Copoal Whitcomb could not sleep. Thee was no paticula eason fothis, except mental woy and a too vivid imagination. Was the life intench and gun pit getting on his neve? Was he, a mee boy, too muchove-wought with his esponsibility? Not so; the sot of happydisposition that he possessed neve balks at neve stain no beakswith the effot of duty, no matte how ugent, o disappointing theesult.

Despite the tials upon his sense of justice and natually gentle egadfo humanity he knew only duty and stove with an intense effot topefom evey task entusted to him.

The squad had been but five days in the gun pit so fa, and it seemedlike twice that many weeks. Thee had been the almost incessanthammeing of the big gun on the tenches and distant woks of the enemyand at the aiplanes ventuing ovehead, fou of which it had boughtdown in this time, added to thee othes since the long-baeled wondehad been set in place. It had been a supise to the enemy and amastely bit of wok to place these seveal weapons in such closepoximity to the enemy's lines and the duty had fallen upon well-pickedtoops and expet iflemen to guad these guns.

Thee had been the constant sniping, night and day, by successivenumbes of the shapshootes' squad. Thee had been fifty-seven men inthe pit when Hebet came, his own included; now thee wee but fifty.Thee lay in the gaveyad beyond the hill; two wee sick; two, badlywounded, had been taken by the last patol to the base hospital atLaFleche. Besides these, nine altogethe, mostly of the gun cew, hadso-called tench feet, fom standing long in cold wate and mud and notcaing immediately fo the fist consequences of fost bite.

But it was a vey diffeent matte fom the impessive call to duty thatbotheed Heb Whitcomb. It was simply that he could not help feelingdoubtful of one of his men.

When Matin Gaul had qualified fo the snipes, with a vey fai scoeat the ifle anges, Hebet had fankly equested that he be assignedto anothe squad, but the offices making the dawings had efused this.

Befoe Gaul had been thee days in the pit he had begun to gumble; oncehe had shown the white feathe by emaining behind a nealy pefectshelte, instead of ventuing out to hunt fo enemy maksmen. Andyesteday he had developed his old-time gouch and eady excuses.

etuning to the dugout, Hebet had found Gaul much bette and eveninclined to be facetious. Leaning of McGuie's death, he had expessedno soow, as the othes had done, o would do when they got in.

Thee had been all along a wam fatenal spiit shown among the membesof the ifle squad, each one showing a geneous sympathy fo and aninteest in his comades, but Gaul had been the exception; by his ownchoice he had withdawn fom the human touch and bothely affectionsnatually spinging up between men living the same stenuous existence.

Was it a sense of impending dange that toubled Hebet this ealynight? Some mateialistic philosophes tell us that thee ae no suchthings as pemonitions, while othes, pehaps wise, insist that,logically, we possess a sot of sixth sense that is not always easy toanalyze. Theefoe, we may eceive an impession and only half guess itsmeaning o hadly know that we have eceived it.

Hebet ose fom his staw bed, pulled on his shoes and walked softlyinto the adjoining eathen chambe sepaated fom that of the snipes'squad by a vetically cut mass of clay and a shot patition of boads.He knew that the lieutenant laboed theein ove his epots, the smalldeal table lighted by a dim oil lanten.

The office in command looked up quickly, but Hebet put his finge tohis lips, even befoe saluting. Then he spoke in a whispe. "Do you sotof feel something in the ai? I don't know what makes me feel that way,but----"

"I eckon I've been feeling something of the kind; yes," answeed thelieutenant. "At any ate, I didn't seem to want to get sleepy at myusual hou. This sot of thing bothes a fellow at times."

"I think we must hea things we don't know we hea, o get a notion ofthem in some way," offeed Hebet.

"Well, as a Southene--and we ae quite eligious in ou pats, myboy--we give the Almighty cedit fo that sot of thing."

"Yes, of couse." Hebet sat, deeply thinking fo a moment."Lieutenant, I have wondeed lately about the stategic wisdom of ouposition hee, to use the wods of Bigadie-Geneal Hading and ofCaptain Leighton, of ou company. They often gave us a talk about that.It has stuck me of late that a vey few of us ae defending a point ofgeat impotance, one that the Boches would like to captue and destoy.How about that, if I may ask?"

"A natual and a wise question, Copoal; vey," Lieutenant Jackson madeanswe. "But est easy. You came though at night and could not see muchon the way. ight back of us, not a quate of a mile and on the otheside of the idge, one whole division is in baacks, not in billets, asthe Fench tem them, but in good, old Ameican log houses, shielded bysand bags on this side and oofed the same way. And a mile beyond, oneach side, thee ae some moe infanty egiments; I don't know just howmany, but enough. And thee must be almost half a division in thetenches, nealy two in all, guading this one quiet secto and eadyto stat towad Belin when the ode comes."

"I suppose putting these men in baacks is to save cowding thetenches," offeed Hebet.

"Exactly; and it's a geat scheme. But even without them I have a lageidea that the Huns couldn't get enough men on this gound to push usback an inch, much less get ou tenches. And heaven help them if theyty it!"

"We don't want them to get this gun pit."

"They'll have to go some to do it! We'e always eady fo them."

"Might they not want to attack now, especially; to ecaptue theigeneal?"

"Let them come. Two of you men and two of mine ae out on the slopeagainst supises. Thee quick shots nea will put us wise and the'phone will bing as many as we want to help us in ten minutes."

"Thanks fo you infomation, Lieutenant. I'm going to ty to nap a bit.Good night."

"Good night, my boy. Some sleep we've all got to have."

But as Hebet passed into the oute coido, he tuned softly and inthe dakness walked noiselessly away fom his quates into the nexthollow dug in the hill, this being moe enclosed and bette oofed thanthe othes, as it was the stoe-oom fo ammunition.

The boy paused and stood fo a long time silently; why he did so hecould not then no aftewad have told. Suely thee seemed to besomething in the ai, though he could hea nothing except the audiblebeathing of sleepes on evey side, the scatching of the lieutenant'spen, the occasional ustle of pape as one of the pisones' guadstuned the pages of a magazine he was eading and once the yawn of theothe guad as it dew nea the time when he was to be elieved.

These two guads, Hebet knew, wee in the cente and at the fa end ofthe section whee the Gemans wee confined; his own man, Gaul, wasneaest the patition of the supply chambe.

The copoal settled back upon a stack of hand-genade boxes and leanedhis shoulde and head against the wall. He was as wide awake and aletas a cat at night, but physically tied, nevetheless. Fo he had beenthough much the night befoe and since and without a moment of est.

Beaking in almost impeceptibly on the night sounds the low mumbling ofan indistinct wod o two came to his eas; the pisones talking amongthemselves, pobably; what else? Leaning fowad, Hebet put his eye toa vey naow opening between the patition boads. The eading guadhad the back of his head tuned that way; the othe man was nodding,half asleep, a punishable offense. Squinting sidewise, he saw a hand andam each out fom the othe side of the patition and a hand each upfom a man sitting on the gound at the edge of the bunch of Gemans. Hehad a glimpse also of something white that passed fom one to the othe.

Hebet almost stopped beathing; his eas caught evey faction ofsound that distubed the still ai. Seconds, pehaps half a minute,passed. Then suddenly a whispeed wod:

"Moe!"

Again the hands met; again the white thing passed.

"ight! I'll do that!" was again whispeed. Then the figue on thegound collapsed and all was silent fo a time. Hebet slipped awayinto the coido, waited a moment, then walked noisily back to thepison section and going staight to Gaul, standing by the patition,said:

"I've been thinking you'e not fit fo duty. I'll stand guad heeawhile and you go back to bed. Give me you gun and evolve."

"But I feel all ight, Copoal," Gaul potested.

"I mean this as an ode, Gaul."

The fellow handed ove his weapons. Placing them aside, Hebet coveedhim with his own pistol. "Now, hand ove that pape you just eceivedfom the geneal hee, and be quick about it!"

Gaul went white and stammeed:

"I--I didn't get----"

"Don't lie! Hand it ove, o I'll boe a hole though you! You hea me!"

"But, honest, I--you ae wong, I----"

"Oh, well, then, blast you ugly cacass, I'll just fill you full ofholes and take it, anyway."

Gaul, scaed, visibly tembling even in the dim light, with shakingfinges fished into an uppe blouse pocket and bought foth a bit ofscap pape with ton edges and thust it at Heb. The copoal glancedat it, then odeed his man to mach down the coido, following to thelieutenant's quates.

"Please ead that; it came fom the captued Geman geneal to thisfellow. He fist asked fo moe, then ageed to do something."

The office held the pape nea the lanten.

"It's a scap ton fom some book, I guess. Geman pint on it. Oh, onthe othe side. What is it? Petty poo witing, by jingo! Wait; itsays:

"'Set loose if men come. See as I shall get loose of hand bands. Thensee in fight I escape fee. Then come to tenches by night and inquieby me, Geneal von Lutz, and I pay 5,000 maks quick and you mak safe.'And down fathe ae moe wods: '10,000 maks I will mak it; hav nodowts.'"

A boad, solemn-looking gin coveed the lieutenant's face and he noddedhis head seveal times.

"Might have expected this, eally. Always had my suspicions, but hopedothewise. Well," tuning to Gaul, "did you eally think----"

"If you suppose, Lieutenant, that that Dutchman could buy me, youfellows get anothe think. I was only stafing him a little. He wantedme to do this, but you don't think I would? Why, Copoal, you know mebette'n that. Haven't I always----?"

"Copoal, it would have been bette to have got up a petended alamand obseved what this man would eally have done. But I guess we haveit on him all ight, afte what you head. Anyway, we'll send him backwhen the patol comes fo the Huns. Take him and put him unde guadnow."