'm a-going down the plurry steps," he affirmed, "an' I'll bomb 'em
from the bottom."

The next instant he was down the shaft and peering cautiously round the
corner; and having peered he let out one wild whoop and gently lobbed
his first bomb into the far corner. It was a bomber's paradise.

All round the walls in bunks were Bavarians--stout ones, thin ones,
drunk ones, sober ones--and the bunks were arranged in tiers one above
the other. Two men were up, getting on their equipment, and evidently
preparing to sally forth after the gentleman upstairs; but after the
first bomb burst the fog of war descended on that Hun hostel. Samuel
had just time to see the fearful mess up in the far corner before the
light went out, and then things moved. Shots came whizzing past his
head into the woodwork of the shaft, but Samuel didn't care a damn for
shots; had he not been bitten in the hand less than an hour previously?
Methodically he pulled out pins, and impartially he distributed his
favours in every direction, what time he softly sang a song that had
long been one of his favourites, and which dealt with the singer's
overmastering predilection for "fish and chips."

Suddenly he found the sapper behind him. "Stand by to 'op it like a
ruddy 'are," remarked that worthy tersely. "I'm a going to give 'em my
little present from Brighton, and it won't be 'ealthy when it goes off."

There was a sudden sizzle as he lit the fuze, and he saw a stream of
smoky light fly through the darkness and fall on to the ground in the
centre of the dug-out. Then Samuel 'opped it, the sapper just behind
him, up the shaft and into the trench. The sapper rushed him round a
bend, and then crouched down.

"Twenty seconds," he gasped, "an' me out of training. Lumme! wot a
life."

The next instant the ground quivered as if an earthquake had occurred;
a thunderous roar shook the air, while the blast of the explosion
nearly knocked them down.

"Nothin' wrong with that there ammonal," remarked the Sapper
professionally. "'Andy stuff it is too. Let's go and see what's
'appened."

But that they will never know. From the dug-out shaft a volume of
smoke and dust was belching out, while from inside there came a medley
of noises and grunts indicative of annoyance and pain.

"Sounds like one of them there gramophone records, don't it?" murmured
Samuel. "A summer morning, or the departure of a troop ship. Ain't it
lovely? 'Ullo, wot's that?"