If he had hoped to escape detection by the alert and vengeful Huns, he was vastly mistaken. Already streams of bullets from half a dozen machine-guns were playing upon the calcined earth that formed the rims of the craters, while bombs were being lobbed into the burning debris of the crashed biplane on the off-chance of "doing in" the pilot should he have escaped being battered to death by the fall. Even as he crawled a hot searing pain swept across his forehead. Involuntarily he clapped one hand to his eye. His fingers were wet with a warm fluid. It was his blood welling from a wound. A machine-gun bullet had inflicted a clean gash on the lower part of his forehead, completely cutting away the left eyebrow. It was a mere scratch, but very painful, the worst result being the flow of blood that, running into his eyes, temporarily blinded him. It was some moments before Derek realized the comparatively slight nature of his wound. Many a man has been hit in action, and regarded his wound as slight when he has actually been hit in a vital spot. Numerous instances have been recorded of a mortally-wounded man "carrying on" in ignorance of the fact that in a very few moments his name will have to be added to the list of "killed in action". On the other hand, there have been cases of men but slightly hit, writhing and squealing and moaning in the genuine belief that their "number is up". Finding himself hit, Derek lay motionless, his face buried in the soft earth. Presently the hot stabbing pain diminished. A sense of numbness that was almost soothing, compared with the searing throb of the bullet-wound, began to assert itself. Even the cold ground seemed like a downy pillow. The while Fritz in the nearmost trench was indefatigable in his efforts to complete the strafing of the crashed pilot. Thousands of pounds of machine-gun ammunition were practically thrown away in sweeping the dun-brown ridge of earth that encircled Derek's place of concealment. Bombs, too, were continually being thrown, only to explode harmlessly in the crumbling, carbonized soil, for beyond sundry and various showers of dirt, the effect of these missiles was negligible.