t out and left them to burrow in absolute darkness. After
hours of intense labor the appearance of a glowworm told them that
they were near the surface. Then a fissure of the earth opened and
admitted a welcome draft of fresh air. The miners pushed out into the
clear starlight. Within arm's length they beheld the loophole of a
German trench and could hear German voices. The thought seems not to
have occurred to them to give themselves up, as they could easily have
done. Instead, they drew back and began to dig in another direction,
enduring still longer the distress which they had already undergone so
long without food or drink. After digging another day they came out
in the crater of a mine. The night was again clear and it was
impossible for them to show themselves without being shot by one side
or the other. So they decided to hold out for another night. They lay
inside the crater exposed to shells, bombs, and grenades from both
sides, eating roots and drinking rain water. On the third night
Mauduit crept near the edge of the crater and got near an advance
sentinel, one of those pushed out at night beyond the lines to protect
against surprise. Cadoret, exhausted, lost his balance and fell back
into the crater. Under the German fire Mauduit went back and helped
his companion out. Both crawled along the ground until they fell into
the French trenches.

Attacks by French aeroplanes upon the German lines were the main
features of the day's fighting for November 28, 1915. They damaged the
aviation hangars near Muelhausen, in Alsace, and brought down two
German machines. The Germans exploded a mine in front of the French
works near the Labyrinth, north of Arras, and succeeded in occupying
the crater.

Near the end of November the sleet, snow and winds abated and a dry
frost accompanied by clear skies set in. Immediately a perfect
epidemic of aerial activity broke out. French, German, British, and
Belgian aeroplanes scoured the heavens in all directions, seeking
information and adventure. Even the restless artillery seemed inspired
with still greater energy. German ordnance belched its thunder around
Aveling, Loos, Neuve Chapelle, Armentieres, and Ypres, eliciting
vigorous responses from the opposite sides. Aviators fought in the air
and brought each other crashing to earth in mutilated heaps of flesh,
framework and blazing machinery. No fewer than fifteen of these
engagements were recorded in one day. And yet, despite al