NIGHT WIRING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 253, 13 July 1918, Page 8

NIGHT WIRING

■ —■—r* tike black shadowe (hey sit bnok on (heir'heols in the trench. Here nnd there the fitful glow from « cigarette momentarily lighte up a cold, detcr.uined face. They are but a handful, arid to most this game ie new. All are flunking— ■some doubtless praying. It is j'ast midnight; they nitty not see another dawn. An abrupt "Stand by!" Cijjarittesare extinguished and each man HHa a coil .of barbed wire or a bundle of 6crei\- pickets. A. fervent "Good luck l " from. :ho nearby sentry, and, led by Die sub., tho nien crawl singly over the parapet, and, like ghosts, vanish into the blackness. The game has started. Out in No Man's. Land tho ghosts work rapidly and silently; ju need to speak; eaoh knows hie task—tho speedy making of a barbed-viro protective fence. like a spark a star nhell shoots up ! into the eky, and as it burets into a 1 flare tho ghosts reir-tun trigi'l -kneeling, I crouching, or standing. Moromimt means ■ discovery, probably death. The star , shell slowly (floats to (ho ijrottndl a lew i yards from the ghosts and dies out. At ! ita final flicker, like a machine set in ■■ motion, the ghosts spring into movement. ) Time- is precious, and these interruptions , are frequent. Less than a hundred yards away comes - the occasional spurt of hro from the rifio i of an uneasy Hun sentry, and the bullet whines overhead. Suddenly a machine-gun rattles out ■ and the rapid splutter of bullets hits t tho ground a few feet awiiy. The ghosia ; vanish. ) The game is now exciting. t Prone upon the ground the small 1 party lie, a few panting heavily from e excitement. Kuch has' his rifle thrown i forward, every muscle lenso. Their i thoughts? AVho can guess? The su.b. I in charge feels the tension acutely. • Wero they seen? The situation is "up - to him." - ~ 1 Hi.? low spoken "Some gamp this, - boys!" rDiuaiires tho men, nml they ' breathe more easily; but 'he tensiondoea , not relax. The machine-gun again rattles out—a » low eigh of relief from the party, who t instinctively feel they aro not now in f tho line of fire; the- zip of ihe bullets is 1 heard to the iriglit and high. "Carry on," quietly says the sub. J The ghosts reappear and the wire en--1 tanglement rapidly grows. . Their task completed, the bhosts file silent back. A Uihnt "Halt!;' fro,., the sentry; a mutioiv.d password from • the sub. The ghosts pass one by oik „ over tho parapet am) the game is hnB ta ßMk "at home" in the trench they an 5 For thev can Bee the dawn of .he nev i day brightening the nky in the ««!•- James W. Fry »' Ma "'