is was not what one might
call a comfortable or a convenient position in which to fill water
bottles. They filled very slowly indeed.

As soon as they were full, I placed them on my shoulders; rose, dripping,
from the water; and made for our line. I had not gone more than twenty
paces when a bullet struck close at my heels. I jumped and looked upward,
hoping to fool the sniper into thinking he was firing too high, causing
him to set his sight for a shorter range. The next shot fell shorter
still. I looked up again and hastened my pace. A third shot visibly
struck a rock and enabled the sniper to correct his range.

Almost immediately after came another bullet, which I knew had got
something about me. Instantly I flopped down and lay still. There was more
scattered firing from the German lines and I was trembling with "nerves."

At last, I could not stand it longer. I was afraid the sniper would fire
at me again--not an uncommon practice with the boche sniper, who, when he
drops his man, usually sends over a make-sure shot. So I sprang to my feet
and rushed for the trenches, arriving there in safety.

When I got into our section I found my pals sitting around and looking
very gloomy. Upon seeing me they greeted me with:

"Ye've been a h---- o' a time awa'. We were juist beginnin' tae think we'd
lost our watter bottles."

When I unloaded my cargo I found that two of the bottles had been pierced
by a bullet. Each man of the section made a thirsty effort to lay hands on
his own bottle. I was left with the two damaged ones besides my own. Then
they told me how a shell had exploded and killed two of the card
players--the owners of the damaged bottles. The water that was left in
these was distributed among the others.

Patrol work, mostly at night, continued to be my chief duty. On one
occasion I lost my bearings, and presently found myself almost upon one of
the boche listening posts.

"So long as I have come thus far, I will edge in and take a chance," I
said to myself.

I knew it would be almost as dangerous to go back as to go forward, for at
any moment a man might crane his neck above the parapet, see me moving,
and fire. Then there was the momentary chance that a star bomb would light
the heavens and all the earth between the lines, in which case a thousand
rifles would begin sputtering at everything that moved or seemed to be
alive. Each second I expected it to come. My nerves felt as if they were
drawn taut--