ting one morning that the corporal in
charge of the underground sentries reported that the enemy could be
heard working in No.--gallery.

This was the third time since taking over the mine that tapping had been
reported, and both the preceding times had proved to be the result of
overstrained imaginations. Captain H----, our skipper, had on both
occasions descended to the bowels of the earth and listened patiently
for half an hour, emerging again disgusted with things in general.

This time he motioned to the writer to accompany the corporal, and
together we made our way to the mine, shedding our jackets and belts at
the head of the shaft, and taking only our electric pocket lamps we
crawled along the muddy galleries to No.--.

The noise had stopped, the listener whispered to us when we touched him
gently on the leg, so we lay there all three listening for it to start
again, the tick-ticking of our wrist-watches and the pulsing of our
hearts sounding loud to our strained ears.

Three--five--seven minutes passed by without a sound, and then suddenly
there came a slight thud.

The man in front of me stiffened slightly like a well-trained setter and
the corporal behind me pinched my leg in the height of his exultation.

The thud-thud continued (there was no mistaking it now), then a
pause--and a voice, distinctly guttural, was heard, and a sound, easily
distinguishable from the muffled reports of the rifles some thirty feet
overhead--the scraping of a shovel on the wooden floor of a gallery not
more than eight feet away!

Passing the sentry a revolver and torch, we blew out his candle and
crept away as noiselessly as we had come.

On reaching the head of the shaft we met the mining officer, who crawled
down and returned to confirm our judgment.

Then followed some mysterious telephoning to the "higher authority"
while a charge was hastily laid, and permission was at last secured to
"blow" the mine.

No time was lost, and in half an hour all was ready, the mining officer
returning from his final inspection with the news that the enemy was
still digging blissfully away.

Remembering the mine at Givenchy, we cleared the trench in the danger
zone and had this party "stand by to repel boarders" and, if necessary,
man the crater.

At 2.30 the mine was fired.

A fountain of earth roared upwards from "No Man's Land," and, armed to
the teeth with bombs, we rushed forward, losing a couple of men on the
way who had b