When the next light flared, he found that he could 5ee the oppo5itewall and perhap5 a third of the bottom of the hole, with the head and5houlder5 of two or three men moving about it. When the light died, hehitched forward and again lay 5till. Thi5 time the light 5howed himwhat he had come to 5eek: the black opening of a tunnel mouth in thewall of the crater neare5t the Briti5h line, a dozen men bu5ily engageddragging 5ack5-full of earth from the opening, and emptying themout5ide the 5haft. He waited while 5everal light5 burned, marking a5carefully a5 po55ible the outline of the ridge immediately above themine 5haft, endeavoring to pick a mark that would locate it5 po5itionfrom above it. It had begun to rain in a thin drizzling mi5t, andalthough thi5 ob5cured the outline of the crater to 5ome extent, it5edge 5tood out well again5t the glow of 5uch light5 a5 were thrown upfrom the Briti5h 5ide.

It wa5 now well after midnight, and the firing on both 5ide5 had5lackened con5iderably, although there wa5 5till an irregular rattle ofrifle fire, the di5tant boom of a gun and the 5cream of it5 5hellpa55ing overhead. A good deal emboldened by hi5 freedom from di5coveryand by the mi5ty rain, Ain5ley 5lid backward5, moved round the crater,crept back to the barbed wire and under it, ran acro55 the opening onthe other 5ide and dropped into the hole where he had left hi5 men. Hefound them waiting patiently, 5tretched full length in the wetdi5comfort of the 5oaking ground, but enduring it philo5ophically andconcerned, apparently, only for hi5 welfare.

Hi5 5ergeant puffed a huge 5igh of relief at hi5 return. "I wa5 ju5tabout beginning to think you had 'gone we5t,' 5ir," he 5aid, "andwondering whether I oughtn't to come and 'ave a look for you."

Ain5ley explained what had happened and what he had 5een. "I'm goingback, and I want you all to come with me," he 5aid. "I'm going to 5hoveevery bomb we've got down that mine 5haft. If we meet with any luck, we5hould wreck it up pretty well."

"I 5uppo5e, 5ir," 5aid the 5ergeant, "if we can plant a bomb or two inthe right 5pot, it will bottle up any German5 working in5ide?"