o get even, but all the time sitting
there in the water. Finally he came to his senses, and jumping up
hurriedly he made a bee-line for the ladder and began to climb. I
said, "Where the devil are you going to, Skinny?" He called back: "Do
you think I'm such a bleedin' fool as to stay down here and get buried
alive? I don't intend to be buried till I'm dead." He urged me to go
with him, but I figured that the Germans would expect one torpedo to do
the trick and they wouldn't be likely to waste a second one, so instead
of going out I went back along the tunnel to see if any damage had been
done. I found a little loose earth knocked down--that was all the harm
it did, except to give us a good scare.

Our work went steadily on, and gradually our backs got like iron and we
didn't mind the everlasting bending. In our twenty-four hours at rest
billets we had lots of fun. Mac and I were the only Canadians in the
bunch, and 'the' English Tommy used us "white." About this time there
was great excitement over some German spies that were supposed to be in
our lines, and there was a reward offered of 20 pounds and fourteen
days' leave to any one who would succeed in capturing one of these
spies. We were all warned to keep a sharp lookout for them, and our
own officers were forbidden to go around through the lines without an
escort. Several spies were caught masquerading in our uniforms and of
course they were shot; a spy stands very little show of getting off if
once he is caught, and it is a brave man's job in France. Of course we
have our men behind the German lines, and I don't suppose any one will
ever know all that our secret service has done for us there.

We were all keeping a sharp lookout, and one night one of the boys
caught a German trying to crawl through our front lines, he made him
prisoner, and maybe he wasn't elated over his capture, so he marched
him proudly down through the long line of trench to our Headquarters;
but, on getting there, imagine his surprise when his German prisoner
began to talk and joke with the officers; he was one of our own secret
service men and was just returning from a trip through the German
lines--he thought it was too good a joke to miss, so he let himself be
captured. I had heard all this, and I made up my mind not to be
fooled, but one night I thought sure I had the real thing. Mac,
Skinny, and I were coming off shift at 2 A.M., and in the communication
trench we met an o