the second time I got plugged, and plugged
for good.

We had repulsed the enemy several times. We were running short of
ammunition and our position was enfiladed. It was absolutely necessary, if
all of us were not to lose our lives, that some one should bring up
ammunition.

The ammunition dump lay about a mile back of our line. An officer called
for volunteers to creep back for a supply. It was broad daylight, but
twenty-eight other lads and myself stepped forward willing to attempt the
task.

The men who remained behind had a command to keep up a rapid fire over the
enemy trenches which would lend us some cover. No matter how perfect this
covering may be, it is never completely effective in silencing the enemy
fire. Quite a number of bullets scattered about us as we clambered along
the short communication trench, and up into the open. This was my first
experience in running away from bullets, and I proved in the first five
seconds of that journey that a man, no matter what his propensities for
winning medals may be, can run much faster from bullets than he can toward
them.

Among us were boys of several other companies, and on the way out three of
the twenty-nine got hit. I did not know whom. We kept on, breathless and
gasping, running as we were under the weight of full equipment and dodging
bullets as we went. Shells were falling round us too, now. We were not
happy.

At last we got to our destination and picked up the boxes. A box of
ammunition weighs a hundred or more pounds, so we decided that three of us
should carry two boxes. The boxes are fitted with handles on each end.

We started off running at top speed, then dropping flat on our stomachs to
fetch our breath and rest our aching arms. The enemy was rapidly getting
thicker. We rose and rushed forward another stretch. At three hundred yards
from the trench, the greater number of our crowd had fallen. We dropped.
Then our hearts stood still, for from our trench there came a silence we
could feel.

We knew what it meant. There was no need for the enemy to increase the
rapidity of his fire over us and over the boys in the trench to let us know
what was up. Our ammunition had already given out, and we had to face the
last few hundred yards without protection, meager though it had been
throughout. We knew there was not a man in that trench who had a bullet
left. We knew that as far as we were concerned, we were done. We
metaphorically shook hands with ou