mbed up the ladder to
the attic, which we found to be very spacious, with heaps of straw on the
floor here and there. The walls of the structure, I should judge, were
about four feet thick, and there was a space that wide where the parapet
of the wall and thatching came near together.

On reaching the attic we could hear the voices of our fellows in the farm
yard below. The noise came through the opening between the parapet and
thatching which was supported by beams. The aperture must have been about
a foot in height. Approaching this--with the intention of playing a trick
on the boys by throwing a piece of stone from the top of the wall--I
noticed, dangling over the edge, a black leather strap. Carelessly I gave
it a sharp tug, when out came a "Colt," the handle of which I instantly
caught. I scarcely had it in my hands when a man's head popped up and I
found myself facing a German soldier. He started to reach to his side but
I had him covered. I do not know whether he or I was the more greatly
surprised.

"Hands up, ye swine!" I shouted, holding him cowed with his own revolver,
although I was entirely ignorant of its mechanism, and did not even know
how to release the safety catch.

He slid out of the recess under the thatch which he had been occupying
and stood on the floor. With his hands up, he kept muttering:

"Mercy! _Kamerad! Kamerad!_"

Jock seemed stunned at this sudden and unthought of "find."

I asked him to tie the boche's hands, which he did with his rifle
pull-through, and we marched him down to the officers' quarters. The
officers were just preparing to eat, and were astounded at the sudden
appearance of the boche in the doorway, as we made him walk in first. We
left the prisoner and his Colt with the officers. Then we returned to
search the loft.

In the deep recess over the wall we found a French rifle, a British rifle,
several days' rations, ammunition, and a warm blanket--which Jock and I
snuggled under that night. It was a sniper's post and afforded an
excellent view of part of our lines, especially the spot at the brook
where so many of our boys "went West" in the act of getting water, and
where I had had a narrow escape.

The next morning, after reveille, a corporal and three men who had done
guard over the sniper got orders to take him to a given place, which was
about three miles behind our lines. Also they were ordered to report back
within "fifteen minutes from starting time."

We w