Assuring themselves that there were no sounds in their immediate neighbourhood, they got up and stole towards the tree-lined wall of the churchyard. The wall was broken in many places; trees had been split and felled and tombstones shattered by gunfire. They moved very cautiously along the wall towards the open fields. Suddenly they both halted and crouched. High up in the ruined tower a light had flashed for a moment. From the same place came faint sounds which they soon recognised as the murmur of voices. The light again shone forth, and again disappeared. It came and went at intervals, now long, now short, and in a few minutes they realised that the men in the tower were signalling. The light showed in the direction of the trenches. They had never noticed it in their night watches there; presumably the signallers were at work for the first time, or perhaps the direct rays were masked, and the light was visible only at a higher elevation. Beyond doubt the signallers were Germans; no British soldiers, or natives in collusion with them, would have chosen a spot within the German lines, and so near the trenches--a spot where the glow of the lamp could be so clearly distinguished. But it was puzzling. Why should the Germans signal towards their own trenches? Was it possible that they were communicating with somebody behind the British lines? The two Englishmen crouched below the wall. "Shall we take a look-in at the tower?" asked Harry in a whisper. "It’s not our present job," returned Kenneth. "We’re out to find the gun. Perhaps afterwards--at any rate we’ll report it. The men up there have got a good view over the fields; we shall be lucky to get away without being discovered." Bent double, they hurried along the wall, and when it came to an end, crept on under cover of a hedge across a field. Descending into a shallow hollow, they sprang across a brook, and made for a small clump of trees on rising ground in front of them. The ground was rough and stubbly; walking was difficult and fatiguing. They passed through the skirt of the wood, crossed more fields, taking to the ditches where the ground rose, and quickening their pace through the depressions. Kenneth frequently consulted his compass and watch, the dials of which were faintly luminous. At length he announced that they must have come about three miles from the trenches. "It’s no good going farther at present," he said. "All we can do is to wait until we hear the discharge of the gun, perhaps see its flash. And it will be just our luck if they don’t fire it to-night." "How long shall we wait?" "That’s the problem! If we wait too long we shan’t get back to-night, and that means hiding up all to-morrow. We can’t possibly return in daylight. But it’s no good talking. Let’s make ourselves as comfortable as we can in the shade of this hedge. And for goodness’ sake don’t let me fall asleep."