started about the middle of January, 1916. Some of
my men--Italians who had hurried home to fight for their country when
the war started--had had some previous experience with hand and machine
drills in the mines of Colorado and British Columbia, but the most of
our labor had to gain its experience as the work progressed. Considering
this, as well as the difficulty of bringing up material (to say nothing
of food and munitions), we made very good progress.

[Sidenote: Mining under constant fire.]

[Sidenote: Thirty-eight shells a minute.]

"The worst thing about it all was the fact that it had to be done under
the incessant fire of the Austrian artillery. I provided for the men as
best as I could by putting them in galleries, where they were at least
able to get their rest. When the enemy finally found out what we were up
to they celebrated their discovery by a steady bombardment which lasted
for fourteen days without interruption. During a certain forty-two hours
of that fortnight there was, by actual count, an average of thirty-eight
shells a minute exploding on our little position.

[Sidenote: Silencing an Austrian battery.]

"We were constantly confronted with new and perplexing problems--things
which no one had ever been called upon to solve before--most of them in
connection with transportation. How we contrived to surmount one of
these I shall never forget. The Austrians had performed a brave and
audacious feat in emplacing one of their batteries at a certain point,
the fire from which threatened to make our position absolutely
untenable. The location of this battery was so cunningly chosen that not
one of our guns could reach it; and yet we _had_ to silence it--and for
good--if we were going to go on with our work. The only point from
which we could fire upon these destructive guns was so exposed that any
artillery we might be able to mount there could only count on the
shortest shrift under the fire of the hundred or more 'heavies' that the
Austrians would be able to concentrate upon it. And yet (I figured),
well employed, these few minutes might prove enough to do the work in.

[Sidenote: A young giant endeavors to climb with a gun.]

"And then there arose another difficulty. The smallest gun that would
stand a chance of doing the job cut out for it weighed 120 kilos--about
265 pounds; this just for the gun alone, with all detachable parts
removed. But the point where the gun was to be mounted was so exp