ng shells from both sides fired at other targets. But
scores of other shells are most decidedly meant for them. In the
midst of a lacework of puffs of shrapnel-bursts, which slowly spread in
the still air, from the German anti-aircraft guns, they dip and rise and
turn in skilful dodging. At length, one retires for good; probably his
plane-cloth has become too much like a sieve from shrapnel-
fragments to remain aloft longer.

Come down, Herr Taube, come down where we can have a shot at
you I Get in the game! You can see better at the altitude of the British
airmen! But Herr Taube always stays high--the Br'er Fox of the air. Of
course, it was not so exciting as the pictures that artists draw, but it
was real.

Every kind of shell was being fired, low and high velocity, small and
large calibre. One-two-three-four in as quick succession as the roll of
a drum, four German shells burst in line up in the region where we
have made ourselves masters of the German trench. British shells
responded.

"Ours again!"

But I had already ducked before I spoke, as you might if a pellet of
steel weighing a couple of hundred pounds, going at the rate of a
thousand yards a second or more, passed within a few yards of your
head--ducked to find myself looking into the face of a soldier who was
smiling. The smile was not scornful, but it was at least amused at the
expense of the sightseer who had dodged one of our own shells. In
addition to the respirators in case of a possible gas attack, supplied
by that staff officer with a twinkle in his eye, we needed a steel rod
fastened to the back of our necks and running down our spinal
columns in order to preserve our dignity.

We were witnessing what is called the "artillery preparation for an
infantry attack," which was to try to recover that two hundred yards of
trench from the British. Only the Germans did not limit their attention
to the lost trench. It was hottest there around the bend of our line,
from our view-point; for there they must maul the trench into formless
debris and cut the barbed wire in front of it before the charge was
made.

"They touch up all the trenches in the neighbourhood to keep us
guessing," said the officer, "before they make their final
concentration. So it's pretty thick around this part."

"Which might include the communication trench?"

"Certainly. This makes a good line shot. No doubt they will spare us a
few when they think it is our turn. We do the sa