On they went. Second after second passed; a minute, two minutes. They swept round to the left towards the bridge. There was still no shot from the guns. "They were trained on Boncelles," said Granger. "We are too near them still." He had scarcely spoken when there was a moaning in the air, followed instantly by a roar and crash, and a thick cloud of black smoke sprang up some four hundred yards to the right. They all crouched low in the car, which dashed across the throbbing bridge at forty miles an hour. Another shell plunged into the river, a third struck the road a few yards behind them, as they entered the railway arch, bespattering them with earth. No sooner had they emerged on the other side than still another shell burst ahead of them, in the field beside the road. They all caught their breath: if it had fallen a few yards to the right, it would have dug a hole large enough to engulf the car. Shells now began to explode, as it seemed, all around them. The sky was darkened by the smoke, poisonous fumes almost choked them. Only the great speed of the car and the slight changes in its direction due to the windings of the road preserved them from annihilation. The thought that flashed through Pariset’s mind was that if the Germans had used shrapnel instead of shell they must almost certainly have been destroyed, for he could not doubt that the whole battery was now playing upon them. With shells hurtling around at intervals of a few seconds Kenneth, so intent upon his work as to be scarcely conscious of them, steered the car up the road, taking the curves at a pace that would have made his hair stand on end at less critical times. It almost seemed that he and his companions had charmed lives. At moments, as the road wound, the fort came in sight beyond the ruined village--burnt by the Belgians to clear their line of fire. Would they reach it in safety? The nearer they approached it, the greater their danger. The gunners had the range of the fort; a shell falling short even by a few yards might strike the car at the very moment when escape seemed sure. "Only half a mile more!" Pariset said, in a hoarse whisper from his parched lips. Two seconds afterwards there was a stunning report and a blinding flash, apparently from beneath the car. It spun round and round like a teetotum, then fell over to one side with a crash. For a few moments the three men were too much shaken to move. In the consciousness of them all those moments were a blank. They lay on the roadside where they had been thrown, like dead men. Then they realised with a shock of surprise that they were alive. Pariset was up first. Before he had time to stagger to the others, Kenneth sprang to his feet. Granger moved more slowly, and when he too stood erect, it was seen that his false beard was gone. "I feel cold," he said, touching his chin, and smiling, though he was pale as death.