ring,
Prussian foreman who was expected to bring the methods of the Prussian
drill-sergeant to bear upon the poor half-starved wretches applying for
work, and to reduce them to a proper state of submission. Max had no
difficulty in satisfying the man, especially as he made no demur to
working in the night shift. Few workmen cared for the night shift, and
the foreman was therefore the more ready to clinch the bargain. Soon Max
and Dale were being shown the way to fill the shells and finish them
off, ready to be sent on their mission of destruction.

"Things couldn't have happened better, Dale," remarked Max at the first
opportunity.

"Why, Max? We are safe inside; is that what you mean?"

"Not exactly. What I mean is our being sent to the filling-shops. It's
no end of a piece of luck."

"Ah, I see! You are thinking of wrecking the place, eh?"

"Possibly, later on. But what I mean is that for our plans we need
explosives, and plenty of them. Well, here they are, ready to hand, and
all we have to do for a start is to get what we want away unseen."

"Aye; accumulate a store of our own ready for the day we want them?"

"Yes; the best place to attack we can settle later. In fact we may have
to seize our opportunities as they come along."

"The best places to choose are these filling-shops, old man. Heaps of
explosives about, and, although they watch everyone pretty closely, we
ought to get a chance before long. If this place were blown sky-high it
would damage a lot of the other shops, and probably get Schenk the sack.
He seems to have got over that other affair all right."

"Yes, but I can't bring myself to blow up this great place with all the
workmen in it, Germans or renegade Belgians though they are. I want to
cripple the works, not kill the work-people."

"Don't see much in your scruples, Max. If we don't kill them they are
left to go on sending shells out to kill our men."

"True, old man, but all the same I should like, if I can, to do the
business without causing any loss of life among the workmen. There is
the power-house now. If we could wreck that we should bring the whole of
the works to an absolute standstill."

"Phew! Yes. Well, and why shouldn't we?"

"I've been thinking, and I believe we ought to be able to do it. Of
course you know there is a soldier always posted at each entrance?"

"We must dispose of him--that's all."

"Or else we must get jobs as stokers. But enough of this--see that man