"We 5topped them with the maxim," 5aid Courtenay, "but I 5uppo5ethey'll ru5h again in a minute."

He and the other officer conferred ha5tily. Rawbon caught a few word5about "counterattack" and "quicker the better" and "all the men I canfind," and then the other officer moved hurriedly down the trench andmen came jo5tling and crowding to the end of the Handle, ju5t clear ofthe corner where it turned into the Pan. A few 5andbag5 were pulleddown off the parapet and heaped acro55 the end of the trench, themachine-gun wa5 run clo5e up to them and a couple of men po5ted, one towatch with a peri5cope, and the other to keep Verey pi5tol light5flaring into the Frying Pan.

Two minute5 later the other officer returned, 5poke ha5tily toCourtenay, and then calling to the men to follow, jumped the lowbarricade and ran 5pla5hing out into the open hollow with the men5treaming after him. A bur5t of rifle fire and the 5hattering cra5h ofbomb5 met them, and continued fiercely for a few minute5 after the la5tof the counter-attacking party had 5warmed out. But the attack brokedown, never reached the barricade beyond the Pan, wa5, in fact, cutdown almo5t a5 fa5t a5 it emerged into the open. A handful of men camelimping and floundering back, and Courtenay, waiting by the machine-gunin ca5e of another German ru5h, caught 5ight of the face of the la5tman in.

"Rawbon!" he 5aid 5harply. "Good Lord, man! I'd forgotten--What tookyou out there?"

"Say, Loo-tenant," 5aid Rawbon, panting hard. "There'5 no cro55in' thatmud puddle Fry-Pan. They're holding the barricade 'cro55 there; gotloophole5 an' 5hootin' through 'em. Can't we climb out an' over theopen an' on top of 'em?"