y, which isn't likely, it'll be as wet as a sponge
after this rain. Suffering hand grenades! will it ever let up?" cried
Jerry, for it was still pouring.

Simple preparations were going on for breakfast. There was no sign yet
of any of the carriers with big kettles of hot coffee or soup, and it
was evident that the commissary had not yet been reorganized since the
last breakdown.

Afterward the boys learned that the reason for the failure of their
supplies to arrive was due to the fact that their sector was
temporarily cut off by an attempted flanking movement on the part of
the Germans. The Americans were in greater danger than they knew, but,
at the time, all they thought of was the lack of hot rations.

"Ned ought to come back," remarked Jerry, as he and Bob prepared to
eat. "He'll be reported late, and this isn't any time for that. I
guess----"

But Jerry did not finish, for just then came a tremendous explosion,
so close that for a moment he and Bob thought a Hun shell had been
dropped in the dugout near which they were sitting under an improvised
shelter.

Instantly the trench was a scene of feverish activity. Everyone
expected a raid, and breakfast was hastily set aside, while the
soldiers caught up their guns.

"It's all right," an officer called. "Fritz just took a pot shot at
one of our trucks out on the road."

"Did he get it, Sir?" asked Jerry.

"I should say so! Look here!"

A curve in the road passed close by this line of trenches. It was a
road used to take supplies to another part of the American battleline,
and vehicles passed along it only at night, as it was within range of
some of the German guns, though fairly well camouflaged. But this auto
truck, returning in the early hours of the morning after having
delivered a load of ammunition, had been caught by a shell. Afterward
it was learned that the truck had broken down on the return trip and
that the driver had been delayed in repairing it, so that he had to
pass the danger point in daylight.

Whether or not the German battery was on the lookout for just such a
chance as this, or whether it was a mere fortuitous opportunity of
which advantage was taken, could not be learned. But a shell
containing high explosive, though, fortunately for the driver, not a
large one, landed near the automobile and shattered it.

This was the detonation which had so startled Jerry and Bob, and now,
with others, they looked over the top of the trench at th