride with poor old
+Thompson and that shell that blew us to smithereens, or Hawke's bomb.
+They were tight places, both of them! And, I say, Bob, I'll swear on
+oath it was Van Drissel or Von Dussel, or whatever he calls himself, who
+pitched me down that ladder. I recognised his voice distinctly."
+
+"I should like to recognise his ugly mug," said the captain. "But he
+must have gone under, for he certainly wasn't among the prisoners. I saw
+them all."
+
+"Well, Bob, I'd rather have a wash now than the Victoria Cross itself,
+and I must get into another tunic. Where's our new Little Grey Home on
+the western front?"
+
+"Come on," said his brother. "I'll show you."
+
+The Germans had sunk a well deep down through the chalk, and there was a
+stand-pipe close to the Dashwoods' new quarters.
+
+Dennis stripped himself to the buff, and sallying out to the pipe,
+enjoyed the unexpected luxury of a glorious shower-bath, which he
+wanted badly. Then he dressed himself, appropriating the belts and
+equipment of a poor youngster named Binks, who had been killed during
+the raid, and, emerging from the door, almost ran into the arms of his
+father and the Divisional General.
+
+"You are the very man I have been looking for," said the general. "Let
+me give you my heartiest congratulations, Mr. Dashwood. I have been in
+communication this morning with the G.O.C., and I think there's another
+slice of good luck coming your way. I wish I'd paid as much attention to
+languages when I was your age."
+
+For a moment Dennis failed to grasp the drift of his words, but the
+Divisional Commander soon made himself quite clear.
+
+"I had no sooner telegraphed a report of your doings from the commandant
+of the 400th Regiment of the Line than a wire came back from Sir Douglas
+Haig, who wants an intelligent officer with a fluent knowledge of
+French, and he asked me if I thought you would fill the bill. I at once
+answered in the affirmative, and you will go back with me in my car on
+your way to Sir Douglas, and it may be a very good thing for you."
+
+Dennis glanced at his father, and saw approval in his face, and after a
+brief consultation between the generals about the consolidation of the
+ground we had gained, Dennis found himself whirling along the familiar
+road that he had traversed on the motorcycle two evenings before.
+
+"I hope I shall be back in time for the big push, sir," he said, as the
+car pulled up in front of D.H.Q., and the general smiled.
+
+"You must leave that to circumstances," he replied. "I'm afraid the 'big
+push,' as you call it, is becoming too much public property." And he
+turned to an officer who was just mounting a motorcycle.
+
+"One moment, Spencer," he called. "You going to Sir Douglas? Ah, yes, I
+remember. Will you give Mr. Dashwood a lift and take him with you?"
+
+There was a blanket strapped on the carrier, and away they whizzed, the
+continued thunder of the guns making conversation difficult, and the
+Allied aircraft circling high above their heads.
+
+League after league they passed through a vast camp of armed men; brown
+battalions marching up to the front singing as they marched, brigades
+under canvas to right and left of them, miles of supply columns, some
+cavalry eating their hearts out, kite balloon sections 'phoning results
+to hidden batteries, all the seething mass of military activities to be
+found behind the firing line.
+
+And then his companion slowed down as they approached the quiet chateau,
+where worked the keen, well-balanced brain that guided and controlled
+all those activities, and Dennis found himself in the presence of Sir
+Douglas Haig, who, after an interview of half an hour's duration, summed
+up the result of it in a few brief soldierly words.
+
+"You are the very man I was wanting, Mr. Dashwood," he said pleasantly.
+"Your one object in life now is to find General Joffre, lay these
+papers before him, and explain any point upon which the French
+Generalissimo may be doubtful. Exactly where he is you will have to
+discover, but if you are fortunate you should be back here again before
+the end of the week."
+
+"I hope to return well before that, sir!" said Dennis, and Sir Douglas
+smiled.
+
+"I know what is in your mind, Mr. Dashwood, but that will rest entirely
+with yourself," said the Commander-in-Chief. "So far, from what I am
+told, you seem to have surprisingly good luck. Good-bye, the car is
+ready for you now."
+
+The frank, handsome face of the distinguished cavalry soldier was still
+before Dennis's eyes as the little six-cylinder motor, with the small
+Union Jack fluttering from one of the lamp brackets, whirled him away on
+a long journey and an important errand.
+
+His driver was a young Frenchman, who enjoyed that mad dash every whit
+as much as the English lad.
+
+At Soissons they were told that the Generalissimo had left for Chalons
+that morning, and at Chalons opinions were divided as to whether he
+would be found at Reims, or Bar-le-Duc, which were in opposite
+directions.
+
+"Which shall we try?" said the driver. "Reims means going back."
+
+"Then get ahead," decided Dennis. "We can always return." And opening
+out the magnificent little car, they tore along the white ribbon of
+road at terrific speed.
+
+"Peste!" cried an officer to whom they made known the object of their
+search when they reached Bar. "Only one hour ago Father Joffre passed
+through here. How unfortunate! But I can tell you where you will find
+him. He has gone to Saint Die to present medals to a battalion of the
+'Little Blue Devils' at that place. Lose no time, and you may assist at
+the very interesting ceremony."
+
+"Allons!" said the chauffeur, using the stump of his nineteenth
+cigarette to light the twentieth. "If we finish up on two wheels we will
+reach him." And reach him they did in a small village half a dozen
+leagues farther on, where they pulled up, white with dust from head to
+foot, after a fine run.
+
+The well-known figure of the famous general paced backwards and forwards
+under the shade of a row of lime trees, in earnest conversation with
+another officer with three silver stars on his cuffs, and Dennis paused
+a moment as he got out of the car.
+
+"I am going to put on two fresh front tyres," said his driver. "But I
+shall be ready in half an hour, and if you are going back we have still
+two hours of daylight left."
+
+Dennis nodded, and stepped forward, saluting as the two generals turned
+towards him, and a genial smile widened Father Joffre's good-humoured
+visage.
+
+"At your service, monsieur," he said, unable to distinguish the
+officer's rank for the white chalk dust that hid his solitary star.
+
+"I have come straight from Sir Douglas Haig, mon General," said Dennis,
+presenting his dispatches, which General Joffre instantly opened and
+perused intently.
+
+"There are matters here," he said to his companion, "which will require
+some consideration. You are the Lieutenant Dashwood whom Sir Douglas
+mentions?" And he turned to Dennis: "I am going forward now, but I shall
+be back in this place at eight o'clock to-morrow morning. Our officers
+here will amuse you, mon lieutenant, in the meantime, and find you a
+bed. I am greatly indebted to you for the rapidity with which you have
+carried this most important document." And he walked quickly to the
+powerful car which was waiting by the side of the road. He was gone in a
+moment in a whirl of dust, the dispatch still in his hand, and the young
+Frenchman followed the general's automobile with an envious look in his
+eyes.
+
+"That is a beauty," he said. "One could get seventy or eighty miles an
+hour out of her. But here comes an interesting personality, monsieur.
+This man who is approaching is Claude Laval, one of our most famous
+aviators, who has brought down sixteen German machines already, and
+killed fifteen enemy pilots. Something has vexed him too. He looks like
+a bear with a sore ear."
+
+A tall man approached, clad in leather flying costume, with a
+close-fitting helmet on his head, and his thin, good-looking face bore
+an expression of extreme annoyance.
+
+"Ah, Martique, my friend, is that you?" he said, nodding curtly to the
+chauffeur. "It is easy to see you have come from the other end of
+everywhere. I suppose it is not possible that you have any news of my
+brother?"
+
+"If monsieur's brother is the Capitaine Felix Laval, _officier de
+liaison_, with the --th Division, I can give you some news of him," said
+Dennis, who had been struck by the strong resemblance between the
+aviator and the man who had saved his own life.
+
+"It is the same," said the aviator, all trace of ill-humour vanishing as
+they shook hands. "Well, well," he continued after Dennis had told him
+of his adventure and how he came to be acquainted with his brother. "Yon
+will dine with me, and, _ma foi_, I want a good comrade to put me in a
+better temper."
+
+"Might I inquire what it is that troubles you?" said Dennis, as they
+walked towards the door of a little restaurant with green-painted chairs
+and tables outside it.
+
+"Oh, it is too bad!" exclaimed his new acquaintance with a despairing
+shrug of his shoulders. "I brought down a German Aviatik this afternoon,
+and by the greatest good luck in the world it is absolutely unhurt.
+To-night I had planned a little expedition across into the enemy's
+country, a friendly visit to a Zeppelin shed, whose existence none of
+our fellows are aware of. I have overhauled the engines myself; I have
+got ten beautiful bombs all ready, and now my observer has broken his
+arm, and I cannot find anyone to assist me."
+
+Dennis looked at him with a pair of twinkling eyes.
+
+"Could you be certain of returning to this village by eight o'clock in
+the morning?" he said eagerly, "for I am to meet General Joffre here at
+that hour. I hold an English pilot's certificate from the Hendon
+school."
+
+"_Embrassons nous!_ (let us embrace), my dear friend!" exclaimed Claude
+Laval. "I am now the happiest man in all France. Listen! The machine is
+at the edge of the wood not a kilometre from this spot, and the Zeppelin
+hangar is in the centre of the Black Forest. Come, let us eat something
+and drink a bottle of the good red wine. We will give the Boche a fine
+surprise, and I swear to bring you back in plenty of time for Father
+Joffre in the morning. Martique, remember, not a word to a living soul,
+and come you to the cafe with us; you can attend to that sewing-machine
+of yours after monsieur and I have gone on our little trip."
+
+They dined in the open air, and the meal was a joyous one, Lieutenant
+Claude Laval keeping a keen eye on the sinking sun at the same time.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As the red rim dipped into the jagged line of dark poplars on a low
+ridge to westward Laval called for the bill, lit his pipe, and rose with
+an air of supreme indifference for the benefit of the groups of other
+officers at the adjoining tables, but his eyes spoke to Dennis as they
+walked away into the shadow of the trees.
+
+"Now, lieutenant," he said, with a fierce thrill of exultation in his
+voice, "you know, of course, that old scoundrel, Count Zeppelin, stole
+the idea of his invention during the war of '70. We will see if we can't
+get a little of our own back to-night!"
+
+[Illustration: "Dennis flung his bombs into the space, and tremendous
+explosions ensued"]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A Daring Dash
+
+
+As they left the village the two companions, who seemed quite old
+friends already, quickened their pace to a run.
+
+"My observer is in there," said the French _pilote aviateur_, pointing
+to an isolated cottage as they passed it. "It would be cruel to tell him
+that I have already found a fresh comrade. The good news shall keep
+until we return. And now, _cher ami_, we have no time to lose, as we
+have only something like four hours of darkness before us, and we must
+be well on the way back when daylight breaks."
+
+"How far is it to the Zeppelin den?" inquired Dennis, as they turned
+aside through a cornfield.
+
+"About two hundred kilometres," replied the pilot. "A trifle more than a
+hundred of your English miles. _Voila_, there she lies--a brand-new
+Aviatik, and that is my machine over there."
+
+"How did you succeed in bringing the German down without injury?" asked
+Dennis, as they reached the biplane, which loomed large and weird in the
+twilight.
+
+"More by good fortune than anything else," said Lieutenant Laval
+modestly. "You see, first of all I killed his observer with a lucky
+shot from my mitrailleuse and wounded the pilot himself. It was death or
+capture for him--it proved to be both. My machine--a Voisin--was one of
+the best, and, finding it impossible to escape, the Hun certainly made a
+very fine descent. He must have died at the moment the 'plane came to
+ground. And that reminds me--our success will depend on our masquerading
+as Germans, and we must use their clothing; they are both here."
+
+There was a tinge of gravity in his voice as he led the way to some
+bushes a few yards off, where, stretched out side by side, lay two dead
+men with a mackintosh spread over them.
+
+"They were brave, although they were Boches," said Laval. "And you will
+see that one of them is wearing an Iron Cross; I have not disturbed it."
+
+In a few minutes they had removed the leather jackets lined with
+sheepskin from the two aviators.
+
+"Henceforward we had better speak entirely in German, you and I; it will
+be good practice in case we require to use it," said Laval. And when
+they had equipped themselves they climbed up, and the Frenchman
+explained the compressed-air starting-gear and the various methods of
+control to Dennis.
+
+"You must know these things," he said, with a smile, "so that you can
+take charge if anything happens to me; but these are first-rate
+machines, and with their dual ignition and the two separate carburettors
+they tell me there is very little engine trouble with them. However, my
+friend, we are about to see what we are about to see."
+
+He glanced at his watch in the rapidly fading light.
+
+"For some reason observer and pilot sit back to back," said Laval. "But
+you can slue your seat round and work your gun from the right if you
+like. You will find everything ready for use, signalling lamp and a fine
+map." And with a blue pencil he marked off the course they were about to
+take and the various landmarks, for which a sharp look out must be kept.
+
+Then the whir of machinery cut off all possibility of further
+conversation; Dennis gazed round at the darkening landscape as Laval
+released her, and after a short run forward over the grassland the
+Aviatik began to rise.
+
+So far, Dennis had not counted the cost of his adventurous expedition,
+or the by no means remote possibilities of his being captured and sent
+to terrible Ruhleben. He had only seen the dash and daring of it all,
+and now he could only see the velvety blackness that lay thousands of
+feet beneath, where the earth was.
+
+Once from very far below them the boom of guns made itself heard, even
+above the flogging of the engines and the whir of the tractor in front
+of him, and his pilot handed back a scrap of paper on which he had
+scrawled some words.
+
+Switching on his torch Dennis read: "We are crossing our own lines now.
+That light away to my left is Metz. We are over Lorraine, and I am going
+to turn south-east."
+
+Through his glasses Dennis could see a dull glow in the distance, which
+was soon left behind as Laval altered the course, and for some time
+their flight was through cloud-banks which hid everything.
+
+After a while the pilot passed him another message. "Look down; we
+cannot be far from the Rhine now, and it is important to know when we
+cross it. Keep a sharp look out."
+
+The depression of the point of the _nacelle_ told Dennis that the
+Aviatik was planing down to a lower altitude, and when, some distance
+ahead, he saw the milky gleam of a river winding away to right and left,
+he hung over the side with the powerful German glasses glued to his
+eyes.
+
+The moment it passed beneath them he touched Laval on the shoulder, and,
+swinging round again to the right, they flew almost due south, still
+coming down lower and lower.
+
+It was a clear night, and the visible difference in the blackness of the
+ground here and there told Dennis that they were traversing above
+mountainous country, while the little bright specks shining like
+glow-worms marked the existence of enemy towns and villages, whose
+inhabitants fancied themselves secure from the daring French airmen.
+
+With the exception of the historic raid upon Karlsruhe they had seldom
+journeyed so far afield.
+
+For a moment the engines ceased working, and Laval shouted to his
+companion: "We must be close to the place now. There should be a hill
+covered with pine trees in front of us, and the hangar lies within a
+league beyond it on a flat plain."
+
+"Then yonder it is!" cried Dennis. "There is no end of a strong light
+showing ahead. That ragged edge that looms against it must be your tree
+tops."
+
+"Good!" replied the pilot. "Get your bombs ready. When I shut off again
+we shall he as nearly above the spot as one can judge."
+
+He restarted the engines. In the distance a curious yellow glow outlined
+the hill, and as they sailed clear of the pines the glow resolved itself
+into a considerable illumination, for which the pilot steered.
+
+Rows of electric lamps formed a huge parallelogram, in the centre of
+which was a long black object, undoubtedly the airship hangar.
+
+"By Jupiter!" yelled Dennis; "we're in luck to-night! The Zeppelin's
+coming out!"
+
+He forgot that his words were completely drowned, and he received a
+sudden shock when the brilliant beam of a searchlight flashed up from
+the ground, and, after a circling swoop, found them and held them in its
+fierce eye. Every stay and rivet was as clearly visible to him as though
+it had been noonday, and it was a trying moment.
+
+As another light challenged them, and asked "Who are you?" he remembered
+Laval's previous instructions, and showing his signal lamp, replied in
+the Morse code, "Blumberger, returning from reconnaissance beyond
+Muelhausen."
+
+Blumberger was lying dead under the mackintosh in the cornfield near
+Bar-le-Duc, and Dennis was wearing his outer garments; but the message
+had been understood, and was followed by the command: "L30 coming out
+now. Be careful until all is clear; then report, Blumberger!"
+
+"Yes, we will be very careful!" muttered Claude Laval, who had read off
+the message at the same time; and flying slowly at scarcely more than
+five hundred feet above the ground he steered towards the hangar.
+
+Out of the giant shed the great grey nose of the Zeppelin came gliding
+into view, shining like some silver thing in the light of the electric
+lamps, the army of men who guided its movements looking like so many
+busy ants as the searchlights switched off the Aviatik and focused on
+the airship, evidently for their own guidance.
+
+Suddenly the Aviatik dipped, and Laval made a gesture with his helmeted
+head. There was no Rolland releasing apparatus fitted to the machine,
+and the Frenchman's ten bombs were ranged on either side of the
+observer.
+
+He knew the moment had come, and with a rapid movement Dennis flung them
+over into space! As the sixth left his hand he felt the machine begin to
+mount steeply as Laval opened the throttle and put the engines to their
+fullest power, and the remaining four death-dealing missiles were
+dropped out at random.
+
+Peering down over the edge, three tremendous explosions reached their
+ears, followed by another and another; and then everything was drowned
+in the mightiest explosion of them all, as Zeppelin and hangar burst
+into a sheet of flame.
+
+Wider and wider it spread, and higher it rose, a great red and yellow
+roar of lapping tongues, sometimes hidden by dense black smoke, only to
+flare out brighter than before.
+
+And still the raider climbed at a perilous angle, and at such a speed
+that Dennis gave up all attempts to use his glasses.
+
+As he clung with one hand to a gun bracket, looking giddily down,
+something screamed past the aeroplane, missing the wings by only a few
+feet, and a shrapnel shell burst overhead.
+
+"I thought 'Archibald' would have something to say to us," muttered
+Dennis, as Laval banked away to the right, still rising. "Hallo! Now
+they've got us!" And three brilliant beams shot into the night sky, one
+of them focusing the Aviatik and the two others instantly joining it, to
+show the anti-aircraft gunners their target.
+
+Laval dived--a breathless, daring swoop down--as two shells burst above
+their heads; but, quick as he was, a shower of bullets rained through
+one of the wings. Dennis could see the holes when the searchlights got
+them again, and the side of the fuselage was pitted with dents.
+
+Right and left, above and below, in front and behind them, the whole sky
+was suddenly alive with shell bursts; and into the observer's brain came
+the recollection that he had an interview with General Joffre at eight
+o'clock that morning! He found himself actually smiling at the thought,
+and wishing that he could speak to the man in front of him--the helmeted
+man with rounded shoulders bent over his wheel, who pressed levers and
+bent the control pillar this way and that, as he sent the biplane
+zigzagging through the heavens with a suddenness that bumped Dennis
+about, and threatened more than once to fling him out into eternity.
+
+He did not feel the cold, although it was intense; and he had the
+presence of mind to pass a strap round his waist and fasten himself in.
+And then he crouched there, marvelling at their luck and the iron nerve
+of his companion, who, so far, was responsible for their escape.
+
+He knew that they were already a long way from the blazing airship which
+they had destroyed, and a feeling of exultation took possession of the
+lad. They were going to win through--they would do it yet; it was
+written that they were to get free, and he closed his eyes, giddy with
+the whirl of mingled emotions that filled him.
+
+They had eluded the searchlights for a moment, but another screaming
+shell overtook them, and as it burst he opened his eyes, and saw Claude
+Laval sink forward and huddle up on top of his wheel.
+
+"By Jingo, they've got him!" gasped Dennis, sickening with fear for the
+first time; but recovering himself on the instant, he flung off the
+strap and reached forward in an attempt to get to the wounded Frenchman
+without any very distinct idea of what he could do if he succeeded.
+
+But Laval, as though he had read his thoughts, straightened himself and
+gave a jerk with his head, at the same time sending the machine
+earthward in a nose dive at an appalling angle.
+
+Dennis clung to the front of the circular cockpit which was the
+observer's post, and again his eyes closed as the downward rush took his
+breath away.
+
+"Poor little mater!" And there was a world of agony in the boy's
+thought, interrupted by finding himself precipitated backwards in a
+heap, as the _nacelle_ lifted and the dive was checked.
+
+Only for a moment, however, for down they shot again, the downward
+course being a harrowing succession of switchback curves, which ended in
+a curious silent glide on even keel, a terrific jolting and a dead stop.
+
+"Are you there?" said an odd, far-away voice, as Dennis slowly gathered
+himself up with a sigh of heartfelt relief.
+
+"Yes, I'm here. You don't mean to say we're actually on the ground and
+safe!" he cried hoarsely.
+
+"Hush! Do not speak too loud!" groaned Laval. "We are as safe as we can
+be on German soil, but I am afraid my right shoulder is broken; and
+worse still, the engines stopped of their own accord before we made that
+last dive."
+
+Dennis, as soon as he had recovered from the species of partial
+paralysis which had taken possession of his limbs, climbed forward to
+his companion, who rested his head against his shoulder for a moment,
+and groaned faintly through his clenched teeth.
+
+"That was magnificent, Laval!" whispered Dennis. "Where is the flask of
+cognac? Here, drink this!"
+
+"Thanks, my dear friend," murmured the wounded Frenchman. "Do not worry
+about me. It is a question of what is wrong with the Aviatik. There is
+just one hope for us. Look at the petrol tank. Oh, you can use a light,
+for, remember we are Germans now if anyone comes along."
+
+Torch in hand, Dennis examined the petrol tank carefully, and his voice
+shook with renewed hope.
+
+"The tank is untouched," he reported. "But there is only an inch of
+spirit left at the bottom of it. That's the trouble. There is something
+like a house yonder among the trees. What do you say?"
+
+"There is only one thing to be said, my dear Blumberger," replied Laval,
+with a faint smile. "We must commandeer petrol without delay. I find my
+arm is not broken after all, but I am bleeding like a pig. It is running
+into my boot. Help me out, and we will see what the good people over
+there can do for us."
+
+"Have you any idea where we are?" queried Dennis, as he assisted his
+wounded companion to the ground with some difficulty.
+
+"Somewhere in the Black Forest," replied Laval. "And unfortunately not
+much more than ten miles, scarcely that, from the Zeppelin shed. They
+will search for us, never fear; they are searching now! Moreover, it
+will be daylight directly, and it is necessary that we hurry ourselves
+if you want to keep your appointment."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+In the Hands of the Enemy
+
+
+Some distance away, and seemingly on slightly higher ground, a light was
+shining, and a second light moved with a curious jerky motion and then
+disappeared.
+
+The raiders knew that their safety depended on playing a tremendous game
+of bluff, and that before the news of their adventure spread.
+
+Already a faint grey veil was creeping over the darkness, and at the end
+of several minutes they found themselves approaching a beech wood which
+clothed the base of a high hill, and saw that the stationary light came
+from a curious castellated building at the edge of the wood, where a
+rustic bridge spanned a swift stream. There was no one about, and the
+iron-bound door was open.
+
+"Somebody's hunting-lodge," muttered Laval. "They have gone up the hill
+to see what the explosion meant. That was a lantern we saw moving among
+the trees."
+
+"Well, it's nothing venture nothing have," said Dennis; and they went in
+noisily.
+
+The walls of the hall were covered with boar spears and trophies of the
+chase, but they had scarcely time to glance round them when an old woman
+came forward out of the darkness with her hands raised.
+
+"Gentlemen!" she cried; "can you tell us the cause of that terrible
+noise that shook the castle a little while ago?"
+
+"Yes, good wife; it was an awful explosion at the Zeppelin shed over
+yonder," replied Dennis. "We had the misfortune to be flying over the
+spot when it happened, and my observer was struck. I am the Lieutenant
+Blumberger of whom you may have heard." And he imitated the overbearing
+manner of a Prussian officer.
+
+He had condescended to satisfy the woman's curiosity, but now he must be
+obeyed.
+
+"To whom does this house belong?"
+
+"It is the hunting-schloss of Count Rudolf von Rudolfstein," said the
+old woman. "But my master is away serving with the army, and there are
+only my husband and myself here. Karl has gone up the hill. He said it
+was an accident, and one can see the ground from there."
+
+"I know the Count very well," said Dennis, looking round the
+entrance-hall as though the place were his own. "Get me a basin of hot
+water and some towels. And is it possible that you have any petrol
+here?"
+
+"There is plenty in the garage," said the old woman, "but I cannot get
+it until Karl returns. But, _Himmel_, the gentleman will bleed to
+death!" And she pointed to a great red pool gathering on the stone floor
+as Laval leaned heavily against a table. "Come in here!" And, carrying a
+lamp with her, she unlocked another door, and led the way into a
+handsome room, lined with polished pine, with a huge stove at one end.
+
+Laval, who was suffering agonies, sank with a groan into the first
+chair, and with an exclamation of commiseration the caretaker's wife
+hurried away in search of bandages.
+
+"It is good so far," whispered Laval through his clenched teeth. "Leave
+me to the mercies of this ancient dame; she will stop the bleeding if
+she can do nothing else. But, for Heaven's sake, find that petrol!"
+
+"That's all very well," said Dennis desperately, when a cough made him
+turn, and he swung round to see a bent old man, with a long white
+moustache and a lantern in his hand, standing in the doorway.
+
+"Good! You are Karl," he said at once, repeating his explanation of
+their presence. "Count von Rudolfstein is my friend, and if he were here
+his house would be at our disposal. I must fill my tank without delay
+and return yonder."
+
+"It is terrible, Herr Officer. The whole ground seems to be burning!"
+said the old man, completely disarmed by the cleverness of the lad's
+impersonation. "How much petrol do you require?"
+
+"Twenty gallons, if you have it. Let us lose no time. Here is your good
+frau who will look after my observer."
+
+"And to think, Herr Officer," said the old man. "One of the new
+super-Zeppelins that was going to punish England for her treachery! Oh
+that I was a young man again, and I had an Englishman within reach of
+these arms! They are still strong enough to strangle him!"
+
+Dennis let him ramble on, and followed him as he strode out of the hall
+to a coach-house that had been converted into a garage.
+
+A very handsome car stood over the inspection pit, and at one end of the
+building was a great stack of petrol tins. Evidently the Count was a
+wealthy man, and evidently too there was not that shortage of petrol in
+Germany that some of the English papers had been exulting over of late.
+
+"Wait a moment," said the old forester, as Dennis seized a couple of
+tins in each hand. "We can sling more of them than that on this pole,
+and carry it between us."
+
+Dennis inwardly congratulated himself that the old forester had not only
+no suspicions, but was also a man of resource; and the pair were soon
+crossing the bridge on their way to the aeroplane, which was now
+distinctly visible in the growing light.
+
+"Ah!" chuckled the old man, pointing to the distinguished mark painted
+in black on the Aviatik's side, "they gave my son the Iron Cross for
+bravery at a place they call Verdun, but I am sorry he did not win it
+for killing Englishmen."
+
+"Well, you can tell me what he did do while you hand me the tins," said
+Dennis, climbing up and unscrewing the cap of the tank, and the gurgle
+of the liquid into the big receptacle was like music to his ears.
+
+"I tell you what it is, my friend," he said, when he had emptied the
+last tin; "we could do with a few more, and I also see there is
+something here that requires my attention."
+
+His quick eye had noticed that one of the stays which supported the
+upper plane wanted tightening, and he opened a tool bag.
+
+"I will bring them; I will not be long," said the old man, who was
+delighted to have had a listener to the story of his son's exploits,
+never thinking how little of it the herr lieutenant had really heard.
+
+"There, that's secure," said Dennis to himself. "I wonder why that old
+dodderer is so long? I must get back and see how poor Laval is getting
+on, and then, heigh-ho for La Belle France!"
+
+As he straightened his back the dull thud of galloping hoofs made him
+turn round, and to his dismay he saw a couple of German officers
+approaching across the sandy plain.
+
+"By Jupiter! Talk about bluff now!" he thought. "Thank goodness they're
+coming from the right direction!" And drawing himself stiffly up, he
+saluted as they reined in below him.
+
+They were both of high rank--one of them a colonel; and it was the
+colonel who spoke first as he and his companion flung themselves from
+their horses.
+
+"You heard it?" he cried in a voice that thrilled with excitement.
+
+"Everyone within twenty miles must have heard it, Herr Colonel," said
+Dennis solemnly.
+
+"Do you know the extent of the damage?" was the next question.
+
+"I do not. I had a little trouble with my engines, and was just on the
+point of going there to see what had happened."
+
+It was perhaps the worst thing he could have said, for the two officers
+immediately climbed up and squeezed themselves into the observer's
+cockpit.
+
+"Quick! You will carry us there. It is a command!" said the colonel. And
+Dennis's eyes roved in vain round the pilot's seat for any sign of a
+weapon.
+
+He bent down under pretence of examining the shaft of the steering-wheel
+to collect his thoughts and compose his features, and then a thought
+came to him.
+
+Had they been on the ground he would have pleaded that his engines were
+still wrong, but it was too late now.
+
+"I will take you willingly, Herr Colonel," he said. And, sitting down,
+he passed the two ends of the securing strap round his waist, and drew
+the buckle tight.
+
+"You are a long time, young man," said the colonel's companion.
+
+"We are off now," replied Dennis, starting the engines to avoid any
+awkward questioning, and breathing a silent prayer that they were all
+right.
+
+He thought of Laval, too, and wondered what he would think when he heard
+the whir; and it was as well that he did not know what was happening to
+his French friend, or possibly he would have failed to keep his nerve
+for the task he had set himself!
+
+The horses shied, and bolted across the plain, but no one thought of
+them as the Aviatik ran uneasily forward over the soft ground and rose
+like a bird.
+
+For a few minutes they mounted skyward, climbing slowly, and the stout
+General tried to make his companion understand by much gesticulation
+that the blockhead was taking the wrong direction.
+
+But the "blockhead" knew what he was about, and after a half circle to
+test the working of the engines, he opened the throttle and shot her
+upwards at a terrific speed.
+
+Well might his two passengers cling desperately to the gun brackets and
+to each other, but their shriek of terror was drowned as the machine
+gained an altitude of fifteen hundred feet and deliberately _looped the
+loop_!
+
+For a moment Dennis braced himself and clutched the wheel like a vice,
+but the strap held, the circle was completed, and the Aviatik, righting
+herself, skimmed over the pine-topped hill behind the hunting lodge, and
+planed majestically down towards the starting-point.
+
+Dennis's face was as white as a sheet of paper as he turned and glanced
+back over his shoulder. He was alone!
+
+"I hope it was playing the game," he muttered, as he brought the machine
+to a stand. "At any rate, it was the only game I could play under the
+circumstances."
+
+He jumped down and ran towards the lodge, feeling shaken and trembly,
+wondering what he would find. It struck him as odd that the garrulous
+old forester had not returned. Was Laval dead or dying?
+
+As he crossed the stream and mounted the slope he stopped, for the old
+man's voice was bellowing furiously, and the old woman screamed in
+concert.
+
+"What on earth is going on?" thought the lad, and seeing that the
+shutters of the ground-floor room in which he had left his friend had
+been opened, and it being very nearly broad daylight, instead of
+entering the hall he sprang to the window and looked in.
+
+Claude Laval, terribly weak from loss of blood, but with an odd, defiant
+smile on his face, was sitting upright in the carved chair, the sleeve
+of his wounded arm slit from shoulder to wrist, revealing the drenched
+blue-grey of his own French uniform beneath it. In front of him, his
+white moustache bristling with fury, and murder in every line of his
+wolf-like face, the old forester lifted a hatchet in both hands, while
+his wife, no longer the trembling servile old peasant of half an hour
+before, was tightening the knots of the rope she had thrown round
+Laval's body, binding him tightly to the chair!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the little village three leagues from Bar-le-Duc a powerful car drew
+up in a cloud of dust in front of the restaurant where our friends had
+dined the night before, and General Joffre stepped from it on to the
+pavement.
+
+"Ah, what? You do not know where he is? No one has seen him--the young
+English lieutenant who was to meet me here?" said the General, knitting
+his white eyebrows. "That is strange; but never mind"--and he drew out
+his watch--"it still wants four minutes to eight."
+
+Leaning his elbow on the side of the automobile with one foot planted
+on the step, the great Frenchman waited, talking meanwhile with a
+Divisional General who had something to report.
+
+"Yes, yes," said the Generalissimo, and then he looked at his watch
+again. The minute hand pointed to the hour, but Sir Douglas Haig's
+messenger had not come!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A Mad Gamble for Liberty
+
+
+When Dennis Dashwood saw that terrible tableau through the window of Von
+Rudolfstein's hunting-lodge, his first thought was that he had arrived
+too late to save his friend; and, drawing his revolver from beneath
+Blumberger's flying coat, he raced for the front entrance.
+
+"Scoundrel and pig! I will split your skull even as I ground that cross
+of yours beneath my heel!" Dennis heard the old man bellow. "I will be
+bound you know more about the destruction of that fine Zeppelin than you
+will admit. Come, have you not finished yet, thou clumsy old fool?"
+
+"Clumsy old fool, indeed!" screamed the woman. "Who was it discovered
+that he was a Frenchman, I'd like to know? You will be taking the whole
+credit to yourself, worthless one!"
+
+"No, I want some of the credit myself," said a stern young voice from
+the doorway. "Shame on you both to treat a wounded man thus!" And he
+fired at one of the huge hands that held the woodcutter's axe.
+
+The formidable weapon fell with a clang on to the floor, and the
+forester gave a howl like a wounded beast.
+
+"Quick, Gretchen, ring the alarm bell! They will hear it at the
+village!"
+
+The old woman, who had sent up a piercing shriek, ran towards another
+door; but Dennis was too quick for her, and, putting out his foot, she
+pitched headlong on to the stone floor and lay quite still.
+
+"Move your own length," he cried to the husband, laying his revolver by
+the side of the basin of hot water, "and I will shoot you like a dog!
+Courage, Laval! All is ready, and I'll have you out of this in a brace
+of shakes."
+
+"_Ma foi!_ you must forgive me, my dear friend," said the wounded
+officer. "When I heard the machine rise, I thought for a moment that you
+had deemed it wiser to save yourself."
+
+"I'll tell you all about that afterwards," said Dennis grimly. "I'm
+going to save you now." And, cutting the cord, he threw the knife into
+the basin and proceeded to make a slip-knot. "We must make this old
+ruffian secure first."
+
+"Look out!" exclaimed Laval. And Dennis raised his eyes just in time,
+for the cunning German had made a spring for the table, and already his
+unwounded hand had clutched the knife-handle. It was a huge thing, such
+as a butcher might use, and sharp as a razor.
+
+"You _will_ have it, will you?" said Dennis grimly, and he shot the man
+through the heart. "It has saved me the trouble of binding him, and that
+makes the third Boche I have accounted for this morning. By Jove, old
+chap! you've got it pretty badly. Whatever happens, I must stop that
+bleeding."
+
+The knife with which the woman had cut the sleeve of the leather jacket
+had revealed a terrible jagged wound in the Frenchman's shoulder, from
+which the blood welled through his fingers as he grasped it; but Dennis,
+tearing some linen that the woman had brought into strips, improvised a
+couple of tourniquets, utilising the spindles of a chair which he
+smashed to pieces for the purpose, and to his intense satisfaction he
+found the haemorrhage considerably reduced.
+
+"Now, do you think you can walk?" he said anxiously. And Laval got up,
+reeling from the enormous quantity of blood he had lost.
+
+"Half a mo!" said Dennis quickly. "This noose I had meant for Karl there
+will make a first-rate sling for that arm of yours. Another pull at the
+flask--that's good--and now we absolutely _must_ make a move."
+
+"One moment!" exclaimed Laval, pointing across the room. "There is a
+French flag yonder. Will you do me the goodness to tear it from the wall
+and bring it with you? I cannot leave that trophy in the hands of these
+hogs. Besides, it may be useful to us later on."
+
+Dennis ran across the room and lifted the silk tricolour from the hooks
+on which it hung, reading as he did so an inscription in faded gold
+letters on the shot-riven folds.
+
+Von Rudolfstein's father had captured that colour in the war of 1870 at
+the head of his Cuirassiers, and it had hung there ever since.
+
+"Look at all that remains of my beloved decoration!" murmured Laval,
+pointing to the floor.
+
+"They shall give you another for last night's work," said Dennis.
+
+Leaning on the boy's strong arm, the _pilote aviateur_ set out gamely,
+crossed the entrance hall, and had almost gained the rustic bridge when
+the clanging notes of a deep-tongued bell broke out behind them.
+
+"The old vixen has soon come to her senses. Let us hope the village is
+not too near, for it will take us ten minutes at this rate," said Laval,
+squeezing the arm that supported him as his companion looked back.
+
+He had heard it at the same moment--a hoarse shout from many voices and
+the trample of hoofs at the hunting-lodge.
+
+"By Jingo! Cavalry!" said the lad.
+
+"You must leave me and run for it. Good luck, old fellow!" exclaimed
+Claude Laval. But Dennis gave an odd smile and stooped down.
+
+"Put your arm round my neck!" he cried. "I'm not going without you, so
+argument is useless and will only waste time. It will give you a bit of
+a twisting, I know. Now, stick tight!" And he started to run with the
+wounded man on his shoulders.
+
+Several times he nearly stumbled, for the ground was sandy, but he had
+accomplished two-thirds of the distance when the alarm bell stopped, and
+there was a chorus of savage shouts from the house they had left.
+
+"Hold on like grim death!" panted Dennis. "We'll do it yet!" And
+bracing himself for the last few yards, he doubled the pace and reached
+the shadow of the aeroplane as the leading files of a troop of Uhlans
+thundered across the bridge.
+
+A stifled cry broke from Laval's lips, though he tried hard to repress
+it, as Dennis dragged him up by main force and tumbled him into the
+observer's cockpit.
+
+"I know I've given the poor chap beans," he muttered to himself, as he
+handed him the captured tricolour. And, jumping down into the pilot's
+seat, he started the engines going for the second time that morning.
+
+The officer at the head of the yelling horsemen was not thirty lengths
+away when the Aviatik began to move; and, roaring out an order to his
+men to draw their carbines, he emptied his own revolver at random.
+
+Afterwards, when Dennis came to think calmly of that moment, he grew
+cold and shivered; but at the time itself his heart had given a mighty
+throb as the rubber-tyred wheels of the chassis left the ground, and
+they started on their long flight for home.
+
+He knew perfectly well, as several bullets pierced the lifting planes
+and one starred on the stay he had tightened, that their troubles had by
+no means ceased when they left the Uhlans behind them. By that time keen
+eyes would be watching, not only the earth, but the sky, and he had only
+his wits to guide him.
+
+There was the sun just rising to show him which was the east, and
+already far down below he saw the ribbon of the Rhine which they must
+cross; but sluing round to look back, he saw the thing he feared--an
+escadrille of German aircraft rising from the plain over which the smoke
+from the Zeppelin hangar still hung.
+
+Already the enemy airmen were in pursuit!
+
+Claude Laval had turned towards him at the same moment, and their eyes
+met. He had seen it too, but the blanched face of the wounded man shone
+with hope and confidence. His mouth opened, though the words were lost,
+but he made a gesture with his sound arm, and Dennis understood.
+
+They were heavy clouds to which Laval had pointed, and Dennis steered
+straight for them, devouring the chart with his eyes.
+
+Far down below and ahead of them in the extreme distance was the blue
+line of the Vosges, and he thought he could distinguish the Ballon
+d'Alsace, but of that he was not sure. His pursuers would naturally
+imagine that he would make for the nearest point of the French frontier,
+but that was not in his mind. If he had to deal with the fast-rising
+Fokkers, his only chance he knew was to gain the cloud-bank and keep
+within its protecting folds.
+
+To fight with a wounded observer was out of the question, and already he
+had decided to steer north-west rather than due west, which would bring
+him, roughly, somewhere between Epinal and Nancy--always provided that
+he was not overtaken.
+
+There were a thousand risks to run, not only from the enemy fleet, but
+from the French guns when he should come in sight of them; but as they
+soared into the chill blanket of vapour his spirits rose, and for a
+moment he shut off the engines to listen.
+
+The whir and throb of their pursuers already seemed to come from every
+point of the compass--from below, from either side and, what was more
+alarming, from above; but banking sharply to the right he thrashed his
+course at topmost speed, praying that the cloud-bank might not cease.
+
+The baragraph showed him that he was already eight thousand feet above
+the earth, and, straightening out the machine, he wiped the mist from
+his goggles with the back of his glove and kept on.
+
+All at once the Aviatik shot out of the cloud with a clear stretch of
+sky in front of them, and, looking back and upwards, he saw the wicked
+nose of a Fokker emerge into view on their right beam a couple of
+hundred yards away and well above them.
+
+Already their own machine was approaching another cloud-bank, but the
+Fokker had seen them, and plunged downward in their direction.
+
+The instant the cloud swallowed them up Dennis concentrated all his
+efforts on the foot-bar which controlled the vertical rudder, and,
+grasping the wheel at the same time, swung sharply to the left, leaving
+their pursuer to dive down five hundred feet into space before he
+discovered that he had missed his mark.
+
+Neither of them knew that the nose of the Fokker had been within twelve
+inches of the Aviatik's tail-planes; and but for the fact that the
+German suspended his fire at the moment of diving, it would have been
+all over with the raiders.
+
+Dennis reverted to his old tactics when he found that they had escaped,
+and turning to the right again, with an anxious eye on the compass, saw
+no more of the enemy for nearly a quarter of an hour, until, emerging
+into a burst of bright sunshine and looking down, he found himself
+immediately over a fierce engagement on the eastern crest of the Vosges
+mountains. Shells were bursting below them, and though he did not know
+it, they were passing above the Col de la Schlucht, from which the
+French guns were bombarding Munster. He could see the enormous puffs of
+smoke--white, black, and some of them tinged with yellow--but what was
+of greater moment to them both was the presence of the enemy machines a
+few miles to the southward.
+
+They, too, were just leaving the cloud-bank, which ended there, misled
+by the idea that their prey would make a bee-line for safety; but they
+saw the Aviatik at the same moment that Dennis saw them, and circled
+round to cut him off from home.
+
+Dennis realised that he was now above French soil. His engines were
+working magnificently, and dropping to an altitude of two thousand
+metres, which gave him a clear view of towns and buildings, he consulted
+his chart, identified Nancy far away on his right front, and trusted all
+to Providence.
+
+He had judged wisely, as it proved, and knew that he was out-distancing
+the enemy aircraft tearing in hot pursuit--all but one persistent Fokker
+that evidently meant business. He even found time to glance backward at
+his companion, who, with the folds of the French flag wrapped round his
+shattered shoulder to dull the force of the keen air, sat huddled up in
+his cockpit, apparently insensible.
+
+Once a shell came up from the ground, and burst between pursuer and
+pursued, and a gleam of fierce hope shot through the lad's heart as he
+saw the French "75" making good practice against the vicious little
+gadfly.
+
+Higher and higher mounted the Fokker to get out of range, and still
+Dennis kept on, remembering his appointment with the French
+Generalissimo, and glancing alternately from the chart to the little
+clock beside the aneroid barometer, whose registration was useless at
+that height.
+
+"Twenty-five minutes! Great Scott! can I do it?" he muttered, clutching
+the control wheel with his frozen fingers.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Well, messieurs, it is a pity, and I am afraid something must have
+happened to that young officer," said General Joffre, consulting his
+watch for the last time. "I must find another messenger to carry my
+reply to the Commander-in-Chief of our Allies."
+
+And then he stopped as a murmured exclamation broke from the group of
+officers, and everyone looked up to the grey sky across which some
+rainclouds were drifting.
+
+"It is an aerial combat, mon General," said one of them. "_Ma foi!_ I
+should not care to travel at that speed, let alone fight with nothing
+under one's feet!"
+
+Two dots scarcely larger than flies on a window-pane had suddenly
+detached themselves from the rain clouds, and were manoeuvring
+curiously in the direction of the village. Larger and larger they grew,
+the smaller dot obviously trying to gain the advantage of height, and
+mingling with the throb of the engines they could now hear the rattle of
+a machine-gun.
+
+"What is the meaning of this?" said the Generalissimo, fixing them with
+his glass. "These machines are German. I can see the Iron Cross painted
+upon them both. Send word to the battery yonder to make ready. It is a
+raid, and they are adopting those manoeuvres to deceive us."
+
+By the wall of the restaurant the young French chauffeur, Martique, who
+had driven Dennis to that place, waited with a smile dancing in his
+eyes, hoping against hope that the thing of which he alone knew was the
+thing that was taking place up yonder!
+
+He started when he heard the Generalissimo's order, for even yet he
+could not be sure, but the dots had now grown so large that it was
+possible to tell the make of the two machines, and somebody said: "The
+first one is an Aviatik; the other is a Fokker."
+
+If the seeming chase were a piece of German stage management it was
+certainly being carried out with marvellous realism, for now Martique
+could distinctly see the puffs of the machine-gun, and that the bullets
+were ripping through the lifting planes of the Aviatik.
+
+"Mon General!" he cried suddenly, "for the love of heaven order our
+battery not to fire! Look! The observer in that machine is waving a
+French flag. He has dropped it now, and he slues his gun into
+position--but with one arm only! He is wounded!"
+
+"Do you know what you are talking about, young man?" said the
+Generalissimo sternly.
+
+"Forgive me, mon General!" faltered Martique. "It was a little secret.
+Oh, look! The Fokker has got the top place, and is about to ram poor
+Laval and his English companion!"
+
+Everyone held his breath, for indeed it was as Martique had cried. The
+Aviatik was volplaning down in a wide spiral now, and above it the
+relentless pursuer poised like a hawk. He was judging the circumference
+of those spiral curves, and even the Generalissimo himself tightened his
+lips under the huge white moustache.
+
+Over the side of the fuselage there was no mistaking the glorious red,
+white and blue that fluttered wildly in the descent, and then the
+Aviatik's swivel-gun spoke three times. A German always speaks French
+badly, but that German gun rang out with a true accent that time, and
+the Fokker gave a strange quiver, burst into a sheet of flame, and
+dropped like a stone to death and destruction six thousand feet below!
+
+The engines of the Aviatik ceased; the _nacelle_, pointing earthwards,
+curved suddenly up again, and floating for some distance like a tired
+bird, the machine dropped out of sight on the other side of the tall
+poplars.
+
+There was an instant stampede to the spot, the Generalissimo himself
+following, unable to curb his curiosity; but as he reached the bank at
+the edge of the cornfield a running figure in leather jacket and flying
+helmet checked his pace and, throwing up his goggles, saluted smartly.
+
+"Mon General, I hope you will accept my apology," said Dennis Dashwood.
+"I am five minutes behind my time, but I am here, and I have a good deal
+to tell you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Sing-Song in the Dug-out
+
+
+Three surgeons, hastily summoned to the spot, knelt with their
+instruments beside Claude Laval, not twenty yards from the bodies of the
+two German airmen whom he had brought down the afternoon before, and in
+the circle that surrounded them stood the Generalissimo, holding the old
+French colour which would never ornament the walls of that distant
+hunting-lodge again.
+
+"He will recover," said one of the doctors, getting up from his knee.
+"But he will want the most careful attention. The whole thing is
+marvellous. There is not one man in a thousand that could have lived
+through such an adventure!"
+
+The _pilote aviateur_ opened his eyes, for he had heard the surgeon's
+words.
+
+"Mon General," he said, but so faintly that the Commander of the French
+Armies had to stoop over him, "I should not have lived if it had not
+been for my companion. He is brave, that boy--oh, braver than I can make
+you understand. But, mon General," and a wistful look came into the
+deep-sunk eyes, "they have taken my Cross of the Legion and destroyed
+it!"
+
+"You were a chevalier of the Order, mon lieutenant, if I remember," said
+the Generalissimo. "The Republic does not forget her sons when they
+behave as you have behaved. You shall have another Cross, and this time
+it will be the Cross of an Officer of the Legion of Honour. And listen!
+The English lieutenant shall have one too, if the word of Cesar Joffre
+carries any weight in France. Messieurs, let us salute these two brave
+men who have both deserved so well of the Republic!" And, lifting his
+kepi, the gallant Frenchman kissed Dennis on both cheeks amid a burst of
+generous applause that came from the hearts of all of them.
+
+"_Cher ami_," whispered Claude Laval, "if you see my brother, you will
+tell him of our little escapade, hein?"
+
+Dennis pressed Laval's left hand in both his own as he left him with a
+happy smile on his face; and with a last look at the Aviatik, followed
+General Joffre to his automobile.
+
+"Adieu, lieutenant!" said the great soldier, with a lingering grip after
+an interview that lasted half an hour, "I have no other message for your
+General. He will find it all written in that envelope, which you will
+give him."
+
+"Now, Martique," said Dennis, settling himself beside him in the motor,
+"I am in your hands." And almost before the car had started, Second
+Lieutenant Dennis Dashwood, of the 2/12 Battalion, Royal Reedshire
+Regiment, was sound asleep!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Oh, hang it, Martique! What did you wake me for? I haven't been asleep
+five minutes," grumbled Dennis. And then he sat bolt upright as he
+recognised the handsome face of the man who had shaken him by the
+shoulder, and saw the amused smile in his eyes.
+
+"It is a good car, I admit," said Sir Douglas Haig. "But I hardly think
+it has done the mileage between this place and Bar-le-Duc in so short a
+time as that, and your chauffeur tells me that you have snored all the
+way."
+
+Dennis gasped, to find himself once more in front of the headquarters of
+the General Commanding in Chief, and turned scarlet.
+
+"I took the liberty of abstracting General Joffre's reply from your
+pocket without disturbing you," continued Sir Douglas. "And I have had
+the story of your extraordinary exploit from Martique here. Take my
+advice, Dashwood, and be chary in future about embarking on such
+adventures; they hardly come within the scope of your day's duty."
+
+And then, seeing the shamefaced look that came over the lad, he added
+quickly: "Do not read any censure into my words; they were only intended
+to convey a little fatherly advice. And now the question arises, what is
+to be done with you? You have shown a most remarkable aptitude, and
+General Joffre has given such an account of your nerve that I am in two
+minds whether or not to transfer you to my personal staff--or would you
+prefer a spell of duty with your regiment?"
+
+"Do you mean for the Great Push?" said Dennis, in an eager voice.
+
+"Confound your great push!" said the General, with a faint flash of
+sternness in his expressive eyes. "There's too much talk knocking around
+about our future movements."
+
+For the life of him Dennis could not help smiling all over his face.
+
+"Well, I see where your heart lies," said the G.O.C. in Chief; "and
+Martique, who is going your way, shall give you a lift. I wish you the
+best of good luck, Mr. Dashwood, and I am very much obliged to you for
+the way you have carried out your mission."
+
+"By Jove!" whispered Dennis, as the car started for the firing-line. "He
+did not deny it. There _is_ to be a push, and I'm going to be in it!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The guns still thundered, and the shells had never ceased to rend and
+pulverise the enemy position day and night. Otherwise, everything was
+quiet on our front. The raids had ceased, and the wind was unfavourable
+to any German gas attack.
+
+"Come on, Dennis," said his brother; "there's nothing doing, and I'm fed
+up. Let's drop in to that sing-song for an hour. They've got an awfully
+good chap I'm told, who plays the piano like a blooming Paderewski."
+
+"I'm with you," said Dennis. And they made their way into the
+subterranean dug-out which had so nearly proved his tomb on the night we
+had carried the front-line trench.
+
+It seemed odd to plunge suddenly into an atmosphere of merriment within
+a few yards of the men posted at the periscopes along the sandbagged
+parapet. The electric lights were burning, and a blue haze of tobacco
+smoke obscured the air from a semicircle of listeners, sitting on
+packing-cases and forms round the piano on the platform, and the chorus
+of "Gilbert the Filbert," sung with a will, greeted them as they
+descended the stairs.
+
+All sorts and conditions of men were gathered there--officers and
+privates in mutual good fellowship. The Second-in-Command of the
+Reedshires had just given them a ballad, and sung it jolly well too; and
+the armourer sergeant and one of their own lieutenants were fooling
+about as they waited to appear in a comic turn.
+
+The lieutenant was dressed as a French peasant girl, and really looked
+quite pretty; and the armourer sergeant was supposed to resemble George
+Robey!
+
+"Oh, there's the chap I was speaking to you about," said Captain Bob,
+pointing to a wounded Highlander, whose head was enveloped in a bandage.
+"He's a regular genius on the keyboard; that is why there are such a lot
+of chaps here to-night. He only blew in a couple of days ago from the
+brigade on our right when he heard we were lucky enough to have a
+piano."
+
+They made room for the two new-comers; and as the closing lines of the
+chorus died away, there were great cries of "Jock, Jock! We want Jock!"
+from the audience.
+
+The Highland private's face expanded into a sheepish grin, and as he
+stepped up on to the platform you could have heard the proverbial pin
+drop. Not a sound but that dull burst and boom that they had all got
+used to and scarcely heard now, and then the keys of the piano broke in
+upon the tense hush, touched by a master hand.
+
+"Isn't that fine!" whispered the Second-in-Command, who was sitting next
+to Dennis. "When this beastly war has finished that man would fill
+Queen's Hall to the roof. And to think he's just one of Kitchener's
+privates, and the first pip-squeak that comes his way may still that
+marvellous gift for ever!"
+
+Dennis nodded, for the improvised melody which had just ceased had
+touched him, as it had touched every man in the room.
+
+But there is no time for sentiment in the trenches; it is out of place
+there, and after a roar of "Bravo!" and a great clapping of hands had
+succeeded a momentary pause, voices cried clamorously: "Give us that
+thing you sang last night, Jock--that song with the whistling chorus!"
+
+"Now you'll hear the reverse of the medal, and upon my soul, it's
+equally good!" explained the Second-in-Command. "He's like poor old
+Barclay Gammon and Corney Grain and half a dozen of those musical-sketch
+men rolled into one. It's his own composition too."
+
+There was a great chord on the piano, the performer laid his cigarette
+on the music rest, and made an amazing face by way of introduction.
+
+"Gentlemen, I call this song 'All Boche'--because it is," he remarked.
+And then he sang a string of purely topical verses, brilliantly clever
+in their allusions to the everyday events in which they all bore their
+part, and he did not spare the failings of various officers and
+N.C.O.'s, who were supposed to be imaginary, but whom everybody
+recognised; and when he had done he resumed his seat quietly on the edge
+of the platform as though it had been nothing, and Dennis went over to
+him.
+
+"I say, you know, that's the best thing I've heard for years," said the
+lad enthusiastically. "Would it be possible to have a copy of the words,
+or is it asking too much?"
+
+"I'll write them down with pleasure, sir," said the wounded Highlander;
+"but I've got no paper."
+
+Dennis whipped out his pocket-book and tore out some leaves, withdrawing
+to his packing-case to leave the obliging soldier undisturbed.
+
+But man proposes--you know the old proverb, and before Dennis could seat
+himself, the voice of the Company Sergeant-Major rang out from the head
+of the staircase: "Fall in, everybody, and as sharp as you like!"
+
+There was an instant stampede up and out into the thunder of the guns;
+and as men scurried along the trench the wounded Highlander handed one
+of the folded leaves to a sergeant of Dennis's platoon.
+
+"Give that to your Second Lieutenant," he said, "and guid necht." And
+the sergeant, spying Dennis in front of him, delivered his message.
+
+"By Jingo, he's written them quickly! I hope they're all here," said the
+boy, diving into his new dug-out in search of his trench helmet. And
+opening the paper in the candlelight, he read to his utter astonishment
+and rage:
+
+    "If you want the words of my song you must come and fetch them,
+    little beastly Dashwood! What a lot of fools you English are!
+    And so your Great Push will begin at 7.30 in the morning. Very
+    well, we shall be ready for you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+"Reedshires!--Get Over!"
+
+
+Dennis sprang from his dug-out into the trench, and the first person he
+encountered was Harry Hawke.
+
+"Where's that wounded Highlander?" he cried, so fiercely that Hawke
+stared at him open-mouthed.
+
+"If you mean the singing bloke, sir--last I seed of 'im he was doin' a
+bunk for his own battalion," replied the Cockney private. And Dennis
+Dashwood's teeth closed with a snap, realising the utter futility of any
+search for von Drissel just then.
+
+"If you clap eyes on that man again, Hawke!" he exclaimed, "shoot him on
+sight. He is a German spy!" And, leaving the astonished private to make
+what he might of the information, he passed along the trench to find his
+brother.
+
+He came across him in whispered conversation with the Reedshires'
+colonel in one of the trench bays on the right, and before he could
+speak Captain Bob took him by the arm.
+
+"It has come at last, old chap," he said, with the mysterious air of one
+imparting an item of precious information.
+
+"Yes," said Dennis grimly, "I know; we make the great attack at
+half-past seven, and the Germans know it too. Look at this!"
+
+Captain Bob and the C.O. read von Drissel's words by the light of a
+star-shell, and the trio exchanged glances.
+
+"Well, it can't be helped," said the C.O. "And I don't think the
+information will do the enemy much good. Do you notice how dull the
+sound of our guns is? It strikes one as odd."
+
+It had not occurred to them before, but they realised it now as they
+stood there in the trench bay, and others remarked the fact and wrote of
+it afterwards. A hurricane of shells of every calibre, from the
+whiz-bang of the field-guns to the enormous projectile of "Mother,"
+passed continuously overhead in the darkness, to burst in the enemy
+trenches, and yet the sound was less loud than many a purely local
+bombardment had been.
+
+It was a trying wait, and the dawn came with provoking slowness, a grey
+mist veiling the ground until the sun gained power and the sky showed
+pale-blue flecked with fleecy clouds. Men blew on their fingers, for the
+morning was cold.
+
+"It ain't 'arf parky," growled Harry Hawke.
+
+"It'll be 'ot enough in a bit," said his pal, Tiddler. "What price Old
+Street, 'Arry?"
+
+"Chuck it!" replied the marksman of No. 2 Platoon. "No good thinking of
+love and sentiment now." But for all that, perhaps, a fleeting vision of
+his Lil passed through his untutored brain, and made him a shade paler
+about the gills.
+
+Tiddler noticed it and smiled to himself, knowing what it meant, for
+when Hawke looked white it was time for his enemy to look out, and the
+moment was rapidly approaching.
+
+The trench was packed with men, all waiting. Those of the reserves who
+were not yet in their places were pouring steadily up, and immediately
+behind the front line Staff cars and motor cycles dashed backwards and
+forwards; and overhead, where, oddly enough, the larks were trilling, an
+English aeroplane was flying just above the scream of the shells.
+
+Dennis saw it, and wondered how Claude Laval was faring; and as he
+looked at his wrist-watch he saw that it was nearly six o'clock.
+
+At that moment the most terrific bombardment the war had witnessed burst
+with devastating fury upon the German lines. Nothing had been heard like
+it, and men smiled grimly, knowing that their turn would come soon.
+
+The C.O. left the bay, and walked along the front of his beloved
+battalion from one end of it to the other; a quiet, keen-eyed English
+officer, brave as a lion they all knew, but showing no trace of the
+slightest excitement as his eye scanned the faces of the waiting men.
+
+He had been appointed to the command when the Dashwoods' father was
+given the brigade, and he realised that the brigadier expected great
+things of his old battalion.
+
+"I never saw a fitter lot," was his gratified comment as he returned to
+the two brothers. "Heaven help the enemy yonder if our artillery has
+only cleared the wire."
+
+"It's sincerely to be hoped they have, sir," said Captain Bob dryly.
+"There was a dickens of a lot of it. But we shall get through without a
+doubt. Not long to wait now, for there go the trench mortars."
+
+Mingling with the continuous roar of our guns came a still louder and
+very insistent sound, to which they listened in silence, every officer
+of the battalion with his eye on his watch.
+
+"Well, good luck, old chap!" said Bob suddenly, gripping Dennis by the
+hand. And the two brothers looked at each other with the same thought
+behind the quiet confidence of their smile.
+
+It might be the last time they would ever meet on earth, but they faced
+the possibility without fear, and already a dense cloud of smoke,
+released along our whole front, was shrouding the waiting line.
+
+"Seven-thirty to the tick," said the C.O. "Reedshires--Get over!" And in
+an instant the battalion was swarming out of its trench, and advancing
+over the two hundred yards of broken ground which separated the brigade
+from the enemy, with sloped arms.
+
+It was terrible going, for the whole earth was honeycombed by craters
+large and small; but out of the smoke-cloud rose a ringing cheer, which
+was still floating on the air when the vicious tac-tac of machine-guns
+from the German lines told that even high explosives had their
+limitations, and that some at least of the enemy gun-emplacements
+remained undestroyed.
+
+"Double!" cried the C.O., seeing that a kilted battalion on his left was
+racing forward as the best means of escaping the continuous stream of
+bullets.
+
+"Charge, boys, charge!" yelled Dennis, taking up the cry; and that
+brown avalanche of eager, helmeted men poured on clear of the smoke into
+the bright sunshine, which glinted on their fixed bayonets.
+
+In spite of the carefully prepared staff maps and plans which they had
+all studied closely, Dennis looked in vain for any sign of a definite
+objective. There was no sandbagged parapet, nothing but a confused mass
+of holes and heaps scattered broadcast over the landscape--the result of
+the terrific spade-work of the guns--which had to be crossed before the
+village was reached. The village, too, of which he caught a glimpse, was
+only a pulverised mass of debris, with here and there the angle of a
+shattered house or the ribs of a roof to mark what had once been human
+habitations.
+
+But he knew that the strength of the enemy's position lay in the
+wonderful subterranean works, the deep dug-outs, the covered-in
+communicating trenches, and for these he and his men rushed with great
+determination.
+
+Suddenly, from the other side of a chalk heap, a row of heads appeared,
+wearing flat blue forage caps with white bands round them, and a shout
+of rapture rose from No. 2 Platoon as they saw at last something to go
+for.
+
+Between them and the row of heads yawned a huge shell crater, and as the
+platoon divided automatically to avoid the obstacle, a heavy volley
+across the crater caught them, and several of the running men pitched
+forward and lay where they fell.
+
+Perhaps they had orders to retire, perhaps it was our yell that scared
+them; but the heads disappeared; and when our men reached the spot where
+they had been the Germans had vanished. One stout fellow, dropping into
+a hole thirty yards away, was the only indication of what had become of
+them; but it was sufficient, and with a "Come on, boys!" Dennis sprinted
+for the spot.
+
+He had armed himself with a rifle and bayonet for the advance; but,
+changing it to his left hand, he opened the bag of bombs he had also
+brought and, drawing the pin, flung one of them into the hole, a square
+opening, evidently the entrance to a covered communication trench.
+
+"Wait a moment!" he shouted, shouldering back the next man up, who in
+his excitement was about to plunge in; and then he heard the bomb burst
+below, and a shower of earth and fragments of clothing bespattered the
+pair of them, a piece of the bomb making an ugly gash on the man's
+cheek.
+
+Then Dennis sprang down, regardless of the fumes. At the bottom of the
+steps he was conscious of treading on something soft, but did not stay
+to examine it, for a ray of light filtering in from a fissure in the
+roof showed him dark forms scurrying away in the distance along the
+boarded passage.
+
+The hand-grenade had got a move on the enemy, and, followed by a dozen
+men of the platoon, he led the way, gripping his rifle, and loosing a
+couple of rounds from the hip as he ran.
+
+One of the bullets evidently found its mark, for a man lay writhing on
+the ground where another passage turned off at right angles. The man
+tried to seize his legs, but instantly let go his hold with a hoarse cry
+as Tiddler's bayonet settled all disputes, and Dennis darted round the
+angle.
+
+The passage ended in a strange place; a large dug-out which had been
+partially unroofed by one of our shells earlier in the morning, and knee
+deep amid the loose earth which had poured in, half filling it, twenty
+Germans turned at bay, under the command of a very tall officer.
+
+There were only eight men with Dennis, for the other four were still
+groping their way somewhere behind in the darkness of the passage, and
+the young lieutenant realised in a flash of time that he was seriously
+outnumbered and must act promptly.
+
+A big sergeant jumped at him with a shout, but before the lunging
+bayonet had crossed his own, Dennis fired and shot the man dead.
+
+"Put your hands up and surrender!" he said sternly in German to the
+rest; and the first to obey was the tall officer, who came scrambling
+over the loose earth with both arms outstretched.
+
+"We are your prisoners, sir," he said, holding his revolver as though he
+were presenting the butt to Dennis. And the men of the British platoon
+lowered their bayonets with disappointment in their faces.
+
+It meant some of their number escorting the prisoners to the rear, they
+knew, and that was not the hope they had had in their hearts.
+
+But their disappointment was short-lived, for, as the tall officer came
+within a stride of the young lieutenant, he suddenly shouted: "Now you
+have them, men! Down with these infernal English!" And, reversing his
+own weapon, he fired three shots at Dennis Dashwood in rapid succession.
+
+The treachery was so unexpected that Dennis could do no more than duck
+his head, and even then the third bullet buckled the brim of his trench
+helmet; but as the barrel of the German's revolver clicked harmlessly
+round, showing that it was empty, Dennis lunged upward.
+
+"Sorry, sir!" said a voice at his elbow. "He was your bird." And a man
+of the platoon, who had been a gamekeeper before he joined up, withdrew
+his own bayonet, which had buried itself simultaneously in the cowardly
+brute's ribs.
+
+But there was no time for thanks, for the enemy had responded to the
+treacherous command, and a terrific hand-to-hand fight ensued in the
+half-demolished dug-out.
+
+When the magazines had been emptied, butt and bayonet came into play at
+close quarters, and men clutched each other in a death struggle, and
+rolled over and over, howling like wolves.
+
+Once, indeed, Dennis found himself driven backwards into the mouth of
+the passage by two beefy fellows attacking him at the same time, and it
+was only by dropping his rifle and using his revolver that he saved
+himself from certain death.
+
+As it was, although the Reedshires had taken heavy toll and reduced the
+odds considerably, three of the platoon were down, and a fourth reeled,
+badly wounded, against the side of the dug-out.
+
+The four who should have provided a welcome reinforcement had missed
+the turning, and continued straight along the covered communication, and
+now nine of the enemy, springing back on to the top of the fallen earth
+to take breath, collected for a rush that could have but one end.
+
+"Quick, men!" cried Dennis, snatching up the ex-gamekeeper's rifle,
+which the poor chap would never use again, "get into the passage, and
+slip in another clip! You've just time, if I can hold them up for a
+moment!"
+
+The survivors of that little band each told the story afterwards with
+variations, but all were agreed on two points.
+
+One was the blinding flash as a bomb fell into the middle of the Germans
+through the shell-hole in the roof. The other was the voice of Captain
+Bob, sounding strangely distinct in the death-like silence that followed
+the explosion as he called out: "Have you had enough in there, or would
+you like another one?"
+
+Then they lifted up their voices in a great shout of "Hold on, sir!" And
+Dennis yelled: "Bob, you juggins, do you want to do the lot of us in?"
+
+"Oh, it's you, is it?" cried his brother, sliding through the opening
+with a sergeant and a couple of bombers. "I might have known you'd be
+mixed up in it somehow. We heard some German jabbering and chanced our
+arm."
+
+"And a lucky thing for us you did," said Dennis, pointing to the
+hideously bespattered grey-green uniforms that littered the earth heap.
+Only one of the nine men was moving, and after a convulsive opening and
+shutting of his hands the movement ceased altogether. "How is it going
+up above?"
+
+"Top-hole, so far," said the Captain. "At least, as far as our battalion
+is concerned, though there seems to be a bit of a check among those
+chaps on our left. Nobody else down here? Very well; this is the
+quickest way out, and every minute is an hour. We've got their
+first-line trench, or all that was left of it." And they scrambled once
+more up the land slide into the open-air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+The Silencing of the Guns
+
+
+The German guns were flinging a terrific barrage fire behind us in a
+vain attempt to prevent our reserves coming up, and Dennis found that
+the spot at which they had emerged was close to the entrance of the
+village, if one could dignify those shapeless heaps of brick and mortar
+by such a name.
+
+Oddly enough, above his head towered a gilded Calvary, untouched by our
+previous bombardment or the rain of bullets that sang through the air.
+
+He found the rest of his company lining a low bank on which flowers were
+growing, and replying to some hot fire from the other side of the
+street, at the entrance to which a company of the kilted battalion which
+had gone over on their left was re-forming after suffering severely.
+
+A good score of them were lying face downwards between what had been the
+first houses of the village, and he recognised the regiment by the
+green-and-yellow tartan.
+
+There was no need to ask the reason of their pause, for eye and ear told
+him that machine-guns were trained along the street, into which no man
+might pass and live.
+
+Somebody gave a tug at the skirt of Dennis's tunic as he knelt on one
+knee, looking sharply about him, and he saw that it was Private Harry
+Hawke, lying prone on his stomach, in the act of recharging his
+magazine, and there was an odd grin on the little Cockney's face.
+
+"I know what you're thinkin' abart, sir," he said. "Them guns is yonder
+in the church. I got 'em set the moment we took cover 'ere. You and me
+and Tiddler could do it on our own, if you'd only say the word!"
+
+Dennis had followed the directions of Hawke's dirty finger, and he
+smiled, for the thing had been in his own mind before the private spoke.
+
+Sixty yards up the village street the ways forked, passing to right and
+left round what had once been a white-walled church with a square tower,
+and it was easy to see that, although our guns had played havoc with the
+sacred edifice and reduced it to a shapeless mass of rubbish, with the
+mere stump of the tower remaining, the enemy had turned it into a point
+of vantage.
+
+The door at the foot of the tower had been built up by a great pile of
+sandbags, leaving a narrow embrasure in the corner--a mere slit like
+that of an exaggerated slot in a pillar box.
+
+But that slit commanded the street, and from it came that continuous
+stream of lead which had stayed the Highlanders' attack. It was an
+isolated fortress, and, so far, none of our troops had reached it; but a
+few resolute men might accomplish much, and Dennis bent down.
+
+"We'll have a go at it, Hawke," he said. "But we'd better have half a
+dozen." And as Hawke and Tiddler crawled back out of the firing-line,
+Dennis called four others by name, and beckoned them to follow him
+behind the ruins of an adjoining house.
+
+"We're going to take that gun, boys," he said.
+
+"There are two guns, sir," corrected one of the men.
+
+"Then we're going to take both of them," said Dennis; and, stooping down
+on his hands and knees, he crawled through the ruined gardens, only
+pausing as they came to a gap where there was no cover, and darting
+across it to the shelter of the next heap.
+
+Two such openings they negotiated successfully, but as they crossed the
+third a German bullet smashed the water bottle at Hawke's hip.
+
+"My bloomin' luck!" he grinned. "And me wiv a thirst I wouldn't sell for
+'arf a crown, 'cos it's honestly worth three-and-six. Look out, sir!
+We're coming level with the church now." And, glancing to their left as
+they lay flat, they saw a curl of smoke wreathing out of the embrasure,
+and another succession of little puffs above it, which told them that
+the second gun had been hoisted to the first floor of the ruined belfry.
+
+Dennis raised himself on his hands and reconnoitred carefully. The air
+was full of sound. The rifle-fire behind them mingled with the
+continuous rattle of the guns they had planned to capture, and yet not
+an enemy was to be seen, although they knew that there were thousands of
+them hidden away in their immediate neighbourhood. Now all depended on
+their gaining the back of the church unseen.
+
+Far away on the right they could hear an English cheer, and knew that
+the battalions on that flank of the brigade were making good, while
+their own portion of the line was held up.
+
+In front of them lay a team of dead horses, attached to the fragments of
+a wagon, and the flies were buzzing about them. A little farther on was
+a German reservist on his back with his knees up, and the flies were
+busy with him too. The rest was an extraordinary wilderness of shattered
+homes and shell craters, which seemed of no possible value to anybody,
+but it had to be captured, and time was flying.
+
+"You see that third heap in front of us?" said Dennis. "We'll make for
+that, and, if we reach it, then dash straight across the open for the
+back of the church, and leave the rest to chance. It's rotten work
+fighting broken bricks and mortar, but there it is; it's got to be
+done."
+
+He jumped up suddenly and ran forward, his companions streaming out
+behind him, everyone bending double, for bullets were flying in every
+direction, some from their own battalion, and some no doubt from hidden
+snipers, who would have to be reckoned with later on.
+
+"Are we all here?" said the lad, as they reached the third heap, which
+had been an estaminet before a British 9.2 had brought it down like a
+house of cards. "Now for it!" And they bolted across the open square,
+and gained their goal at last.
+
+Only the skeleton of the church walls remained, and the sun slanted in
+through the ruined windows on to a scene of indescribable wreckage.
+
+Where the roof had fallen in the debris formed a barrier across the
+aisle, and the eastern end of the ruin had evidently been used as a
+dressing-station. Several stretchers lay on the floor there, and on one
+of them was a dead man with a tourniquet still clamped on his thigh.
+
+The saw on the ground, and the ugly contents of the bowl beside it, told
+of an interrupted amputation--perhaps the other man huddled up in the
+corner had been the surgeon himself!
+
+But they had no time to waste on idle speculation, for beyond the pile
+of beams and tiles, red bricks and plaster, the machine-guns were still
+firing; and, motioning his companions to caution, Dennis crept round a
+broken pillar.
+
+Under what remained of the belfry tower behind the rampart of sandbags
+the grey-painted 77 mm. showed its square shield, and a crew of five men
+were busy about it.
+
+Somewhere above them in the bell chamber another and a lighter gun was
+in full blast, and Dennis made a quick sign to Harry Hawke.
+
+The crack shot of No. 2 Platoon raised his rifle, and the sergeant on
+the seat behind the gun-shield reeled round and dropped, Hawke's second
+bullet sending the man who was feeding the breech two feet into the air.
+
+"Charge, boys, charge!" shouted Dennis. And before the three Germans who
+remained realised what was happening, there was an ugly bit of
+bayonet work, and the gun was silenced!
+
+[Illustration: "Before the Germans realised what was happening, there
+was an ugly bit of bayonet work"]
+
+Then Tiddler jumped back with a shout, as the head and shoulders of
+another German appeared like a Jack-in-the-box from a hole in the floor
+of the church.
+
+From the box he carried in his arms it was evident that the ammunition
+supply was stored below; and as the man fell backwards from Tiddler's
+bayonet with a scream of agony, an answering shout came up from the
+depths beneath.
+
+"Bombs, quick!" cried Tiddler. But Dennis seized Hawke's arms as he
+already drew a deadly missile from his bag.
+
+"Do you want to blow us all to smithereens?" shouted his officer. "Close
+the trap, and haul the gun over it. That will keep them quiet down there
+until we want them." And everyone lending a hand, as the trap-door shut
+down with a dull boom, they dragged the gun back until the end of the
+trail rested upon the covering and effectually secured it.
+
+"Now for those chaps up there," said Dennis, with a thrill of
+exultation. And they bolted for a little door in the thickness of the
+tower wall.
+
+A man named Rogerson was the first to enter, and he went pounding up the
+winding stone steps in his heavy hobnailed boots, followed by Tiddler,
+Dennis having to content himself with third place.
+
+But their shout, the two rifle shots, and the sudden lull in the firing
+of the 77 mm. had not been lost upon those above. The boarded floor of
+the bell chamber was full of cracks and fissures, and through one of
+them a sharp voice cried in German: "What's going on down there?"
+
+"Wait and see!" retorted Dennis at random; and his men laughed at the
+familiar catchword.
+
+There was a great stamping of feet overhead, and Harry Hawke, who
+chanced to be the last to reach the little door, cast his eyes upward as
+he was about to enter.
+
+A man's head was looking down, and Hawke fired at it.
+
+The head remained where it was, but the marksman chuckled, knowing his
+own powers; and as he stepped inside the doorway something splashed on
+to the pavement where he had stood, something wet that shone very red in
+the sunshine.
+
+Their haversacks and water bottles brushed against the narrow sides of
+the winding stairway; and as Rogerson reached the last step a revolver
+cracked out, and he threw up his arms.
+
+Tiddler immediately behind him caught the falling body on his head and
+shoulder, and passed his rifle to Dennis.
+
+"Poor old Jim!" muttered Tiddler, as he gripped the dead weight in both
+hands, and, using the body as a shield, staggered into the bell chamber.
+
+There, in the full blaze of the sun, the bells still dangled from a huge
+transverse beam; but everything else had been carried away, and the
+floor presented an open platform exposed to the sky, with a screen of
+sandbags at its western edge, through which the Germans had worked a
+Nordenfeldt.
+
+There were only two men, and the one who had emptied his revolver into
+Jim Rogerson held up his hands, crying in a terrified voice: "Mercy,
+Kamerad!"
+
+"Yus!" hissed Tiddler, dropping the dead man and snatching his rifle
+from Dennis's hand before he could interfere. "The mercy you showed to
+my mate!" And he ran him through.
+
+As the grim khaki figures sprang out on to the platform, the other
+German clubbed his rifle and made a dart for the head of the stairs, but
+the man Hawke had shot lay between him and liberty; and, tripping up, he
+plunged over the edge into space, clutched wildly at a broken beam that
+still spanned the ruined walls, and dropped with a sickening crash on to
+the floor below.
+
+"Reckon he won't do that any more, sir," chuckled Harry Hawke; but
+Dennis had already jumped on to the sandbags, and was semaphoring wildly
+with both arms.
+
+"Guns captured! Come on, you chaps!" he signalled. And as the message
+was seen and understood, a wild cheer rose from the other end of the
+street as the Highlanders and his own battalion jumped from their cover
+and tore forward at the double.
+
+He would have liked to linger on that point of vantage, which afforded a
+fine view of the surrounding country; but their work was done, and he
+followed the others down the stair again, only pausing for a moment to
+secure poor Rogerson's identification disc as he passed him.
+
+He found Hawke waiting at the stair-foot with a happy smile on his
+snub-nosed visage, and the pair ran out into the little square to mingle
+with the platoon which was going by at the double.
+
+"Lumme!" exclaimed Harry Hawke, as a fearful burst of high explosive
+shook the very ground; and, looking over their shoulders, they saw the
+ruined tower they had just left sink to the ground amid a huge column of
+dust!
+
+Their eyes met, but before either of them could speak Bob Dashwood's
+voice was heard shouting: "Look out, A Company! Ten rounds rapid, and
+load up for your lives! Here's a whole Bavarian battalion on top of
+us!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+The Exploits of A Company
+
+
+"Tomkins!" cried the Captain, "bunk back to the C.O. if you can find
+him, and tell him there's a strong counter-attack on. Say it's a matter
+of minutes if we're going to hold the village."
+
+Fifty yards beyond the outer fringe of those crumbled heaps a little
+stream flowed, a shattered willow here and there marking its course, and
+from the opposite bank the ground rose to what had once been a thick
+wood.
+
+In front of the wood a solid mass of German infantry had suddenly sprung
+into view as if by magic, and, forming up elbow to elbow, moved down the
+slope, breaking into a brisk run. The great grey wave overlapped A
+Company for a considerable distance on either flank.
+
+A strip of ragged garden hedge on our side of the stream, a well-head,
+and the wooden ribs of a stable which had somehow survived the
+bombardment were the only available cover, if one excepted two large
+shell craters.
+
+"Hadn't we better fall back, Bob?" said Dennis, as he arrived
+breathlessly at his brother's side. "The thin red line at Balaclava was
+a fool to this."
+
+"Fall back be hanged!" cried the Captain. "If we give them an inch we
+shall let them in. No, there's a better stunt than that. Where on earth
+are our machine-guns I'd like to know?"
+
+His words were almost lost as the company poured a terrific fusillade
+into the advancing enemy, and the target being too big and too near to
+miss, every bullet found its billet. Men in the front rank went down
+like ninepins, but the rest came on over their bodies, and everyone
+realised that they meant business.
+
+For once the enemy had resolved to use the bayonet, and less than sixty
+yards now separated them from the Reedshires.
+
+Bob Dashwood sprang on to a heap of bricks, and his words rang out even
+among the bang and clatter that filled the morning air:
+
+"Platoons One and Two, line the edge of that crater on your front, and
+hold your fire until they reach the water. Three and Four, form up at
+the hedge here, and if a man of you touches a trigger until he gets the
+word I'll give him four days' field punishment." Then he added, "Go to
+your own platoon, Dennis, and keep your eye on me. As soon as the
+beggars have felt our fire we'll try the cold steel on them."
+
+As Dennis reached his men the Bavarians were already entering the water,
+which took them to the waist, and the two platoons delivered a burst of
+rapid fire as Bob had ordered.
+
+The result was appalling, and for an instant the Bavarians seemed to
+waver, but those behind urged the rest on, and they came splashing
+through the brook, whose course was choked and reddened by at least a
+couple of hundred dead and wounded.
+
+It seemed an age before the other platoons at the hedgerow fired, but
+the welcome crash of their volley suddenly rang out, followed by a
+shrill blast on Bob's whistle.
+
+"That's 'Cease fire,'" said Hawke; "and there goes the 'Charge.'"
+
+"A Company, make ready!--go!" yelled their Company Commander, and he
+might very well have said "Come," for he was the first off the mark, and
+with a yell of wild delight, out of the crater, through the hedge, and
+across the half-dozen strides that divided them from the determined
+enemy, went the eager lads after their leader.
+
+Dennis was conscious of a feeling of uncertainty as he raced forward,
+for he had not seen two things that had caught his brother's eye.
+
+One was a row of Kilmarnock bonnets bobbing up over a communication
+trench a hundred yards away on the left flank of the company, and the
+other, three little brown dots at the corner of a wrecked barn
+considerably in advance of their right--little brown dots very busy
+about a Lewis gun.
+
+If A Company could only succeed in holding back the advancing line for
+eighty seconds, their leader knew what would happen, and it was worth
+the effort.
+
+Bob Dashwood's speciality was bayonet fighting, and every man of his
+command was a past-master in the art.
+
+Brother officers had smiled indulgently at the Captain's enthusiasm for
+inter-company contests in that war of trench and dug-out, but Bob
+Dashwood had persisted on every possible opportunity, and it would be
+hard now if he did not reap his reward.
+
+With a clash, Lee-Enfield and Mauser met on the bank of the stream, and
+Bob Dashwood scored first blood with the cold steel.
+
+Three Bavarians went down before him with lightning rapidity, and as a
+fourth fired at the Captain from the hip and missed him, the Company
+Sergeant-Major was on him like a knife.
+
+"Let 'em have it, boys!" shouted Bob, and as a voice replied, "Look to
+yourself, sir, we're all right," the foremost rank of the enemy was
+hurled into the water, through which the khaki lads splashed to the
+opposite bank.
+
+There was a scramble and a squeeze. One or two slipped back, and the
+weight of their accoutrements took them to the bottom, but the bulk of
+them gained foothold, and nothing "made in Germany" could stay the rush.
+
+Then the Lewis gun barked from the barn end, and a tremendous yell from
+the opposite flank told that the Highlanders were coming.
+
+For the life of him, when he came to think over it afterwards, Dennis
+could recall nothing of that mad minute but the crack of his own
+revolver as he emptied it into the closely packed mass before him, and
+then a sea of terrified faces, growing grey like the uniforms they wore,
+as the Bavarians broke and went back helter-skelter up the slope.
+
+Somebody shouted "Keep 'em moving, boys!" and the next thing he knew was
+that the fugitives were flinging themselves into the trench on the
+hill-top, and that he and A Company were dropping in after them,
+regardless of all consequences.
+
+Here and there a too eager man was spitted on a German bayonet; here
+and there also a pair of arms went up, and the hated word "Kamerad"
+smote the ear with a false note. But the Reedshires were taking no
+prisoners that morning, and having reached the trench on the very heels
+of the foe, the Bavarians made no attempt to hold it, and went streaming
+away along the communication that led into the heart of the wood.
+
+Dennis looked back for a moment as he came to the shattered trees, which
+lay about in all directions in the most extraordinary confusion, and saw
+that the C.O. and the rest of the battalion had already cleared the
+stream, and were coming up in support.
+
+"Keep on, old chap!" cried a voice, as Bob ran up. "Are you all right so
+far?"
+
+"Yes, I'm all right; but, by Jove, you look a pretty beauty!"
+
+The once smart captain, who somehow or other even in the wet trenches
+had generally managed to appear spotless, like the officers of the
+French army, who always looked as though they had been turned out of a
+band-box, now presented a most disreputable appearance.
+
+His helmet was gone, his Bedford cords were torn in seven or eight
+places, and his left sleeve hung in ribbons. Up to his waist-belt he was
+soaked by his passage through the stream. Above that his tunic was
+covered with blood; on the whole, not a man you would have cared to sit
+next to in a railway carriage or anywhere else.
+
+But he only smiled as Dennis pointed to him. "Yes, I know," he said;
+"but what's the odds? We've done a big thing, and the rest of the
+battalion's done a big thing, and we've got to keep the beggars on the
+go before they dig themselves in. Come on, dear old Den.; you'll hardly
+believe it, but I haven't got a scratch of my own. All this gore belongs
+to the enemy, and I don't think we've lost more than a couple of dozen
+of A Company."
+
+They ran side by side, and soon came up with a khaki mob of their own
+men and the Highlanders streaming along each side of the German
+communication trench, up which the Bavarians were still flying. Every
+now and then they fired into it or threw bombs, but the older hands knew
+that the walk-over would not last for ever, and kept their eyes skinned.
+
+Suddenly, where the shattered trees thinned out and the still rising
+ground showed an irregular ridge against the skyline, a sound which they
+all knew only too well fell upon their ears.
+
+There were two machine-gun emplacements on the ridge, and a murderous
+fire was opened upon the victorious pursuers.
+
+Bob Dashwood blew the order to take cover, and, as there was plenty of
+it, A Company promptly flopped down behind the fallen trunks which our
+bombardment had uprooted in every direction.
+
+"Phew! 'Ot stuff!" ejaculated Harry Hawke, as he made room for Dennis
+beside him, and wiped the perspiration from his forehead with the sleeve
+of his jacket.
+
+He was blowing like a grampus, for the pace had been fast.
+
+"When we've got our wind, I reckon there's a little job up there for us,
+sir," said Hawke, pointing over the top of the fallen beech behind which
+they crouched.
+
+"You mean the machine-gun, of course," said Dennis, nodding. "But
+unfortunately, whilst we're getting our wind, so are the enemy, and
+there's forty yards of open climb before we reach those sandbags up
+yonder. It isn't like that village behind us, and you may bet your boots
+the trench on the top of the ridge is packed with Germans like herrings
+in a barrel, waiting for us. We'll have to lie low until the battalion
+overtakes us."
+
+Harry Hawke squinted thoughtfully down the short length of his snub
+nose.
+
+"There's two of those bloomin' tac-tacs of theirs--one covering the
+communication trench, and t'other one yonder sweeping the front of the
+wood," he said. "What price that Lewis gun, sir, that chipped in on our
+right flank? Couldn't I go back and 'urry it up? If we could bring it
+into action from the other corner of this 'ere wood, it 'ud mean saving
+a lot of lives, for it's a sure thing the ridge has got to be taken."
+
+While he was speaking they heard men running behind them, and looked
+round, hoping to see their own people, but it turned out to be a little
+party of the engineers laying a field telephone; and Dennis crawled on
+hands and knees towards them.
+
+"What's become of the machine-guns?" he inquired of an intelligent
+corporal.
+
+"Can't get 'em through the wood, sir. There are half a dozen on the
+other side hung up. I rather think they're waiting for you to give 'em a
+lead."
+
+"Oh, are they? Any Lewis guns there?"
+
+"Yes, there's one, sir. They were just starting along a path over yonder
+when we left."
+
+"I say, do you hear that, Bob?" Dennis called out, as his brother came
+back, dodging from trunk to trunk, as every now and then one of the
+German guns on the ridge raked the wood with a stream of bullets. "The
+corporal says our Lewis is over yonder. What about my going over with a
+couple of chaps to give them a hand? I believe we could do something."
+
+"Right you are," said Bob. "I've just been talking to that Highland
+officer, and he agrees with me that we must lie doggo until we are
+reinforced. I have sent two men back to the C.O. Bunk off and see what
+you can do."
+
+"Thanks, old man," said Dennis, his face beaming with delight. "Hawke
+and Tiddler, this way!" And at his call the two inseparables crept back
+to where he stood.
+
+"We're through now, sir, if you'd like to give them a shout at the other
+end," said the corporal of the engineers.
+
+"Oh, good business!" cried Captain Bob. "If I can get on to the Governor
+that will buck things up a bit." And, leaving him kneeling behind a tall
+poplar, the telephone receiver in his hand, Dennis and his companions
+ran back a few yards into the shelter of the trees, and struck away at
+right angles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+With the Lewis Gun--and After!
+
+
+In the old Elizabethan days, before scene-painting was invented, they
+used to hang a placard on a black cloth behind the actors with such
+inscriptions as "This is the seashore," "This is a wood." And such a
+description would have well passed for the spot through which they now
+threaded their way.
+
+It _had_ been a wood--a wood of tall, straight trees in full summer
+leaf, with bramble bushes and pleasant undergrowth before the British
+batteries had flung their devastating hail into it; but now it resembled
+an old toothbrush more than anything else, with bristles long and short,
+and sticking out at every angle.
+
+Hundreds of fallen saplings barred their way. Here and there a beech had
+been uprooted, and a great shell crater yawned where it had stood, and
+the scarred trunks and bare poles were stained orange and yellow and
+vivid metallic green by the explosive agents.
+
+A line of Tennyson occurred to Dennis, as odd things will occur at the
+oddest of moments.
+
+"'I hate the little hollow behind the dreadful wood,'" he murmured, as
+he made an enforced circuit round a larger crater than usual; and Hawke,
+who was just ahead of him, stopped short and shrank back with a shout
+of "Mind your eye, sir!"
+
+Something had crashed among the stumps in front of them, and a German
+60-pound shell burst with a deafening roar.
+
+For an instant everything was obscured by a volume of dense black smoke,
+and a rain of splinters and broken branches fell about them as the smoke
+curled away.
+
+"That was a near thing," said Dennis. "Another minute, and there would
+have been three vacancies in the company."
+
+"I'm not sure there ain't some already, sir," said Hawke in a curious,
+hushed voice. "What's that yonder?"
+
+They hurried forward, for they had all seen a writhing figure in khaki a
+few yards ahead, and a sickening chill passed over Dennis as he
+recognised his brother subaltern, young Delavoy-Bagotte, lying on his
+back with a tree-trunk across his legs. Over the same trunk was another
+figure, which did not move, and face downwards a yard away lay a third
+man with his back broken.
+
+Half buried in the chalky soil was the Lewis gun they had been carrying
+forward when the shell fell.
+
+"By Jove, Bagotte, old man, this is rotten luck!" exclaimed Dennis. "I'm
+afraid you've got it badly."
+
+The boy--he was only eighteen, but the ribbon of the Military Cross was
+on the breast of his tunic--set his teeth hard and nodded as they
+removed the body of the other man and lifted the tree-trunk away from
+his legs by main force.
+
+"Yes, pretty badly, Dashwood. My thighs are smashed to a jelly," he
+said. "But don't worry about me. I believe the Lewis is all right. Get
+along with it. The stretcher bearers will be up presently. Are my mates
+dead?"
+
+"Yes," said Dennis--it was no good mincing matters--"but I can't leave
+you like this."
+
+"Don't be an ass," said Delavoy-Bagotte. "You can do no good by staying,
+and you will only worry me. Look to the gun, I tell you. Your company
+would never have crossed that stream behind yonder if I hadn't got on to
+the beggars' flank with it."
+
+"That's a fact, old man," assented Dennis. "And it won't be forgotten
+when Bob makes his report." And while he was speaking he picked up that
+most marvellous of modern weapons, the Lewis gun, and found it unharmed.
+
+"She's all right," he said. "Do you really mean me to go on?"
+
+"Yes, confound you! I shall have to howl in another minute, and I want
+to do it alone," said the plucky boy between his teeth.
+
+He was suffering untold agonies and they knew it; but they knew also
+that he was right; and Dennis made a sign to Hawke and Tiddler, who
+saluted the young lieutenant as they left him.
+
+Keeping just within the fringe of the wood, Dennis shouldering the gun,
+while Hawke and Tiddler carried the field mount and the spare magazines,
+the adventurous three soon reached the angle in front of the ridge.
+
+The stump of a well-grown beech stood up there, towering above the
+ground twenty feet or more. Its crest had been carried away by a shell,
+but one stout branch jutted out like the arm of a gallows; and Harry
+Hawke had a brain wave.
+
+"'Arf a mo, sir," he said, laying his wallet down. And the next moment
+he was clambering up the tree until he reached the bough, where he
+supported himself for a minute or two on his elbows, taking stock of the
+enemy.
+
+When he came sliding down again his eyes were dancing, and his voice was
+husky.
+
+"If we could only get the gun up there, sir," he whispered excitedly,
+"the rest's as easy as kiss your hand. You can see the trench and the
+head of the bloke what's working that tac-tac of theirs. Have a look for
+yourself, sir." And Dennis made the climb, finding it as Hawke had said.
+
+He saw something else, too--C Company now creeping through the wood, and
+taking possession of the cover along its northern edge, which told him
+that the battalion had arrived.
+
+When he descended, after a careful reconnaissance, he found that Hawke
+and Tiddler had already anticipated his decision, and were buckling
+their straps together.
+
+"Ain't it a little bit of all right?" grinned Hawke. "That there bough
+might have been made for it, and foothold on that other branch
+underneath. She weighs twenty-five pounds; but if you think the strap of
+your map-case will hold, sir, it's as good as done."
+
+Dennis slipped the map from his shoulder, and, buckling the strap end
+round the muzzle of the Lewis, Tiddler held the weapon up to the full
+extent of his arms while Dennis, taking the other end of the improvised
+line in his hand, climbed up the beech again.
+
+The straps held, to their great joy, and the pair below watched the
+thing dangling in mid-air above their heads as Dennis hauled it slowly
+upwards.
+
+The men of C Company also watched the manoeuvre with keen interest;
+and Hawke, with a couple of charged magazines in his hand, climbed up
+and clung within arm's reach of his officer.
+
+The Germans were flinging a terrific barrage fire upon the village in
+our rear, and our own barrage was pulverising the ground beyond the
+enemy ridge, almost drowning the sound of the two machine-guns which
+were checking the British advance at that spot.
+
+Dennis could see the gunner behind his sandbags, sweeping the front of
+the wood, and, laying the gun, he pressed the trigger.
+
+The detachable magazine of a Lewis holds forty-seven cartridges in two
+layers; and, loosing a couple of trial shots, both of which drew a spurt
+of earth from the sandbags, he kept his pull on the trigger, and emptied
+the rest in a continuous stream.
+
+He saw the gunner drop, and several heads peer anxiously round as
+another man took his place. They were trying to locate the whereabouts
+of this unseen enemy, but they fell back out of sight before they could
+place it, and a third and a fourth gunner likewise.
+
+The machine-gun was silenced before Dennis passed his hand down to the
+delighted Hawke.
+
+"Now's your time!" he yelled to the waiting line beneath, as he fixed
+the deadly disc in position. And as he heard the whistles shrilling, he
+almost lost his balance in the wild excitement that seized him.
+
+"Charge, boys, charge!" was the cry, as the Reedshires sprang over the
+tree-trunks and rushed up the slope, and a row of forage caps popped up
+above the parapet.
+
+They made a splendid mark for the lad; and it was a very broken volley
+that met the khaki rush as Dennis played his weapon along the Bavarian
+trench.
+
+"Get down, Hawke!" he shouted; "we must be in this." And, leaving the
+gun where it was, he clambered down, to find Hawke and Tiddler waiting
+for him.
+
+Before they were clear of the wood, the rearmost files of the Reedshires
+were in the trench; and when they reached the crest the trench floor was
+covered with dead and wounded, and the victorious battalion was bombing
+its way along the sinuous windings which curved off northward.
+
+Far away to the east a tremendous fusillade told where the division on
+their right was attacking Montauban; but Dennis's anxiety was to pick up
+A Company again, and that was a difficult matter.
+
+"Seen anything of Captain Dashwood?" he cried to a wounded Reedshire on
+the fire-step, who was trying to staunch an ugly wound.
+
+"No, sir. They went over on the left there with the Highlanders."
+
+In the distance across the shell-torn ground behind the trench they saw
+clumps of brown dots growing smaller and smaller, as our successful rush
+carried us far into the enemy's lines, and there was nothing for it but
+a long sprint to overtake them.
+
+Even Dennis, fit as he was, and Hawke and Tiddler, both hard as nails,
+were puffed and blown before they had run very far; and so confusing was
+the maze of craters and battered trench-lines that Dennis suddenly
+realised that he was alone.
+
+The sing of bullets passed his ears, and the spurting up of the ground
+in his immediate vicinity told him that the spot was "unhealthy"; and,
+seeing an empty communication trench a few yards on the left, he jumped
+down into it, reloaded his revolver, and went forward cautiously.
+
+The trench, which had somehow escaped our bombardment, had been hastily
+evacuated when we carried the third line; but, finding that it curved in
+the direction where he had last seen those running figures, he followed
+it until a clamour of voices ahead of him made him shrink behind the
+angle of a bay as a mob of Germans came running towards him.
+
+Dennis felt in his bomb sack and found he had three of those deadly
+missiles left, and a grim smile twitched the corners of his compressed
+lips.
+
+"If they're bolting it means that our chaps are behind them," he thought
+to himself. "If it's a counter-attack, a friendly dug-out wouldn't be a
+bad place. But here goes, anyhow!" And, jumping on to the fire-step of
+the bay, he lobbed a bomb into the trench about fifteen yards higher up,
+where it burst with a loud report.
+
+Then he sprang down, and, shouting loudly as though he had a whole
+party at his back, he pitched another bomb, which burst as it touched
+the ground.
+
+His last bomb struck the side of the trench, dislodging the sandbags;
+but, covering the terrified mob with his revolver, he stalked boldly
+forward, calling to them to surrender.
+
+They were big fellows, and they were Prussians; but their unexpected
+reception had demoralised them, and their hands went up in the air with
+a shout of "Mercy, Kamerad!"
+
+There must have been twenty at least that had survived the explosions.
+How many he had killed he never knew; but he realised that he must carry
+matters with a very high hand, and give them no time to think.
+
+"Come on, then--you are my prisoners," he said in German. "File along
+the trench; my men will escort you to the rear." And, stepping back a
+few paces to the angle of the bay, he stood aside to let them go by.
+
+There was terror in their faces, and the sight of the revolver held
+threateningly in the officer's hand sent them past at a shambling trot.
+
+Dennis had counted seventeen, and there were still four more to pass
+him, when, from the head of the drove, there came a loud laugh, and a
+guttural voice shouted back: "Sergeant, the Englishman is alone!"
+
+Dennis saw the speaker jump on to the side of the parados with his hand
+to his mouth, and he raised his revolver; but the shot was never fired,
+for the butt of a rifle descended on his trench helmet from behind, and
+Dennis dropped with a groan.
+
+When he opened his eyes he was lying on his back and it was dark. The
+action of turning his head caused a terrible spasm of pain, and made him
+lie quite still again for some moments.
+
+Low cries and a distressing moaning mingled with a voice that spoke in
+German; and, opening his eyes again, he saw by the light of a lantern
+three figures bending over a prostrate man, who had been stripped to the
+shirt. His tunic lay on the ground, so close to Dennis that he could
+have reached out and touched it, and one of the figures was just rising
+from his knee.
+
+"You have wasted my time for nothing," he was saying. "The man is dead
+as a herring. Himmel! That makes eighty-seven I have examined to-night,
+and not one of them will see the Fatherland again."
+
+He picked up his case of instruments, and, followed by two hospital
+orderlies, passed by Dennis and out through a doorway.
+
+"Great Scott!" murmured the lad, "I must be a prisoner in a German
+dressing-station. What's happened?"
+
+He had to piece it all together, until he reached the point in the day's
+happenings when the Prussians filed past him in the empty trench; then
+he remembered, and wondered if he were much hurt.
+
+His head felt three times its normal size; but he could move his arms
+and legs, and presently sat up, holding his head in both hands, for the
+pulsation within it was so terrific that it seemed the next throb must
+split it in two.
+
+Guns were still firing in the distance, and as his eyes grew accustomed
+to the darkness he saw that he was in an unroofed barn.
+
+"I must get out of this at once," he thought. And, remembering the torn
+tunic which had belonged to the dead man beside him, he reached
+carefully for it, slipped his arms into the sleeves, and was buttoning
+it up when two stretcher bearers entered and dumped their burden down on
+the other side of him.
+
+"That's two of those English pig officers we've brought in to-night,"
+said the lantern bearer who accompanied them. "This one may think
+himself lucky if he gets attended to before daylight." And Dennis, who
+had thrown himself backwards, felt his heart stand still as the orderly
+flashed his lantern on the new-comer's face.
+
+It was only a glimpse he caught, but he knew that the crumpled figure
+was his brother Bob!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+What They Learned on the German Telephone
+
+
+The shock of the discovery was so great that Dennis lay paralysed, and
+everything seemed very black indeed, until a low murmur in English
+brought him to his senses at his elbow.
+
+"Well, I'm hanged! This is a pretty nice ending to a glorious day!"
+muttered Captain Bob. "But I shouldn't mind so much if I only knew that
+Dennis had come out of it all right."
+
+A hand grasped his own, and the speaker started as someone whispered in
+his ear: "Dear old chap, keep your hair on, and don't speak above your
+breath. Half these poor beasts understand English. Are you badly hit?"
+
+Bob's fingers closed on his brother's like a vice.
+
+"Thank God!" he murmured, "I'm not hit at all. I trod on an unexploded
+shell, and gave my leg an infernal wrench just as our fellows had to
+fall back. I couldn't move a yard, and got collared in consequence, and
+when it was dark they brought me along here. Where are you hurt, Den?"
+
+"Welt over the head with a rifle-butt," whispered Dennis excitedly. "I
+say, old chap, if we've any luck, I'll get you out of this. Do you know
+the lie of the land?"
+
+"Yes, we're about a mile and a half in front of our new first line. Do
+you think you could rub my leg? You'll have to take the gaiter off; I've
+had several shots at it, but my fingers are all to pieces trying to get
+over some of their wire, and I couldn't slip the buckle for little
+apples."
+
+Dennis had the gaiter undone in a moment, and Bob writhed as his brother
+felt the injured limb.
+
+"You've got no end of a sprain, old man," whispered Dennis. "No wonder
+you couldn't walk. Your instep's swollen up as big as my two fists, and
+there's nothing for it but rest and cold water bandages to put you
+right."
+
+"H'm! If I didn't know you for my own brother, I should put you down as
+a near relation of the late lamented Mr. Job," said Bob Dashwood, with a
+wry face. "But never mind, keep on rubbing. I'm feeling more life in it
+already. But, I say, Den, this is a weird place we're in. These German
+fellows don't seem to take their gruel like our chaps. It's a gruesome
+thing to hear a man cry."
+
+"And it's worse to hear a man die, Bob," said Dennis solemnly. "I don't
+fancy from what the doctor said that many of these poor wretches will be
+here when the sun rises."
+
+It was indeed a trying thing to be there, in the darkness with those
+sounds of human suffering all about them, and it made them both very
+anxious to make a start for that freedom which seemed such a long way
+off. Every now and then a piercing cry rose above the constant
+undercurrent of moans, and the sobbing was distressing in the extreme.
+
+A strong man from the far side of the barn calling piteously on
+"_Muetterchen_," made them both think of their own "little mother"; and
+after Dennis had rubbed for several minutes until the palms of his hands
+were terribly hot, Bob clutched his shoulder and whispered: "For
+goodness' sake, old chap, let's chance our arm! I can't stand any more
+of this!"
+
+"Just as you like," assented his brother, strapping the gaiter loosely
+round the limb again. "If you can't walk you must crawl, and when you
+can't crawl I'll carry you; but I wish my head wouldn't ache so
+confoundedly. Do you notice no one's been near this place since they
+brought you in? That tells me the sanitary squad will be busy
+to-morrow."
+
+He helped Bob up as he spoke, not to his feet, for he could not put the
+right one to the ground; but by passing an arm round Dennis's neck he
+managed to hop to the door, which was only a yard away, and there they
+paused to take their bearings before leaving the shelter of the barn.
+
+Every step was as painful to the one as to the other, but the night air
+was very sweet, and the hope of liberty sweeter.
+
+"This door opens to the east," whispered the Captain. "Consequently, our
+road lies yonder; and, by Jove! it is a road too! What stunning chaps
+the British gunners are when they're properly supplied with ammunition!"
+
+"You're quite sure you're right, old man?" said Dennis. "The shells are
+bursting yonder like one o'clock."
+
+"Exactly!" was Bob's dry rejoinder. "That's the German barrage falling
+behind our new line. It's about there we shall probably get pipped on
+the post, brother of mine. That barrage lies between us and safety."
+
+Overhead the shells rushed, clanging, booming, whistling, screeching,
+according to their different species and calibre; and every now and then
+a star-shell burst in the sky, lighting everything up for a few seconds
+in an unearthly brilliance.
+
+"So long as we're between the two fires," said Bob, as they began their
+perilous journey, "there is nothing much to fear, it seems to me. The
+next mile is No Man's Land with a vengeance; after that it will be
+Dante's Inferno with the lid off."
+
+Every time a star-shell burst the fugitives flung themselves on to the
+ground. After one of those enforced pauses, and before they had covered
+a quarter of a mile, they rested for quite a considerable time at the
+edge of an enormous crump-hole, and, Dennis still having his haversack,
+they divided its contents and ate ravenously.
+
+"I suppose we shall be returned missing," said Bob. "But surely the
+governor will keep the news back for a day or two on the mater's
+account. Let's get a move on, old chap; our non-appearance is robbing
+him of all the satisfaction he'd have got out of a fine day's work." And
+as they went on again, the Captain using a Mauser rifle which Dennis had
+picked up as a crutch, he told his brother how completely successful the
+British advance had been up to the moment when the Reedshires were
+obliged to fall back. The battalion had lost terribly, but we had taken
+two villages, and what we had we meant to hold.
+
+At the end of another quarter of a mile they took cover again very
+suddenly; no star-shell that time, but a very businesslike German high
+explosive, which scooped up tons of earth, and it was followed by
+another and another, which all burst in their immediate neighbourhood.
+
+"I say, Bob, this is getting rather serious," said Dennis. "They're
+shortening their fuses for some reason or other, and we're just in the
+line of fire. I wish there was a safe spot where we could lie up until
+we see what it means. What's the matter with that building over there
+with the broken chimney shaft? The beggars are shelling right and left
+of it as though they didn't want it to get hit--mean to use it when they
+counter-attack, I suppose; and if we're questioned, I must pass you off
+as my prisoner, eh?"
+
+"It certainly is getting sultry," assented Captain Bob. "Let's try that
+place yonder. One may as well get killed by falling bricks inside as by
+T.N.T. in the open."
+
+His voice grew very solemn as he added: "I believe it was in front of
+that place that our battalion got its fearful gruelling, and poor old A
+company was wiped out."
+
+It was the only building anywhere visible, and a zigzag walk between
+shell craters brought them to it.
+
+A bristling hedge of very thick barbed wire was the first thing they
+encountered; but, thanks to another star-shell, they discovered an
+opening at the back leading to what had evidently been a brewery in the
+piping times of peace. The shattered sheds about the yard and the
+half-ruined main building had been sandbagged and strengthened by the
+enemy's engineers, as though they had intended to hold it.
+
+But for some reason or other it was now deserted. The machine-guns had
+been removed from their positions, and there were signs of a hasty and
+recent exodus. The tall shaft of the chimney-stack stood sentinel over
+the deserted place; but as the two brothers penetrated into the main
+building, the thought that was in both their minds was voiced by Dennis.
+
+"I believe we've touched lucky," he said. "You're right, old chap; they
+don't want to hit this show for some reason best known to themselves."
+
+A perfect hurricane of shells was passing on either side of the ruined
+brewery from batteries not very far behind it, and it was a relief to
+steal inside the big dark chamber where the thunder seemed less loud.
+
+"I've still got my torch," said Dennis in a low voice, after an anxious
+pause. "I wonder if it would be safe to have a look round the place?"
+
+"Why not?" replied Bob. "There must be water somewhere here, and my
+throat is like the sole of an old boot. If there had been anyone hiding,
+we should have heard them by this time."
+
+Dennis turned on his light, and the beam showed them that the ground
+floor of the building had been utilised as a bathroom. Rows of vats and
+coppers were ranged along one side, and a network of pipes communicated
+with some large stoves, in one of which there was still a handful of red
+embers.
+
+"Can't make out why the beggars scooted," muttered Bob Dashwood. "This
+place has been turned into a regular redoubt, and might have been held
+successfully against a division. There is something at the bottom of it,
+Dennis, and the mind of Brother Boche is a subtle and a crafty mind.
+Look!" And he pointed to a long line of underclothing hanging above the
+stoves. "They've even left their washing when they cleared out."
+
+His speculations terminated abruptly as an electric bell rang somewhere
+in the darkness.
+
+"Great Scott!" cried Dennis, stabbing the gloom with the beam of his
+pocket-torch. "There's another room here, and the place is evidently in
+communication with their headquarters."
+
+He ran in the direction of the sound, and the door led him into the
+engine-room of the brewery, a mysterious place smelling of oil. Wheels,
+shafts and boilers met his eye, but he paid no heed to them, for the
+bell still rang; and Bob, limping painfully after him, heard the sharp
+cry he gave, and saw him bending down in a huge cavity on which he
+flashed his light.
+
+"I say, Bob!" he called excitedly. "The chimney overhead is fitted with
+a wireless installation, and here's a complete outfit of field telegraph
+and telephone!"
+
+"Smash it; it's worse than useless to us, for we don't know their code,"
+was the practical advice of the captain.
+
+"Hold on!" chuckled Dennis. "They don't talk by code. We may hear things
+yet!" And he unhooked the telephone receiver.
+
+Bob's eyes opened very wide, and, leaning on his rifle-crutch, he
+explored his brother's pocket for a cigarette and lit it.
+
+"Well, what's it all about?" he asked impatiently, his eyes riveted on
+the delighted smile that wreathed the listener's face.
+
+Dennis made a hasty gesture with his hand and continued to listen.
+
+It was a very angry voice that came along that wire, and the
+quick-witted lad instantly saw great possibilities here.
+
+"What are you doing with yourself, Von Dussel?" demanded the voice.
+
+"Pardon, sir," said Dennis, in his best German, "I have difficulty in
+catching your words; the noise of the shells is so great." And he winked
+delightedly at Bob. "Who is speaking, please?"
+
+An imprecation preceded the reply. "I am the General von Bingenhammer at
+the headquarters of Prince Rupprecht, who is furious at the delay."
+
+"A thousand apologies, your excellency!" said Dennis into the receiver.
+"The truth is, we are so hard pressed here that it is difficult to get
+the necessary information. My three assistants have been killed, and I
+have this moment returned from a personal reconnaissance, where I
+managed to get within fifteen yards of the trench we lost this evening,
+and I am afraid the news I have will be decidedly unpleasant."
+
+"Well, what is it?" snapped the general. "Unpleasant or no, we rely
+implicitly on your judgment."
+
+"Your excellency is pleased to be very kind," said Dennis, scarcely able
+to disguise the laughter which convulsed him.
+
+"By Jupiter, Bob, here's a chance to rub it in!" he whispered aside. And
+then he very gravely gave an account of what Prince Rupprecht's agent
+was supposed to have discovered!
+
+"The enemy has consolidated himself in what were our support trenches,"
+reported the mock spy. "The _Koenigin Augusta_ Redoubt was carried with
+great fury at six o'clock this evening, and its brave defenders
+practically destroyed. The English have now seventy machine-guns mounted
+on the work, and to take it will be impossible. In my opinion, there is
+nothing for it but to fall back. We can do nothing against the horde of
+reserves massed behind the English firing line. It is incredible the
+number of battalions I have seen to-night, and their howitzer batteries
+have been moved forward."
+
+"Here, I say, go slow!" interjected Bob, marvelling at the clever way in
+which Dennis conducted his ruse.
+
+"Shut up!" snapped Dennis shortly. "He is asking me questions now, and
+we shall learn something."
+
+"Has the evacuation of the brewery taken place?" inquired Von
+Bingenhammer.
+
+"It has, your excellency," answered Dennis promptly.
+
+"And there is nothing to prevent that Australian Division taking
+possession of the place--nothing to warn them of the trap?"
+
+"I am expecting their arrival at any moment, your excellency. In fact,
+it will be difficult for me to escape if I stay here much longer."
+
+"Good," assented the speaker at the other end of the 'phone. "And the
+land mine is charged ready to blow them back to their antipodes, _nicht
+wahr_?"
+
+"Everything is ready as your excellency has ordered it," replied Dennis,
+with a startled grimace at his brother.
+
+"Then you had better look after your own safety, only remaining to see
+the mine properly fired, and then come back to His Highness's
+headquarters. We are preparing a heavy counter-attack for the early
+hours of the morning. That is all, captain. May the God of the
+Fatherland protect thee!"
+
+Dennis laid the receiver down, and was rapidly recounting all the
+general had said to his brother, when he stopped and switched his light
+off.
+
+A quick step was heard in the outer room. The real spy was approaching,
+and their old acquaintance, Von Dussel, alias Van Drissel, came through
+the doorway, turning on his own light as he did so!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+The Last Rung of a Broken Ladder
+
+
+For a couple of strides he advanced towards them, deceived for an
+instant by the jacket of the dead German which Dennis was wearing. Then
+he sprang back with a startled cry, his light vanished, and the clang of
+the heavy door echoed dully in the pitch darkness.
+
+Bob Dashwood's hand gave his brother's shoulder a warning grip, and the
+pair listened, scarcely breathing. In both their minds was the one
+thought: Had their enemy gained the outer room before the door closed,
+or was he still there, waiting for the first sound that should betray
+their whereabouts?
+
+Dennis, who had been standing erect when the torch beam found him, now
+crouched low; but Bob stood motionless, his head turned sideways to
+listen, the half-smoked cigarette still in his mouth.
+
+The silence of the room seemed to be intensified by the gunfire outside;
+and, without thinking, Bob Dashwood pulled at the cigarette.
+
+The tiny end shone faintly, with a brighter glow, a loud report broke
+the unnatural stillness, and the bullet of an automatic pistol carried
+the cigarette from the smoker's lips and struck the wall behind him!
+
+Even Bob Dashwood, to whom physical fear was unknown, felt himself turn
+pale at the narrowness of his escape.
+
+The spy was still there, and evidently a crack shot, while they had no
+firearms!
+
+After a long, thrilling pause, a gloating laugh came out of the
+darkness.
+
+"The English are the greatest fools in the world; or is it perhaps that
+they have no weapons, hein?" said the spy's voice, the soliloquy being
+evidently intended for his listeners' benefit.
+
+Dennis was conscious that his brother had edged away behind a large
+boiler, and groping desperately in the pockets of the German coat,
+hoping against hope that he might find something that would turn the
+tide in their favour, his own fingers closed on--a raw potato!
+
+An idea occurred to him, and with a silent jerk of his forearm he threw
+it to the other end of the room. As the potato fell, Von Dussel swung
+round and fired two shots in the direction of the sound, and under cover
+of the reports Dennis joined Bob in his temporary shelter.
+
+A snarl of vexation broke from the angry Prussian at his second failure;
+and, taking Bob's hand in his own, Dennis tapped out a Morse Code
+sentence on the back of it with his first finger, relieved to find from
+his brother's answering squeeze that Bob understood him.
+
+"Give me that rifle," he tapped. "There might be an unused cartridge
+left in the magazine, after all."
+
+Bob supported himself on the side of the boiler, and Dennis took the
+Mauser from him without noise.
+
+He knew the barrel must be choked with earth from the use it had been
+put to, but, after all, it was a chance.
+
+_Bur-r-r-r!_ The telephone bell struck an odd, imperative note at that
+moment, and Von Dussel spoke sharply.
+
+"You hear that, you hound?" he thundered. "You Dashwoods, you! How long
+have you been here?"
+
+They knew it was only a ruse to make them betray themselves, prompted by
+their enemy's keen anxiety to answer the summons, and they stood behind
+the boiler perfectly still.
+
+_Bur-r-r-r!_
+
+"So you will not speak," snarled Von Dussel. "Very well, I am going to
+answer that message. I shall have a Browning pistol in one hand and the
+receiver in the other. You had better look out; you will never leave
+this room alive, either of you."
+
+Dennis, groping silently in front of him along the brick base in which
+the boiler was fixed, had found a heavy screw wrench, and, repeating his
+former manoeuvre, hurled it this time to the opposite end of the
+engine-room.
+
+It dropped with a loud clang; but Von Dussel was on his guard, and
+before he fired he switched his light on for an instant, and Dennis
+pulled the trigger of the rifle.
+
+It was only for a second's space that Dennis saw the man with his hand
+raised, and he could not repress a fierce shout of joy as a Mauser
+bullet dashed the Browning pistol from Von Dussel's hand.
+
+"Perhaps we English are not such fools, after all!" he laughed. But
+when the spy's voice answered him, it was from the opposite side of the
+room.
+
+"That remains to be seen," was his reply. "I tell you, you will not
+leave this place alive. The brewery is mined, and I am going to fire the
+charge. Good night. I will send Madame Dashwood a field post card
+to-morrow!"
+
+In vain Dennis had pulled on the trigger while he spoke, the rifle
+pointed in the direction of the voice. That cartridge had been the last
+one; and as they heard the heavy door bang for the second time that
+night, they knew that the man had gone and would keep his word!
+
+"Dennis, boy," said Bob quickly, "I'm rather afraid our number's up,
+after all. I'm useless with this leg, but where there's life there's
+hope. There's a permanent ladder at the end of this hole. Give me my
+crutch again, and, meanwhile, see where it leads to."
+
+Dennis did not require telling twice.
+
+"You're right, Bob," he said. "There's death on the other side of that
+door, so it's wasting time to try whether that hound has fastened it or
+no." And while he spoke he flashed his own pocket torch to the far end
+of the engine-room. "You'll be able to pick your way, and I'll be back
+in a shake," he concluded, tearing along the floor and bounding up a
+permanent ladder to the next storey.
+
+A circling sweep of his invaluable light showed the lad a low-ceilinged
+room corresponding to the one he had just left, and a cool wind blowing
+in from somewhere reminded him of his adventure in the German dug-out,
+and the friendly passage he had discovered.
+
+"Come on, Bob!" he called down the ladder. "I'll be back in a minute and
+give you a hand. We'll do the beggar yet."
+
+He bounded through the door which his light revealed, and found himself
+in the open air upon an iron gallery running along the outside of the
+building.
+
+His impulse was to lift up a shout of thankfulness at the sight of
+another iron ladder, obviously leading into the yard below. To make
+quite certain that the way was clear he ran towards it, and stole
+cautiously down for a short distance, trying to penetrate the intense
+blackness in quest of any sign of Von Dussel.
+
+All at once his feet dropped into nothingness, for, unknown to him, an
+English shell had carried away the rest of the ladder a week before,
+and, clutching wildly at the last step, he clung there, dangling in
+space!
+
+To let go, even had he known the distance between him and the ground,
+was absolutely unthinkable with his brother helpless and unwarned within
+the building, and though the explosion of the mine might happen any
+moment, his one and only effort was to get back by sheer strength of arm
+and return to Bob's assistance.
+
+"If we've got to go out to-night we'll go out together," he muttered
+between his teeth, and he added something of a prayer to the resolve.
+
+The fragment of the ladder vibrated under his weight as he worked
+himself slowly and cautiously to one edge, and the sharpness of the
+jagged iron rungs hurt his hands terribly.
+
+"If I can only haul up high enough to get my knee on the first step
+it'll be all right," he thought, when something scrunched immediately
+underneath him, and he dangled motionless, as a brilliant star-shell
+burst directly overhead, making everything around as bright as day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Caught in the open by the sudden fire of uncountable machine-guns, the
+2/12th Battalion of the Royal Reedshires had gone down like grass before
+the scythe. Another fifty yards, and they would have reached the uncut
+wire in front of that ruined building with the broken chimney shaft.
+
+So close were they that the word was already given to divide and sweep
+round the flank of the obstacle when cruel Fate said no; and as he lay
+with three bullets through him, tears of rage and anger had dimmed the
+keen eyes of their C.O. as he groped for his whistle and blew the
+retire.
+
+They had made a fine rush by successive waves across the open, taking
+advantage of the tumbled ground to get close up to that seemingly
+deserted brewery which had shown no sign of occupation, and from which
+no shot had been fired. And then that thing had happened, and he blamed
+himself as he sent the brave remnant scurrying back to the trench they
+had captured, knowing that he should have rested content with his
+capture and not been greedy for more.
+
+He did not realise that he was badly wounded, and he did not care. It
+was his own fault, and the tears in his eyes were for those khaki heaps
+that lay to right and left of him. He even resisted three of the
+survivors who ran to his help. They only grinned when he threatened them
+with pains and penalties; and, picking him up, they had carried him in
+under a murderous rain of bullets.
+
+The battalion was barely half its strength when it reached the trench,
+and it had all happened just as the dusk drew down on the land.
+
+When they called the roll the voices of the company sergeants were
+hoarse and shook with an odd quiver.
+
+"Abbot, Anstey, Ashwell?" No answer. "Bellingham?"--"Here."
+"Burton?"--"Just died, sergeant," somebody else replied. And so it went
+on alphabetically from A to Z, and of the A's there were very few, and
+of the Z's there were none.
+
+A senior captain took over command, and word was sent back to the
+brigadier.
+
+"It's bad enough as it is, sergeant-major," said the senior captain.
+"He'd better not be told just now that both his sons are among the
+missing."
+
+Later on there came to the young lieutenant, who was the only officer
+left in A company, two dusty, fierce-eyed little men who had gone
+through the burden and heat of the day without a scratch, although their
+bayonets were red enough.
+
+And they had begged leave to go and search for Captain Dashwood and
+Dennis, and the young lieutenant had choked audibly as he refused the
+permission.
+
+"Yes, I know, Hawke," he had replied to their earnestly repeated
+entreaties. "But I'm acting under strict orders. Not a man is to cross
+the parapet on any consideration whatever. If we're counter-attacked
+before reinforcements arrive, Heaven help us!"
+
+Then the two fierce-eyed little men had gone away, having apparently
+accepted the inevitable, and neither had said a word until they reached
+the far end of the trench.
+
+"Tiddler?"
+
+"I should bloomin' well think so, 'Arry!"
+
+That was all, but it was enough; and that was how Harry Hawke and his
+bosom pal came to be wandering under the eastern wall of the deserted
+brewery after a fruitless search among those khaki heaps that lay so
+still in front of the German wire.
+
+For three hours they had crawled backwards and forwards, questioning the
+wounded and giving a hand where they could with the field dressing, but
+always receiving the same reply.
+
+At length one man told them that the German stretcher-bearers had come
+out and carried some bodies away, but they had been recalled before they
+reached him, and there had been a great skedaddling from the building in
+front. He had heard them removing machine-guns; he could swear to that.
+
+"Come on, Tid!" said Harry Hawke. "We may find them in there. It is our
+last chance."
+
+They were working their way very carefully along the wall when a
+star-shell of unusual brilliancy burst, and Hawke jumped forward,
+gripping his rifle.
+
+"Swop my goodness! Tiddler!" he cried, with a fierce chuckle, "here's a
+bloomin' Allemong trying to escape! You've left it a bit too late,
+sonny!" And he lunged upwards at the dangling figure in the light of the
+star-shell!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+Von Dussel's Revenge
+
+
+It was not a moment in which to mince matters, and Dennis drew up his
+legs with a yell.
+
+"Don't play the giddy ox, Hawke. Where are your eyes?" he shouted, as
+the point of the bayonet grazed his brown gaiter; and then, in spite of
+the terrible danger overhanging them all, Dennis laughed oddly as his
+sworn admirer recovered his weapon, and the star-shell went out.
+
+"You don't mean to say it's you, Mr. Dashwood!" came up a tremulous
+voice very unlike Hawke's own. "Drop, sir, your toes ain't above seven
+feet from the ground. Tiddler and me's been looking for you and the
+Captain for the last three hours."
+
+"Well, you've found us," said Dennis, still clinging where he was; "and
+I hope you're in time. My brother should be up in the building by now,
+but he can only hobble on one leg, and the whole caboodle may be blown
+up any minute. What's to be done?"
+
+Harry Hawke did not hesitate, but, slipping off his pack, handed his
+rifle to Tiddler, who stood speechless with amazement.
+
+"Give us a back, Cockie," said Hawke. "Can you hold on, sir, if I climb
+up yer? Will the ladder bear?"
+
+"It'll bear, and I can stick it if you're not too long," replied Dennis,
+twining his fingers tighter round the ironwork and bracing his arms for
+the strain.
+
+The German shells had ceased to hum past the eastern end of the brewery,
+although they were falling rapidly about the captured trench, where the
+Reedshires were ensconced five hundred yards to the south.
+
+"For Heaven's sake look sharp, man!" urged Dennis, and then he felt
+Hawke grasp his knees, pass a hand over his shoulder, hang there a
+moment, and grab at the broken step overhead.
+
+"Sorry if I 'urt you, sir," muttered the Pride of Shoreditch, planting
+his hobnailed boot where his hand had been the moment before; and,
+active as a cat, he gained the iron ladder which had so nearly meant a
+broken neck for Dennis Dashwood.
+
+"Now, sir!" panted Harry Hawke, seizing his officer's right wrist, "let
+go yer 'old while I give yer a 'aul. Up we come!"
+
+Dennis gave a spring at the same time, and his fingers clutched the
+banister that supported the rail. The rest was easy, and between them he
+scrambled to his feet as a curious stumping made the iron gallery ring
+above them, and Bob's voice was heard calling, "Where have you got to,
+Den?"
+
+They helped him down the broken ladder, Dennis explaining the position
+as he hopped between them.
+
+"Can't say I fancy that drop you speak of, with this gammy leg of mine,"
+said Bob ruefully; "but I must chance it. I suppose you haven't got a
+coil of rope concealed about your valuable person, Hawke?"
+
+"Not arf, I 'aven't, sir," grinned the practical one, unfastening one
+end of the Mauser sling and tying the other round the last rung. "I
+reckon this'll do us."
+
+"Bravo, Hawke," said Dennis gratefully. "Now then, Bob."
+
+"No, you go first, old man."
+
+"See you hanged before I do," was Dennis's blunt response, and with an
+"Oh, very well," Bob Dashwood grabbed the leather sling, and, lowering
+himself to the ground, was caught by Tiddler in his outstretched arms.
+
+The other two dropped at the same moment, Dennis smothering a groan as
+his head seemed to open and shut from the jar.
+
+"It'll save time, sir, if you'll carry my pack," said Harry Hawke, with
+a backward glance at the brewery. "Make a chair, Tid, and look slippy";
+and before he quite knew what was happening the two privates had joined
+hands, and Bob Dashwood was being carried forward at a run across that
+deadly No Man's Land.
+
+"First stop, British trench, Tiddler!" sang out the irrepressible Hawke,
+as they blundered along the side of a crater. "We'd given you up as a
+bad job, sir. Lord! You ought to see A Company. Don't believe there's
+more than thirty of us left." And a strain of gloomy seriousness
+vibrated in the speaker's voice.
+
+"Yes, I know," said Captain Bob savagely, adding sharply, "Bear away to
+the left here."
+
+"Beg pardon, sir, but that's our trench yonder," expostulated his
+bearers.
+
+"Quite so," said Bob Dashwood. "But do you hear that?"
+
+Under the perpetual thunder of the guns a sudden low roar came out of
+the darkness at right angles to the trench for which they had been
+making--the eager clamouring of hoarse voices, and many of them.
+
+"That's the Australian Division on its way to storm that infernal
+brewery, and we must stop them at any cost."
+
+"Lumme! They'll want a bit of stopping," muttered Tiddler through his
+nose. "They're more likely to stop us. Them Anzac blokes don't let much
+grass grow in front of their bayonets."
+
+"Dennis," sang out the Captain, "get on ahead and see what you can do
+with them; and you, lads, put me down and go forward with my brother.
+I'm only an incubus."
+
+"No, sir," replied Harry Hawke firmly. "You ain't no nincompoop. It's
+only an orficer's voice those chaps will listen to. We'll carry you
+right enough."
+
+The trench from which the Australian Division was advancing branched off
+northward, and as Dennis sprinted forward to meet them he could make out
+the first rush tearing across the broken ground, yelling like fiends.
+
+Still running, he shrilled out the order to halt on his whistle again
+and again, without result, and then as a hand gripped his throat, he
+felt the cold barrel of a revolver clapped to his throbbing forehead,
+and an angry voice with a colonial twang in it cried, "Who are you,
+blowing calls on our front? Is this another German wheeze?"
+
+"I am an officer of the Reedshires, and we've had it badly!" shouted
+Dennis, as he clutched his opponent in his turn. "We're pretty well
+wiped out, but it's nothing to what you'll get if you don't stop your
+men. That building you're making for is mined. The moment you reach it
+they'll blow the whole show sky high."
+
+"Nonsense, you're pulling my leg," said the voice incredulously. "Don't
+you know we're making history?"
+
+"History be blowed! You're making fools of yourselves!" cried the lad.
+"Loose my throat, or I'll let you have it!"
+
+"Hallo, that sounds like Dennis Dashwood!" said another voice out of the
+surge that raced by them, and a broad-shouldered corporal pulled up
+short.
+
+"What, Dunn--do you know this man?" said the Australian Captain,
+releasing his grip.
+
+"Yes, sir, he's my cousin," said Dan Dunn. "What's wrong, Dennis?"
+
+Dennis hurriedly repeated his warning, and as three rockets sailing up
+from the German lines showed Bob and his bearers shouldering their way
+perilously forward within an ace of being bayoneted at every step,
+Captain Dashwood lifted up his voice, and the two privates joined in.
+
+The testimony was overwhelming, and although the fire-eating Anzacker
+was only half convinced, he reluctantly blew a call, and told Corporal
+Dunn to find the C.O.
+
+"If you've made a fool of us you'll have to go through the hoop," said
+the Australian savagely, as the call was taken up along the charging
+line, which flattened out and said things loudly.
+
+And then the angry Captain suddenly thrust out his hand.
+
+"Sorry, old man," he said. "You were right, and I take it all back."
+
+There was no malice in the hearty squeeze with which Dennis met the
+proffered fingers as they all flung themselves on their faces.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Von Dussel, half blinded by a British shell which dropped close beside
+him as he knelt, knew that to stay any longer was to court death.
+Something had happened to delay the expected division, but he had a
+little matter of private revenge which must not be neglected.
+
+"Now, you Dashwoods, you! You have interfered with me too long," he
+muttered with a vindictive glitter in his grey eyes. "Up you go!" And he
+fired the fuse!
+
+There was a dull boom. A strange shiver seemed to pass over all that
+shell-torn ground, and with an extraordinary roar the earth lifted
+skyward, thousands of tons of it rising in a weird black mass flecked
+with tongues of crimson flame. Higher and higher it mounted, preceded by
+dense black smoke that afterwards hung for an hour or more above the
+battlefield. Woods and trenches, men lying out dead in the open--the
+whole landscape was reddened by the glare, and as it faded out the
+debris from the explosion rained over a wide radius in a deadly shower.
+
+Chimney, buildings, barbed wire, everything had disappeared, and where
+the brewery had stood the moment before a huge crater now yawned.
+
+"You admit there was something in it, after all," said Dennis, unable
+to repress a ring of exultation in his voice.
+
+"Gee-whiz! I'll admit anything you like," replied his new acquaintance.
+"There would have been some heavy hearts in Queensland if you hadn't
+come along to-night. But, say, there goes the order for us to occupy
+that hole. See you later on, I hope, Dashwood."
+
+"I hope so," responded Dennis, as the Australian Division sprang up and
+bolted forward to dig themselves in.
+
+"Now, lads, if you don't mind giving me another lift," said Bob. "It's
+about time we were getting home. What do you say, Dennis?"
+
+Dennis said nothing. He was holding his head in both hands; that last
+explosion had left him more than ever convinced that it would fall into
+two halves if he were not very careful.
+
+And meanwhile, Von Dussel, with an evil grin, was making his way to the
+German headquarters to report to General Von Bingenhammer that an
+English shell had exploded the mine before the Anzac Division had
+reached the brewery.
+
+"Ah, you Dashwoods, you!" he murmured, rolling the name round his tongue
+as though it were a sweetmeat, "I should like to go to sleep, for I am
+very tired, but I should not like to be sleeping as sound as you.
+Himmel! You must have lived a lifetime in that last half-hour on earth!"
+
+Somewhere about the moment when the scoundrel was indulging in those
+pleasant reflections, Bob's bearers had reached the British parapet,
+and, helping the Captain over, they set him down for a moment with a
+grunt of relief.
+
+"I have no words for you, boys," he said. "But your devotion shall not
+be forgotten."
+
+"'Arf a mo, sir," interrupted Harry Hawke, with an expressive wink at
+Tiddler, and they had him up again between them in the twinkle of an
+eye.
+
+"No, no," expostulated Bob Dashwood. "I shall do very well now."
+
+"Yus, sir, but we shan't!" said Hawke, with a sheepish grin. "We must
+carry you a bit farther to save our skins"; and a light began to dawn on
+their officer.
+
+Farther along the trench, which spades and feverish hands were
+strengthening, two men stood, and the Senior Captain knew that the
+moment he dreaded had come.
+
+Brigadier-General Dashwood, very set and stern, his heart struggling
+between pride at the fine fight his battalion had put up and sorrow at
+the heavy losses they had sustained, cleared his throat as he put a
+question to the other man.
+
+With the Brigadier it was duty first and private interest afterwards,
+but now that everything had been done he spoke.
+
+"By the way, Littlewood, I don't see either of my boys," he said; and a
+spasm crossed the face of the Senior Captain as he looked out over the
+parapet.
+
+"Where are Bob and Dennis, Littlewood?" repeated the Brigadier.
+
+"Here we are, sir!" said a laughing voice out of the darkness. "We're
+both a bit bent, but we're safe and sound for all that"; and Captain
+Littlewood echoed the Brigadier's hearty "Thank God!" as Hawke and
+Tiddler dumped their burden down before them.
+
+Hands met, and the lieutenant, who had taken over the command of the
+survivors of A Company, and who had come up at the moment, felt the
+muscles of his throat tighten, and became very duty-struck to cover his
+emotions.
+
+"Is that you, Hawke?" he said sharply. "Do you mean to say you disobeyed
+my orders and left the trench?"
+
+"Captain Dashwood--sir!" said Harry Hawke, with a ring of ill-used
+innocence in his husky voice, "didn't we pick you up at the other end of
+this trench when you tumbled over the sandbags? And didn't you say you
+was all right, sir, but we would carry you?"
+
+"Perfectly true, Hawke, that's a fact," said Captain Bob, the light
+strong upon him now; and no one saw the grip that fell on Harry Hawke's
+wrist, a grip that cemented the friendship between officer and man for
+ever and a day.
+
+"Very well," said the lieutenant. "Get back to your company now--or all
+that's left of it"; and as the two rascals hurried away he looked from
+Bob to Dennis, and said, with a laugh of immense relief in the words of
+Galileo of old, "All right, you beggars, 'but it moves for all that!'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+The Row in the Restaurant
+
+
+"Stand down, Reedshires! File off by your right!" And the shattered
+remnant of that fine battalion groped its way along a broken
+communication trench to the rear, as a fresh battalion from the reserves
+took over the trench they had won at such terrible cost.
+
+They carried Bob Dashwood with them, and Dennis stumbled along like one
+in a dream; back past the shell-torn wood, through the village, or
+rather, the village heaps, and so to the rear, where they were to go
+into billets until the drafts should bring them up to fighting strength
+again.
+
+It was a toilsome march, and the little band seemed strangely
+insignificant as it passed other eager battalions hurrying up into the
+firing line, all eleven hundred strong, some even more.
+
+One of these came swinging by, singing a lusty chorus: "We're
+here--because we're here--because we're here--because we're here!" etc.,
+and a voice called out, "What cheer, mateys--who are you?"
+
+"The Royal Reedshires!" was the proud reply. "What's your crowd?"
+
+"Dirty Dick's!"
+
+"Then good luck to you"; and Harry Hawke, remembering a certain famous
+hostelry in his native land of Shoreditch, felt a fierce thirst come
+over him.
+
+"I'd give somethink to be in Dirty Dick's just na'--wouldn't you,
+Cockie?" he murmured hoarsely to his left-hand file.
+
+"Not 'arf, I wouldn't," responded Tiddler with a great gulp.
+
+Before long they left our own batteries behind them, and the roar of the
+firing, which never ceased, grew muffled in the distance.
+
+They turned aside after a while, for the road was wanted for the motor
+ambulances carrying their loads of maimed and mangled men from the
+advanced dressing-stations to the Divisional Field Hospital, and meeting
+them were the big lorries rushing up food, their headlights shining
+brightly in long perspective until the approach of dawn extinguished
+them.
+
+Then, when the grey light stole over the gently undulating country,
+officers and men looked at each other and at the battalion, and the
+tired faces were wan and sunken with something that was not mere
+physical fatigue.
+
+The C.O., with his keen smile, and well-waxed little grey moustache, was
+no longer in his accustomed place; "Nobby" Clark, who sang such good
+songs at their improvised smokers, would never sing to them any more. As
+for A Company, reduced to little more than a platoon and a half, it
+straggled along like a sort of ragged advance guard, savage and
+sleepy--oh, so sleepy, and covered with dust from head to heel, which
+did not hide the ugly red splotches and smears that told of fierce grips
+and the "haymaker's lift."
+
+But at last they reached the little village, which was the end of the
+journey, and broke off and crowded into a big barn that they had once
+occupied before; and Dennis, who had tottered along without seeing
+anything through his staring eyes for the last mile and more, tripped
+and fell on his face, and lay so still that no one worried about him.
+
+Very few of them worried about anything, as a matter of fact; even the
+ration parties provoked no enthusiasm. All they wanted was to sleep, and
+on many of the war-grimed faces was a smile of satisfied content. They
+had helped to lift the curtain of the Great Push, and it had been
+completely successful.
+
+When Dennis opened his eyes, or rather, when he was conscious of opening
+them, he found Bob standing beside him with a colonel of the R.A.M.C.
+
+"They're not hurrying themselves over that dinner," said Dennis. "I'm
+just as hungry as a hollow dog."
+
+"He'll do," said the army doctor. "But for all that, a run home won't
+hurt him."
+
+"A run where, sir?" exclaimed Dennis, sitting bolt upright. "The thing's
+only just beginning."
+
+"For all that, my dear lad, you came very near making an end of it. Do
+you know you've had a slight concussion and lay unconscious for two
+days? But you're all right now, and you're going back to town for a week
+with your brother. The Push will be going on when you return, and you
+will be able to take up the thread where you left it."
+
+The Colonel nodded with a friendly smile and went away, adding over his
+shoulder, "I'll make out the papers at once, and you can both of you
+get away by the next train that leaves railhead."
+
+The next few hours were a dream to Dennis Dashwood, and when he had put
+on a fresh uniform, which his man had mysteriously procured, and had
+satisfied his terrific craving for food, Bob told him that our advance
+was steadily pushing forward, and the weight of our superior artillery
+was making itself irresistibly felt.
+
+"Fact is, old man," said the Captain, "if you hadn't had an uncommonly
+thick head you'd have gone under, and the P.M.O.'s quite right. A week
+at home is absolutely necessary to set you up. My leg will be better at
+the end of that time, and we shall both come back with the draft as fit
+as fiddles."
+
+Dennis groaned, but he felt the truth of what his brother said, and,
+whisked down to the port of embarkation, they crossed the Channel with
+an escort of T.B.D.'s, and both experienced that glorious thrill which
+strikes every Englishman worthy of the name when the white cliffs of the
+Old Country grow nearer and nearer.
+
+Some day someone will write the epic of the Straits of Dover, and it
+will be worth the reading.
+
+The moment they had set foot on shore they were consumed by a terrific
+impatience to reach their journey's end. But at last the hospital train
+slowed up at Charing Cross, and their taxi passed between the double
+crowd which every day waited to see the arrival of the wounded.
+
+"Can you believe it, old chap?" said Bob, as they whirled through the
+heavy summer foliage of Regent's Park and came to a halt.
+
+"I've passed beyond that stage when anything surprises me, Den," laughed
+his brother. "I believe if I woke up some morning and found myself on
+the top of St. Paul's I should simply look upon it as an observation
+post, and proceed accordingly."
+
+He broke off as the glass doors opened and a well-known figure came out
+on to the steps, and the next moment Mrs. Dashwood was in the arms of
+her two soldier sons.
+
+Their arrival had been witnessed from the window of the schoolroom, and
+the new governess was powerless to repress the joyful yell or to check
+the stampede as her young charges tore down the stairs.
+
+"I've got something for you in my haversack, Billy," laughed Dennis,
+producing a German helmet minus the spike; and what with buttons and
+bits of shells, when the small fry retired to resume their study of
+French irregular verbs it is to be feared the verbs were even more
+irregular than usual.
+
+The talk of the elders naturally turned on the Von Dussels, and Mrs.
+Dashwood listened with bated breath to the account of their various
+meetings with the German spy.
+
+"I suppose you've seen nothing more of Madame Ottilie of the big eyes?"
+laughed Bob.
+
+"I am certain that I passed her at the Piccadilly Tube station two days
+ago," said Mrs. Dashwood. "But she has dyed her hair red. I am convinced
+it was the woman, and she knew that I recognised her. Oh, it is a shame
+that these people are allowed to remain in our midst with their
+wonderful system of transmitting intelligence."
+
+"Well, I don't think their intelligence is likely to help them now,"
+said Dennis. "We've got the beggars set. We've proved that, man to man,
+our fellows are miles better than the enemy, and it's only a matter of
+time. Whatever we take now, we retain--no falling back as in the old
+days. And, by Jove, mater, you should just hear our artillery!"
+
+"I hear it every day, sleeping and waking," said his mother, putting her
+hands to her ears. "And oh, how I wish your dear father had been with
+you! He hasn't had a day's leave since the war started."
+
+"And I'm afraid he isn't likely to put in for one," said Bob. "The
+Governor's great idea is to stick to his job. He's made our brigade one
+of the finest in the Army, and they just worship him out there."
+
+How the time flew!--faster even than the week's kit leave that had
+brought Dennis home before--and though Bob still walked with a slight
+halt, his leg was getting better every day; while Dennis openly declared
+that it was simply absurd to have given him leave at all.
+
+"Look here, old chap," said the Captain on Monday, "I'm going up to the
+War Office to-day to report myself fit and receive my orders about
+taking that draft over. Of course, it's delightful to be at home again,
+but there's no earthly reason why we should put in our full leave and
+feel that we're slacking."
+
+"Right-o!" responded Dennis promptly, "I want to buy one or two things
+to take over, and I'll come into town with you."
+
+Mrs. Dashwood's heart beat quicker, but she made no attempt to stand in
+their way, feeling secretly proud of their eagerness, and the two
+brothers parted outside the Strand Tube, having arranged to meet at a
+certain well-known restaurant at a given time. It was easier to get into
+the War Office than to get out of it, and Dennis, his own mission
+accomplished, was cooling his heels outside the appointed rendezvous
+when someone tapped him on the shoulder.
+
+"I thought I couldn't be mistaken, Dashwood," cried a cheery voice.
+
+"What, Wetherby, old chap!" And Dennis looked at the badge on the
+brand-new uniform of the lad who had accosted him. "Great Scott! Have
+they sent you to ours?" And his old schoolfellow grinned delightedly.
+
+"Yes, I've just been getting my things. Left the O.T.C. last week--join
+the reserve battalion to-morrow."
+
+"And if I've anything to say about it, you'll come out with the draft on
+Wednesday. Bob will work that for you. Remember Bob, of course? Look
+here, I'm waiting for him now. Let's go in here and have some grub. He's
+bound to turn up in a few minutes"; and linking his arm in that of his
+old schoolfellow, they passed into the restaurant together.
+
+"The Red Tulips" was filling up rapidly, but they secured a little
+table, and turned down a chair for Bob. It was a gay place, all gilt and
+glitter, with a string band on one side of the long hall, and at
+hundreds of other little tables well-dressed people were lunching, a
+goodly sprinkling of officers in uniform among them.
+
+At the next table to their own was a stout Major, whom Dennis instantly
+identified as a "dug-out."
+
+His face was flushed and he was talking loudly, names of battalions
+flowing glibly from his well-oiled tongue. His companions were an
+over-dressed lady and a young "nut" who ought to have been in uniform.
+
+"There's no doubt about it," said the Major. "My battalion--the
+Sloggers, you know--absolutely take the biscuit. The --th are a very
+decent crush, and so are the --th and the --th. They make up our
+brigade, you know. I shall just get back in time, and as soon as I
+arrive we have orders to leave Barbillier to support Dashwood's Brigade,
+which has been awfully cut up in this last business."
+
+"Confound that old gasbag!" muttered Dennis, leaning across the table to
+Wetherby. "That's the way information gets about--he's no right to be
+talking like that."
+
+"Certainly not," replied Wetherby, "but I think they're going now. That
+waitress girl is making out the bill--a pretty long one, too--she's been
+writing hard for the last five minutes."
+
+"You see, what really happened was this," continued the red-faced Major,
+"Dashwood's Brigade was at ----"
+
+"You'll excuse me, sir," said a voice, "but I happen to be in Dashwood's
+Brigade, and we're not at all anxious that our movements should be given
+broadcast in a place like this."
+
+"Eh, what!" stuttered the field officer, looking at the single star
+that adorned Dennis's cuff, and waxing furious. "What the dickens is the
+service coming to? Do you know who I am, sir?" And he fixed his eyeglass
+into the frown that was intended to slay this young whippersnapper who
+presumed to dictate to a man with a crown on his shoulder.
+
+But Dennis made no reply, for his eyes were resting on the white-aproned
+waitress, who was busy with her pay-book, and he saw two things.
+
+One was that it was no bill she was making out; the other, that the red
+hair under her coquettish little cap matched oddly with the great black
+eyes that were bent on her writing.
+
+"Pardon me," he said, striding behind the Major's chair; and as his hand
+stretched forward for the pay-book the waitress looked up, and he knew
+that it was Ottilie Von Dussel!
+
+"You here!" he exclaimed, and the perforated leaf on which she had been
+writing came away in his fingers as she closed the book.
+
+She gave a little cry, and one of the musicians stepped down from the
+platform and came up to them.
+
+"You must not make a disturbance here, sir," he said rudely, and the
+next moment he was flung back across an adjoining table with a cut lip.
+
+Dennis swung round as people sprang to their feet, but Ottilie Von
+Dussel was making her way swiftly towards a neighbouring door.
+
+"Stop that woman!" he shouted. "She is a German spy!" But everybody was
+talking at once, and the white cap vanished out of sight.
+
+"I shall report you, sir," thundered Dennis to the loquacious Major,
+flourishing the leaf he had secured. "Every word of your conversation
+has been written down. There was a carbon in that book, and that
+she-fiend has escaped with the duplicate. Within forty-eight hours the
+German headquarters will receive information that may cost us a thousand
+lives!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+"Gas!"
+
+
+The hubbub in the restaurant was tremendous. Well-dressed people can
+jostle and clamour and crush just as selfishly as anybody else, and
+those of the lunchers who were not near enough stood up on their chairs
+to get a better view.
+
+The musician picked himself up with a fried sole embossed on the back of
+his dress coat and two portions of hot soup running down his neck, to
+say nothing of blobs of mashed potato and the contents of overturned
+cruets all over him.
+
+"I've got one of you, anyhow," said Dennis in German, as he seized him
+by the collar. "You'd better have sat tight among your fiddles, and
+allowed Madame von Dussel to play her own dirty game."
+
+If the musician's look could have killed, there would have been another
+vacancy in the Reedshires.
+
+The cause of all the tumult confronted Dennis, purple with indignation,
+and began to bluster. But another officer had wormed himself resolutely
+forward through the crush.
+
+"I want to know what the deuce you mean, sir!" demanded the indignant
+major, but the new-comer interrupted him.
+
+"I am the Assistant Provost-Marshal," he said. "What is the meaning of
+this fracas?"
+
+"The explanation is very simple, sir," replied Dennis, handing him the
+slip of paper. "My friend and I were astonished to hear this officer
+talking so unguardedly. It is charitable to suppose that he has taken
+too much wine, and when I expostulated with him I recognised one of the
+waitresses as a remarkably clever German spy."
+
+The A.P.M. nodded.
+
+"I gathered that," he said. "I will ask you, gentlemen, to accompany me
+to the manager's room." And the excited crowd fell back to let them
+pass.
+
+As Dennis brought up the rear with his prisoner he met Bob coming in,
+and young Wetherby told him what had happened.
+
+"By Jove! it's a thousand pities we missed that woman," said the
+captain. "We haven't seen the end of that vixen and her husband."
+
+What happened in the manager's room it is not for us to reveal, but the
+placards of the evening papers had the startling announcement:
+
+  "DRAMATIC CAPTURE OF A GERMAN SPY AT
+  A WELL-KNOWN WEST-END RESTAURANT!
+
+  ESCAPE OF HIS FEMALE ACCOMPLICE!
+  BRITISH OFFICER'S WINE DRUGGED!"
+
+In the _Gazette_ a few days later was an announcement among the
+promotions: "2/12th Royal Reedshire Regiment, Captain Robert Oswald
+Dashwood to command the battalion with the rank of major. Second
+Lieutenant Dennis Dashwood to lieutenant."
+
+Probably none of the lunchers knew what that meant; it was not their
+affair.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Up the muddy road swung a brown detachment to the music of mouth organs,
+and Harry Hawke, who was lounging at the door of a big barn, chewing a
+woodbine and looking fed up with life generally, lifted his snub nose in
+the air as the head of the detachment came round a bend in the road.
+
+In an instant the sulky, discontented look vanished from his face, and
+he let off a yell.
+
+"Turn out, you beggars!" he yelped. "Tiddler, look at this! 'Ere's our
+bloomin' draft at larst. Give 'em a cheer, boys! Now we shan't be long!"
+
+From the barn and the adjacent cottages the Reedshires poured and lined
+up at the roadside.
+
+  "Never mind the weather,
+   Now then, all together:
+   Hallo! Hallo! Here we are again!"
+
+sang the draft, to the accompaniment of the mouth organs, the battalion
+joining in with a lusty roar of welcome.
+
+"Lumme, Tiddler! They're a bloomin' fine lot!" was Harry Hawke's
+approving comment. "And if there ain't our little 'ero with two blinkin'
+stars on 'is blinkin' sleeve! Are we down'earted?"
+
+And eleven hundred and fifty throats gave a thunderous "NO!" as the
+draft halted.
+
+Within twenty-four hours of the arrival of the draft the battalion fell
+in with packs and rifles. The little pillar-box at the end of the barn,
+with the time of the next collection scored in chalk on the wall, had
+been filled to overflowing with field post cards for home, and the
+Reedshires left their billets to join the brigade again.
+
+It was all new to young Wetherby, and Dennis seemed quite a seasoned
+veteran as he pointed out things to his old school chum while they drew
+nearer and nearer to the thunder of the guns.
+
+Contalmaison had already been taken with great slaughter before they
+reached the firing-line, and the shadows were lengthening as they came
+to a captured trench and prepared to make themselves snug for the night.
+
+Dennis and Wetherby were taking possession of a half-demolished dug-out
+when Bob made his appearance.
+
+"If you fellows have got any coffee to spare, I'll have some with you,"
+said the major. "And I recommend you to turn in all standing, for we're
+expecting a big counter-attack from the direction of that wood on our
+front. How have you stood the march up, Wetherby? Feel a bit knocked?"
+
+"Nothing to speak of," laughed the new subaltern of A Company. "I'm not
+too tired to enjoy the fun when it starts."
+
+"Well, if our informations are correct, you'll see plenty of 'fun,' as
+you call it, before sunrise. I've just had a chow with the Governor, and
+he's as pleased as Punch that we're up in time, for I think it's going
+to be pretty serious. Our airmen have brought news of exceedingly heavy
+enemy reinforcements, and the German guns are holding their fire on this
+sector, which all points to something."
+
+"How's the wind?" said Dennis, over the rim of his enamelled mug.
+
+"Dead right for Brother Boche," replied Bob, with a smile.
+
+"I don't quite understand," ventured young Wetherby, who, in spite of
+the tan of arduous training that browned his clean-shaven, boyish face,
+was not ashamed to ask questions.
+
+Like Dennis himself, he was not one of those pert modern boys who think
+they know everything.
+
+"What has the wind got to do with it?" said young Wetherby.
+
+"Gas, old chap, gas!" replied the two brothers. "The moment you hear the
+alarm, ram on your gas helmet and see the tube is working."
+
+"And by the living Jingo!" cried the major, "there it goes!" And he shot
+out of the dug-out into the trench as a man on the look out beat
+furiously upon an empty shell-case dangling there for the purpose.
+
+"Pull it right down!" shouted Dennis, giving young Wetherby a helping
+hand with his helmet. "Now you're fixed. Wish there was a mirror handy;
+you've no idea how well you look in it, old man."
+
+Despite the seriousness of the moment Wetherby roared with laughter
+inside the stifling, smelly cowl that made them both seem like familiars
+of the Spanish Inquisition.
+
+And then, revolvers in hand, they took their places in the trench and
+waited.
+
+"Are you certain it's gas?" said Dennis to Tiddler, who had sounded the
+alarm in their front, for beyond the parapet there was a strange
+stillness, and the night was as black as your hat.
+
+"Yes, sir; I see it right enough, just as their last flare died down. I
+saw it at Hill 60, and I've 'ad some. It'll be 'ere in a tick."
+
+But the enemy was impatient that night, and on a sudden a group of
+star-shells burst overhead, lighting everything up brilliantly, and
+revealing a long line of grey figures advancing stealthily.
+
+"How do we go now?" inquired Wetherby, as another bunch of star-shells
+went up. "Do we wait until they're on top of us?"
+
+"That depends on Bob's judgment," replied Dennis, making himself heard
+with some difficulty through the flannel folds of his mask; and while he
+was speaking there came the shrill signal for "ten rounds rapid."
+
+As the Lee-Enfields crashed out our machine-guns began to hammer, and
+the boy fresh out from England felt a fierce thrill of exultation seize
+him, for this was the real thing at last--the thing he had been longing
+for so eagerly!
+
+The long grey line seemed to shiver in front of the machine-guns, and
+great swathes of the enemy went down. But our trench was on a ridge, and
+the rear ranks filling up the gaps with a precision that astonished
+young Wetherby, the German line began to mount the slope, breaking into
+the double.
+
+Dennis suddenly gripped his arm.
+
+"Yes, what is it?" cried the boy, as the "Cease fire" blew and was
+immediately followed by another signal.
+
+"Reedshires, get over!" shouted Dennis. "That's what it is. Good old
+Bob! He's a beggar for the cold steel. Come on, Wetherby! There's a fine
+bit of free wheel for us--all down hill and a walk over at the bottom.
+Charge, boys, charge!"
+
+Looking like demons suddenly gone mad, the battalion let go a muffled
+yell, and tore down the slope to meet those other demons, still more
+hideous in the steel-faced masks they wore as a protection against their
+own gas; and at the end of a dozen strides brown and grey mingled with a
+terrific shock.
+
+"Jove, what a ripping scrum!" laughed Wetherby, as he and Dennis plunged
+into the struggling mass of men; and when his revolver was empty he
+wrenched a Mauser and bayonet from one of the enemy and used them.
+
+The Reedshires were fresh, and made up for that lost time in billets,
+yielding not an inch, but forcing the Germans farther and farther down
+the slope, until they broke and ran.
+
+They were artful enough to avoid the shell holes, where the gas lay
+thick; but they had little time to pick and choose their way, for the
+relentless Reedshires clung to their heels so closely that our
+machine-guns had to cease fire.
+
+Here and there, where the fugitive mob was tightly wedged in some narrow
+gap between a couple of yawning craters, the rearmost of them would turn
+at bay, and at just such a place, scarcely wide enough for two men to
+pass abreast, young Wetherby overtook a hefty little private tackling a
+huge German, who towered head and shoulders above him.
+
+It was impossible to get by until that single combat should be ended;
+but as Wetherby paused the big German made a circling swipe with his
+rifle, and his bayonet tore a great gash in the Reedshire's gas helmet.
+The little man in jumping back lost his balance, and rolled head over
+heels into one of the craters, his adversary resuming his flight at the
+sight of young Wetherby, who dropped him with a bullet in the back.
+
+The splendid pluck with which the little man had tackled the giant had
+appealed to Wetherby's sporting instincts, and realising the hideous
+death that lurked in the bottom of the shell hole, he sprang down to his
+assistance, and found Tiddler--for it was he--grasping the torn mask
+with both hands, while he vainly struggled to scramble out.
+
+But the earth crumbled under his feet, and, already exhausted, the
+doomed man sank on his knees, and looked wildly round for help.
+
+He should by rights have had a spare helmet in his haversack, but the
+careless fellow had lost it when they were in billets.
+
+"Go back!" he gasped with a wave of his arm; but the officer boy was no
+fool, and, opening his wallet, he forced his own spare mask over
+Tiddler's head and dragged him to his feet again.
+
+A German lay writhing in fearful convulsions beside them, and young
+Wetherby pointed to that terrible object lesson.
+
+"Come on!" he shouted. "Never mind your gun." And, seizing him by the
+arm, the pair struggled panting together up the precipitous side of the
+hole.
+
+"It's all right up here--the gas has passed over!" shouted Tiddler's
+rescuer. And away he bolted, leaving the grateful man to recover his
+breath and pick up a spare rifle.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+The Chateau at the Trench End
+
+
+The wake of the battalion was marked at every stride by enemy dead and
+wounded, and when Wetherby overtook them he found them bayoneting and
+bombing their way along a zigzag trench, and Harry Hawke in the act of
+scoring "2/12th R.R." on the shield of a captured machine-gun with the
+point of his dripping weapon.
+
+"Where is Mr. Dashwood?" cried young Wetherby.
+
+"Straight ahead, sir. 'Follow the tram-lines,' and you can't miss him!"
+And Harry Hawke pointed with a grin to the zigzag trench.
+
+They ran together along the broken parapet as the explosion of the hand
+bombs suddenly ceased, and from the way the battalion was crowded in the
+trench below them with a goodly assortment of unwounded prisoners,
+progress seemed to have been checked for a moment.
+
+Stumbling over bodies, and every now and then getting entangled among
+strands of broken wire; blundering down into some trench-mortar hole and
+up again at the other side, Wetherby and Hawke at length came upon Bob
+Dashwood and Dennis, where the trench ended abruptly without any
+apparent rhyme or reason.
+
+"Hallo, what's up?" Wetherby called, removing his mask and putting on
+his helmet, seeing that his brother officers had done the same, the
+battalion being now beyond the gas zone.
+
+"Wait a minute," replied Dennis. "They'll send up another flare, and
+then you'll see."
+
+Overhead soared a rocket from the German lines, and as the light made
+everything grotesquely visible, the outline of a building showed blackly
+fifty yards from the trench end.
+
+It was a small chateau, which, from its position in a fold of the ground
+behind a little ridge, had somehow escaped the havoc of our bombardment.
+
+The ridge round which the trench end curved had been ploughed and
+mangled and heaped up into a ragged contour, but beyond some gaping
+holes in the high-pitched slate roof and a yawning gap in the northern
+wing, the chateau stood behind a tall wall, with an iron gate obligingly
+open, as if inviting them to enter.
+
+"You see what's happened," explained the O.C. "The place would be so
+obviously dominated by the capture of this ridge that the beggars
+haven't thought it worth while turning it into a redoubt. It's very
+tempting, but it might prove a death-trap if they've got their heavy
+guns trained on it."
+
+"There's another thing," said Dennis in further explanation to Wetherby.
+"We've taken about a couple of hundred prisoners, and killed somewhere
+about the same number, but the rest of the enemy battalion has
+mysteriously disappeared. We've bombed all the dug-outs we can find, but
+there's one we must have missed, and the bulk of them have got clear
+away somehow. What are you going to do, Bob?"
+
+Bob Dashwood lit a cigarette before he replied. Then he reloaded his
+revolver.
+
+"Those two runners should have reached our supports," he said; "and the
+field wire will be coming up now. We'll chance our arm, Den, and take
+possession of the place. Come on, Reedshires!" And he climbed out.
+
+Another rush of brown figures ran forward to the big gate, and Hawke,
+who was the first to reach it, held up a warning hand as he thrust his
+head round one of the brick piers, expecting nothing less than
+machine-guns.
+
+But the place seemed deserted, although the trampled garden bore every
+sign of recent occupation. A bullock had been slaughtered by the
+fountain, and its horns and hide lay there. The flower beds had been
+ruthlessly trodden under foot, but a wealth of beautiful blossom still
+remained, and Harry Hawke plucked a Gloire de Dijon rose and chewed the
+stem between his teeth as he scampered up the grass slope on to the
+terrace.
+
+The front door was wide open, as were several of the white casement
+windows, and from a magnificent candelabra suspended from the ceiling of
+the hall guttering candles threw a blaze of yellow light on to the tiled
+floor.
+
+Even Hawke gaped with astonishment at the gorgeous gilded decorations of
+the walls and the white marble staircase that led to the upper floor.
+
+"Why, it's like Madame Tussord's arter yer paid yer bob to go in," he
+said.
+
+"And they've made a chamber of horrors of it," muttered Dennis, who
+overheard him, as he looked at the shattered mirrors, the full-length
+portraits fluttering in rags in their frames, and the gilt furniture,
+whose upholstery of silk brocade showed the traces of muddy boots and
+spurred heels.
+
+One end of the hall was taken up by a huge open fireplace carved with
+life-size figures of laughing nymphs and fawns, and, with that coarse
+imbecility which passes current in Germany for humour, some wag had
+daubed the noses of the figures with vermilion.
+
+Empty wine bottles lay beside a priceless marquetry table, whose top had
+been burned with cigar ends; and as the men scattered rapidly through
+the adjoining rooms, they found everywhere traces of German "kultur"
+which the vandals had left behind them.
+
+Upstairs it was the same thing; hangings torn and slashed for the mere
+lust of destruction, smashed china, objectionable caricatures scrawled
+upon the walls, and upon the open grand piano in the _salon_ a copy of
+the _Hymn of Hate_, with a half-smoked cigarette beside it.
+
+"The beasts!" exclaimed young Wetherby, hot with indignation. "Wouldn't
+you like to turn our chaps loose in the Kaiser's palace at Potsdam,
+Dashwood?"
+
+"My dear chap," said Dennis, "they wouldn't touch a thing if you did.
+It's only the Prussians who behave like this. Our fellows are gentlemen.
+At the same time, I know what you mean, and it makes one sick."
+
+They went rapidly from room to room, A Company having been entrusted
+with the examination of the chateau, while Bob halted the rest of the
+battalion in the grounds until they had satisfied themselves that the
+house was empty.
+
+Bob was making a tour of inspection round the high brick wall to
+discover what possibilities there might exist of defending it in case of
+attack, and he and one of the platoon commanders who accompanied him had
+just reached the stabling, which was some distance from the house, when
+a sudden hubbub came from the chateau itself.
+
+"Hallo, they've found something," he said to his companion. And they ran
+back; but before they could reach the terrace firing mingled with the
+roar of voices, and above the rattle of Mausers rose the bark of a
+machine-gun.
+
+There were perhaps sixty or seventy men of A Company in the upper part
+of the house when that hubbub arose; and, rushing out on to the gallery
+that surrounded the entrance hall, Dennis and Wetherby found the floor
+beneath them swarming with German infantry in the act of running a
+couple of machine-guns forward from the huge fireplace.
+
+They belonged to the same battalion which had so mysteriously
+disappeared, and it was obvious that in their subterranean excavations
+the Germans must have come upon a secret passage, old as the chateau
+itself, and connected it up with their new works.
+
+The back of the fireplace opened and revealed a black cavity, which
+vomited a never-ending horde in the wake of the machine-guns, one of
+which was slued round to command the garden, while the other was placed
+at an open window, and was the first to fire.
+
+"This is going to be very hot stuff!" shouted Dennis above the deafening
+din, as the men of A Company came running on to the gallery. "Be
+steady, lads, and let 'em have it."
+
+They lined up at the gilded balustrade, and fired down into the mob
+below them. A sea of upturned faces was turned to the gallery, and a
+stout Prussian officer, who took very good care to jump back under the
+shelter of the fireplace, pointed frantically to the marble stair and
+bellowed out a command.
+
+"Quick! Lend a hand, Wetherby!" shouted Dennis, seizing the end of a
+large settee. "Hawke, Davis, Johnson, bring all the heavy stuff you can
+find in that room behind us!" And as they dragged the settee across the
+head of the staircase, volunteers rushed into the adjoining rooms,
+staggering out again with chairs and tables to add to the barricade.
+
+They were in the nick of time, for the enemy came boldly up the
+staircase five abreast.
+
+"Carry on, lads!" cried Dennis. "And you stay here with them, Wetherby.
+I'll be back in a brace of shakes." And he ran round the gallery until
+he came opposite to the machine-guns, which were pouring their hail of
+death into the darkness of the garden.
+
+"This has got to be stopped," he muttered grimly between his teeth. And,
+groping in his bomb wallet, he took one out, withdrew the pin, and
+pitched the missile to the other side of the hall.
+
+It dropped where he had intended it should drop--immediately beneath the
+machine-gun at the open door, one of the gun crew trying to pick it up
+with a shout of warning to his comrades; but he was too late, and as his
+fingers grasped it there was a terrific explosion.
+
+The man who was firing fell backwards on to the marble floor, both his
+legs blown off, and a circle of grey-green heaps surrounded him.
+
+Before another man could spring into his place there was a heartening
+yell from the darkness, and the Reedshires poured in, their bayonets
+flashing in the candlelight.
+
+Dennis had hoped to put the second gun out of action, but the thing was
+too risky for his own men, who were smashing their way into the crowd of
+Germans that filled the hall.
+
+Besides, something closer at hand claimed his attention, for, in spite
+of A Company's fire, the head of the storming party had reached that
+slender barrier, and were already laying hands on the piled-up furniture
+at the top of the staircase.
+
+He had two bombs left, and, with a shout of warning, he flung them one
+after another on to the crowded stair. The effect was appalling, for
+they burst almost simultaneously, rending the gilded balustrade into a
+hundred pieces, and pouring an avalanche of mangled bodies on to the
+heads of the rest below.
+
+Harry Hawke signalised his delight by hurling a heavy chair down the
+staircase, and in a trice the barricade was torn aside, and A Company
+went down with the bayonet to do their bit.
+
+Taken in the rear, the crew of the second machine-gun fought gamely
+enough; but the thing was a matter of moments, and, seized with
+excusable panic, the Prussian battalion fled back again into the passage
+behind the fireplace.
+
+There was no need for Bob Dashwood to give any command, for strong arms
+had already seized the gun, and, sluing it round, pointed it at the
+opening.
+
+A sergeant sprang into the operator's seat, but before he could fire, a
+crowd of white-faced men, with hands raised above their heads, came
+running out of the secret passage, crying: "Mercy, mercy!"
+
+"Shall I let her go, sir?" said the sergeant, with a red gleam in his
+eye.
+
+"Not unless they play any tricks," said Major Dashwood.
+
+He stood there, revolver in hand, and as they filed past him, all the
+fight gone out of them now, he counted 580 prisoners, including 20
+unwounded officers.
+
+"I am the colonel commanding this battalion," said a black-moustached
+Prussian haughtily. "I shall, of course, be permitted to keep my sword."
+
+"No; hand it over and fall in with the rest of your men," said the major
+coldly. "And be thankful you are permitted to keep the clothes you stand
+in."
+
+Within half an hour, thanks to the magnificent energy of our Royal
+Engineers, a message had been 'phoned to the brigadier, and the answer
+came back: "Bravo, my boy! Send an officer to me who can explain the
+exact position verbally, and one who speaks German, who will be useful
+in interrogating your capture. Let me have Dennis if you can spare him."
+
+That was why, very much against his own inclination, Dennis accompanied
+the long column of disarmed men that found its way under escort to
+brigade headquarters just as the dawn was breaking, passing a joyous
+battalion sent up by the brigadier to consolidate the splendid gains of
+his beloved Reedshires.
+
+Dennis woke at noon in his father's dug-out.
+
+"I want you to stay here until I get an answer from the general,
+Dennis," said the brigadier. "If you've never seen the workings of a
+kite balloon, they're just sending one up over yonder. You'll probably
+be able to join Bob inside an hour."
+
+Behind a little hollow, close to brigade headquarters, Dennis saw the
+section busy about the huge sausage-shaped observation balloon, which
+had been hurried up to direct some batteries already concealing
+themselves in the vicinity.
+
+"This is the sort of job that would try the nerves of some of you foot
+sloggers," said a perky little officer, as the lieutenant approached.
+"By Jove, we're a bit too close to be pleasant! Would you like to go up
+with me?"
+
+There was something in the observer's tone that rather nettled his
+hearer, and Dennis replied promptly: "I should like it very much, if you
+mean it?" without giving a thought on the spur of the moment as to how
+long the balloon would remain in the air.
+
+"Of course I mean it. Come on!" And as Dennis flung his leg over the
+edge of the basket the perky youngster gave the order to let her go.
+
+The steel cable began to unwind as the men of the section loosed their
+hold, and Dennis soon enjoyed the novel experience of seeing the
+panorama unfold beneath him, and identifying the white-walled chateau
+they had captured the night before.
+
+At an altitude of two thousand feet the observer 'phoned down to the men
+at the windlass to stop. A stiff wind was blowing, but the "sausage"
+behaved itself well until, as the observation officer turned to Dennis
+with a cheery laugh, something passed screaming beneath them and burst!
+
+Some fragments of shrapnel struck the bottom of the basket; but that was
+not all. The shell had hit the cable fair and square, the observation
+officer's laugh changed to a shout of consternation as it snapped, and
+with an upward jerk the freed balloon floated away towards the German
+lines!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+From Kite Balloon to Saddle
+
+
+The two occupants clung to the side of the padded basket, from which it
+was a marvel they had not been flung by the sudden upward rush of the
+huge sausage-shaped envelope above their heads.
+
+The observer's face was very white, but he pulled himself together
+pluckily enough, and took the now useless receivers from his ears.
+
+"I'm awfully sorry to have got you into this mess, old man," he said
+apologetically.
+
+"It isn't a bit of use being sorry," snapped Dennis. "Get a move on you!
+What's the best thing to be done?"
+
+The sharp anger in his companion's voice acted like a tonic, and the
+observation officer pulled a cord.
+
+"I don't think it's an atom of good, for all that," he volunteered
+doubtfully. "It's a thousand chances to one, with this breeze, that we
+shall drop on our side of the fence, and those blessed guns of theirs
+have got us set. Look at that!"
+
+A shrapnel burst above them, and as its fleecy white cloud unrolled
+there were two more bursts, one immediately below, which carried away
+the parachute, the other about eighty yards to the left.
+
+"Beggars who fire on the wounded are not likely to miss such a target as
+we make, although it must be perfectly clear to them that we're coming
+down," said the youngster between his teeth.
+
+"And suppose they hit us?" questioned Dennis.
+
+"Why, we'll burst, that's all, and descend in flames, with death at the
+end of the drop and no glory attached to it."
+
+"I wish you'd been in Jerusalem before you asked me to come on this
+fool's errand!" exclaimed Dennis.
+
+"I shouldn't mind being in Jerusalem just now," said his companion; and
+somehow they both laughed.
+
+The valve at the nose of the sausage was releasing hydrogen, and the
+kite balloon dropped slowly as the envelope became deflated. But the
+wind increased, and already Dennis saw through his glasses the chateau
+and the wood pass under them.
+
+"I'd half a hope," he said gloomily, "that we might have come to ground
+near that house. My battalion's there; we took the blooming place last
+night."
+
+Luckily the wind buffeted them in an irregular course, and the shrapnel
+flew wide. Seven shells in all were fired at them, and then, ammunition
+being precious to the enemy, word was evidently given to cease.
+
+It was no use wasting any more on an object whose capture was certain in
+a few minutes; and lower and lower they dropped, until the observer
+slackened his pull on the valve cord.
+
+"We may as well save our necks," he interjected over his shoulder. "I
+wonder if we shall clear that wood?"
+
+Below them stretched a great irregular patch of trees, through which
+alleys had been torn by our own guns, although much of the wood was
+still standing, and already a hoarse roar of voices came up to their
+ears as the enemy lining a trench cheered their misfortune.
+
+"We're dropping right into the trees," said Dennis. "Can't we do
+anything? Are there no means of guiding this brute?"
+
+"None at all," was the reply. "We're entirely at the mercy of the wind;
+and look out if our cable catches, that's all--unless you want to be
+jerked into eternity."
+
+They were both peering down over the edge of the basket as he spoke, and
+the shouting Germans underneath loosed a volley at the derelict.
+
+Dennis heard the envelope tear in fifty places, and their pace lessened
+perceptibly; and then it seemed to him that his companion threw himself
+on to the floor of the basket, and he looked at him.
+
+A little red rivulet was flowing from a round hole in the centre of his
+forehead, and he realised that the lieutenant had been killed
+instantaneously!
+
+It was a moment or two before he ventured to look down again, and,
+peeping cautiously over the edge of the car as the cheering became very
+distinct, he saw the enemy trench pass out of sight beneath him, and
+felt the basket tearing its way among the topmost branches of the wood.
+
+Something had got to be done, he knew; and as the top of a tall tree
+rose above the level of his eyes, and the doomed balloon paused with a
+sickening jerk, he grasped at a branch, flung himself out, and dangled
+there.
+
+Relieved of his weight, the balloon, almost on the point of collapsing,
+dragged itself free of the twigs that held it with a last effort, and
+floated away to drop on the other side of the wood.
+
+He could hear the excited clamour as men left the trench and ran towards
+it; and even in the midst of his extraordinary peril he was fired with a
+wild desire to escape.
+
+His manoeuvre had not been seen, and, lowering himself rapidly hand
+under hand, he gained the foot of the tree which had proved his
+salvation, torn and bleeding, but with every nerve of mind and body on
+the alert.
+
+"They've not got me yet!" he muttered, as he looked about him; and,
+crawling on hands and knees, crept under the trunk of a fallen tree half
+a dozen yards away, where he lay down flat on his face.
+
+The very ground beneath him seemed to shake with every discharge, and
+the roar of the firing was continuous. Not only were both sides flinging
+a terrific barrage to check the arrival of reinforcements, but half a
+dozen isolated actions were taking place at various points of the
+extended battle line. From Trones Wood to Contalmaison Villa heavy
+fighting was in progress, and Dennis raged inwardly that by his own
+fault he should have neither act nor part in any of it.
+
+Presently, as he lay with his ear to the ground, he caught another sound
+much nearer than that of the firing--the thud of men running in heavy
+boots in his vicinity; and, worming himself still deeper among the
+undergrowth that surrounded the fallen tree, he drew his Webley revolver
+and waited.
+
+About a dozen of the enemy came past the tree on either side of it,
+peering this way and that, and stirring such brushwood as remained with
+their fixed bayonets.
+
+"Pooh!" said one of them, "this is a fool's quest. What is the good of
+looking for a man who has got a broken neck by this time?"
+
+"What is the good of the war, I should like to know?" replied one of his
+companions. "For my part, I am so sick of this terrible life that I
+would willingly surrender."
+
+"You had better not let our captain hear you talk like that, or you will
+be shot, my friend," said another of them; "though I dare say, if we
+were honest, two-thirds of the battalion would agree with you. But it is
+very certain the Englishman is not here, and the sooner we get back the
+better."
+
+They passed on; and as the crackle of their going among the bushes died
+away quickly, Dennis drew a deep breath of relief. He had no idea where
+he was, for the whole of that rolling country was dotted with irregular
+patches of woodland, his map case was gone, and the balloon had drifted
+considerably to the east before it fell.
+
+He knew it would be wiser for him to wait until nightfall and take
+advantage of the moonlight; but the desire to rejoin his men was too
+strong to be resisted; and after cautiously peering over the undergrowth
+he crept from his concealment, and dodged from bush to bush until he
+reached the edge of the wood.
+
+There the hum of voices warned him that he was only a few yards from the
+parados of an enemy trench--and not a very deep one at that--for as he
+parted the brambles behind which he cowered, he could see the round
+forage caps and shaven heads in front of him.
+
+For an hour he lay there, watching and listening, hoping against hope
+that our fellows would deliver a frontal attack on the trench, which was
+thinly held.
+
+Once, indeed, the alarm was given; the enemy manned the fire-step, and
+the machine-gunners were on the _qui vive_; but after a while the
+threatened danger had evidently passed, for they stood down again,
+greatly relieved.
+
+Every now and then a British shell burst in the wood behind him, tearing
+off branches and great strips of bark, and bringing the slender trees
+down with a crash.
+
+"This won't do, Dennis Dashwood, my friend," he murmured. "The way is
+barred here. Let us see how far their trench extends. I'll swear that
+was a British cheer on the left." And he crawled back again deeper into
+the trees, whose shadows were now falling in long lines as the afternoon
+waned.
+
+Taking his bearings, he worked his way from shell hole to shell hole,
+now passing through a belt of timber comparatively unscathed, now
+encountering a stretch that had been heavily shelled, where the trees
+seemed to stand on their heads with their roots in the air.
+
+Always keeping his eyes on the sky, across which the clouds were
+drifting, he suddenly found himself on the edge of a rolling strip of
+open country sloping gradually down in what he imagined to be the
+direction of the British line; but to attempt to cross it would have
+been suicidal, for a rain of German shells burst furiously among the
+neglected fields.
+
+The wood, straggling out still eastward, seemed to indicate the route
+he must follow; and, without knowing it, he crossed the identical road
+our troops had taken earlier in the day when they went up to the capture
+of Bazentin village.
+
+If he could only pass the limit of the German barrage he had an idea
+that he would find himself among friends before long; and he was right,
+although the manner of his meeting them was very unexpected.
+
+He paused as the trees suddenly came to an end, and was astonished to
+see a riderless horse trotting towards him. His astonishment increased
+as he recognised the saddlery to be British. There was no other living
+creature in sight. A waving wheatfield, among which some scarlet poppies
+were growing, marked the skyline, beyond which the ground fell away, and
+far off in the distance across the wheat was the top of another wood.
+
+"That's a trooper's mount if ever I saw one," said Dennis. And as the
+mare, with nostrils distended and ears set forward, neighed loudly, he
+jumped out of his concealment and caught her rein.
+
+"Whoa, little lady--steady!" he said soothingly. "Ah, if you could only
+speak, and tell me where you have come from!"
+
+He had some difficulty in bringing her to a stand, for she was quivering
+from the effects of recent alarm; and he saw a red smear on the leather
+wallets, and the saddle flap on the near side had been cut by a bullet.
+
+As he placed his foot in the stirrup and swung himself up, rifle fire
+suddenly opened from somewhere beyond the ridge of the wheat. He was
+down again in an instant, and leading the mare cautiously forward
+through the corn.
+
+Craning his neck above the waving grain, he saw the white line of a
+trench farther down the slope, and beyond it, retiring at a hand gallop,
+a row of brown dots in extended order, which he knew to be British
+cavalry!
+
+A glance had shown him that there was a machine-gun in the trench, and
+his course was clear now. He must warn the horsemen if they did not know
+it already; and, turning the mare, he led her back out of sight of the
+enemy and, mounting, rode off in a wide detour before he put her to top
+speed across the open.
+
+The sergeant who had ridden her was lying on his back at the edge of the
+cornfield, and the greyness of his face told that he was dead.
+
+"Now, my beauty!" he cried, with a squeeze of his knees. And away he
+dashed, taking a barbed wire entanglement like a bird, and coming up
+with a little bunch of horsemen re-forming in a hollow.
+
+They were Dragoon Guards, and with them was a detachment of the Deccan
+Horse, whose lance-points and steel helmets twinkled in the sunshine,
+with here and there a turban among them.
+
+Horses and men betrayed their eagerness, for it was the first time since
+the dark days of 1914 that the cavalry had had their chance.
+
+"Hallo, sir! Who are you?" was their commander's greeting, as Dennis
+reined up beside him.
+
+"Lieutenant Dashwood, of the Reedshires, sir--just escaped from the
+German lines, thanks to the mare which I found running wild up yonder. I
+want to report a machine-gun in the corn up there."
+
+[Illustration: "Nothing could check the victorious rush"]
+
+"The dickens you do!" was the response; and the officer glanced at his
+men.
+
+Every eye was turned upon him, and the horses were pawing impatiently,
+shaking the foam from their bits.
+
+"It would be cruelty to animals to disappoint my chaps," he said, with
+an odd laugh. "This is our day out, you know, and we've waited a tidy
+while for it." And, raising his voice, he cried: "Come on, men! Slap
+through 'em--and hang the consequences!"
+
+A rapturous shout greeted his words, and the lance-points came down.
+
+The next moment Dennis found himself galloping beside the leader through
+the green corn-stalks. Grey figures sprang up in front; someone made a
+prod at him with a bayonet and missed. Mausers cracked out and a
+machine-gun began to bark, while here and there little knots of the
+enemy pressed in close together and prepared to receive cavalry, others
+flinging up their arms, crying: "Pity, Kamerad!"
+
+But nothing could check the victorious rush.
+
+When his revolver was empty, Dennis drew the sword attached to the
+saddle, and though he could not distinctly remember what happened, he
+saw that the blade was red from point to forte, when a parapet stopped
+the charge, and voices shouted "Retire!"
+
+They streamed back in any sort of order, laughing like schoolboys; and
+though a few saddles had been emptied, they carried thirty-two prisoners
+with them--men whose courage had failed at the sight of their glittering
+lance-points, with the driving force of the galloping steeds behind
+them.
+
+It had been short and sharp, perhaps a little foolish, but it had been a
+charge in the old style, and no one minded a cut or a slash when the
+squadron sergeant-majors formed them up again in the hollow from which
+they had started.
+
+"Great, eh?" said their leader, binding a silk handkerchief round his
+wrist.
+
+"Yes, I think it was worth it," laughed Dennis, tying the knots for him.
+
+"I should rather think it was. Didn't some poet Johnny say something
+about 'one crowded hour of glorious life'? And by gad, boy, if you only
+knew how we've been eating our hearts out to get a show! Now you can do
+as you like, but we're going to work up along that wood over yonder.
+That's Delville Wood, you know. You're miles from your crush."
+
+"Then I'll come with you if I may," responded Dennis, as the line opened
+out and pushed slowly forward on reconnaissance.
+
+They had not gone very far when machine-guns on their front suddenly
+opened, and this time the leader deemed discretion the better part of
+valour. Besides, an aeroplane flying very low came over their heads, and
+for some minutes they were uncertain whether it was an enemy craft or
+no, until it swooped above the hidden enemy among the corn and opened
+fire upon them.
+
+"By Jupiter, that's a good plucked 'un!" said the squadron commander, as
+the airman swooped for the fourth time before he flew away unscathed.
+
+But out of the ragged volley which the panic-stricken enemy fired at the
+plane one ball found its billet in the neck of Dennis's mare, and with
+a squeal and a bound that almost unseated him she tore madly northwards,
+in spite of all his efforts to stay her.
+
+In vain he hauled on the bit reins; the maddened creature was beyond all
+human control. The shout of warning from the men behind him died away.
+The trampled wood and the shell-torn grassland merged into a confused
+carpet of greeny white beneath him. She took an empty trench in her
+stride without checking perceptibly, until a crater yawned before them,
+into which she plunged, tried gamely to keep her feet, and finally
+rolled over and over to the bottom, flinging her rider clear as she fell
+dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+Under the German Eagle
+
+
+Dennis picked himself up with a sob of bitter disappointment, as he
+realised that the dead mare, which had carried him for a brief moment
+among his own people, had now landed him once more a good mile within
+the enemy's lines.
+
+His first act was to bury the sergeant's sword in the earth; his next to
+reload his Webley revolver; and then, spying a gap in the rim of the
+crater above him, he clambered up, to find himself on the floor of a
+German trench!
+
+Not twenty yards away men were busy with pick and shovel, making good
+the effect of the shell explosion on their parapet; and on the impulse
+of the moment he dived unseen into the mouth of a dug-out immediately in
+front of him.
+
+It was empty, but a brazier was burning under a cooking-pot, and on one
+side of the wall of the unspeakably filthy place hung a row of uniforms.
+
+"I shall never get out of it in these togs," he thought, looking
+ruefully at his own tattered rags; and with no very fixed idea of what
+to do or how to do it, he put on the first tunic he found, drew a pair
+of baggy slops over his own gaiters and breeches, and crammed a forage
+cap, with a red band and cockade, on to his head.
+
+Something bulky in the pocket of the tunic attracted his attention. It
+was a book, half filled with German shorthand notes, and on the fly-leaf
+was inscribed the name--"Carl Heft, 307th Reserve Battalion."
+
+Carl Heft was evidently a stenographer, and to the lad's horror he heard
+a harsh voice calling out the name.
+
+"Great Scott! What have I done now?" he thought. And as a
+black-whiskered sergeant loomed in the doorway of the dug-out, he
+clicked his heels together in the approved German fashion, and stood
+stolidly to attention.
+
+"What are you skulking here for, Heft?" demanded the sergeant angrily.
+"Come along, pig's head--the general wants you!"
+
+Dennis stepped briskly forward without a word, fastening the last button
+on the soiled tunic as he reached the open air.
+
+"They're either in a high state of nerves, or I must be something like
+the real Carl Heft," he thought. "Not very flattering to one's vanity,
+but it might be useful, who knows? What on earth is going to happen now?
+I'm perfectly certain to give the show away this time."
+
+No one paid any attention to him as he passed the busy groups of men in
+the firing bays, for everyone was working feverishly to repair the
+damage of the British shells; and after some twists and turns, the
+sergeant vanished into a covered communication at the entrance to which
+was planted a pennant, whose horizontal stripes of black, red and white
+denoted the headquarters of a division.
+
+Dennis could not restrain a smile of huge delight, for the flag told
+him that we must have penetrated a considerable distance into the enemy
+lines.
+
+The passage ended abruptly in a luxurious bomb-proof shelter, where
+electric light was burning. There was a carpet on the floor marked with
+the white chalk prints of many boot soles, and several comfortable
+arm-chairs told a story of loot. There were pictures on the walls, and
+various doorways indicated the existence of quite a suite of apartments.
+
+The place was full of the blue haze of cigar-smoke, and there were three
+officers standing there, all talking at once.
+
+As Dennis clicked his heels again and saluted with his back to the
+entrance, his heart beating sixteen to the dozen, one of the officers
+turned towards him and scowled sourly.
+
+"Zo! You have condescended to come at last, miserable hound!" he
+snarled--a bald-headed man with a general's shoulder-straps.
+
+"Take this message on to the machine in duplicate." And he pointed to a
+corner of the dug-out, where there was a telephone board and a stool;
+and on a Louis XV. table, with beautiful brass mountings, stood a
+typewriter.
+
+Dennis seated himself with alacrity, thanking his stars that he had
+learned typewriting in an odd moment, without any distinct idea of it
+ever being any good to him.
+
+And somehow at that moment there flashed through his mind the
+recollection of Ottilie von Dussel and the carbon in the pay-book, which
+had enabled her to escape with her notes.
+
+"Why not a third copy?" he thought. "If I ever get back to H.Q., who
+knows what use it might not be to us?"
+
+Opening the box beside the machine, he quickly inserted two carbons and
+three sheets of typing paper; and without a second glance at him the
+general began to dictate:
+
+"'To Colonel Schlutz, commanding the 307th Bavarian
+Battalion.--Immediately upon receipt of this order you are to entrain
+your men with the 89th Ersatz Battalion for transportation to Peronne.
+Five Prussian regiments will relieve you here to-night, to fill up the
+gap in our third line of defence. You are to be as sparing as possible
+of ammunition, both for the rifles and the machine-guns, as we are
+warned that the supply may be interrupted. You will use the bayonet on
+every opportunity.' Have you done?"
+
+"Yes, your excellency," replied "Carl Heft."
+
+"Then I will sign the first copy." And he unscrewed a fountain-pen as he
+spoke.
+
+Handing him the uppermost sheet, Dennis seized the opportunity to fold
+up the end one and slip it into his pocket; and he had just succeeded
+when the general added the last scrawl to his indecipherable signature.
+
+"Place this in an envelope," he said, "and deliver it yourself into the
+hands of the Oberst" (colonel).
+
+"And the second copy, your excellency?" volunteered the supposed Heft.
+
+"Place it upon the file as usual, and be off!"
+
+The three men resumed their excited conversation, to which he would
+dearly have loved to listen.
+
+But he filed the sheet, made an elaborate salute, and joined the
+sergeant, who was waiting in the communication.
+
+"Where are we going?" whispered the man, when they were out of earshot.
+
+"To Peronne," replied Dennis.
+
+"Good! I am not sorry!" grunted the sergeant. "I have had enough of
+these cursed Englanders! Let the Prussians come and see how they like
+it. It was their war."
+
+All doubt as to how he would find the battalion to which he was supposed
+to belong was resolved by the sergeant turning sharply to the right, and
+already Dennis began to feel a little easier in his mind.
+
+Obviously a man employed on the headquarters staff would to some extent
+lose touch with his comrades; and as the sergeant had not discovered
+him, he might very possibly pass unrecognised--unless, of course, the
+real Carl Heft turned up!
+
+Not that he was happy by any manner of means, for he did not see his way
+an inch beyond the broad back of the man he was following; and before he
+could formulate any plan, the sergeant saluted a stout officer with the
+words: "An order from his excellency, Herr Colonel!"
+
+The stout man snatched the paper, read it, and looked up at the sky,
+which was cloudy and lowering.
+
+"Very well," he said gravely. "Let the men fall in by companies at
+once." And he retired into his own dug-out, which was a few paces away,
+to secure some of his personal belongings.
+
+With incredible quickness the word was passed along the trench, and
+Dennis found himself shouldering up in a jostling line, staring at the
+sandbags in front of him, while sergeants shouted as a low murmur rolled
+along the trench. If only he could make one dash over those sandbags he
+might be free, but the thing was impossible; and, picking up a rifle, he
+resumed his place, wondering what Bob and Wetherby and the other fellows
+would say if he lived to tell them of this extraordinary adventure.
+
+A tall captain with a foxy face and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses forced
+his way along the front of the line, and the soldier on Dennis's left
+had the misfortune to leave his rifle-butt sticking out in advance of
+his feet.
+
+The captain tripped over it, ripped out an oath, and confronted the man.
+
+"Clumsy hound!" he hissed, dealing him a sounding box on the ears. "Let
+that teach you to be careful in the future." And he deliberately spat
+three times in the offender's face.
+
+Dennis's blood boiled at the coarse indignity, but the man stood rigid
+without the slightest sign of resentment; and when the beast had passed,
+he quietly wiped his face with his chalk-stained sleeve.
+
+A sharp command came down the line, everyone turned to his right, and
+away they shuffled--that grey-green battalion, with Dennis in the middle
+of them!
+
+For a long distance they stumbled mechanically through trenches and a
+labyrinth of mystifying communications, until the head of the column
+reached a light railway, where a train of open trucks was waiting.
+
+The sound of escaping steam mingled with the perpetual thunder of guns,
+and the train seemed to stretch away in never-ending perspective along a
+chalk cutting.
+
+Hoping against hope to the last minute that something would happen,
+almost praying in his heart that one of those whistling shells might
+fall in their midst and, tearing up the lines, so stop their going, he
+realised how lonely one can be even in the midst of a crowd.
+
+Already the leading companies were entraining, and a hum of voices rose
+as the non-commissioned officers drove the men like sheep, with their
+rifles held crosswise, now and then pounding some bungler in the ribs
+with the butt end.
+
+Even if he had been able to slip aside, he knew that to stay in that
+place was to court certain discovery; and now no alternative was left
+him, as half a dozen shouting sergeants cut off his retreat, and with a
+wildly beating heart Dennis Dashwood climbed up into the nearest truck
+with a herd of unwashed, unshaven enemies, packed tightly almost to
+suffocation.
+
+Then he grasped the side of the wagon as a great jolt ran along the
+train from end to end, and the couplings tightened.
+
+The 307th Reserve Battalion was on its way to fight the French, and
+Dennis was going with them!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+On the Part Dennis Played in the Recapture of Biaches
+
+
+It was growing dark now, and the rolling country through which they
+passed became rapidly blurred. The white excavations that here and there
+marked the presence of a trench were like a child's scribbling on a
+slate, if the occasional glow of a brazier had not told Dennis that
+those trenches were full of men, all waiting to repulse the great Allied
+push.
+
+He was happier now that the night was at hand, for it lessened his
+chances of being recognised; but most of all was he pleased that no one
+seemed to bother his head about him--no one entered into conversation.
+
+For all that his condition was one of cramped discomfort, apart from its
+peril. The tightly packed mass of human beings smelt offensively, for
+the German, even in peace time, is a dirty animal, not fond of washing
+himself.
+
+The train moved so slowly--it was one of half a dozen similar trains all
+using a single line--that he seriously contemplated trying to escape
+when it should become quite dark, only the obvious presence of large
+bodies of troops in every direction made him abandon the idea.
+
+He was conscious that a feeling of sullen discontent was present in the
+battalion.
+
+"'Tis a blessing we're not going to Verdun, or to Hindenburg's command,"
+said one of his neighbours in a low voice. "I myself have been spirited
+three times to Poland and back, until the very sight of a troop train
+gives me a feeling of sickness."
+
+"And I can go one better than that," grunted another voice. "I have been
+wounded five times, and they've patched me up and sent me back again,
+and my wife has died since I have been at the front. I am waiting for my
+sixth wound, and I hope it will find the heart."
+
+Dennis gathered from such and other scraps of conversation all around
+him that the little British cavalry dash had been witnessed from the
+trench they had just left, and that the spirits of the battalion had not
+been improved by the sight. They obeyed their orders like sheep, but
+they were sheep that had gone astray, and their confidence in their
+leaders' powers to lead them back into the path of victory was growing
+less every day.
+
+Stopping every now and then, and waiting sometimes a quarter of an hour
+at a stretch, the train took a terrible time to reach the vicinity of
+Peronne, although the distance was little more than ten miles, and
+Dennis found it difficult to keep his patience under control; but at
+last glimmering lights showed in the distance, lights that were
+reflected in wavy lines on the marshes that surrounded the town, and
+speculation became rife in the truck.
+
+"I wonder if they will put us in the barracks, or shall we go into
+billets?" said somebody in the darkness. "Billets, I hope. It would be
+heaven to sleep in a bed again with soft pillows, and to make the
+housewife clean one's things, and kick her if she did not do them
+properly."
+
+Everyone watched the lights with keen interest, but to their
+disappointment they passed away behind. The train went swaying and
+clinking on; and when it reached its destination at last, there was
+nothing to be seen but a wood of tall trees topping a ridge against the
+fitful moonlight.
+
+Somewhere beyond the ridge was the sound of gunfire again, striking
+strangely familiar on the ears that had almost lost it at times during
+the journey.
+
+"Get out!" shouted the sergeants. "Have you pigs gone to sleep? Fall in
+here beside the line!" And, extricating their legs with some difficulty,
+they scrambled over the edge of the trucks, dropped down, and sorted
+themselves somehow into sections and companies after much bullying and
+some blows struck.
+
+Dennis found himself between the repeatedly wounded man and the private
+who had been three times to Poland, and presently the battalion was
+formed up four deep and marched.
+
+As they swung off it began to rain.
+
+For an hour they continued their route, getting uncomfortably damp
+during the process; and then they were halted and told that they might
+lie down. Some of the men lit their pipes, and Dennis would have dearly
+loved a cigarette; but he was afraid that the odour might betray him, so
+he contented himself with curling up between his two new acquaintances
+and went to sleep.
+
+He had no plans; everything must depend upon chance and what the
+daylight showed him; and when the man on his right shook him and he rose
+to his feet, he saw that they were on the bank of a navigation canal.
+
+Behind them the mist was curling from the water meadows of Picardy, and
+along the river tall poplars lifted their heads above the fog.
+
+"Do you know what we are going to do, Kamerad?" he said to the
+much-wounded man.
+
+"Die, I hope," was the response.
+
+Circumstances had not unnaturally made him a pessimist.
+
+The roll was being called, but the fog was so thick that one could
+hardly see the sergeant and his notebook; and keeping his lips tight,
+Dennis was overlooked, and nobody noticed it.
+
+It so happened that the real Carl Heft belonged to another company, and
+was marked absent on duty at Divisional Headquarters.
+
+There was a bread distribution, and Dennis got his share. It was black,
+but distinctly palatable, and was better than the coffee that was served
+out later on.
+
+He knew the masquerade could not last for ever, and at kit inspection
+the moment he had been dreading came.
+
+Luckily for him the sergeant was a good-humoured fellow, although he
+opened his eyes with a start when he saw that the boyish-looking private
+in front of him had no belts.
+
+"Where is your equipment?" he said.
+
+"I left it behind me, sergeant," replied Dennis. "We were mustered so
+quickly that I had no time to go to our dug-out, which was at the other
+end of the trench close to the big crater."
+
+"Ha! We have cause to remember that crater, is it not so?" said the
+sergeant gravely. "Eighteen men and two officers it cost us, and that
+was why I was appointed to this company three days ago. What is your
+name?"
+
+"Carl Heft, sergeant."
+
+"Carl Heft? Were you not attached to headquarters? What are you doing
+here?"
+
+Dennis lowered his voice.
+
+"It is like this, sergeant," he said. "I want to be a soldier, not a
+clerk. I have not fired a shot at the enemy for two months, and when the
+order came to fall in I could not resist it."
+
+The sergeant raised his eyebrows, and then a smile crept into his face.
+
+"My boy, you are in the way to get into trouble, but never mind; I like
+your spirit, and I will see what I can do for you. Can you throw bombs?"
+
+"Ja."
+
+"Very well, you shall join the bombers; and presently I will bring you a
+bag of sweetmeats of the sort the French do not find to their liking."
+
+His nod implied that there was already a secret understanding between
+them, and as he passed on Dennis saw possibilities looming in the
+future. A bomber acted more or less independently, and an avenue of
+escape was opened up to him.
+
+All that July day, however, the battalion remained on the bank of the
+canal resting; and during the afternoon the mist, which had never
+entirely cleared away, returned, and a thick grey fog muffled the
+marshlands.
+
+True to his promise, the sergeant had provided him with a sheaf of
+grenades with copper rods to be fired from the rifle and a collar of
+racket bombs, and Dennis sprang smartly to his feet when the word was
+given to fall in.
+
+"We are going to attack in ten minutes," said the sergeant. "There are
+two places--the village of Biaches over yonder, and the hill of La
+Maisonette more to the left. The French carried them on the 9th; they
+will be ours again to-night. The fog is the very thing for us; nothing
+could be better. Our battalion will take Biaches, and it will be hot
+work."
+
+"What are the troops we shall have to face, sergeant?" said Dennis.
+
+"Senegalese, I am told--Black Devils, who stick at nothing--and some
+Territorials, mostly old men and fathers of families; but we shall see."
+
+"Yes, we shall see!" murmured Dennis, as the command "_Links
+schliessen!_" was given, and the battalion touched in to its left.
+
+Hoarse voices bellowed out of the thick mist, and the 307th Reserve
+Battalion, after marching for a short distance along the river, filed
+across a lock bridge and plunged into the woods.
+
+Smoking was forbidden, and strict silence enjoined. Other battalions had
+come from Peronne by way of the Faubourg de Paris, and there were
+several halts to establish communication.
+
+Overhead the fog was tinged with a rosy hue, but round about the men all
+was grey, and one could see very little farther than the spectral
+tree-trunks in one's immediate vicinity.
+
+The foxy-faced captain with the gold-rimmed glasses marched behind his
+company, and in his hand he carried a brutal whip, a veritable
+cat-o'-nine-tails. When a man stumbled over some hidden tree root he
+would hiss out "Pig!" or "Clumsy hound!" And Dennis felt his heart leap
+as he heard himself addressed.
+
+"You with the bombs there--what are you doing with those brown boots?"
+said the captain.
+
+"They belong to an English prisoner," said Dennis, with perfect truth.
+
+"That is no excuse," said the officer sternly. "You will report yourself
+after this affair is over for daring to go into action improperly
+dressed. What is your name?"
+
+"Carl Heft, Herr Captain," said Dennis, over his shoulder.
+
+"Very well, I shall remember it," snarled the bully. And, changing his
+tone, he shouted "Vorwaerts!" as a shot rang out ahead of them, and they
+heard the French sentries give the alarm.
+
+Instantly the hoarse roll of drums rose from the advancing battalions,
+and everyone quickened his pace. The wood thinned out, and, bursting
+from the trees, the 307th Reserve Battalion flung themselves with the
+bayonet upon the ruined village of Biaches.
+
+There was a belfry tower still standing, and the chimney of a
+factory--all the rest was a heap of shattered dwelling's round which the
+greeny-grey wave surged with a roar.
+
+In front of them figures in blue-grey ran scurrying, and were joined by
+others, and the rifles began to speak.
+
+"This is all very well," thought Dennis, finding himself between two
+fires. "I had better lie doggo for a bit while they get on with it."
+And, stepping inside the ruins of a small shop, he flung himself down on
+a heap of bricks in the posture of a wounded man.
+
+It would have been madness to do otherwise, for the machine-guns were
+raining bullets everywhere; and, trembling with excitement, he lay
+unnoticed for a good half-hour, until a hoarse cheer in German told him
+that Biaches had passed into the enemy's hands. At almost the same
+moment the modern chateau, surrounded by its park of fine trees on the
+hill of La Maisonette, had been retaken by the Germans from Peronne.
+
+But Dennis smiled quietly to himself.
+
+"My chance will come when the counter-attack begins," he thought. "Those
+brave Frenchmen don't take this sort of thing lying down."
+
+As the firing died away cheer after cheer rent the air, followed by a
+babel of voices in German as every man worked hard to consolidate the
+position; and as the dusk drew down Dennis thrust his rifle grenades
+inside the broken chimney of the little shop, and ventured out into the
+open air.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+The Exciting Adventures of "Carl Heft"
+
+
+The strain of lying there hour after hour had become unbearable. The
+idea had also struck him that now was his opportunity to glean some
+information, if possible, about the lie of the land. There would be warm
+work, he knew, and that before long, for the French "75's" were barking
+in the distance, and shells were falling about Biaches and upon the hill
+away to the left.
+
+Field wagons from Peronne had clattered past his hiding-place, carrying
+reels of barbed wire, and if he were fortunate he might be able to slip
+through the advanced German trench before it was hedged in by that
+difficult barricade. Bodies were lying thickly strewn among the brick
+heaps, and one little alley down which he tried to pass was piled up six
+deep with corpses.
+
+"I wish I could get on a listening post," he thought to himself. "That
+would give me a fine chance." And just then he collided with somebody,
+who shook him by the shoulder and swore lustily; and he recognised the
+voice of the good-natured sergeant.
+
+"You should look where you are going, Kamerad," said the man. "And, by
+the way, where _are_ you going?"
+
+"To the front trench, sergeant," replied Dennis, speaking at a venture.
+"I have just secured a fresh supply of racket bombs."
+
+"What, you are Carl Heft, surely! Good lad, I did not see you in the
+melee, but I have no doubt you acquitted yourself well. I also am going
+to the front trench, to our company's sector. We will go together."
+
+Dennis clenched his teeth, but he knew that he must put a good face on
+the matter.
+
+"With pleasure, sergeant," he made answer. And the pair walked along
+side by side. "Have we lost many?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes, a good few, and I believe it was their own fault. To tell you the
+truth, Heft, the battalion is not in a good state; they were left too
+long over there in the front line without being relieved. Our company in
+particular is very homesick, and can you wonder when you look at the
+captain they have?"
+
+"True, he is a great brute. You will let me say that to you, sergeant?"
+replied Dennis, anxious to draw the man out.
+
+"Have no fear; I shall not report you," said his companion, with a
+friendly squeeze of the arm. "He is not only a great brute, but he is an
+arrant coward into the bargain. The men do not mind being cuffed and
+bullied, because they are used to it; but when they see their officer
+never expose himself, and always shouting from the rear 'Get on, you
+pigs!' they don't like it. But, Himmel!"--and he chuckled--"our
+engineers have surpassed themselves to-night. I have never seen wire so
+strong during the war. Our whole front is covered with it; not so much
+as a rat could get through."
+
+"That is good," assented his listener, mentally feeling how bad it was
+for himself, and that, short of a miracle, he must stay where he was
+until daylight.
+
+"I have just been making a report to Colonel Schlutz," went on the
+sergeant. "Now you and I will go to a snug little dug-out I have taken
+possession of. I have a nice piece of sausage which we will share, and
+what do you think?--four bottles of lager beer! What do you think of
+that?"
+
+"I say that you are a good comrade, sergeant--the best I have met for
+many a long day," said Dennis, with a warmth he really felt. This man
+was evidently a good fellow at heart, an exception to the general run of
+German non-commissioned officers. And yet it might come about that he
+would have to kill him, in spite of that nice piece of sausage and those
+four bottles!
+
+The sergeant had called it a snug little dug-out, that square hole in
+the chalk, with earth piled on a piece of corrugated iron by way of
+roof, and great rats peering at them as they sat with their knees
+touching by the light of a piece of candle.
+
+But to Dennis it was a palace, hiding him, as it did, from inquisitive
+eyes.
+
+"Surely it is written that I shall win through," he thought to himself.
+"Everything seems to point to it."
+
+A shell burst close to them and rattled the corrugated iron, bringing a
+shower of earth down in front of the dug-out door.
+
+"I will go and see if that has done any damage," said the sergeant. "You
+may stay here until the alarm is given. Your post will be in that bay in
+front of us. Why don't you go to sleep? I should if I were not an
+_Unteroffizier_."
+
+He came back again in a few minutes, to find that Dennis had taken him
+at his word, and was watching the rats fearlessly searching for crumbs
+between his very feet.
+
+"A corporal and five men," said the sergeant laconically. "And a
+splinter has broken the Herr Captain's glasses. Oh, he is in a rare
+fury!"
+
+Another shell burst farther away behind the dug-out, and Dennis wondered
+whether the French gunners were lengthening their fuses preparatory to
+the counter-attack.
+
+Mist still hung about the ground, and the moon gave it a very ghostly
+effect.
+
+Peeping through the door from the dark dug-out--for a rat had suddenly
+pounced upon the lighted candle and made off with it--he saw the
+look-out motionless and alert behind the sandbagged parapet, and,
+sitting on the fire-step, the men of No. 6 Company huddled up. Some of
+them were asleep with their heads on their comrades' shoulders. The man
+who had been five times wounded bent forward, grasping one wrist with
+the other hand, and staring into vacancy; perhaps he was thinking of his
+dead wife!
+
+Without warning a terrific fire suddenly opened on the village; and
+Dennis, used as he was to the British bombardment, sat dazed in his
+cubby-hole as shell after shell burst in such quick succession that the
+explosions seemed like the continuous fire of some giant machine-gun. He
+put his hands to his ears and crouched there, bowed, like one awaiting
+inevitable doom, wondering how it fared with the company outside in the
+trench and with the rest of the battalion.
+
+For a quarter of an hour the inferno continued, and then ceased as
+suddenly as it had begun; and in the lull that followed he rose to his
+feet, knowing that the dug-out would not be a safe place in which to
+await the counter-attack which would come on the heels of that terrible
+devastation.
+
+In the doorway he stumbled over something soft, and recognised the
+upturned face of the good-natured sergeant! The lower part of him from
+the waist downwards had been blown away; and, stooping down, Dennis
+gently disengaged the Iron Cross from the breast of his tunic.
+
+"Poor chap!" he muttered. "This will be something for dear little
+Billy." And then he looked round.
+
+The trench existed no longer as a trench, and terrified, trembling men
+crawled from among the tumbled sandbags, and out of nooks and corners
+where they had lain.
+
+The barbed wire looked like a parrot's cage that had been run over by a
+motor-car, and everyone saw that the position was untenable.
+
+So No. 6 Company, or all that was left of it, hurried towards a wood
+between Biaches and the hill of La Maisonette, and no sooner had they
+cleared the broken trench than the first wave of the French poured over
+it.
+
+The ferret-faced German captain had made his way back to headquarters
+just before the bombardment began. He had a cousin on the staff, from
+whom he hoped to borrow a spare pair of spectacles to replace his own.
+
+He secured the glasses, and found that he could not have arrived at a
+better moment, for a message had just been received from the Divisional
+General!
+
+"You are the very man we want," said Colonel Schlutz. "There is a spy in
+No. 6 Company masquerading under the name of Carl Heft. It is very
+serious and altogether extraordinary. The real Carl Heft was wounded by
+a shell splinter, and has turned up again over there. The spy actually
+took down the general's order for our move, and he must be discovered at
+once. He is young, and he wears brown boots."
+
+"Himmel! I know the fellow!" exclaimed the captain. "He shall be
+arrested within the next twenty minutes!"
+
+But the French fire began, and it was impossible to move; and they
+cowered in their temporary shelter, expecting death.
+
+"Where is the company?" demanded its captain when the 75's ceased, and
+he encountered a wounded man dragging himself to the rear.
+
+"The survivors have retired into yonder wood, Herr Captain. May I beg a
+draught of water from your bottle?"
+
+"You will get some farther back; I have no time now," was the brutal
+response. And, grinning with secret satisfaction, he ran in the
+direction of the tree-tops, hugely elated as every stride carried him
+farther away from the ruined village, against which he knew the
+counter-attack would be delivered.
+
+As soon as he judged himself to be out of danger he skulked among the
+trees for more than an hour. He was in no hurry to find his men;
+besides, the sky was lightening, and he preferred to wait until
+daylight.
+
+During that hour the fury of combat raged among the brick heaps of
+Biaches and upon the hill of La Maisonette, and when morning came the
+French had recovered both positions.
+
+He could hear them cheering, and was hoping that all was over, when the
+crackle of rifle fire commenced from the western edge of the wood, and
+he knew that he could delay no longer. His smile gave place to the
+blustering frown that No. 6 Company knew so well, and, striding forward,
+he became aware from the hoarse roar of voices that something serious
+was taking place.
+
+The growing daylight had revealed to the French that the enemy was
+holding the wood in some strength; and Dennis, who had spied a long line
+of blue-painted helmets in the distance, was stealthily working his way
+forward from tree to tree, intent on making a bolt towards them, when
+that same roar fell upon his ear.
+
+Looking round, he saw a double company of the battalion that had
+entrained with them forming up for an advance with the bayonet. In sixty
+seconds they would go charging across the open strip of ground which he
+had decided upon as his own line of escape, and their right flank would
+pass within a dozen yards of a white-walled cottage that had been
+unroofed by a French shell.
+
+He looked at the solid, desperate mass, and then at the thin, struggling
+French line feeling its way cautiously forward; and a daring resolve
+came to him as the drums began to roll and he heard the command
+"Vorwaerts!"
+
+Safe from observation in the ruined hovel, he unslung the festoon of
+racket bombs, and with all the power of his strong young arm hurled them
+one after another over the top of the wall among the advancing Germans.
+
+Through the aperture where the window had been he marked the effect of
+the explosions.
+
+Officers brandished their swords, but the unexpectedness of the bomb
+attack produced panic in the broken ranks, which lost their formation
+and retired precipitately into the cover of the trees.
+
+But something closer at hand gave Dennis furiously to think!
+
+Led by an officer, half a dozen men ran pluckily forward towards the
+hovel, but Dennis did not wait for their arrival. Already he was bolting
+for his life for the shelter of a big shell crater, where he meant to
+strip off his hated disguise and let the uniform of a British officer
+act as a passport to the rapidly advancing French.
+
+As he reached the lip of the huge hole his laugh of triumph died away,
+for before he could check himself he had slid down among the remnants of
+No. 6 Company, huddled together, leaderless, demoralised.
+
+At the same moment a shell burst on the other side of the crater,
+flinging an iron rain into the already terrified mob, and half burying
+a man who had been descending into the pit.
+
+It was the ferret-faced captain who picked himself up, white as a sheet
+of paper, and then gave a guttural cry of surprise. Drawing his revolver
+he strode forward and stopped in front of Dennis, covering him with the
+weapon.
+
+"I am looking for you, Carl Heft," he laughed hoarsely. "Possibly you
+know why they want you at headquarters!"
+
+No one knew exactly how it came about, but there was a sharp report, the
+captain staggered back and fell, shot through the heart; and "Carl Heft"
+stood like some avenging spirit, looking down at him, with the smoking
+Webley in his hand.
+
+"Kamerads!" he cried to the throng, "there lies the cause of half our
+troubles! That beast would have driven us on again while he slunk in the
+rear. Look at this!" And he pointed to the man who had already been
+wounded five times. A fragment of the shell had just carried away his
+right hand. "The game is up; we have the right to choose whether we die
+like sheep, or live to rejoin our families. You can do as you like, but
+I am going to surrender. I have had enough!"
+
+Very erect, he swung round and began to walk up the side of the crater
+in the direction of the French, and fifty voices cried: "He is right; we
+have all had enough!" And they sprang forward in his wake, every man
+with his hands raised above his head.
+
+Dennis had planted one foot on the firm ground when a skewer-like
+bayonet passed within an inch of his ear; and with a disappointed roar
+its owner flung a pair of terrible arms about him, and the two rolled
+backwards into the hole again.
+
+"Now you had better say your prayers, Boche!" growled his assailant, as
+a hairy hand closed on his throat; "I am going to kill you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+An Old Friend--and a Bitter Enemy!
+
+
+The terrified German herd sprang aside as the two figures hurtled down
+through the middle of them. Arms were raised sky-high, and quavering
+voices clamoured "Mercy, Kamerad--we surrender!" but never a finger was
+lifted to help Dennis. He lay on his back looking into the bloodshot
+eyes of his old acquaintance, Aristide Puzzeau, who, having dropped his
+rifle as they rolled, was searching grimly for his knife.
+
+"Puzzeau, you fool!" gurgled the lad, as the huge paw of the Herculean
+_poilu_ tightened its pressure on his throat.
+
+"Eh, what!" exclaimed the Alsatian. "Who are you, then?" And the
+terrible grip relaxed ever so slightly.
+
+"Look again," was the reply, and Dennis managed to tear Carl Heft's grey
+tunic open wide enough to reveal the khaki shirt and tie of an English
+officer.
+
+"_Zut alors!_" cried the man, greatly puzzled; "still I do not know
+you!"
+
+It was hardly to be wondered at, for the face of his captive was
+encrusted with chalky mud and badly wanted a shave.
+
+"How goes it with the brave Commandant you and I carried out of action
+that night we silenced the machine-gun? Do you remember now, thickhead?"
+
+"_Mon Dieu!_" exclaimed Aristide Puzzeau, "Mon Lieutenant, you have
+saved me from a great crime! But why will you keep such bad company? Let
+us embrace!" And he kissed him on both cheeks.
+
+"And you have saved me from a most unpleasant death, my brave fellow,"
+said Dennis, rubbing his throat; "and now you must save these wretched
+beasts who are my prisoners."
+
+The corporal clapped a hand to his head like one in a dream as the men
+of his company, whom he had outstripped, reached the edge of the crater
+above them.
+
+"Halt, my boys!" roared the corporal with the full strength of his
+leathern lungs, but he made a wry face and scowled savagely.
+
+"If I had my way, mon Lieutenant, we would take no prisoners, hands up
+or hands down," he said; "we are too soft-hearted in this war."
+
+The howl of disappointment from the French Territorials mingled with the
+piteous whine of the terrified Germans, and before he scrambled after
+Puzzeau out of the hole, Dennis rid himself of the grey tunic and
+slacks, and stood revealed in his proper character.
+
+"_Ma foi!_" said the captain of the company, as he shook hands heartily
+with him, "you have indeed had a marvellous escape, my friend, but there
+is firing in the wood over yonder; I shall leave twelve men to escort
+this scum to our lines, and you will no doubt wish to proceed with
+them--unless you care to renew your acquaintance with your old comrades,
+the----"
+
+"A thousand thanks, mon Capitaine," laughed Dennis, remembering the
+German dispatch in the pocket of his tunic; "my duty calls me elsewhere.
+Good-bye and good luck!"
+
+As he turned to go, and the foremost wave of the Territorials was
+already racing towards the trees, whence came the sharp crackle of
+musketry, a hand was laid upon his shoulder, and he saw Puzzeau looking
+at him with an expression of profound remorse on his black-bearded face.
+
+"One never knows," said Puzzeau in a deep bass whisper. "I want to hear
+you say again that you have forgiven me. Also, our old Commandant, who,
+thank the stars, is recovering, charged me that if ever you and I met I
+was to tell you----"
+
+A dozen voices shouting "Corporal!" interrupted his speech, and with a
+despairing shrug of his huge shoulders the honest fellow ran after his
+men, leaving the Commandant's message undelivered.
+
+At the edge of the wood he turned and waved his powerful arm, and as he
+vanished, Dennis, still rubbing his throat, stepped out briskly beside
+the German prisoners, who numbered eighty all told.
+
+The big powerful brutes could have eaten their little guards, and Dennis
+with them, but they shambled along almost at a run, perfectly
+demoralised.
+
+A short tramp across some ploughland, where brigades of active little
+men in blue-painted helmets were waiting, brought the prisoners to the
+French trenches, where Dennis had to run the gauntlet of half a dozen
+very wide awake but very polite officers, who passed him still farther
+to the rear.
+
+He was long leagues from the British Army away to the north of the
+Somme, and was puzzling how on earth he was to join it, when an
+automobile dashed from a side road, hooting imperiously for him to get
+out of the way.
+
+"Confound you!" said Dennis to himself as he jumped rather ignominiously
+on to the bank, but the car stopped, and the driver rose in his seat,
+looking back at him.
+
+"No, monsieur--it is not possible! It cannot be the Lieutenant Dashwood,
+surely!" called out the young Frenchman, and instantly forgetting his
+annoyance, Dennis ran towards the car.
+
+"What, Martique, my dear fellow! Will wonders never cease? It is indeed
+the Lieutenant Dashwood, as you call him, and in no end of a hat, too!
+How can I get back to our lines?"
+
+The good-looking young Frenchman, perhaps a little thinner and more
+fine-drawn since the time when he and Dennis first met, laughed aloud
+with delight.
+
+"_Cher ami_, nothing is simpler. Jump in. I am going straight to
+Fricourt, if that will help you."
+
+"Great Scott! I left my Governor not a mile from there the day before
+yesterday!" shouted Dennis, vaulting into the motor-car. "How are things
+with us?"
+
+"Magnificent!" laughed Martique; "but what are you doing down here?"
+
+"Just escaped from the German lines, old chap," was the reply; and as
+the brave little car raced away at a really dangerous speed he recounted
+his latest adventure, to the delight and envy of his old acquaintance.
+
+By good roads and bad roads and no roads at all Martique found his way
+across country with unerring sagacity, until they found themselves at a
+level crossing a few miles behind the British advanced line.
+
+A long hospital train was waiting in a siding for the next convoy of
+motor ambulances which should arrive from the various dressing-stations.
+
+The little village, not much knocked about by shell-fire, was occupied
+by a reserve brigade, and as the cap crossed the rails Martique shut off
+his engines.
+
+"I thought so," he said, getting out and looking at one of his back
+tyres, "we punctured half a mile back on the road, and I must put on a
+spare wheel. She wants some water too, and an oil up, so I am afraid you
+will have to cool your heels for the next quarter of an hour. No," he
+added, as Dennis prepared to help him, "I do all my own repairs--much
+rather. Thanks, yes, I will have a cigarette," and Martique slipped off
+his coat.
+
+It was good to be back among his own people once more, and with a smile
+of immense satisfaction on his face Dennis strolled along the little
+street, taking everything in.
+
+There were Army Service Corps motor wagons on supply, and an infantry
+platoon came swinging round the corner, looking very bronzed and fit.
+From their black buttons he saw that they belonged to a rifle battalion
+in the reserve.
+
+An orderly was holding horses outside a dirty little estaminet, and,
+riding his machine on the cobbled sidewalk, a motor dispatch-rider
+threaded his way with marvellous skill among the little groups of
+villagers and fatigue parties.
+
+Where a lane crossed the street at right angles he saw the white line of
+a trench close to the backs of the houses, and walked towards it.
+
+At the corner of the trench a Red Cross nurse was in the act of posting
+a letter in the field collection box. There were nurses from the waiting
+ambulance train among the crowd in the street.
+
+After a long gaze over the country beyond the trench he returned to
+retrace his steps, when something in the attitude of the nurse at the
+pillar-box attracted his attention. Her back was towards him, and she
+was peering round the angle in a furtive kind of way.
+
+He stood still, and then he noticed that the door of the collecting box
+was open, and that while she peered along the deserted trench she was
+gathering the letters and dropping them into a receptacle beneath her
+white apron.
+
+"I didn't know they had women letter carriers out here," thought Dennis;
+"possibly they take them down on the hospital train for quickness'
+sake--and yet----"
+
+An indefinable suspicion followed on the heels of his surmise as the
+girl turned her head, and in an instant he recognised the red hair and
+dark eyes of the waitress in the London restaurant.
+
+The rumble of the motor lorries at the cross-roads deadened the noise of
+his approach as he came softly up behind her, and then his suspicions
+were confirmed beyond any possibility of doubt.
+
+"Got you at last, Frau von Dussel!" he exclaimed, seizing her arm; and
+with a low cry she dropped a bunch of letters on to the ground, thrust
+her hand into the breast of her apron, and drew out a Browning pistol.
+
+But he was too quick for her, and his fingers closed like a vice on her
+wrist.
+
+"Brute, you are hurting me!" she wailed.
+
+"Not half so much as you have hurt some people I could mention!" he
+retorted hotly. "You are my prisoner, you vixen!"
+
+For a moment the big dark eyes blazed unutterable hatred, and then she
+laughed aloud.
+
+The unrestrained laugh of a German woman is the index to the German
+character. It is one of the most horribly unmusical sounds on earth.
+
+"You shall never take me alive!" she hissed.
+
+"And there I beg to differ; I _have_ taken you, though how long you will
+remain alive will rest with the higher powers."
+
+He kicked the Browning which she had dropped aside with his foot, and
+for an instant she struggled with a violence that surprised him, giving
+vent to a piercing shriek which brought several soldiers running to the
+spot. Among them was one of the Military Police.
+
+"Your handcuffs, my man!" said Dennis, "this is one of the most
+dangerous German spies at large. I accept all responsibility for my
+action, but I am going to take her to our Brigade Headquarters for
+further identification."
+
+A Red Cross nurse is a very sacred personality to the British soldier,
+but Dennis's voice carried conviction with it, although the artful jade
+made a bold bid for liberty.
+
+She ceased her struggles and said in a plaintive tone without a trace of
+foreign accent, "It is a wicked mistake. I am a Welsh woman, and my name
+is Margaret Jones. The Sister on the train will bear witness for me."
+
+"I have yet to learn," said Dennis, fully aware of the renewed look of
+doubt in the faces of the men, "that a Red Cross nurse has any right to
+pilfer a field letter-box, or that she usually carries a Browning pistol
+for that purpose. Besides----" And at a venture he suddenly transferred
+his grip from her left wrist to the nurse's headgear she wore.
+
+"There you are!" he said, sternly triumphant, as the splendidly made red
+wig came away and revealed the black hair beneath it. "Those handcuffs!"
+And they closed with a snap on the wrists of the German spy.
+
+Martique was sounding his horn as a signal that he was ready, but he was
+not prepared for the sight that greeted his eyes as Dennis and the M.P.
+came up to the car with their prisoner.
+
+"You might give me a bit of a chit, sir, to show it's all right," said
+the policeman, when they had lifted her into the front seat, pale and
+rigid now. "And if you take my advice," he whispered, "you'll keep an
+eye on her; she can wriggle like an eel, and if she grabs the
+steering-wheel when you're moving, she'll break all your bloomin' necks
+for you."
+
+"I'll watch it," said Dennis with a smile.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the telephone dug-out at Brigade Headquarters a man was speaking into
+the receiver, and the man at the other end of the wire out in a certain
+sector of the firing line smiled as he recognised the voice.
+
+"That's you, Pater, isn't it?" said Bob.
+
+"Yes," replied Brigadier-General Dashwood. "Any news yet?"
+
+"None at all, sir," said Bob, his face changing; "the balloon's been
+found pretty well riddled, with the observer dead in the basket. The
+Highlanders took the wood this morning, you know, but there's no sign of
+Dennis. We can only hope for the best, Pater, and that is, that he is a
+prisoner. Eh? What did you say?--I can't hear you--are you there?"
+
+"Hold the wire a moment," came the response, delivered in a startled
+voice; and Bob Dashwood sighed as he rested his elbow on his knee and
+looked about him at the appalling destruction of the place.
+
+The Great Push was still continuing without a check, and the Reedshires
+had again made good with the other regiments of the Brigade.
+
+Somebody came up to him for orders, and he gave them, and somebody else
+arrived with a request for his presence in another part of the new
+position.
+
+"You must wait a moment; I am talking to the Brigadier," he said, and
+then feeling the pause had been a long one, he turned to the receiver
+again.
+
+"Hallo! Hallo! Are you there, Pater?" he queried, and the reply that
+reached his ear was a startling one.
+
+"Yes, I'm here, and who do you think is here too? The cat with nine
+lives has turned up again, and, by Jupiter! Bob, he's brought another
+cat with him. Dennis is with me without a scratch, and he's captured
+Ottilie von Dussel, red-haired and red-handed!"
+
+"Oh, good egg!" shouted Major Dashwood, commanding the 2/12th Battalion
+of the Royal Reedshire Regiment. "Where did he find her? How did he do
+it?"
+
+"Gently, my dear Robert," said the Brigadier; "he will be with you in a
+couple of hours, and then he'll tell you the whole thing."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+Under the Enemy Wall
+
+
+With the coming of dusk came Dennis Dashwood back to the old battalion,
+just at roll-call. The last quarter of a mile he performed at the
+double, and burst into the fire-trench like a bolt from the blue.
+
+When his brother officers shook hands with him--for all were delighted
+at his return--an irresistible murmur of welcome rippled along A
+Company, and as Hawke's name was called at the moment, that worthy
+replied with a ringing yell.
+
+"Report yourself at office to-morrow," said the lieutenant in charge of
+No. 2 Platoon, and Harry Hawke so far forgot himself as to answer,
+"Right-o, Governor!" at the same time lifting his trench helmet on to
+the point of his bayonet and waving it frantically.
+
+An enemy sniper promptly sent it spinning on to the top of the parados.
+
+"You shall do four days' field punishment, Hawke!" said the outraged
+officer.
+
+"Forty days if you like, sir--I don't care what becomes of me. 'Ere's
+Mr. Dashwood back agin--that's good enough!"
+
+No. 2 Platoon, carried away by the infectious enthusiasm, joined in the
+shout.
+
+"Another word," cried the lieutenant, "and No. 2 Platoon shall go back
+into the reserve!" And amid the dead silence that followed that awful
+threat, Dennis reached them, lifting a warning finger.
+
+"Steady, men," he said. "Thank you for the welcome, but it's not done in
+the best platoons, you know. How are you, Littlewood?"
+
+"Top-hole, old chap! Where have you been, you beggar? You've managed to
+completely demoralise the company."
+
+"You shall have a narrative of my expedition all highly coloured, by and
+by," laughed Dennis. "I've had no end of a time, and I've brought back
+the news that we've got the Prussians in front of us by way of a
+change."
+
+"The dickens we have!" said Littlewood. "Any chance of their
+counter-attacking?"
+
+"That's the idea, old man. I'm going on listening-post to-night, and I
+shouldn't wonder if we get it pretty hot. Bob tells me you've had it in
+the neck whilst I've been away."
+
+"By Jove, yes!" said Littlewood gravely, "seventy-five casualties last
+night. Spencer's gone, young Fitzhugh, Blennerhasset, and Bowles, all
+killed. There wasn't enough of Bowles left to bury even--nothing but one
+boot with a foot in it--high explosive, you know, and he was only
+married two days before he came out!"
+
+"Rotten hard lines!" said Dennis, passing along the front of the
+platoon, and stopping before Harry Hawke.
+
+"You and Tiddler are 'for it' to-night, remember," he said, and the two
+men grinned delightedly. "Ah, Wetherby! Going strong?"
+
+"A1," replied the boy, as the parade was dismissed, "but I say, we've
+got beastly quarters this time. Look here," and he pointed to a mere
+dint in the side of the trench with a piece of sacking by way of
+protection from the vulgar gaze.
+
+"Hum! we'll alter that to-morrow--it's certainly not palatial," said
+Dennis. "I suppose there's none of my clobber come up?"
+
+"Oh yes, it's all here; I saw to that," said young Wetherby, blushing
+like a girl, as he pointed to a haversack and a brown valise which
+contained his friend's campaigning kit.
+
+"What a good little chap you are!" exclaimed Dennis.
+
+"Not at all. I fagged for you at Harrow, and somehow I had the idea
+you'd turn up," and young Wetherby blushed again.
+
+He was a pretty pink-faced boy, who wrote extremely sweet poetry in his
+odd moments.
+
+"Well, I'm going to have a shave," said Dennis; "and I say, Wetherby,
+you might grope in the kit-bag and put a refill in that spare torch of
+mine. I've got an idea it may be useful to-night. Oh, hang this rain!"
+
+The steady drizzle which had set in as the light faded had turned to a
+heavy, pitiless downpour.
+
+"What a night!" murmured Harry Hawke, as he lay on his stomach in two
+inches of water some twenty yards in front of the trench with his pal,
+Tiddler, beside him. "An' me on the peg to-morrer!"
+
+"Bet you there won't be no show," said Tiddler.
+
+"Don't you make too sure of that, Cocky. I'll put a shilling on Mr.
+Dashwood both ways, and he's got a notion that something's up."
+
+They both looked round, as a slim figure in a thin mackintosh crawled up
+alongside.
+
+"Hear anything, Hawke?" said Dennis.
+
+"Not so far, sir, but it's bloomin' difficult to 'ear to-night--the rain
+makes such a patter on the chalk, and it's fillin' up the shell 'oles a
+fair knock-art."
+
+"Well now, look here," said Dennis impressively, "I'm going to shove
+along, and I want you both to listen with your eyes. You know the Morse
+code, and if you see anything straight in front of you, pass the word
+back to Mr. Wetherby on the parapet behind."
+
+"But you ain't goin' alone, sir! You'll let one of us come wiv yer!"
+
+"I am going alone, Hawke. I marked the lie of the ground before the
+light went, and it's as easy as walking down Piccadilly. If I can't find
+out what I want I shall come back; anyhow, look and listen!" And he
+glided off into the rain and was lost to view long before the slither of
+his footsteps had died away.
+
+Two hundred yards separated friend and foe; two hundred yards of
+pulverised No Man's Land, now soaked like a sponge. About midway
+stretched an unfinished German trench, from which our guns had driven
+the enemy before they had had time to complete it. It was little more
+than a wet shallow ditch now, with a line of sandbags on the British
+side, and when Dennis had crossed it he continued his perilous course on
+hands and knees.
+
+It was a zigzag course to avoid the thirty or forty shell holes that
+our guns had made, and as he wormed himself forward the darkness of the
+night and the strange silence of the enemy batteries on that sector
+confirmed him more than ever in his conviction that something was in
+preparation.
+
+The trench he was approaching was of quite unusual strength, with a
+formidable redoubt making a salient in one place, and as he reached the
+foot of it he knew that a wall of sandbags nearly fifteen feet high
+towered above his head.
+
+He had seen that before the light went. Now, in the pitchy darkness of
+the drenching rain, as he crouched at the foot of the wall he could hear
+the hoarse murmur of many voices behind it, as it seemed to him.
+
+He looked back across that dreary No Man's Land, and then again at the
+barrier in front of him, and, carrying his life in his hand as he well
+knew, began to worm his way up the face of the sandbags.
+
+The actual climb presented little difficulty to an athlete; the danger
+was if a rocket should soar into the sky and some sharp eye discover
+him.
+
+But the desire to learn something of the enemy's movements from their
+conversation deadened all sense of risk, until he had reached the last
+row of sandbags but one, when, without any warning, a group of heads
+popped up over the parapet, and five officers with night glasses
+examined the British line.
+
+He could have reached out and taken the first one by the collar, so
+close was he, and clinging there, ready to drop and bolt for it, he
+listened with all his ears.
+
+Secure from all eavesdropping--for who would venture across that No
+Man's Land on such a night?--the five men talked freely, with all the
+blatant self-assumption of Prussian sabre rattlers, and the wet wind
+that brought their words to him brought also the smell of their cigars.
+
+But if the listener's pulse quickened at their conversation, his heart
+beat faster still at the conclusion of it.
+
+"By the way, Von Dussel," said one of them, "how comes it that you are
+going in with us to-night? Surely you are not abandoning the role that
+you have filled with such success?" And Dennis recognised the short
+laugh that preluded the reply.
+
+"Not at all, Herr Colonel," said the nearest of the five, "but I have
+had no word to-day from my wife, so I know it is of no use penetrating
+their lines. Besides, I have an old grudge against the regiment in front
+of us--a quarrel I hope to settle to-night."
+
+"You may rest quite easy that you will do so," laughed the colonel; "our
+five battalions of Prussians are going to do what their Bavarian and
+Saxon comrades failed to accomplish. Let me see, it is General
+Dashwood's Brigade that is before us here, _nicht wahr?_"
+
+"Yes," chortled Von Dussel; "and it is with the Dashwood family that I
+hope to renew an interrupted acquaintance, the pig hounds!"
+
+Dennis had never found it necessary to place such a powerful restraint
+upon himself as he did at that moment, and it was perhaps a lucky thing
+that the five men withdrew as the spy spoke.
+
+His own clutch on the sandbags had been gradually relaxing, and his
+feet were so cramped that he regained the ground with difficulty.
+
+For several seconds he paused irresolute, figuring out how long it would
+take him to crawl back to the British trench, and then, suddenly coming
+to a very hazardous decision, he sat down on his heels with his back
+against the German sandbags.
+
+Spreading the skirt of his saturated mackintosh over his knees, and
+holding the Orilux torch which young Wetherby had recharged for him
+between his ankles, he breathed a silent prayer to Heaven, and pressed
+the button.
+
+Before he had started he had pasted a strip of paper over the electric
+bulb to reduce the light, leaving only a tiny aperture in the centre of
+it.
+
+But the two men on listening-post in the distance caught the gleam
+distinctly, and read off the Morse code message in whispered chorus
+without a mistake.
+
+"Wetherby," twinkled the tiny speck from the foot of the enemy trench,
+"find Bob at once, and tell him that five Prussian battalions will
+attack in half an hour. They are to form up on this side of the line of
+sandbags midway between us, and the signal for their advance will be the
+turning on of their searchlights. If he'll move our chaps forward to
+your side of the sandbags and lie doggo, the brutes will get the
+surprise of their lives, for they're cocksure of a walk-over. Tell Bob
+they're attacking with emptied magazines, and it will be bayonet
+work--that'll fetch him."
+
+The listening-post waited eagerly for more, but the Orilux did not show
+again, and when Hawke crawled back to find Mr. Wetherby, his heart sank
+into his muddy boots, for the officer boy was not there.
+
+Meanwhile Dennis had gathered himself together for the return journey.
+
+It seemed an hour since the voices above him had ceased, and a thousand
+wild doubts chased one another through his brain, but he had not left
+the shelter of the wall three yards when he glided back to it again, and
+wormed himself into a crevice at its base.
+
+Earth had come dribbling from the top of the parapet, and following the
+earth panting men scrambling down the sandbags until they reached the
+ground. One trod upon his shoulder as he lay there, but the lad never
+moved, and whispered words all about him told that the enemy was
+mustering for the assault.
+
+At the end of a few minutes the soft squelch of heavy boots died away in
+the direction of the British line, and Dennis Dashwood swallowed rapidly
+and felt sick. He could not see his hand in front of him, and the rain
+continued to hiss without cessation, falling into a neighbouring shell
+hole with an ever-increasing plop.
+
+Had they seen his signal and understood it? was his agonised thought, as
+eight powerful searchlights were suddenly turned on to the ground in
+front.
+
+Everything was now as light as day, and he saw the Prussian battalions
+lying on their faces, packed like sardines in a tin, behind those
+sandbags that concealed them from his own people.
+
+The iron plates on their boot soles gleamed like silver, and not a man
+of them moved. Then, without warning, a hurricane of German shells
+plumped into the trench where he had left his beloved battalion, raking
+it from end to end.
+
+No need for those waiting bayonets now, was his soul-rending thought, as
+he saw the trench disappear in a holocaust of flame and smoke. He had
+acted for the best, but he ought to have gone back with his news, for,
+if the battalion was where he had left it, then the 2/12th Royal
+Reedshires must have been wiped off the face of the earth!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+With Dashwood's Brigade
+
+
+High overhead three red rockets burst in the sky, and the German guns
+ceased at the signal.
+
+In the dazzling gleam of the concentrated searchlights, Dennis saw a
+Prussian officer raise himself cautiously to peer across the sandbags,
+and reconnoitre the obliterated British trench.
+
+His eyes reached the edge of the parapet, but no farther, and in the
+white figure that leapt up into view and shot him dead, Dennis
+recognised young Wetherby.
+
+Like magic the whole line of sandbags became alive with other white
+figures pouring in one crashing volley at point-blank range, and with a
+full-throated British cheer the Reedshires vaulted over the wet ditch
+and hurled themselves upon the astonished Prussians with the bayonet.
+
+Taken completely by surprise, the first line of lying-down men died
+practically on its knees, and before the second line could press a
+trigger the battalion was into them.
+
+There was no quarter asked or given. The Reedshires were out to kill,
+and they killed. In the black shadow of the German redoubt Dennis
+Dashwood watched one of the finest fights of the war, every fibre of his
+being itching to be in it. But between him and that raving, raging
+tumult stretched the tightly packed files of the enemy, thrown into
+panic-stricken confusion by the unexpectedness of the attack, and after
+a mad few minutes, in spite of the efforts of their officers to hold
+them up, the vaunted Prussians broke and streamed back to the protection
+of the strong trench.
+
+In a flash of time Dennis saw many things: the slanting rain on our
+helmets, the wisp of fog that rolled lazily between him and that Homeric
+combat. He recognised his brother, half a head taller than anybody else,
+thrusting and hewing like a hero of old, and Littlewood working a Lewis
+gun on the top of the sandbags, the shots just clearing our own fellows'
+heads.
+
+From an embrasure in the angle of the salient above him the hateful
+hammering of a German machine-gun began. The brutes were playing into
+the melee, regardless of their own men, in a frantic endeavour to stop
+the Reedshires' rush, and as A Company recoiled before that stream of
+bullets, Dennis drew his revolver.
+
+Already one of the Prussian battalions had swarmed over into their own
+trench, paying no heed to the solitary figure in the black shadow as
+they passed him, and, marking the position of the gun, Dennis scrambled
+up in their wake with the agility of a cat, and darted into the gun
+emplacement single-handed, just as young Wetherby and Hawke saw him and
+gave a shout of recognition.
+
+The Germans were chained to the piece, and as he shot the last man of
+the gun crew, his brother officer overtook him.
+
+At his heels A Company had arrived with a heartening roar, and jumped
+down on to the crowded mass in the trench below them, a perfect forest
+of arms going up as the demoralised runaways bellowed for mercy.
+
+"Bravo, Hawke! Go it, boys!" shouted Dennis, almost overturning
+Wetherby.
+
+"My hat!" exclaimed the boy, as they gripped each other to save falling
+into the tightly packed trench below them, "that was no end of a stunt
+of yours. If we hadn't shifted forward we should have been killed to a
+man. Hadn't left our position five minutes before their shells found
+us!"
+
+"And I never knew you'd moved," said Dennis. "Look at those chaps
+bolting into that dug-out there! Give 'em a couple of bombs!"
+
+Young Wetherby hurled two Mills grenades into an opening in the wall of
+the German parados, and the double explosion was followed by a chorus of
+piercing screams. As for the trench, it was piled up with bodies five
+and six deep, for the Prussians were sturdy men and fought like wild
+cats.
+
+But already the Highland battalion on the Reedshires' left had come up.
+Other battalions away to the east were making good, and the brigade was
+carrying all before it.
+
+"Forward!" rang the whistles, and, leaving the supports to consolidate,
+the leading battalions cleared the parados and pushed on.
+
+It was a wild flounder over the sodden ground, three hundred yards of
+it, with shell-holes where the rain took you up to your armpits, but the
+Reedshires had tasted the glories of conquest, and there was no holding
+them back, if, indeed, anyone had wished to do so.
+
+"Next stop, Berlin!" yelled Harry Hawke, tripping up as the words left
+his mouth, and sliding twice his own length to the edge of a crump-hole,
+into which another inch would have plunged him head foremost.
+
+"Stick it, Den!" shouted a voice in his ear, and he saw that it was his
+brother Bob, a red smear on his cheek and a light in his eyes Dennis had
+only seen there on the football field.
+
+"Come on, old chap!" yelled the C.O., "every fifty yards is worth a
+monarch's ransom to Haig. Let's see if we can't carry that wood yonder
+while their searchlights last"; and he pointed to the ridge beyond the
+captured trench. "I'd like to know who silenced that machine-gun just
+now. I suppose half a dozen men will claim it to-morrow, while the real
+chap may be dead."
+
+"Oh no, he isn't," laughed a voice.
+
+"Shut your head, young Wetherby, unless you want it punched!" was
+Dennis's angry retort, but his fellow subaltern only laughed the louder.
+
+"It was Dennis," said the boy; "he went in alone and shot the whole lot,
+Major!"
+
+Bob Dashwood opened his lips to speak, but made a mental note instead,
+for the searchlights had been suddenly withdrawn, and were now
+concentrated in one blinding blaze about fifty yards in front of the
+charging brigade.
+
+The German gunners also had shortened their fuses, transferring their
+barrage to the spot, where they poured in a hail of shells through which
+no man might try to pass and live.
+
+"Halt there--hang you--halt!" roared the Major commanding; "don't you
+see we've reached our limit for to-night?"
+
+The whistles shrilled amid the red and yellow shell bursts, and the
+victory-maddened men, realising the impossible, even before the word
+reached them, pulled up and looked to their right.
+
+"Dig in--dig in!" shouted somebody.
+
+"No, fall back, you fools!" bellowed a stentorian sergeant, and, checked
+in full career, they fell back by companies in any sort of order under a
+rain of shrapnel.
+
+Bob and his brother, still side by side, were retiring after them at a
+brisk walk, when a man of Dennis's section passed them at the double,
+going in the direction of the redoubt which they had carried, and they
+saw him run up alongside Hawke, who was a few yards ahead of them.
+
+The crash of the shells in their rear drowned Hawke's exclamation, but
+they saw him stop and turn, look under his hand at the barrage, and dart
+back towards it like a hare.
+
+"Hawke, stop! Are you mad?" cried Bob, making a grab at him as he went
+by, but Hawke's face was white and set, and he paid no heed as they
+watched him curiously.
+
+"I know!" shouted Dennis in his brother's ear, "his chum's hit. Look at
+that, Bob--there's devotion for you! Those two fellows are the greatest
+toughs in the regiment, and they're inseparables."
+
+They saw the little Cockney private fling himself down on his knees
+beside a fallen man, tear with both hands at the front of his tunic, and
+then fling his arms up above his head with a tragic gesture of despair.
+Then he slung his rifle, and, stooping again, dragged the figure up,
+hoisted him across his shoulder, and came staggering back under the
+heavy load, the heroic group telling blackly out against the
+searchlights' white glare.
+
+A shell burst thirty feet way, but the little Cockney came doggedly on,
+and they waited for him, even retracing their steps to meet him.
+
+"What's up, Hawke?" shouted Dennis; "do you want us to give you a hand?"
+And he was about to add something else, but the look of piteous entreaty
+in Hawke's eyes checked the words.
+
+"I'd rather take him in myself, sir," he said hoarsely; "it's true what
+they says in the papers abart making a man a new face in the 'orspitals,
+ain't it? They'll be able to patch 'im up, don't you think, sir?"
+
+Dennis and Bob exchanged a look, for the savage earnestness hit them
+both hard from its very hopelessness.
+
+Tiddler's visage was nothing but a hideous pulp.
+
+And they knew in a moment that poor Tiddler had already passed beyond
+all human aid; Major Dashwood made another mental note, to be placed
+upon official record later on--if he himself should be spared!
+
+At the mouth of a communication Hawke paused to readjust his burden. The
+limp figure was somehow slipping from his grasp, and, seeing at last, he
+realised that his errand had been in vain.
+
+As he stood looking down at the crumpled thing that a few minutes before
+had been a living, moving part of the great war machine, Dennis laid a
+hand on his shoulder.
+
+"He was a good plucked 'un, Hawke, and you did your best for him," said
+Dennis; "now you've got to keep a stiff upper lip."
+
+"Yus, I know, sir," was the husky reply, as something rolled glistening
+down the dirty cheek. "'Im and me 'listed the same day, and Tiddler was
+the only pal I ever 'ad."
+
+He turned a fierce and flashing eye towards the enemy barrage; an eye
+that positively flamed vengeance to come, and then he pointed with his
+hand.
+
+"See that, sir?" he cried hoarsely, "ain't that Mr. Wetherby?"
+
+A long way out across the wet slope, where the raging Reedshires had
+taken heavy toll of the flying foe before the German gunners had drawn
+that barrier of fire across the way, a figure was crawling back towards
+them, dragging one useless leg behind him.
+
+A very wicked piece of shrapnel had carried young Wetherby's knee-pan
+away, and, lodging in the joint, gave the sufferer excruciating agony
+every time he knocked it. More than once he almost fainted, and each
+time the wounded knee jarred against the rough ground young Wetherby
+groaned through his clenched teeth.
+
+"Why don't the stretcher bearers come out?" he moaned.
+
+He could see the strong enemy trench from which they had made their
+final advance, and knew by the bustle there that active preparations
+were being made to hold it should the Prussians counter-attack again,
+which was not unlikely.
+
+The enemy searchlights still concentrated upon it, and the barrage never
+ceased to boom and burst behind him with useless expenditure of shells
+which had already served their object.
+
+No doubt behind that barrage the discomfited Prussian battalions were
+being reorganised, but young Wetherby had no thought of them, all his
+energies were directed to getting in as soon as possible that the doctor
+might ease his pain.
+
+An unusually heavy burst of shrapnel cut up the ground round about him
+as he gained the crest of a bank, where three dead men lay piled one on
+top of the other, and, taking advantage of that gruesome cover, a
+Prussian officer was crouching on his face. Wetherby paused a moment as
+he came alongside him.
+
+"Have you any water in your bottle, Kamerad?" said the man in excellent
+English.
+
+"Yes, here you are," replied the boy, unshipping it and handing it to
+him; "are you badly hurt?"
+
+The Prussian emptied the bottle before he made answer. "Both legs
+broken," he said; "might be worse, might be better."
+
+The man's cynical laugh jarred on young Wetherby's finer feelings,
+shaken as he was by the acute agony he was suffering, and he dragged
+himself on again, the cold sweat standing in great beads on his
+forehead.
+
+He had scarcely placed twice his own length between himself and the
+Prussian officer when the brute, who was shamming wounded all the time,
+levelled his revolver at the tortured boy, and lodged two blunt-nosed
+bullets in his back!
+
+"Great Scott! Did you see that?" shouted Dennis.
+
+"Yus, not 'arf!" And he and Hawke jumped off the mark together, racing
+neck and neck out into the open, heedless of a withering fire from some
+machine-guns that began to play on the slope.
+
+The German cowered flat as a pancake, his head turned sideways, watching
+them as they came.
+
+"Had they seen?" he thought, "or was this some senseless freak of those
+mad-brained English?"
+
+The next moment any doubt in his mind vanished, all the blood left the
+scoundrel's face, and, starting to his knees, he covered the foremost
+figure with his weapon. Twice he raised it, staring hard, and a feeling
+as of an electric shock passed through Dennis Dashwood as the pair
+recognised each other.
+
+Then they fired their revolvers simultaneously, but the cylinders of
+both were empty, and into the livid face of Von Dussel there came an
+extraordinary look of mingled doubt and terror.
+
+"But you are dead!" he gasped, as the memory of the mined brewery came
+back to him.
+
+"Not the first mistake you have made, you infernal scoundrel!" shouted
+Dennis; and clubbing his revolver, he smote him fair and square between
+the eyes, dropping the spy like a stone.
+
+"Stop, Hawke, I want that man alive!" panted the avenger, "he's got
+enough to go on with"; and, checking the remorseless bayonet with which
+Hawke was about to run him through, Dennis turned and knelt beside the
+body of his chum.
+
+Little Wetherby was lying on his side, but his eyes brightened as he saw
+who it was.
+
+"Go back, Dashwood," said the boy, speaking with difficulty, "it's no
+use, I'm done."
+
+"Nonsense, old chap; we're going to get you in between us," said Dennis.
+"Hawke and I can carry you."
+
+"No, no--do go back, there's a dear fellow," gurgled the boy, a rush of
+blood from his lungs almost choking him. "But I say, Dashwood, there is
+one thing you might do for me. You'll find a writing pad in my kit-bag,
+the Mater would like to have it."
+
+"She shall, Wetherby. But let's have a look at you, and see if we can
+stop the haemorrhage before we pick you up. Where did that fiend get
+you?"
+
+"Through the heart," replied the dying boy. "Please let me lie here, and
+tell the Mater I don't regret it, except for her sake; say that I
+wouldn't have missed this for anything. I've only known what it was to
+live since I came out here!" And then, with his hand clasped in his
+friend's hand, Cuthbert Wetherby knew what it was to die, and passed
+into the great beyond with a fearless smile on his young lips.
+
+Dennis had seen so many men "go out" in the few brief weeks of his
+fighting that he had deemed himself case-hardened against anything, but
+now he had to look away, a little ashamed that Hawke should see the
+spasm that came into his face.
+
+"You are not the only one that's lost a pal to-night, Hawke," he said in
+a choking voice; "now give me a hand with this Prussian hog."
+
+As Hawke jumped up with alacrity he gave a yell of positive anguish.
+"Why didn't you let me tickle 'im in the ribs, sir? He's gone!" he
+howled.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+The Rewards of Valour
+
+
+Von Dussel's head must have been as hard as his black heart, for he had
+recovered his senses at the moment Wetherby died, and a mighty gust of
+passion swept over Dennis Dashwood's soul.
+
+"He can't be far off, and I'll find him if I die for it. Get you back to
+cover, Hawke."
+
+"Is it likely?" cried his companion, giving vent to his overcharged
+feelings by a very ugly laugh, which changed into a howl of delight as a
+bullet grazed the tip of his ear. "There he is, sir, hiding in that
+there crater!--and he's some shot too--look out!"
+
+Von Dussel, armed with a rifle--there were scores lying about littering
+the ground--lodged his second bullet in the leather case that held
+Dennis's field glasses, and, instantly dividing, the two ran a zigzag
+course towards the crater as they saw his head dodging down.
+
+It was not twenty yards away, but as they reached it, one on either
+flank, they saw their prey scramble out of the opposite side and bolt
+like a hare across the open ground beyond.
+
+There were two shell-holes in the distance, for one of which he was
+obviously making, but just as Hawke dropped to his knee and covered him
+with his rifle, the German searchlights went out, leaving everything
+pitch dark.
+
+"That's done us, Hawke," cried Dennis bitterly, as the marksman of A
+Company fired a random shot.
+
+"'Arf a mo, sir. If I didn't wing 'im, I'll bet I've 'eaded 'im orf to
+the right"; and he sent a brace of bullets pinging into the darkness.
+
+"Lor lumme!" he chuckled the next moment, "there ain't no fool like an
+Allemong. What did he want to fire back for?" And he wiped a great gout
+of the chalky mud that had splashed up into his face as a Mauser bullet
+struck the ground between them. "'E's in that 'ole to the right--that's
+where we'll find 'im, sure as my name's 'Arry 'Awke. Come on, sir, don't
+make a sound!"
+
+With the switching off of the searchlights the enemy barrage had ceased,
+and the deafening crash of the German shells was succeeded by a weird
+silence.
+
+The distant boom of the British firing seemed very far off and almost
+insignificant in that sudden transition, and recharging his empty
+revolver as he went forward, Dennis wormed himself cautiously to the
+edge of the crump-hole, where he hoped to find his enemy.
+
+It was still pouring in torrents as his chin came on a level with the
+ragged rim, but the fierce hope died out of his heart.
+
+The shell-hole was an old one, the rain had filled it almost to the
+brim, and he ground his teeth, knowing that the spy had outwitted them
+after all. He knew now that, in spite of Hawke's shots, the villain with
+the charmed life must have chanced his arm and kept straight on between
+the two shell-holes, and would even then be nearing the German position,
+gloating over his success.
+
+"I have missed the chance of my lifetime," he thought bitterly, when a
+star shell burst directly above him, lighting up the rain pool like a
+sheet of silver.
+
+He had already picked himself up, and was clearing his throat to give
+his unseen companion a hail, when a warning whistle came from the
+opposite edge of the hole, and he saw Hawke's head and shoulders and a
+pointing arm.
+
+Among the splashing raindrops in the centre of the pool a white face
+parted the water.
+
+It was Von Dussel come up to breathe, and as the face sank out of sight
+again, Dennis dived in after it, regardless of all consequences.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Major Dashwood and the Brigadier, stumbling forward along the German
+communication, met three men carrying something between them, and the
+third man had the fingers of his left hand twined in a tight clutch on
+the collar of one of the bearers.
+
+"What is all this, Dennis?" demanded the Brigadier, who had been an
+indignant witness of that strange chase, without in the least
+understanding what it meant.
+
+"Little Wetherby dead, pater, and Von Dussel very much alive, and none
+the worse for a cold bath," came the answer; "the court martial that
+sits on his wife to-morrow will be able to kill two birds with one
+stone."
+
+"My wife!" exclaimed the spy. "Ottilie in your hands!"
+
+"Yes, you brute, we've bagged the pair of you," said Dennis, with a grim
+laugh; "it's been Von Dussel versus Dashwood for a long time, but the
+Dashwoods have 'won out' in the end."
+
+"I do not understand," faltered Von Dussel in a choking voice, and then
+instantly recovering his true Prussian bluster: "I demand the right
+treatment accorded to every officer who has the misfortune to be taken
+prisoner. I have high connections in my country, and I am willing to
+give you my parole."
+
+"Parole for a cowardly murderer!" interrupted Dennis hotly. "You are
+talking through the back of your neck, and you know it. Besides, apart
+from all that, there is only one end for spies."
+
+Then all the bluster went out of the cur, and he shivered like a man
+with ague as they took him away under escort into a safe place.
+
+In the rear of that formidable trench, which they had taken with such
+gallantry, the Reedshires buried their dead. There were not many of
+them, considering the fury of the fight, but the little row of white
+wood crosses told of good comrades gone for ever, and had a grim
+significance all its own.
+
+Harry Hawke stood in the rain, leaning on his rifle before one of the
+crosses, reading the simple inscription which the armourer-sergeant had
+painted for him on the rough wood: "Jim Tiddler, 2/12th R.R.R., aged 21.
+He was a good pal."
+
+"Yus, he was a good pal," muttered Hawke, "one of the best, and so was
+Mr. Wetherby. I'm glad old Tiddler's planted alongside 'im."
+
+His wicked little eye ranged away to another chalk mound which had no
+name upon it. It stood apart from the rest, and was close to that angle
+of the German salient where Dennis had crouched on the night that all
+the survivors would remember as long as they remembered anything. An
+ugly red smear on the sandbags at the head of the mound had not been
+washed away by the rain.
+
+Two spies had been buried there, after a court martial held in a
+dug-out, and one of them had been a woman, who had tried to brazen it
+out in spite of the overwhelming evidence produced against them.
+Threats, tears, piteous appeals for mercy, Ottilie's big black eyes, all
+had proved in vain.
+
+Then she had swallowed poison, but the tabloid she tried to pass to her
+husband was intercepted, and the volley of ball cartridge that dealt
+stern justice in the grey light of a wet afternoon had rid our lines of
+a deadly and insidious peril that had cost us many lives.
+
+"Shooting was too good for 'im, the dirty dog," said Private Hawke, as
+he lit a woodbine and turned away.
+
+And that was the requiem of the Von Dussels!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The weather brightened and the Great Push still rolled on. Day by day
+the shell dumps grew to incredible size, and the British guns never
+ceased their remorseless preparations. Names hitherto unknown to British
+readers became household words to those at home, who, reading between
+the lines, knew that at last our great and glorious armies were on the
+high road to victory.
+
+It was not to be yet, but it was coming, slowly but surely, and Mrs.
+Dashwood, in the old home with the green lawn sloping to the water's
+edge, wished a thousand times that she had been born a man that she
+might have taken her share in the great achievement.
+
+A month passed, and to the house in Regent's Park came a letter, written
+on a folding-table by the light of a candle stuck in a bottle, and in
+the writer's ears as he scrawled the lines was the tramp of the relief
+filing past his dug-out door.
+
+    "Darling little Mater," wrote Dennis, "I'm going to give you a
+    surprise, unless the _Gazette's_ out already. You've heard me
+    speak of Private Hawke of ours, the crack shot of my company,
+    well, he and I have got three days' leave for a special reason.
+    The King is going to present Hawke with the V.C., which he has
+    deserved over and over again, at Buckingham Palace next
+    Thursday. Incidentally I might mention that I am also to
+    receive it on the same day. Also the Military Cross, likewise
+    the D.S.O. It makes me positively blush as I sit here, and I
+    really believe I'm the most fortunate beggar in the whole of
+    our crush, if not in the Army.
+
+    "Don't make any mistake, dear, it has been sheer luck on my
+    part. I've just happened to be there at the right moment. Some
+    beggars who have done far more than I have have got
+    nothing--but there it is.
+
+    "By the way, the French have been awfully decent to me.
+    Somehow, Joffre got to know about a little scrap I had when the
+    French attacked a German trench, and I helped to carry out the
+    commandant, who was badly wounded. They have given me their
+    Military Medal for that, and for inducing a German company to
+    surrender I've got the Croix de Guerre, their newest
+    decoration, you know; and I'll be hanged, but on top of it all
+    the Cross of the Legion of Honour has come along for a little
+    air raid into the Black Forest with a charming
+    _pilote-aviateur_ named Laval. It was really only a sort of joy
+    ride, but I managed to bring Laval back after he was hit. Thank
+    goodness, they tell me he's almost well again, and I must say I
+    like the French awfully.
+
+    "I never told you anything about that business, because I was
+    afraid you might think I was risking my neck unnecessarily, but
+    you know, dear, one's got to do it on a job like this. And oh,
+    I say, what a pig I am, gassing about myself before I tell you
+    that dear old Bob is coming over with us to receive the M.C.
+    It's an awfully pretty thing with silver-and-blue
+    ribbon--and--though mind you, mater, this is not to be put
+    about yet in case it doesn't come off--but there's a strong
+    rumour round here that the Governor's to have a division! Haig
+    was awfully delighted at the way he handled that business about
+    a month ago--I mean when we downed your old friend Van Drissel.
+    Hope you are not running any more refugees, eh, what? Now be at
+    the station to meet us, and if you like to kiss Hawke, you may.
+    He's saved my life more than once."
+
+Mrs. Dashwood closed her eyes, and her lips moved in silent prayer. She
+was thanking Heaven that her husband and sons were "making good" in the
+hour of her country's triumph!
+
+
+
+
+  PRINTED BY
+  CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE,
+  LONDON, E.C.4
+  F40.617
+
+
+
+
+    +---------------------------------------------------+
+    | Transcriber's Note:                               |
+    |                                                   |
+    | Typographical errors corrected in the text:       |
+    |                                                   |
+    | Page  22  Right-oh changed to Right-o             |
+    | Page  26  Right-oh changed to Right-o             |
+    | Page  55  Right-oh changed to Right-o             |
+    | Page 180  reconnaisance changed to reconnaissance |
+    +---------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of With Haig on the Somme, by D. H. Parry
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