heard many a pair wished on the
Kaiser's feet. Big ladles with long handles also were distributed among us
to be used in scraping out the water from the trenches, and each of us
took our turn in acting as "chef," that is, ladling the water out behind
the trench wall. Occasionally where a fellow, slow in throwing it over,
would hold the ladle up a few seconds too long--ping!--a bullet would go
through it. If we wanted to sit down the only thing we could do was to
place our packs and equipment on the fire-step and sit on them.

Our position was somewhat lower than that of the Germans, as they occupied
a sort of ridge. For days and nights at a time we did nothing but wait,
with an occasional raiding party or artillery encounter, with now and
again a heavy bombardment, to break the tedium.

We were sitting around in the mud one day when, all of a sudden, a heavy
rifle and machine-gun fire swept along our trench. Then we heard a dull
muffled roar as if some tremendous weight, padded heavily with bales of
cotton, had fallen a great height. That is the only way I can describe the
sound. Instantly, I wondered what had happened. I do not suppose it was a
second later before I knew, but it seemed as if it were a full minute. The
earth seemed to rock. There was a swashing, hissing noise. Mud, water, and
stones poured down all around us. Muddy water cascaded into our trench.
Clambering out of it and through a storm of bullets, we made for our
reserve trench. Many of our men fell in the act of fleeing for shelter.
This was the result of the Germans having dammed up their own trench which
was filled with water, and dug tunnels in our direction as far as they
possibly could without our being aware of it. They opened the dams just
after commencing the firing. Their intention was to catch with the fire
those that escaped drowning, and thus annihilate us, so that they could
break through our lines at this point. No doubt it was a clever ruse,
but--it did not work.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Our regiment was now shifted from the position where the Germans had tried
to drown us out to another section near a place which we afterwards
christened "The Glory Hole." The German lines and ours were very near to
each other here. On the night of our arrival we could hear the Huns
talking, and after we had settled ourselves in our trenches, we could hear
them now and again whistling "Highland Laddie." It was evident that they
knew who we were, as