Of course it was too late to have "ducked" for that particular bullet, as it was over their heads and past them before the boys fell prone. But, as Jimmy said afterward, he thought more were coming. "What's the big idea?" asked Roger, as he rubbed his elbow that had come in sharp contact with a stone when Jimmy dragged him down. "Didn't you hear the shot?" demanded Jimmy. "Yes. But the bullet you hear will never hurt you. It's the one you don't notice coming that does the trick." "That's all right," asserted Jimmy calmly. "But there may be more coming. Lie low now, I'm going to try a little camouflage work." Keeping prone on his face, and seeing that Roger did the same, Jimmy cautiously raised his "tin hat" above the earth, using a short stick he picked up as a support. Almost instantly there came a "ping!" and a little hole appeared in the helmet. "Firing at close range," observed Jimmy. "I should say so!" exclaimed Roger. "And those aren't stray bullets, either. It was directed straight here." "Right!" assented Jimmy. "But the thing of it is to decide whether it's our boys firing or some Germans who may have swept in from the left flank." "How could it be our boys?" asked Roger. "Don't they know we're here?" "How could they? We rushed over with a bunch of our boys to clean out this machine-gun nest. And we're the only ones left alive to get here, worse luck for those who started out with us. So there's not much chance that any fellows in our squad know we're here. At the same time, this place was known to be held by the Huns, and our boys, who don't know anything about our having taken the gun, may still think it's a machine gun nest and be peppering it whenever anything alive shows, as my helmet did. I'm glad my head wasn't in it," and Jimmy looked again at the bullet hole in the strong metal. "And do you think it could be Germans shooting at us?" Roger inquired. "Of course it could be Huns. A lot of 'em are probably over to the left of us where there isn't so much fighting going on. They may have seen us wipe out this bunch of their friends, and now they're going to turn the trick on us." Roger agreed that this view of the matter was probable. Then he asked: "What are we going to do about it?" "Let's work our way back to the middle of the bunch of trees," suggested Jimmy. "We'll be somewhat protected there, and maybe if we try to get out in another direction than the one we just attempted, we'll have better luck. "Wiggle back now, but don't raise your head. Can you make it going backward?" "It's harder to crawl backward on your stomach than it is to go forward in the same way," said Roger; "but I'll try." He did try, as, likewise, did Jimmy. But they found it almost impossible because of the nature of the ground, and Jimmy called a halt. "Let's pivot around," he suggested, and head uphill. It'll be easier crawling then. But keep your head down."