," replied the Major with attempted calm. "I'm waiting for
you to challenge me. Don't get excited. This is the commanding
officer."

"What's the countersign?" came from the voice in a hard strain.

"Troy," the Major said, and the word seemed to bring worlds of
reassurance to the rifleman, who sighed with relief, but forgot to move
his rifle until the Major said:

"Will you please take that gun off me and put the safety back in?"

The nervous sentry moved the gun six inches to the right and we
correspondents, standing in back of the Major, looked into something
that seemed as big as the La Salle street tunnel. I jumped out of range
behind the Major. Eyre plunged knee-deep into water out of range, and
Woods with the rubber boots started to go over the top.

The click of the replaced safety lock sounded unusually like the snap of
a trigger, but no report followed and three hearts resumed their
beating.

"There is no occasion to get excited," the Major said to the young
soldier in a fatherly tone. "I'm glad to see you are wide-awake and on
the job. Don't feel any fears for your job and just remember that with
that gun and bayonet in your hands you are better than any man who turns
that trench corner or crosses out there. You've got the advantage of
him, and besides that you are a better man than he is."

The sentry, now smiling, saluted the Major as the latter conducted the
party quietly around the trench corner and into a sap leading directly
out into No Man's Land. Twice the trench passed under broad belts of
barbed wire, which we were cautioned to avoid with our helmets, because
any sound was undesirable for obvious reasons.

After several minutes of this cautious advance, we reached a small
listening post that marked the closest point in the sector to the German
line. Several silent sentries were crouching on the edge of the pit.
Gunny sacks covered the hole and screened it in front and above. We
remained silent while the Major in the lowest whisper spoke with a
corporal and learned that except for two or three occasions, when the
watchers thought they heard sounds near our wire, the night had been
calm.

We departed as silently as we came. The German line from a distance of
forty yards looked no different from its appearance at a greater
distance, but since it was closer, it was carried with a constant tingle
of anticipation.

Into another communicating trench and through better walled
fortifications of sp