ield was positively deafening. On I
went through Mons, into the ruins of its houses, still glowing red and,
in some places, flames were licking around the poor skeletons of its
once prosperous farms.

One more mine-crater to negotiate; then all would be plain sailing. It
was now quite dark. I dared not use lights, not, even side lamps, and
going was decidedly slow and risky in consequence. I sat in the bonnet
of the car and, peering ahead, called out the direction. Shortly a
lightish mass loomed up only a few yards distant.

"Stop!" I yelled.

On went the brakes, and only just in time. We came to a standstill on
the outer lip of a huge crater. Another two yards and I should have been
trying to emulate the antics of a "tank" in sliding down a crater and
crawling up the other side. In my case the sliding down would have been
all right, but coming up the other side would have been on the lap of
the gods. A hundred men with ropes and myself--well, but that's another
story.

"Back the car to give it a good run," I said, "and let us lighten it as
much as possible," and soon all was ready.

"I will go ahead and put my handkerchief over my electric light; we must
risk being seen--you head direct for the glow."

I went into the muddy fields.

"Let her go," I shouted. With a whir and a grind I could tell it had
started. I stood still. It was coming nearer. Ye gods! what a row. Then,
suddenly, the engines stopped and dead silence reigned.

"It's stuck, sir," came a voice from the darkness.

I went to the car and switched my lamp on to the near wheels. The car
was stuck right up to the axle.

"We shall never get out of this unaided," I said. "Put all the stuff
back inside and get the hood up; we shall have to sleep here to-night."

Then, to add to the discomfiture of the situation, it began to rain, and
rain like fury, and in a few minutes I was wet through to the skin. The
hood leaked badly and had convenient holes in alignment to one's body,
whether you were sitting lengthways or otherwise inside. I had resigned
myself for a dismal night out. Two hours had passed when I heard the
clatter of hoofs coming towards me in the distance and, by the direction
of the sound, I could tell they were our men. I tumbled out and ran as
fast as possible to the other side of the crater and reached there just
as the horsemen arrived.

"Hullo!" I shouted.

"Hulloa!" came the reply, "who is it?"

"I am badly stuck, or rather my car