box, and laid the gun in the right direction.

The enemy's battery was not very hard to find. The young officer had
not been given too difficult a task. Far away over the heath, where the
sand gleamed yellow in the distance, six dark, rather broad patches
showed up against the light ground, each surrounded by smaller objects.
They were the six guns that were to be attacked, with the dummy men
belonging to them. It was Sergeant Wiegandt's duty to verify the aim;
he gave a satisfied nod, and then the word of command, "Gun six, fire!"

Upon which the men sprang out of the way of the backward recoil of the
carriage, and Vogt, with a jerk of the body, pulled the lanyard and
fired.

There was a loud report, and the gun rolled heavily back quite eight
paces. In another moment it was moved into its original place again.

After a few seconds, far away on the heath, a light cloud of dust rose
into the air, as if a giant's hand had stirred up the sand, and
immediately afterwards--almost at the same moment--all the dark patches
disappeared in a dense grey cloud of smoke. When this had cleared away,
the dummies on the left of the gun had vanished, and the gun itself
appeared to have been damaged, as it was leaning over on one side.

The first shot had hit the mark full. This simply showed that excellent
aim had been taken. The actual distance had corresponded exactly with
the calculation. Still, it caused great satisfaction.

Colonel von Falkenhein, on his big chestnut, was stationed near by. He
had been watching the target through his field-glasses, and a scarcely
audible exclamation had escaped him as he saw the splinters flying
about through the smoke.

Turning to the battery he called out a short "Bravo, gun-layer!"

Wegstetten, who had dismounted near him, smiled. Well, at any rate,
battery six was all right, even when commanded by a noodle!

The shooting went on steadily. Now the distance had been ascertained
the shrapnels were fired off by means of time-fuses; and they exploded
regularly each time over the mark, the little clouds of smoke showing
up picturesquely against the dark background of the wood. Over there it
was as if heavy raindrops were falling on a dusty road; everywhere
little columns of sand were spurting up into the air.

After the first shot the men lost all nervousness. Even Truchsess took
hold of the shells quite courageously; and when the twenty-four that
had been served out to them were used up,