that they were in a
state of panic.

The bombardment had lasted perhaps an hour, when part of the roof of
the cave fell in with a tremendous crash, and I imagined that several
men were buried.

'We'll get out of this,' said the lieutenant who had been left in
charge; 'there's a safer place further down.'

'Yes, sir,' replied the soldier, evidently glad of the order, 'but what
about the prisoners?'

The young officer seemed in doubt about us, and then grumbled something
about his captain's orders.

'Our numbers are up, sergeant,' I said, for Sergeant Smith and I were
the only two who were left alive. 'Either we shall be killed by our
own guns, or else we shall suffer worse than death at the hands of
these fellows.'

'Never say die, sir,' replied Sergeant Smith, who was noted for his
optimistic temperament; 'anyhow, these chaps are all in a blue funk.'

'There can be no doubt about that,' was my reply. 'If we live through
it, and if this bombardment is but the preliminary to an attack,
there's a sporting chance that we may get away.'

'About a hundred to one, sir.'

After this, I have no clear recollection as to what took place. I
remember that we moved along a tunnel until we came to another
dug-out,--after that everything became a blank to me. Either I had
been stunned by my captors, or I had been hurt by falling _debris_.

When I came to my senses again, the guns were still booming, although
they seemed at a greater distance, and I judged that our captors
regarded us as in a safer place. Then, suddenly, I heard a voice which
set my nerves tingling. It was an English voice, too, although he
spoke in German.

'You chaps are in an awful hole,' I heard some one say, in quiet
matter-of-fact tones, as though the situation were of a most ordinary
nature. 'Do you know what I think of you? You are a lot of idiots.'

'We're better off than you, anyhow,' and this time it was a German who
spoke. 'If we come alive out of this, we shall be all right; but you
are our prisoners.'

'Prisoners if you like, my dear fellow, but what's the good of that to
you?'

'Every English prisoner taken is one step nearer to German victory,'
replied the soldier sententiously.

'Nonsense! There'll never be a German victory, and you know it.
You've never been behind the British lines, have you? Why, man, there
are mountains of guns and ammunition--every day is adding to the stock,
and soon, mark you, very soon, all these