clattering noise came to
us from the Hun trenches, and we all hugged the earth fairly closely as
a rapid fusillade broke out from all quarters. Rifles cracked all around
us to the extent of thousands, and with that a most impressive humming
noise, which I had never had the pleasure of hearing before, because
being a soldier I had always formed a part of it--the noise of whole
armies turning out to meet an attack.

"'Colonel,' I says, 'it may have escaped you that the angry and 'ighly
intelligent Boche on our front will soon be sending up _their_ rockets
to confuse our own men. Might I recommend a red rocket before they open
their part of the ball, and bend the lights! That will spell to 'em:
Enemy will attack without delay, and it will also expedite their
artillery just a leetle.'

"The Colonel laid his hand on my shoulder.

"'McNab,' says he, 'there's worse blokes than you sitting on thrones.
They shall 'ave that red rocket. None the less,' he remarked, 'the
situation is undeniably getting a bit feverish. Trot out Red Rufus!'

"I rightly took the command to read:

"'Send up a red rocket.' Rufus soared up into the sky and burst into a
red glare that simply shouted: 'Here they come after you' to the Huns.

"'Oh-h-h-h-h!' exclaimed old Tommy as the twirly-whirly red stars fell
through the sky.

"'Silence!' said the old man. 'This is the sanguinary British
Expeditionary Force, not a (decorated) Brock's Benefit at the Crystal
Palace. What in Hong-Kong are you jumping about like a richly decorated
organ-grinder's monkey for?'

"The Huns grasped the meaning of their dead spy's signal as soon as it
showed in the heavens, so to speak. We lay belly-flat and held our
breaths for a moment or so in silence, but we were about the only silent
things for a hundred miles. Flares went up by the thousand and
searchlights cut up the sky in every direction. All kinds of mysterious
guns got into action and all the batteries for a hundred miles must have
let drive as well. From then on, for at least two hours, the shells
poured excruciating-wise into our deserted trenches without
cessation,--shrapnel, high explosive, six inch, twelve inch--thousands
of pounds the Huns wasted that night.

"I wish you could have seen Tommy bowing to right and left of the German
trenches acknowledging the applause which the Huns would have given him
if they'd known the facts. On the other hand, as the Colonel observed,
they might 'ave killed him.