traverse, or they may be as troublesome to you as to the enemy."

With bombs bursting in their faces, the Germans who are not put out
of action are blinded and stunned. In that moment when they are off
guard, the aggressors leap around the corner.

"And then?"

"Stick 'em, sir!" said the matter-of-fact sergeant. "Yes, the cold steel is
best. And do it first! As Mr. MacPherson said, it's very important to do
it first."

It has been found that something short is handy for this kind of work.
In such cramped quarters--a ditch six feet deep and from two to three
feet broad--the rifle is an awkward length to permit of prompt and
skilful use of the bayonet.

"Yes, sir, you can mix it up better with something handy--to think that
British soldiers would come to fighting like assassins!" said the
sergeant. "You must be spry on such occasions. It's no time for wool-
gathering."

Not a smile from him or the subaltern all the time. They were the kind
you would like to have along in a tight corner, whether you had to fight
with knives, fists, or seventeen-inch howitzers.

The sergeant took us into the storehouse where he kept his supply of
bombs.

"What if a German shell should strike your storehouse?" I asked.

"Then, sir, I expect that most of the bombs would be exploded.
Bombs are very peculiar in their habits. What do you think, sir?"

It was no trouble to show stock, as clerks at the stores say. He
brought forth all the different kinds of bombs that British ingenuity had
invented--but no, not all invented. These would mount into the
thousands. Every British inventor who knows anything about
explosives has tried his hand at a new kind of bomb. One means all
the kinds which the British War Office has considered worth a
practice test. The spectator was allowed to handle each one as much
as he pleased. There had been occasions, that boyish Scottish
subaltern told me, when the men who were examining the products of
British ingenuity--well, the subaltern had sandy hair, too, which
heightened the effect of his blue eyes.

There were yellow and green and blue and black and striped bombs;
egg-shaped, barrel-shaped, conical, and concave bombs; bombs that
were exploded by pulling a string and by pressing a button--all these
to be thrown by hand, without mentioning grenades and other larger
varieties to be thrown by mechanical means, which would have made
a Chinese warrior of Confucius' time or a Roman legionary feel at
home