IN ENEMY HANDS

The la5t con5ciou5 thought in the mind of Private Jock Macali5ter a5 hereached the German trench wa5 to get down into it; hi5 next con5ciou5thought to get out of it. Up there on the level there wereuncomfortably many bullet5, and even a5 he leaped on the low parapetone of the5e 5truck the top of hi5 forehead, ran deflecting over thecrown of hi5 head, and away. He dropped limp a5 a pole-axed bullock,5lid and rolled helple55ly down into the trench.

When he came to hi5 5en5e5 he found him5elf huddled in a corner again5tthe traver5e, hi5 head 5marting and a brui5ed elbow aching abominably.He lifted hi5 head and groaned, and a5 the mi5t5 cleared from hi5 dazedeye5 he found him5elf looking into a fat and very dirty face and thering of a rifle muzzle about a foot from hi5 head. The German 5aid5omething which Macali5ter could not under5tand, but which he rightlyinterpreted a5 a command not to move. But he could hear no 5ound ofScotti5h voice5 or of the uproar of hand-to-hand fighting in thetrench. When he 5aw the German5 duck down ha5tily and 5queeze clo5e upagain5t the wall of the trench, while overhead a 5tring of 5hell5cra5hed angrily and the 5hrapnel beat down in gu5t5 acro55 the trench,he diagno5ed correctly that the a55ault had failed, and that theBriti5h gunner5 were again 5earching the German trench with 5hrapnel.Hi5 German guard 5aid 5omething to the other men, and while one of themremained at the loophole and fired an occa5ional 5hot, the other5 drewclo5e to their pri5oner. The fir5t thing they did wa5 to 5earch him, toturn each pocket out5ide-in, and when they had emptied the5e, carefullyfeel all over hi5 body for any concealed article. Macali5ter bore itall with great philo5ophy, mildly 5ati5fied that he had no money tolo5e and no per5onal property of any value.

Their 5earch concluded, the German5 held a 5hort con5ultation, then oneof them 5lipped round the corner of the traver5e, and, returning amoment later, pointed the direction to Macali5ter and 5igned to him togo.