"Don't," muttered Flanagan, under his breath. "It's no good firing if you're not sure of your man. One shot will give us away, and that's the twentieth time you've seen him; each time in a different spot. He's not like a bird; he can't be in two places at one time.... What the hell! Don't move!" "A cramp in my guts!" groaned Bubb, wriggling a little. "Gawd, it isn't 'arf giving me gyp! Ooh--whooh!" The youth kicked out with both legs, raised his head an inch or two, then brought it down again to the level of the earth. Flanagan swore under his breath and cursed Bubb with vehemence. "I can't 'elp it," said Bubb. "I must move. I'd rather 'ave a bullet in the 'ead than a cramp in my belly. Wooh! It'll twist me up like a 'edge 'og!" "Matey," whispered Flanagan, turning half left and fixing his eyes on Spudhole. "Wot!" "You know that if you're seen moving you'll get a bullet across here----" "I don't care a damn," said Bubb. "But I do," muttered Flanagan. "Next time I come out sniping I'm going to take a man with me; one that won't give a position away when he has got a sore tummy----" "I'm not going to move no more," said Bubb. "I'm going to be as quiet as a sandbag. Ooh-wooh!" "How's your cramp now?" asked Flanagan, when Bubb had kept quiet for a good ten minutes. "Gone, is it?" "It's 'opped it," said Spudhole with a laugh. "Blimey!" Both men cowered to earth giggling nervously as the bomb burst, scattering a cloud of dust over them. A second shell burst, and a third. "They must have spotted us," said Flanagan, frowning at the fields. "If they have it's all up." But the shelling ceased as suddenly as it had begun, and the youngsters breathed freely again. "Cleaning out their guns, I suppose," said Flanagan. "Lucky they didn't clean us out of existence.... I'm tired of waiting here." "I'm tired an' 'ungry an' 'ot," said Bubb. "But we can't get out of this damned place till night ... they won't 'arf 'ave the laugh on us when we go back." "Not half," said Flanagan absently. "And I bet Captain Thorley a bob I'd lay the sniper by the 'eels," said Bubb. "But it's no go." "Well, where can the fellow be?" asked Flanagan, removing a speck of dust from the backsight of his rifle with a cautious hand. "No man can fire at us from the German trench. It's behind a rise, and even if one of the Boches looks over the parapet he can't see our trench. But still the fact remains that no sooner does one of our boys look over than a bullet zipps past his ear. Where does the bullet come from? The sniper _must_ be between the lines. He must, but where?" Spudhole shrugged his shoulders helplessly and muttered: "We was fools comin' out 'ere. But 'e 'as done for four of our fellers an' 'e must die. If 'e doesn't...."