stopped, however, as
whistling metal, sheeting in from the north, told him that such action
would be decidedly unsafe. "But I ain't leaving this ditch right
now--sounds mighty hot out there!"

"You said it, brother. It's hotter than the hinges of hell, from behind
that ridge over there. But ooze down that ditch a piece, around the
first bend. It's pretty well in the clear there, and besides, you'll
find a ledge of rocks running straight across the flat. Cross over there
and climb the hill--join us by that dead snag up there. We got to get
out of here. That sausage over there must have seen this shindig and
they'll blow this whole damn area off the map. Snap it up! And you, you
goldbricks, get the lead out of your pants!"

Kinnison followed directions. He found the ledge and emerged, scraping
thick and sticky mud from his uniform. He crawled across the little
plain. An occasional bullet whined through the air, far above him; but,
as the sergeant had said, this bit of terrain was "in the clear." He
climbed the hill, approached the gaunt, bare tree-trunk. He heard men
moving, and cautiously announced himself.

"OK., fella," came the sergeant's deep bass. "Yeah, it's us. Shake a
leg!"

"That's easy!" Kinnison laughed for the first time that day. "I'm
shaking already, like a hula-hula dancer's empennage. What outfit is
this, and where are we?"

"BRROOM!" The earth trembled, the air vibrated. Below and to the north,
almost exactly where the machine-guns had been, an awe-inspiring cloud
billowed majestically into the air; a cloud composed of smoke, vapor,
pulverized earth, chunks of rock, and debris of what had been trees. Nor
was it alone.

"Crack! Bang! Tweet! Boom! Wham!" Shells of all calibers, high explosive
and gas, came down in droves. The landscape disappeared. The little
company of Americans, in complete silence and with one mind, devoted
themselves to accumulating distance. Finally, when they had to stop for
breath:

"Section B, attached to the 76th Field Artillery," the sergeant answered
the question as though it had just been asked. "As to where we are,
somewhere between Berlin and Paris is about all I can tell you. We got
hell knocked out of us yesterday, and have been running around lost ever
since. They shot off a rally signal on top of this here hill, though,
and we was just going to shove off when we seen the krauts chasing you."

"Thanks. I'd better rally with you, I guess--find out where we are, a