"What colonel does he mean?" asked Alfred. "The colonel commanding the battery, or his brother?" "Both, of course," suggested Ralph. The van started, the boys mounting their wheels and following. "We are going back to the base camp, and put him in the hospital there," said the doctor. "That is where his brother, the colonel, is in command," remarked Ralph. "Yes," answered the doctor. During the foregoing period of time there was not a moment when the firing on both sides of the lines had ceased. As the boys turned to the right to reach the road, they saw hundreds of soldiers rushing across to reach the third line, and it seemed as though the firing had grown heavier than when they had come out the road an hour before. "Something unusual is going on," remarked Ralph. "Why are they gathering the machine guns behind those trenches? That is the third line; the second line cannot be more than three hundred yards behind us." They were about to turn to the east and west road, when the most intense shell fire was opened up on their right. "Get under cover quickly!" shouted a voice. The boys turned, but were unable to detect the speaker. "I suppose we must obey," said Ralph. "Hide? But where?" asked Alfred. "Wheel down to the hollow," cried Ralph. The hollow was reached, and in their eagerness they almost fell into the ditch. It was the third line, filled with men ready to do their duty. Frisky tumbled in with a yelp and a growl. "What's the matter?" asked Ralph, as he picked himself up from the bottom of the trench. "The Germans are making a counter attack over a front of a mile," was the reply of the corporal. "Then we are just in time," said Alfred. "Any guns handy?" The men looked amused at the request. "Well, that's no laughing matter," said Ralph. "We're not here for the fun of the thing." This prompt answer was an additional cause for merriment, in which both boys joined. Crack! crack! crack! R-r-r-r-r-r. The machine guns began to speak. The men on each side became subdued, and their faces exhibited set expressions, for they knew that the voices of the machine gun meant an enemy near at hand. At a little alcove, cut in the side of the trench, was an orderly with a telephone transmitter in his hand. The corporal leaned over to catch his words, for the din was now intense. "The Germans have taken the first line and are moving the 22d back on the Corbeville road. The third line must hold them until the additional guns are brought up. We shall counter attack in the next section to the south." Such were, in part, the orders and instructions which the operator imparted to the corporal. "Why, this is the Corbeville road," said Ralph in a tremor of excitement. "Then we are in for it this time," said Alfred. "You may have the guns," said the orderly, as the boys stood before him and repeated the request.