smoke-cloud rose a ringing cheer, which
was still floating on the air when the vicious tac-tac of machine-guns
from the German lines told that even high explosives had their
limitations, and that some at least of the enemy gun-emplacements
remained undestroyed.

"Double!" cried the C.O., seeing that a kilted battalion on his left was
racing forward as the best means of escaping the continuous stream of
bullets.

"Charge, boys, charge!" yelled Dennis, taking up the cry; and that
brown avalanche of eager, helmeted men poured on clear of the smoke into
the bright sunshine, which glinted on their fixed bayonets.

In spite of the carefully prepared staff maps and plans which they had
all studied closely, Dennis looked in vain for any sign of a definite
objective. There was no sandbagged parapet, nothing but a confused mass
of holes and heaps scattered broadcast over the landscape--the result of
the terrific spade-work of the guns--which had to be crossed before the
village was reached. The village, too, of which he caught a glimpse, was
only a pulverised mass of debris, with here and there the angle of a
shattered house or the ribs of a roof to mark what had once been human
habitations.

But he knew that the strength of the enemy's position lay in the
wonderful subterranean works, the deep dug-outs, the covered-in
communicating trenches, and for these he and his men rushed with great
determination.

Suddenly, from the other side of a chalk heap, a row of heads appeared,
wearing flat blue forage caps with white bands round them, and a shout
of rapture rose from No. 2 Platoon as they saw at last something to go
for.

Between them and the row of heads yawned a huge shell crater, and as the
platoon divided automatically to avoid the obstacle, a heavy volley
across the crater caught them, and several of the running men pitched
forward and lay where they fell.

Perhaps they had orders to retire, perhaps it was our yell that scared
them; but the heads disappeared; and when our men reached the spot where
they had been the Germans had vanished. One stout fellow, dropping into
a hole thirty yards away, was the only indication of what had become of
them; but it was sufficient, and with a "Come on, boys!" Dennis sprinted
for the spot.

He had armed himself with a rifle and bayonet for the advance; but,
changing it to his left hand, he opened the bag of bombs he had also
brought and, drawing the pin, flung one of them into th