ne gunners were making tea over a fire of
splintered logs.

"Jamie," he said, "take my place at sentry for a few minutes, will you?
I've lost my water-bottle. It's 'ere in the dugout somew'ere. I'll be
only a minute."

I went out to the gun position a few yards away, and immediately
afterward the Germans began a bombardment of our line. One's ear becomes
exact in distinguishing the size of shells by the sound which they make
in traveling through the air; and it is possible to judge the direction
and the probable place of their fall. Two of us stood by the machine gun.
We heard at the same time the sound which we knew meant danger, possibly
death. It was the awful whistling roar of a high explosive. We dropped to
the floor of the trench at once. The explosion blackened our faces with
lyddite and half-blinded us. The dugout which I had left less than a
moment ago was a mass of wreckage. Seven of our comrades were inside.

One of them crawled out, pulling himself along with one arm. The other
arm was terribly crushed and one leg was hanging by a tendon and a few
shreds of flesh.

"My God, boys! Look wot they did to me!"

He kept saying it over and over while we cut the cords from our
bandoliers, tied them about his leg and arm and twisted them up to stop
the flow of blood. He was a fine, healthy lad. A moment before he had
been telling us what he was going to do when we went home on furlough.
Now his face was the color of ashes, his voice grew weaker and weaker,
and he died while we were working over him.

High explosive shells were bursting all along the line. Great masses of
earth and chalk were blown in on top of men seeking protection where
there was none. The ground rocked like so much pasteboard. I heard
frantic cries for "Picks and shovels!" "Stretcher-bearers!
Stretcher-bearers this way, for God's sake!" The voices sounded as weak
and futile as the squeaking of rats in a thunderstorm.

When the bombardment began, all off-duty men were ordered into the
deepest of the shell-proof dugouts, where they were really quite safe.
But those English lads were not cowards. Orders or no orders, they came
out to the rescue of their comrades. They worked without a thought of
their own danger. I felt actually happy, for I was witnessing splendid
heroic things. It was an experience which gave one a new and unshakable
faith in his fellows.

The sergeant and I rushed into the ruins of our machine-gun dugout. The
roof still