tories afterwards.
Naturally, our men fought their hardest, and by four o'clock in the
afternoon of the day we advanced we drove the Boches at the point of the
bayonet.
CHAPTER XI.
THE TRICK THAT DIDN'T TRICK US.
[Illustration: "THE BLACK HOLE."]
Returning to the "group system," the three following sketches in
juxtaposition relate to one and the same happening--our taking of a
distillery (on the outskirts of Armentieres) of which the Germans had
been in possession for about three weeks, and within the boundaries of
which they set a big trap that didn't catch us. The air was poisoned
with the stench of dead animals as we arrived within smell of the block
of buildings I show first--and, with thoughts in the minds of some of us
of what we had read of the ill-savour of the Black Hole of Calcutta,
"the Black Hole" was an ejaculation before it was a designation. The
enemy occupied the portion of yard shown in the foreground and used
the front of the buildings and the gateway for cover. The British
advanced to a position within twenty yards of the gateway in front of
it, and, after several nights' work, erected a barricade of twigs,
grass, and earth, rapidly collected and thrown into place. By one of
their clever tricks the Germans had made the buildings look as though
entirely deserted. They had been careful not to shell them when they
took them from the French, and it was their intention to draw us on
into the yard unsuspectingly and so get us at their mercy. For the
surrounding buildings contained machine guns, though we did not then
know the fact, and so quiet was everything that I was able to make my
sketches undisturbed. The yard could have accommodated quite 3,000 of
our men, who, if the enemy had had their way, would have been riddled
with shot. However, we naturally proceeded with military caution. Scouts
advanced first, and were somewhat deceived because the Germans had
artfully left a caretaker and his wife in the building seen adjoining
the central arch. These people, doubtless under orders, passed out milk
through the window to the scouts at night to give the idea that the
buildings were still peacefully occupied, though, as a matter of fact,
they contained, not only the enemy soldiers, but their machine guns as
well. Really we might have been drawn into the trap but for one lucky
incident. The enemy were foolish enough to do some secret signalling
with a light at night from the tower above the
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