sive warfare in this neighborhood, and few casualties;
nor was there any material variance in the front lines of trenches on
either side. There were six days of this kind of duty and then the men
of Pen's company were relieved and sent to the rear for a week's rest,
to act as reserves, and to be called during that time only in case of
an emergency. But the following week saw them again at the front; not
in the same trench where they had first served, but in an advanced
position farther to the south. The trenches here were not so roomy nor
so dry as had been those of the first assignment. There was much mud,
slippery and deep, to be contended with, and the walls at the sides
were continually caving in. The duties of the men, however, were not
materially different from those with which they were already familiar.
Clashes had been more frequent here, and the dead bodies of soldiers,
crumpled up in the trench or lying, unrescued, on the scarred and
fire-swept surface of "no man's land" were not an unusual sight. But
the "rookies" were becoming hardened now to many of the horrors of
war.

It was while they were in this trench that Pen had his "baptism of
fire." Late one afternoon the German artillery began shelling fiercely
the first line of Allied trenches. Aleck and Pen were both on sentry
duty. Just beyond them Lieutenant Davis stood at an advanced lookout
post intent on studying the outside situation by means of his
periscope. At irregular intervals machine guns, deftly hidden from the
sight of the enemy, poked their menacing mouths toward the Boche
lines. Now and then, finding its mark at some point in the course of
the winding trench, an enemy shell would explode throwing clouds of
dust and debris into the air, wrecking the earthworks where it fell,
taking its toll of human lives and limbs. Twice Pen was thrown off his
feet by the shock of near-by explosions, but he escaped injury, as did
also Aleck. It was apparent that the Germans were either making a
feint for the purpose of attacking at some unexpected point, or else
that they were preparing for a charge on the trenches which they were
bombarding. It developed that the latter theory was the correct one,
for, after a while, they directed their fire to the rear of the first
line trenches, and set up a still more furious bombardment. This, as
every one knew, was for the purpose of preventing the British from
bringing up reinforcements, and to give their own troops the