step might prove disastrous.

It was late in the evening when Bob and the men placed under his
command found themselves at the post which had been allotted to them.
All round them was wooded country, which made observation difficult,
but which also sheltered them from the enemies' fire.

"Anything may happen here, sir," said a young non-commissioned officer
to Bob.

"Still things seem pretty quiet; we may as well feed now."

Bob was on good terms with his men, and while he never slackened
discipline in the slightest degree, he tried to be friendly with all.
He ate the same food and partook of the same danger--never in any
degree commanding them to do what he himself shirked.

The little meal was nearly over, and Bob was taking his last drink of
tea out of a tin can, when he caught a sound which brought him quickly
to his feet.

Ten seconds later every soldier was on the alert, ready for action.
Then in the light of the dying day they saw a number of men marching
from behind the trees.

"They look like our own men," said Corporal West; "still, them blessed
Germans' uniform seems just the same colour as our own in this light."

A minute later some English words rang out in the still evening air.

"We're the Lancashire Fusiliers," said a voice.

"Wait a minute," said Bob to the corporal. "I am going to see who they
are before taking any risks."

He covered the intervening space in less than a minute, and saw that
the other party was not quite so large as his own, but still of
considerable strength. They wore, as far as he could judge, the
English uniform, and gave evidence that they were our own soldiers.

Barely had he reached the man whom he supposed to be the officer,
however, than from behind the trees a dozen more rushed to him, whom he
had not hitherto seen. A second later, he was surrounded.

"Speak one word, and you're a dead man," was the cry. Bob knew what
this meant. If his soldiers remained in ignorance, and were unable to
give alarm to the general army, the enemy could easily surprise them
and have them at advantage. Without a second's hesitation, however,
and unmindful of his own danger, he shouted aloud:

"They're Germans. Fire!"

Almost at the same moment there was a crash of rifle shots, and the men
around him fell by scores. It seemed almost miraculous that he himself
was untouched, but, before he had time to say another word, a huge
German struck him with the butt-end at his re