ther bomb fell close to a minesweeper and a fragment gashed the
decks but did not penetrate them. In the cabins the concussion of almost
every bomb which fell on shore was felt with curious precision. The
glass of wheel-houses and deck cabins was shattered, and the rattle and
thud on the decks and iron sides denoted the storm of falling metal.

The din of the raid went on for some time and then died away with a
final long-range shot from "Loose Lizzie" on the hills behind. When all
was clear heads appeared from hatchways, dug-outs and cellars. People
searched the sky curiously in an endeavour to make sure that there was
"no deception," although from first to last nothing had been seen of
the raiders except by those with the instruments, the searchlights and
the guns. The latest news of the damage caused--two houses, a man and a
horse--went from mouth to mouth. Then the summer night regained its
tranquillity and Dunkirk slept.

. . . . . . . .

The familiar boom sounded its loudest in the stillness of the night and
the ground seemed to tremble the more violently because of the darkness.
It was 1 A.M. The young moon had sunk beneath the horizon and a light
film of cloud had drifted over the sky.

The old French reservist doing sentry-go on the quay glanced up with a
shrug of indifference and slowly shouldering his rifle walked leisurely
towards a dug-out. Searchlights became busy exploring the sky. This time
their rays were not lost in the opaque blueness above, but went up in
well-defined columns of light until reflected on the lofty clouds.
Presently the beams concentrated and, when the eyes had grown accustomed
to the glare, little white "butterflies" were seen circling in the upper
air. Then the guns opened fire and white puffs, like tiny balls of
cotton-wool, appeared among the butterflies. The earth trembled with the
explosion of falling bombs and the recoil of anti-aircraft batteries. A
little flicker of yellow light appeared in the circle of white. The guns
increased in violence. The yellow light grew in size. It was falling.
The burning machine crashed to earth.

The bombs and the gun-fire lasted for some twenty minutes and then
ceased suddenly, as if by prearranged signal. Allied squadrons were in
the air and the distant crackle of machine guns sounded from the skies.
It died away, however, almost immediately, but the raiders were chased
back to within their own