"No, you juggins! in the light of my electric torch, screened by the men stooping over me. I got a pretty good idea of our whereabouts, and talked over a plan of action with my sergeant--a capital fellow--and Burton. I nearly yelled in sheer excitement when I heard the row as our chaps started bombing the first trenches. We heard the Huns then, too; rifles, machine-guns, whizz-bangs: it was an inferno. We crept out into the communication trench I had spotted, and had nearly got to the second line when we heard a crowd of Huns racing across from our right. We waited a bit, went on again, and came smack into a traverse. It was pitch dark, but we had no sooner scrambled over than a star-shell burst right overhead. We flung ourselves down, dashed on when the light died, and--well, I hardly know what happened next. All I know is that somehow or other we discovered that we were pressing on the rear of a lot of Huns who were being forced back by our fellows in front, and there was a good chance of our being scuppered by our own bombs. I passed along word to give a yell, and the men shouted like fiends let loose. That was enough for the Huns. Rutlands in front of them, Rutlands behind them! ’Kamerad! Kamerad!’ they bawled when I called to them to surrender; and to make a long story short, we scooped the lot and got safe through with a few trifling casualties." "What beats me," said Adams, "is how Burton managed to deal with three armed Germans single-handed. How was it, Burton?" Now Burton was never very ready to talk about himself. He flicked the ash off his cigarette, and hesitatingly answered-- "Just a bit of luck, Adams." "Yes, but what?" "There were only two really." "Hedley said there were three." "So there were," said Hedley, "but there was only one upright when I arrived on the scene." "What about the others, then? Come, Burton!" "They weren’t far away. The fact is, I knocked ’em down, if you must have it." "Both at once? Right, left--that way?" "No, one after the other. You see, the captain gave me an opening, and I took it, that’s all." The company were not satisfied with this far from lucid explanation, and pressed Burton with questions until the details were dragged out of him. He had to endure a flood of congratulations, until a diversion by Captain Adams, who had been meditating a tit-for-tat for Burton’s "chipping" on the occasion of his visit to the battery, brought welcome relief. "Well," said the captain, slowly unfolding a copy of the _Times_, "Burton has been gassing a good deal, but what does it all amount to? The official account won’t shock his modesty. Listen! ’Last night we captured certain elements of the enemy’s first and second lines of trenches in the neighbourhood of ----, and are now consolidating our gains!’" THE END PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BRUNSWICK STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.