ng
a sheet of paper which he had brought for the purpose, he fastened it
directly below the loophole where it would be in plain sight from our
lines but invisible to the occupants of the place. His work done, he
was about to start back when he happened to think of that flag and
concluded to have a try for it. It was probably a hundred yards or
more down the trench from where he then was and it required the utmost
care to avoid making a noise as the front of the parapet, as is always
the case, was thickly strewn with tin cans and rubbish of all sorts.
Lucky had been a big game hunter in Canada, however, and had even
stalked the wily moose which is about the last word in "still
hunting," so he managed to negotiate the distance without detection
and finally reached the flag.

Carefully feeling up along the staff, he discovered that it was
anchored with wires which ran into the ground and then he remembered
the tales that had been told of how it was attached to a bomb or small
mine which would be exploded if the flagstaff were disturbed. That was
a common German trick and not at all unlikely in this case, but,
after thinking the matter over, he decided to make an attempt to
unfasten the wires. This did not take long, after which all that
remained was to pull out the staff and "beat it." Taking his pistol in
his right hand, to be ready for emergencies, and reaching up with the
left, he gave the pole a sharp jerk. Well, there must have been
another wire, somewhere, connected up with two "fixed rifles," aimed
directly at the stick for, when he pulled on it, two rifle reports
rang out and two bullets hit the flagstaff, cutting it off just below
his hand which was also slightly cut. Quickly rolling down into a
slight depression he hugged the flag to him and lay quiet, while the
Germans, aroused by the shots, immediately opened fire with rifles,
which were soon joined by; a machine gun. They could not hit him where
he was so he just lay still and waited. Suddenly, without warning,
they fired a flare light directly over his head. He told me afterward
that was the only time he was really scared. He thought it was a bomb.
However that soon passed and the firing having died down, he made his
way back to our lines with the flag which he gave to the Colonel the
next morning. "And they gave him a medal for that."

On another occasion, one of our scouts made his way through the German
line and having located a battery in the rear, star