single shot, raking the length of a
portion of a trench, would cost hundreds of men. Now it seldom means a
loss of more than six or eight."

It was fifty yards between the entanglements and the first line trench,
and in the two hundred yards between that and the second line trench,
there was quite a little underground settlement.

The bomb-proof shelter was a regular cellar with sheets of steel over
it, and earth over that. It was dark, and the dirt walls and floor
gave out a damp and mouldy smell. The men had made crude provisions
for comfort. Narrow benches were about the walls, a door from some
wrecked building had been brought with much labor, and converted into a
table, around which the men sat and played cards.

But Zaidos was most interested in the First Aid Station. He felt that
much of his time might be spent here in this strange dug-out.

It was a strange mixture of the latest thing in surgical science and
the crudeness of the caveman.

The walls were simply scooped out. They might have been dug with a
gigantic spoon, so rough they were and so rounding. The floor had been
packed, or trodden hard, and in the middle of the small space was a
rude operating table. Beside it, however, on enameled, collapsible
iron stands, looking as though they might have been just carried out of
some perfectly appointed hospital, were rows of delicate instruments.

There had been no firing for some time, and the place was empty. The
surgeon and his assistant sat reading a month-old copy of a London
paper. They scanned the columns eagerly, and laughed heartily at the
jokes. For London gallantly jests, even in war time.

The lieutenant introduced Zaidos and Velo to the doctors, and explained
their presence.

"Well, me lad," said the older man, cordially taking note of Zaidos'
sunny smile and fearless eyes, "I'm thinkin' that we need such as you.
We can't hope those fellows over there beyond will keep still much
longer, and we will have the deuce of a time to hold our position, I
believe. Of course we will do it, but it will mean a lot of work for
us in here, worse luck!

"You want to familiarize yourself with every turn of the place. A lost
moment may mean a lost life, perhaps yours, perhaps the man you are
trying to help. You may have to leave the connecting trench you are
running along and take to the top of the ground. If a shell falls
ahead of you, you will find your path stopped up. Have you ever been