Snipe
esence of mind he held his right arm aloft wit
aordinarily protracted, and then he alighted, unhurt, on
lay, his heart beating furiously and his
d there was a greasy smell in the still air, emanating from some lubricant u
e much of me left," he muttered, gathering himself up and remembe
his tattered tunic, and, drawing it out, he pressed the
have a positive genius. The chalk had been excavated for trench building, the walls w
f rifles that were stored in the place, but he saw enough to convince him that
but the steel door resisted all his efforts to open it, and though h
e a minute inspection of the vast dug-out without finding any means of egress, until he came
somewhere not far away. At first he thought there must be some hidden ventilation sh
his light in the direction of the current. "Sur
strange hieroglyphics, and then he stood still, for there was
, and the floor was marked with the print of heavy
uldn't fit these French chambers," he thought, examining the commandant's second revolver, which had only one charg
faced by the pioneers' shovels, and he
allery, which he followed for sixty or seventy yards, and then switched off his torch as a loud explosion, n
netrated an enemy sap, but now he knew that s
red along the passage. A faint light filtered
s wind has given me a bloodshot eye, and I am shivering. Will
his heels. Dennis made out the outline of the sniper stretched at full length on a blanket, his rifle in front of him on a wooden stand,
d his last cartridge, and the messen
, but Dennis was upon him, and, locked in a terrible emb
d his opponent rolled over and over, and he strained every
head well fixed under the sniper's jaw, effectually preventing any words leaving his lips. Instead there came a stream of weir
h for the stouter man, and at last, pinning him down in a corner, where he panted quite out of breath, Dennis withdrew his
Dennis. "Perhaps you don't know that we've taken yo
the polite reply. "All
under control. "Judging from your official statements, and your Bethmann-Hollweg, Germany hasn
tache, the ends of whi
ond of talking about," he said ironically. "I've been here for a mo
oot no more," sa
uddenly stiffening his spine and almost
back again. He had slid the French officer's empty revolver into its case, and as the man blinked at him w
aid, and he saw a wave of terr
he cried, but as he spoke the beam of da
he English trench and looking from the outside like an innocent, natural crevice. Immediately behind it was a steel grating, firmly embedded in the sides of the tunnel,
ace looked in, and a voice, which Dennis inst
oud. As you can't come art and I can't come in, 'ere's a litt
voice, but he was too late. Harry Hawke had already drawn
d eternity, but bracing his foot against the side of the tunnel,
and as the end of the passage was blown into the open air, the steel grating with it, Dennis fel
r. What-oh, it's put the tin hat on
tin hat on me!" exclaimed Dennis, rolling the thing
ed, and a huge joy that it had not happened, struggled for mastery, and b
r sing out, si
ever, never mind. How is it going?" said Denn
e was as white as Hawke's under the dirt that grimed
rother here," said Dennis. "You go
as not good to look upon, every rag of clothing having been stripped from his back and lo
ain, and, followed by Hawke, made his way back into that
igious yawn, and felt an indesc
re last night, and I'm hanged if I can keep up much longer. You see those steps? A spy f
heavily on the pile of blankets, just as the shell-
their surprise, among them Captain Bob. Tiddler had not yet reache
ennis can't possibly be down there. I'll go back and q
wke. "'E is 'ere right enough, and
, and the store of shot and shell and the piles of rifles were as nothing to the brigadier as he saw the
wot that come art of. 'E was that sniper we never could spot, and I reckon it was 'arf me and 'arf Mr. Dashwood wot killed hi
under his moustache, and then aloud he said: "Get four men and carry him back to his own
n's Land, and was now ours, and tucked up tenderly in his bunk, where, if he did not exac