h of that at Anzac," he said. "Forty flies to
the spoonful and enteric to follow. Our boys put in a requisition for
apricot so that you could see them better, but it didn't come off."

After tea they smoked and talked over things, especially the new
divisions that were marching up in a never-ending stream, and the huge
shell stores at the artillery dumps, which had struck Dan Dunn very
forcibly as his battalion passed them. And then Bob, having duties to
attend to, went away in the gathering dusk, and they hung a ground sheet
over the door and lit a candle, and Dan, with his huge arms behind his
head, told in his quiet drawl of Quinn's Post and Lone Pine, and had
hard things to say about the Higher Command, to all of which Dennis
listened, enthralled, with his elbows on his knees.

At five minutes to ten by the wristlet watch there came a cough from the
other side of the ground sheet, and Dan picked himself up.

"Right-o, Hawke!" called Dennis, with a glance at the watch. "Here's a
spare revolver for you, Dan, or would you rather have a rifle?"

"Rifle's in the way if it's a long crawl," said his cousin. "I'll take
the Smith and Wesson, old man."

Dennis settled his cap firmly on his head and extinguished the candle.
On either side of the door of the dug-out, as they pulled aside the
ground sheet and came up the steps, a dark figure loomed--Harry Hawke
and his chum, Tiddler.

Against the lighter grey of the sky one could make out the ragged edge
of the sandbags, and a little way off the rosy glow from a brazier
showed through the trench mist which hung low over the ground.

"The listening post knows we're coming through 'em, sir; they're lying
out in front of the bay on the left," volunteered Hawke.

"Very well," said Dennis in a low voice, "the idea is this: we want to
strike a bee-line--barring shell holes, of course--straight out to their
wire. You and Tiddler will keep twenty yards behind to cover us if
necessary, but no firing unless you are absolutely obliged. You
understand that?"

Both men whispered "Yus, sir!" in a ready chorus, and Dennis led the way
to the bay in the trench, and climbed on to the fire step.

Another figure stood motionless there, his rifle on a sandbag before
him, and everything was unusually still.

"Anything moving?" said Dennis, in the man's ear.

"Haven't known it so quiet all the week, sir," was the reply. "But don't
forget there's a machine-gun yonder, thirty paces to the l