in lay down; his men immediately did the same. If
he pointed to the right the troops veered to the right. If he pointed
to the left they swung to the left. Blindly they followed on. Closer
and closer they came to the spot where their own shells were falling.
It seemed as if the leaders must be struck down by their own artillery.

Suddenly the curtain of fire lifted and moved forward to the next line
of trenches. The German trench that had been the object of the furious
bombardment appeared. In many cases it had been simply blown to pieces
and no trace of it could be discovered.

Leon, Earl, and Jacques had been appointed "trench-cleaners." That is,
they were among those who had been detailed to clear the enemy out of
all the captured trenches so that there would be no danger of the
troops being attacked from the rear.

Into the battered trench the three young soldiers sprang. With them
were a dozen more of their men. With bayonets affixed they made their
way along. The trench seemed to have numerous spurs and it branched
out in many directions. On the bottom lay many dead Germans.
Protruding from one side was the leg of some luckless infantryman who
had been buried alive by the explosion of a giant projectile.

"This way," urged Jacques as he turned from the main trench and darted
down a long passage-way.

"Careful, Jacques," warned Leon. "Don't go too fast."

"They're all dead in here," cried the young Frenchman exultantly. He
was taking an active part in ridding his country of the invaders and
like anyone in those circumstances he reveled in the task.

"Don't be so sure they're all dead," cried Earl. "You never can tell."

Scarcely had he spoken when they came face to face with three Germans.
With rifle grasped tightly in his hands Jacques was preparing to run
the first of them through when all three of them suddenly threw up
their hands. "_Kameraden_! _Kameraden_!" they cried eagerly.

"Don't touch them, Jacques," shouted Leon. "They're surrendering."

It was but the work of a moment to disarm the three Germans and they
were turned over to one of the French soldiers who was directed to lead
them back to his lines.

"That was easy enough," exclaimed Jacques triumphantly.

"Those fellows were dazed," cried Leon. "They didn't know what they
were doing."

"Who would?" demanded Earl. "If you'd been under that bombardment for
the last twenty-four hours the way they have been I guess you'd b