to the right, much information of the movements of German troops
could be gained. Whenever they saw even a single man "crossing the bar,"
the Huns would let loose a salvo of artillery fire.

I usually waited until it was dark enough to see the flashes of their guns
before crossing this strip, and whenever I saw the first flash I would
sprint a few paces toward it and then flop down. The Germans had the range
exactly. By sprinting, I stood a good chance of getting in ahead of the
burst, and as shrapnel carried forward, the ruse worked nicely. In order
to show a party of the new scouts the way across the bar, I was sent out
with twelve of them, _thus making a party of thirteen_. Before we started
I drew a rough sketch for them and told them, as exactly as I could, just
what to do when we were fired upon. That we would be fired upon was a
certainty.

About the centre of this open strip was the dried bed of a stream between
deeply worn banks and this afforded the only protection on the way across.
When the light was just right, we moved out to the edge of the bar. I gave
my men a few last instructions. It was time to go. I took one last look
across the ground which was literally covered with shell splinters and
deeply furrowed.

"Rush!" I yelled. We went forward in a thin line.

I saw the expected flash of the guns.

"Straight toward them!" I shouted; and we all ran madly in the direction
from which the shells were coming.

"Down!" I roared with every bit of voice that was in me, at the same time
flopping down flat on my face.

There was a terrific crash! It seemed all around me. I could not tell
whether it was in front or behind. I was surprised that I was not hurt. I
heard groaning behind me. One of my men was wounded. There was not another
sound. I thought the others must have kept on running despite my
instructions, and were now in the little bed of the stream waiting for
me. I dared not move. I had to lie as one dead or the guns would have
begun crashing again and they would get me and the wounded man behind me.
Flare rockets illumined the sky. I prayed that the man who was hurt would
lie still. If he hadn't done so it would have been all over with both of
us.

Half an hour I lay there in the mud until the rockets were no longer going
up and I thought it safe to move. I crept a few feet over the ground. My
hands were upon the body of a man, but he was not groaning. Yet the
groaning continued from nearby. I re