"They'll hit us before long," remarked Dubois.

"What do you mean?" asked Earl. "A counter-attack?"

"I think so. They may not try it to-day but they surely will some time
to-night; the Boches are getting so they like to fight in the dark now."

"Perhaps it's because they can't see the bayonets so well," laughed
Armande. "They don't care much about cold steel, do they?"

"I should say not," agreed Dubois. "It's funny too for they are
certainly brave enough when it comes to facing shells and machine-guns."

"Hand-to-hand work isn't suited to Germans, I guess," said Leon. "You
never heard of a German being a good boxer either; they don't seem to
be much good at things that need quick thinking and action."

"Germans are good athletes though," exclaimed Earl.

"In certain sports they are," Leon agreed. "They're good wrestlers and
gymnasts and that sort of thing. I say that they're strong but they're
not athletic. The strongest fellows aren't always the best athletes,
you know."

Meanwhile the guns boomed constantly. The shells from the French guns
were exploding far in advance of the positions the _douzieme_ now
occupied.

"They're probably shelling the ground where the Germans are trying to
dig new trenches," said Dubois.

"I hope they hit 'em," exclaimed Leon fervently.

There were many dug-outs along the line of the trench. Some of them
were shell-proof and were fifteen to twenty feet below the surface of
the ground; the entrance to these was through a door, level with the
floor of the trench. A stairway, just wide enough to permit one man to
pass, led down to them. The roofs were reinforced with huge timbers
and so strongly were they constructed that most of them were intact,
despite the heavy bombardment to which they had been subjected.

"Have you seen these dug-outs?" Leon inquired of Jacques.

"No, I haven't."

"Come along then and I'll show them to you," exclaimed Leon. "Some of
them are regular palaces."

"I doubt that," laughed Jacques as the two boys set out together.

They inspected a dug-out similar to the one described above. Then they
discovered others, larger but only slightly lower than the trenches.

"Look at them," exclaimed Leon. "They must have used these for living
quarters when things were quiet."

"I guess they did," agreed Jacques. "If they're all like this they're
pretty good size too; this one must be six feet wide and nearly thirty
feet long."

"See tho