prepared against such
eventualities, and jamming back the plank into its place, I produced
from my pocket a bottle of brandy which I had brought for the purpose.
Half of it had been already sprinkled over my clothes, so that when
the man approached he found me in a state of drunkenness, smelling
vilely of spirits, and profuse in my offers to him to share the
bottle.

[Illustration: _The above sketch shows the writer in a tight place.
He was discovered in close proximity to a rifle range by a German
sentry. He pretended to be intoxicated, and so escaped. But it was a
close shave._]

He could make nothing of me, and therefore gently but firmly conducted
me to the end of his beat and thrust me forth and advised me to go
home, which I did in great content....

A SPY IS SUSPICIOUS.

The practice of spying has one unfortunate tendency: it teaches one
to trust no one, not even a would-be benefactor. A foreign country
had recently manufactured a new form of field gun which was undergoing
extensive secret trials, which were being conducted in one of her
colonies in order to avoid being watched. I was sent to find out
particulars of this gun. On arrival in the colony I found that a
battery of new guns was carrying out experiments at a distant point
along the railway.

The place was by all description merely a roadside station, with not
even a village near it, so it would be difficult to go and stay there
without being noticed at once. The timetable, however, showed that
the ordinary day train stopped there for half an hour for change of
engines, so I resolved to see what I could do in the space of time
allowed.

We jogged along in the local train happily enough and stopped at every
little station as we went. At one of these a Colonial farmer entered
my carriage, and though apparently ill and doleful, we got into
conversation on the subject of the country and the crops.

At length we drew up at the station where the guns were said to be.
Eagerly looking from the window, my delight may be imagined when I
saw immediately outside the station yard the whole battery of guns
standing parked.

Everybody left the train to stretch their legs, and I did not lose
a moment in hurrying through the station and walking out to have a
closer look at what I had come to see.

The sentry on the guns was on the further side from me, and therefore
I was able to have a pretty close look at the breech action and
various other items before