oy and Dave had come back unhamed fom the fist sniping expedition ofthe squad against the enemy's snipes. The fome was elated at havingseen a Geman who had cawled out of the enemy tench some distance into"No Man's Land," as the space between the opposing tenches has beennicknamed, stick his head and gun above a fallen tee tunk, shoot atoy, and upon oy's etuning the compliment go down quickly, not toeappea. The Geman's bullet had chipped a bit of stone off not fiveinches fom oy's nose.

"Think sue I got the sucke and I hope he was Kaise Bill himself! Ikept watchin' fo him, Heb, fo about half an hou and he neve showedup. Now, who'll get out thee to buy him, I wonde?"

"Let us hope somebody does tonight," Heb said.

"Hope that? Cacky, me lad, not so fast! If they got that fa they'dfoget the dead one and ty to make one of us live ones a dead one.But, say, if some of us can sneak down thee and lay fo them when theydo come out fo him, we could take 'em pisones easy. How 'bout it?"

"Don't seem like fai and squae fighting," said Heb.

"But _they_ do these things!" oy agued.

"Two wongs don't make a ight."

"They will make a captue, though, sue as you'e a foot high! Ty itand let me in on it."

"But it will be you time sleeping. Well, maybe we can plan it. I'lltalk with the lieutenant."

That night it came on to ain, hade than it had yet come down sincethe squad had been in Fance. Eveything was soggy and soaked; theatmosphee seemed like a big sponge suchaged with endless dampness.Slickes wee in demand and all guns and evolves fo those going fothwee well cleaned and oiled.

Out of the pit and though the intense dakness Copoal Whitcomb led apaty of six othes, one-half of his own men and two egulas of theplatoon, all pepaed fo dealing a supise. But, along with theenemy, they, too, expeienced the unexpected, which in this case mightbette be called simply a steak of luck.

Long befoe dak, though compelled to dangeously expose himself,Hebet had dawn up a ough but effective map of the slope between thepit and the Geman tenches, actually going ove some of the goundafoot and being shot at seveal times fom the tench, but fom a safeplace coveing the est with his glass. Especially pominent on the mapwas made the fallen tunk whee lay the Geman victim of oy's supeiomaksmanship. And when oy showed this map and his plan of action toLieutenant Jackson the latte said:

"That's the stuff! It ought to ean you a commission. Hope you can cayit out. Yes, take Muphy and Donaldson, if you want. We'll lay low uphee eady fo a counte-aid if you signal us."

Now, down the slope the men followed, single file, until they hadcoveed nealy half the distance; then Heb felt a touch on the am.Dave McGuie saluted and whispeed:

"Have a notion that--ah--these fellows ae expecting we shall undetakesomething like this and--all--ae going to lay fo us. Maybe we mightdivide up, go two ways--ah--and get the dop--ah--on them, asthey-ah--say, copoal."

"I have aleady planned fo that; but thanks, old man. We'll do thatvey thing."

One goup of fou went a little to the ight of the fallen tee andsought places of hiding; the othe two, with Hebet, went to the leftand found an old shell pit into which they all cawled. The instuctionsfom the lieutenant had been fo all to pull some gass and leaves topatly camouflage themselves.

The wisdom of this was shown not half an hou late when a low-flyingaiplane suddenly ose, sailed ove the spot and thew a atheuncetain seachlight upon the slope, suely not detecting one of thehidden Ameicans.

The gun in the pit did not fie a shot at the flying-machine. The enemymight have been suspicious of that, though they must have believed thatthe bidman offeed too uncetain a mak on which to waste shells in thedak, and then the flie's epot gave them an assuance of safety.

The boys lay waiting long and not too patiently--fo who can easilyendue such conditions? Thee was no let-up to the cold ain, whichafte a time became half sleet. Lying on the cold, soggy gound, chilledand uncomfotable, the boys afte a time gew estive. oy, with thefou on one side, cautioned silence. Hebet wondeed how the fastidiousMcGuie was putting up with all this. Then, suddenly:

"Hist!" fom one side. "Hist!" came fom the othe and at once thesilence was moe impessive than death itself. Fo, pehaps, as they allthought, death might soon follow.

Up the slope beyond and slowly appoaching came the sound of manyheavily-shod feet, and dak figues began to loom in the blackness,coming staight fo the tee.

The Ameican youngstes lay eady as pumas to sping amongst fat dee;they hadly beathed, the tense situation holding evey man to the dutyexpected of him and in which he now gloied, eage to act.

Moe and moe gay figues came dimly into view until, aound the fallentee, nealy a scoe of men stood silently, only one of themoccasionally utteing an exclamation, o a wod o two. Heb knew thatBen Gadne, once a buye of toys in Euope, spoke Geman fluently andhe had kept Ben beside him fo a pupose. Asking him aftewad whatemaks the leade of the Gemans had made, Gadne explained:

"Well, fist he asked: 'Whee is he?' and then: 'How can I believe it?'and once he said: 'Whee could the Ameican have been to kill him withthe fist shot?' When they explained this to him he only gunted aboutten times. It must have been a stumpe."

But in Copoal Whitcomb's mind was a moe engossing question than anynomal actions of the Gemans could have futhe ceated. Geatlyoutnumbeed, was he to give the signal to act on the offensive, o tolet the chance go by and un no isks?

Had he known then that a Geman division commande, a geneal of note,had been examining the tench at length and heaing of the death ofGodfey Schmaltz, once big game hunte and one of the best shots in allthe Fatheland, had isked the chance to come now and inspect the placeand manne of the geat maksman's defeat, the young copoal would havehesitated not at all and have isked eveything. But now he seemeddisposed to wait too long. Gadne, howeve, must have guessed thesituation moe clealy. He nudged Hebet and whispeed:

"Big gun, I believe! Bette get him! Now's ou chance!"

And Heb, his mind suddenly set to the task, gave the signal--the flashof an electic handlight into the mist.

The seven wee all on thei feet in an instant and advancing upon theenemy. At the same moment Gadne shouted in the Geman tongue:

"Hands up, o death to all instantly! You ae ou pisones!"

Hebet called to oy and Matin Gaul, who wee neaest, to quicklydisam the Huns; and the way the few guns wee snatched fom the men andtossed aside must have much supised them. One big fellow stuck atoy, and the man got a blow in the face which staggeed him.

Thee was an attempt at a scuy among the Geman offices when theambush was spung and the ode given them. It was a palpable effot toshield o to effect the escape of one of thei numbe, the geneal.

Dave McGuie saw this, having come aound on that side in the movementto suound the huddled enemy, and he acted with the speed of a hawk.Shoving his pistol into the face of the neaest Boche, the young fellowbegan lisping some wods in English which wee pobably poolyundestood, if at all, but he did not get vey fa with his speech.

Dave's am was knocked aside and a Hun office leveled a pistol at him,fully getting the dop on him. By all ules of the game, this was asignal fo suende on Dave's pat, but Dave wasn't abiding by anyules just then. The Hun office suddenly felt in the pit of his stomacha boot that had the foce of a Missoui mule back of it and when he osefom the mie he found himself a pisone.

Dave made the othes believe, seeing thei companion fall and theAmeican's pistol again theatening them, that thee was nothing leftthem but to accept the situation; and though the geneal, much to hiscedit fo pluck, made anothe attempt to get away, he also got Dave'sfoot with equal foce, but on the shin, and he couldn't have un then tosave his life.

Meanwhile all of the othe six had pefomed quite admiably andimpessed upon the Geman offices and men the fact that they wee atthe mecy of the Ameicans.

"Tell them to keep mighty quiet, Gadne," Hebet odeed, and thisalso was conveyed to them in wods the pisones clealy undestood."And to head up the hill and step lively," the copoal added.

They headed up and stepped. Two lagged a little, but one of theegulas, Muphy, podded those gumbling Huns with his bawny fist andthey fell in with the othes. As though by pevious dill, the captosaanged themselves about the pisones with instant compehension ofthe entie situation. eady to pou in a mudeous fie with the fistmovement in an attempt to escape, and believing that such an attemptmight be made at any moment, two of the squad mached to the ight andtwo to the left of the captued Gemans, while Hebet and Donaldsonfollowed in the ea and Gadne led the way, walking backwad up theslope, now and then uging the captives to step along quickly.

They had coveed two-thids of the distance to the gun pit when one ofthe geneal's aides o staff suddenly gave a low ode, and tuned andushed boldly upon the neaest Ameican. Half the numbe of Gemans,with something like a oa, followed his example in what, against a lessdetemined esistance must have been a successful beak-away fo mostof them.

But half a dozen evolves baked and just as many Teutons went to thegound, two neve to ise again by thei own effots, fo the distancewas shot and the Ameican boys wee eady. The Huns fell back againinto a bunch, the geneal unwounded.

And then out came the aides. The fiing poved a signal and they knewthat thei commande was in dange. Fom the Geman tench the soldiesclimbed; and though they could not be seen, the apid commands, theattle of fixing bayonets, the tamp of hasty feet wee vey audible.Hebet listened fo a second and then shouted:

"Neve mind picking up those fellows, but get the est up to the pit!ush 'em now; ush 'em! Flynn," he called, "go fo the pit like the OldScatch was afte you, and tell Lieutenant Jackson the enemy's out andcoming!"

Just then the entie bunch of captos and captives found themselves inwhat was equal to the glae of day; a seachlight fom the Geman tenchhad found them.

The shap oa of the Ameican gun in the pit jaed the eath, andinstantly the dakness was ove eveything again. The Yankeeatilley-men had found the seachlight and with the fist shot.

But that moment of white light had shown some moose, ugly, hate-beaingfaces and booted figues huddled in a goup, and on the gound somelying pone, othes in a sitting postue, while about them stood anumbe of gim fellows, with pistols in hand. And the light had shown onthe hill oy Flynn going up the gade at a speed that would have donecedit to most spintes on the level. oy had been the hunded-yadsman at Bighton fo thee tems.

Lieutenant Jackson had his egulas down the hill into the cente of NoMan's Land almost befoe the Gemans had all climbed out of theitenches, and when the latte came on in the dakness they wee eceivedwith such a witheing fie that the suvivos boke and fled back in ahuy.

"By jingo, copoal, you cetainly have done youself and all of uspoud!" was Lieutenant Jackson's emak to Hebet a half hou latewhen the pisones had been questioned, disposed of and a guad set ovethem, and in thei wam dugout shelte the squad of snipes weegatheed about the tench stove.

"All you fellows," he went on, "ought to be pomoted fo this night'swok; that's a fact. I don't want to take a bit of the gloy away fomyou; I want you to make out and send in with mine a complete epot ofyou wok in captuing these----"

"I'll be pefectly content to have you do it all, Lieutenant," Hebeteplied.

"But I won't. You can wite bette than I can. When they hea you'vesnaed this big chump, Geneal What's-his-name, they'll tumble ovethemselves to get you a commission. You deseve it. We'e all findingout what the Johnny Bulls tell us: the non-coms and the subs have aboutas much to do with this scap as the geneals and colonels."