the bottom. For a moment she
lay there without moving. The Germans thought she was stuck. They
came running along thinking to grapple with her. But they never
reached her, for at once the guns from both sides opened fire and the
Germans disappeared.

The huge machine dragged herself up the steep ten-foot side of the
trench. As she neared the top, it seemed as if the engine would not
take the final pull. James took out his clutch, put his brake on hard,
and raced the engine. Then letting the clutch in with a jerk, the tank
pulled herself right on to the point of balance, and tipped slowly
over what had been the parapet of the German position.

Now she was in the wire which lay in front of the trench. McKnutt
signalled back, "Swing round to the left," parallel to the lay of the
line. A moment's pause, and she moved forward relentlessly, crushing
everything in her path, and sending out a stream of bullets from every
turret to any of the enemy who dared to show themselves above the top
of the trench.

At the same time our own troops, who had waited behind the barricade
to bomb their way down, from traverse to traverse, rushed over the
heap of sandbags, tangled wire, wood, and dead men which barred their
way. The moral effect of the tank's success, and the terror which she
inspired, cheered our infantry on to greater efforts. The tank crew
were, at the time, unaware of the infantry's action, as none of our
own men could be seen. The only indication of the fact was the
bursting of the bombs which gradually moved from fire bay to fire bay.

The Corporal touched McKnutt on the arm.

"I don't believe our people are keeping up with us, sir," he said.
"They seem to have been stopped about thirty yards back."

"All right," McKnutt answered. "We'll turn round."

McKnutt and James opened their portholes to obtain a clearer view.
Five yards along to the left, a group of Germans were holding up the
advancing British. They had evidently prepared a barricade in case of
a possible bombing attack on our part, and this obstacle, together
with a fusillade of bombs which met them, prevented our troops from
pushing on. McKnutt seized his gun and pushed it through the
mounting, but found that he could not swing round far enough to get an
aim on the enemy. But James was in a better position. He picked the
gray figures off, one by one, until the bombing ceased and our own men
jumped over the barricade and came down among the dead and wou