e last."

Thus they sat down to wait--for just what, they did not know--while at
that very moment, four feet away from them on the other side of the
wall, faithful Joe was setting up the flashlight exactly according to
directions.

For a few seconds he waited, and then, three times in quick succession,
a rocket went into the air from just behind the American lines.

Over there Captain Hallowell himself found the range, submitted it to
his most expert gunner, who verified it, and then they waited for the
three minutes to elapse, during which Joe was to seek a place of safety.

It was in that interval, too, that Fate intervened for those within the
cave, for they were sitting with their backs to the very point against
which the shell was to be directed.

"We need all our strength," Lieutenant Mackinson was saying. "So long as
possible we want to remain in full possession of our senses. The air is
purer near the floor. I think it would be better to lie down."

And following his suggestion and example, the other two stretched
themselves out in the middle of the cavern.

Within the American lines, at that point where a regiment of heavy
artillery was stationed, Captain Hallowell raised his hand in signal to
his gunner. Out on the parapet of the front trench an anxious colonel
was standing, regardless of all danger, a pair of powerful glasses to
his eyes. His vision was focused upon a little light far out in No Man's
Land.

Two hundred feet away from that light Joe and Frank Hoskins lay prone
upon the ground, silent, impatient, fearful, hoping.

With a quick motion the artillery captain swung his outstretched arm
downward. There was a roar, a flash, and a great shell tore through the
air. Out in No Man's Land there was a second explosion as the shell hit,
and the target--a flashlight--was blown to atoms.

Over in the German trenches a sentinel chuckled at the thought of
another wasted American shell, but out of the hole that that shell had
torn three pale, haggard, and exhausted youths were crawling to safety
and God's fresh air. And across No Man's Land dashed two pals to greet
them.

American determination and American marksmanship had saved three
American lives. The German sentinel might have his laugh if he liked.

It was hours later before the three who had been imprisoned learned how
their rescue had been effected; but they got an inkling of it as they
came within four hundred yards of the American-French