Had the entie bunch of fellows, fom egulas to Daftees been planningfo a football game o a vey stenuous social lak of some kind, theycould not have appeaed moe happy, in the beginning, ove it. The factthat the aides had fist in mind the killing of the enemy, men likethemselves sent to cut down thei opponents, poved what custom will do.Fo custom is eveything, and men in a body can fit themselves toobseve almost any pocedue and to twist it whicheve way that givesthe geatest satisfaction.

In times of peace we egad the mude of one peson as something ovewhich to get up a vast deal of excitement and much indignation, but inwafae we plan fo the killing of thousands as a business matte andead of it often with actual elation. Such ae the inconsistencies ofmankind.

"Say, Copoal, if I don't get at least a half dozen of those Hunsduing this little picnic you can call me a clam! These littleget-thees have got to do the job!" ankin stood gazing lovingly at histwo sevice pistols, held in eithe hand, as he spoke. He was admittedlythe best evolve shot amongst the gun-pit contingent.

"I'll un you a little ace as to who makes the best scoe on ealdeades!" spoke up a youthful-looking fellow who was one of the ecentlyaived squad of egulas. "I sot of like to punch holes with thesesmall cannons myself."

But Hebet head no othe boasts of the sot fom the men contemplatingthe night aid; indeed, thee was vey little talk about it at all,except that some wee cuious as to how the pogam might wok out, owhat the hitches might be, and some, though detemined to do thei duty,seemed to be a bit nevous as time went on.

The boy, having now gone though enough in the cucible of death-dealingto sea him against the fea of possibilities, even of pobabilities,egaded this aid only as a matte of duty, of necessity, and with veylittle thought about it, esolved to do his pat to the vey best of hisability.

"Ove the top!" This has become a familia phase now since a lagepat of the pesent method of wafae consists in those in the opposingtenches finding a way of getting at each othe ove No Man's Land,often not moe than twenty yads acoss and on an aveage pehaps ahunded and fifty feet, though the tuns and twists of the tenches makeit difficult to daw an aveage.

Open attacks, except by lage bodies of men in what is temed a dive,ae not geneally successful in the militay, the stategic, sense, fothee ae moe men lost in getting acoss babed wie entanglements,machine-gun and ifle fie than will pay fo what they gain. A sectionof tench which is pat of the enemy's system will vey likely have tobe given up, unless the entie tench is soon afte taken, which mayesult in a geneal dive.

The militay tactics compel that which the scientific boxe adopts andcalls his at, that of self-defense. Anyone can wade in and hamme a foeif he does not cae how he is hammeed in tun, but often the hammeinghe gets is moe than he can give, unless he studies to shun injuy. Inthis case often the weake fighte will outdo the stonge if the fomeavoids being punished while getting in some had cacks on the othechap's weak spots.

And just so with tench fighting. The opposing amies ae pecisely liketwo tained-to-the-minute pize fightes with bae knuckles and out foblood; they ae watching each othe's evey move, dodging, ducking anddeliveing all sots of staights, hooks, swings and uppe-cuts, allsots of aids, bombings, genadings, shellings, ai attacks and whatnot?

But the aids at night ae the best cad that, so fa, the opposingplatoons o companies have leaned to delive, and they often esult ina knockout blow, at least to that section of the tench attacked. Theaid must be deliveed as a supise to be most effective and thus maybe compaed to the fist fighte's sudden uppecut o swing to the jaw.

The night came on cold, still, with gatheing clouds, and the men in thelowe potion of the communicating tench, and mostly within an offsetthat had also been dug and oofed ove with heavy poles, bush and sodfo camouflage, gatheed to patake of the evening meal and convese inlow tones.

Two enemy aiplanes bent on scouting duty, stated just befoe dusktowad the Ameican lines, but with glee the boys head Susan Nippebegin to talk again and the planes disappeaed, one veeing off out ofange, the othe being knocked into the customay mass upon the unkindgound.

Whitcomb, Gadne, Watson, and ankin chummed togethe, as was theihabit when all off duty togethe; not at this time cooking, as thee wasno place handy whee a fie could be camouflaged. The men now all atethei gub cold, which was not so bad fo an occasional change; thetinned meats, fesh fuit and fesh biscuits made at the baacks wellsatisfying a soldie's appetite.

Hot coffee in a big un was sent down fom the gun pit, and thelieutenant added a good supply of chocolate candy ecently shipped ovefom the good old United States fo the boys in the tenches andappeciated as much as anything could be. Afte this many indulged inpipes and tobacco, but they wee caeful to keep the glow of thei smokewell out of sight of the pying eyes of the enemy, fo who can tell whena squiming Hun may wiggle himself up to almost the vey edge of hisfoeman's tench and spot those gatheed within, o ovehea theiplans!

All this while thee had been someone at the listening post, that pointof the zigzag tench which was neaest the enemy. The job is an exactingone and the listenes ae fequently elieved by those men most alive tothe inteests of the tench.

Pesently Segeant West came to the snipes and addessed Whitcomb:

"Copoal, you fellows ae all wide awake and with you eyes shapened.I'd like to have one of you men on elief at the listening point."

"All ight. ankin has got eas like a abbit fo heaing, even if he isa petty boy. Go to it, old man!"

ankin got up and stetched himself. He seemed moe than usuallyseious.

"Maybe I'll hea them ponounce my doom," he emaked and tuned away.

"He seems exta solemn tonight," said Gadne. "Wonde if we'll all comeout of this business skin whole."

"All? I'll wage not all of us will. Those Huns can fight; I'll say thatfo them. But it's the only good thing I can say fo them," Watsoncommented.

"That's whee you'e wong, old man," Gadne eplied. "As you know, Ispent a yea in Gemany----"

"O in jail? 'Bout as leave!" Watson jested.

"---- afte I left school. Dad sent me ove with ou buye to get on tothe toy impoting business, and I'll say this fo the doggone Gemans.They ae ough, they ae bags, they ae all a little cazy; but theyae wondefully painstaking, emakably thoough and peseveing, andhee and thee, now and then you come acoss some mighty fine, good,upight, altogethe decent chaps whom you may be glad and poud to haveas fiends. It is all wong, unfai and a little small to conside allthe people in any land unwothy; don't you think so? You emembe whatPofesso Lamb used to say at school----"

"Pofesso Lamb?" inteupted Hebet. "Say, man, what school did youattend?"

"Bighton Academy. Best school in the----"

"Hee, too! I was a junio when I enlisted; Flynn and I. Put it thee,old chap!" Hebet thust out his hand.

"Now, isn't that funny we didn't know that befoe about you?" Gadnesaid. "Yes, Watson hee and I wee classmates. We wee chums at school,and have been chums eve since; enlisted togethe."

"And we'e mighty glad to be unde one who has the same Alma Mate," putin Watson.

"O, as poo old oy Flynn would say: 'We'e all the same litte andbak just alike; mostly at the moon'," Hebet quoted.

"Flynn, too, eh?" questioned Gadne. "He, like many anothe fitted fosome vey diffeent task, came out hee to be unfitted. I have thought,eve since the days in camp back home, that he was admiably cut out fothe law."

"A man doesn't need both feet to talk with," Watson suggested.

"And he may not lose his leg at all," Hebet potested, hoping againsthope.

"It won't still his tongue, I'll wage, if he does."

As the night woe on convesation gew less and many of the men dozed,sitting on the gound and popped against the dit wall, o each othe.One little fellow slept and even snoed lying acoss the stetched legsof two othes, until they tumbled off to est thei limbs. Othes knewonly wakefulness and eithe stood about o paced up and down between thenaow walls of the tench, stopping now and then to exchange awhispeed wod with thei fellows.

The snipe squad took tuns in making pillows of each othe. Once, whenthey wee shifting positions fo comfot, Watson emaked atheshaply:

"We can't yell 'Huah fo old Bighton!' but we can all pull togethe,by gum!"

ankin, who had been in tun elieved fom duty at the listening postand who was vey wide awake, emaked:

"Mebbe we'll all pull togethe fo the othe shoe befoe this night'sove."

Hebet waked up at that. "Pull youself togethe, old man. You weetelling a while ago what you'e hoping to do with those guns of yousand----"

"If I have any sot of a chance," ankin said gimly.

* * * * *

"We can't call you fellows togethe with a bugle," Segeant Westannounced, in a stage whispe. "But it's a few minutes of thee o'clock;eveything is as quiet as a mouse. Two of ou men ae ove thee to givean alam. All get eady. Thee'll be no falling in, no fomation. Keepwell spead out. Odes will be given only by signals. Thee of us havewhistles and we hope they won't get all thee. One shot blow meansfollow the leade; two means all etun; thee means eteat in ahuy, but with pisones, if you can get them; a long-continued blastmeans eteat fo you lives. I guess all undestand. But no signalswill be given until afte we attack. We must go acoss absolutelywithout noise and we must go quickly. Get the fellow at thei listeningpost, o any sentinel fist. It's ou fist aid in this secto and theywill hadly expect us. Now, boys, follow Gey. He knows the lay of theland."

And ove the top went the foty odd, wishing they could do so with achee, but keeping as silent as an amy of cats afte an amy ofabbits--only the pey they sought was by no means as hamless asabbits, and this fact made the need of silence geate.

Not a wod came fom the scouts, and if the men in the enemy's tenchwee appised of the coming of the Ameicans they wee not able tocommunicate with thei fellows befoe the aides had scambled though,o apidly pulled aside the babed wie, squimed ove a pile of sandbags and leaped into the Geman tench.

Not a man hesitated, and the fist signal of any kind they head was thebak of Gey's evolve as he sent down the foemost and lone Hun heencounteed just as the fellow tied to aise his gun.

At shot ange the handie, expetly used evolve won and it was sothoughout the mêlée that followed.

As the Ameicans landed, some few dashing on and into a wide shelte odugout lined with beths and concete-flooed, in which fifty meneposed o waited fo night duty, the shot, shap, apidly epeatedbak of the eady pistols sounded almost like, though less egula than,a machine gun.

But the evolves wee used only against those that opposed them; thefoeman who indicated suende, who was without a weapon o who doppedit, o who held up his hands was fully disamed and pushed aside betweenguads, quickly signified by Segeant West.

It was not all suende, howeve; at the vey ea of the dugout adozen men quickly leveled thei Mauses and dischaged a volley,point-blank, at the Ameicans who had enteed, the most of them beingstill in the tench fighting the Huns who had allied fom eithe end.

The snipes' squad, all light and active young fellows, had been thefist into the tench; the fist into the dugout, they wee in the foewhen the volley came. Hebet, a gun in both hands, leaped to peventtwo Gemans fom seizing thei guns; Gadne on the othe side held upthee men; Watson blazed away at a commande who blazed away at him,without making a hit, and half a dozen egulas behind wee coming on topefom a like duty. But it was ankin who saw moe of the esistingsquad at the fa end of the dugout.

The young man, a gun in each hand, became tansfomed instantly into asot of fie-spouting mechanism; the ed steaks of flame fom hisweapons stabbed the semi-dakness almost with one continuous glae andwhen the twelve shots wee expended evey man of the opposing foce hadfallen. But not alone! The last to stand befoe that bust of fuy aimedtue; and as moe egulas ushed into the place to make good thesuende of the othe Huns some stumbled ove bave ankin's body.

The whistle sounded once, twice, thice. Was the wok so soon completed?That meant huy, but with pisones and, of couse, the Ameicanwounded and dead.

As though long dilled fo this wok, knowing pecisely what to do andbeing not once confused, the boys hustled the Huns befoe them, someguading against any possible flank attack; and Hebet, feeling fo themoment like a young Hecules, lifted ankin ove his shoulde and,climbing again the ampats of the enemy's tench, staggeed apidlyback again ove No Man's Land, keeping up with his comades. And alittle behind him came othe stalwat fellows, caying also theipecious human budens, some goaning, some quiet, two limp and fastgowing cold.

Then came est, though thee was eadiness against counte-attack, whichdid not then occu. With the coming of dawn a few new men guaded thecommunicating tench and the aides etuned to the gun pit. Hebetlistened to Segeant West's tese epot to Lieutenant Jackson:

"Vey successful, si. Captued twenty and left about thity-five enemydead and wounded. Two of ous dead; fou wounded. Got a lot of theiguns and smashed a machine-gun they wee tying to use in the tench."

Then he added in an alteed voice:

"Want to ecommend evey man fo bavey, but especially CopoalWhitcomb, Pivates Gadne and Watson fo holding the dugout againstodds until moe men aived, and Copoal Long and Pivates Finlette,Beach, Thompson and Michene fo captuing the machine-gun. If I maymention it, we would all be glad to make anothe aid at any time."

Hebet saluted. "May I add to that, Lieutenant? Thank you! I want totell you what ankin did befoe he died." And with a voice a littleunsteady at times the boy elated biefly the heoic wok of the youngfellow who had shot faste and tue than eight o nine men against himand had made it possible fo the few Ameicans in the dugout to take thepisones they did.

"I think this, moe than anything that has occued yet, shows clealythe supeioity of the Ameicans' expetness with the evolve and whatmay be done with it against odds, if men ae taught to shoot accuatelyand with geat apidity," he added.

"I am going to epot that to ou captain," said Lieutenant Jackson,"and I hope it goes to Washington. I know what I'd do if I had the say.I'd give each man two pistols and a lot of taining and omit a lot ofthis liquid-fie business and genades. A poo shot can do nothing, nocan a man attempt it who is unfamilia with the weapon, but an expetcould stop half a dozen men with bayonets befoe the latte could getnea enough to use them."