er and food also. Why not a machine-gun? Here's one
abandoned by our fellows when they were forced backward."

Some of the men almost burst into a cheer, while two of them dashed
forward, and, dismantling the gun, shouldered the tripod and the barrel.

"Good idea!" Henri told him. "The difficulty, though, will be to carry
in sufficient ammunition. But listen to this, you fellows; let's make
tracks for the fort at once, decide upon a spot to hold, and deposit
our belongings; then, if the snow continues and the Germans keep away,
we'll creep out again and look for further ammunition."

They began to move off along the trench at once, the veteran and Henri
leading, and Jules and the stout little corporal bringing up the rear.
Staggering along, loaded with ammunition and water and food which they
had collected, bending as low as possible and holding to the trench so
long as it continued, the little band were soon directly under the
walls of the fort, and though they peered anxiously about them, looking
for the enemy, whose shouts, indeed, they could hear in all
directions--even from the fort itself--yet not once did one of the
Kaiser's soldiers approach them, while all the time the snow fell
silently upon the fort and its surroundings. Then the gate seemed
suddenly to open in front of them, and marching in--staggering in,
indeed, for they were very heavily laden--they followed the veteran
into a shattered courtyard, and from it down a flight of steps to a
gallery beneath--a wide gallery with earth roof and cemented floor,
along which ran steel rails. Indeed, there was a trolley on those
rails, over which Henri stumbled.

"A trolley to run the ammunition round to the guns," the veteran
exclaimed, "but useless now, my Henri, quite useless," he chuckled.
"For, you see, the guns are behind the fort, and have already sent some
of their shells into the enemy."

"That being so, this trolley will do to carry our produce. Pile your
ammunition here. That's it. Those ammunition-boxes will weigh less
heavily on you when stacked on this trolley. Now, my friend, which
way? We are in a deep gallery which seems to be lighted by tunnels
running to the outside. Do we turn left or right, or whither?"

The veteran turned to his right without a word, while Henri and one of
the men followed, pushing the trolley. Following the gallery, which
ran straight on for some fifty yards, they came to a point where the
inside walls had b