n made by the guns he at last dozed off to
sleep. How long he slept he did not know, but suddenly he awoke to
find himself in complete darkness. He felt suffocated. He tried to
rise but was unable to move. Something seemed to be holding him down
and choking him at the same time. There was no air to breathe.

He set himself for a strong muscular effort. He drew in his breath and
his mouth filled with dirt. Suddenly the awful truth flashed through
his mind. He was buried alive.

CHAPTER VIII

A MIDNIGHT SALLY

"To die like this!" thought Leon. "What a terrible end."

He had always planned that if he should be stricken in this war it
would be with his gun in his hand and his face set toward the enemy.
To perish, buried under a heap of earth, was not a soldier's death.

He worked the dirt out of his mouth with the tip of his tongue and set
himself for a supreme effort. A quick breath and more dirt filled his
mouth. He could not move a muscle in his body. He tried to shout and
more earth entered his mouth. It gritted its way down his throat.

So this was the end. The young soldier grew calm and waited for it to
come. After all it was not so bad. He had done his best and now it
was all over. That was the chance a soldier was compelled to take.
The pain left him and the whole world turned black.

"Ouch," cried somebody suddenly. "He bit my finger."

"Never mind that," said another voice. "Get the dirt out of his mouth."

Leon felt a finger enter his throat and he coughed. Some one was
working his arms up and down and his wounded shoulder pained him. He
struggled up but sank back to his knees and began coughing up dirt.

"Spit that dirt out on your parapet," said a voice which Leon
recognized as belonging to Dubois, one of his mates. "You'll need it
all there."

Dubois was the joker of the regiment and everybody laughed. Even Leon
smiled. He was feeling much better now and all the men except Earl
returned to their holes. Jacques had been taken to the rear by the Red
Cross to have his wound dressed.

"What hit me, Earl?" asked Leon.

"Dirt hit you," said Earl. "A shell exploded just the other side of
you."

"It must have been a big one."

"It was; 250-millimeter."

"That's a ten-inch, isn't it? Did it do much damage?"

"Well we've got two men less in our company than we had a few minutes
ago."

"I guess I was lucky," exclaimed Leon soberly.

"You certainly were," agreed