The Washington herald., 1916-12-10

man strengthening the Boche wire, ana
when the alarm l. given they send men
out and lay traps. The fellow waiting
with knife In his hand has the best
Of the man who stumbles over him. every
time. But we'u get q Boche tomorrow
night" fst
Soon after we passed the last Of the
islands, reached a slight ridge beyond
the swamps. and made our way down q
real trench dug In solid earth This be-
longed to another battalion. Our officer,
being out Of his territory, was not sure
OF the way and once or twice he lost it.
For twenty minutes We wandered about
without finding q soldier. which IN the
first line seemed strange. but soon It was
evident there was something doing fur
ther along the trench at the horn Of a
small British salient which here ends In
some great mine craters. Great sheets
Of flame leaped up, amid which we could
see dark objects whlrling-we thought
they might be men, but learned later they
were sandbags-and we heard terrific de-
donations. We paused, somewhat irreso-
iutely. "Boche trench mortars," whisper
ed our officer, and in another minute
q walking wounded" case bumped into
US, remarking casually as he turned into
communication trench. The Boches
have come over"
Hurried to Rear.
That was enough for our guide, who
wasn't going to get his charges mixed
up even in a small trench raid. and 1t
was enough for US. He hurried US back
the way we had come. We were not
sorry to go, for hand-to-hand trench
lighting at night is ugly business in
which neutral. unarmed tourists would
stand less than a rats chance. We Ia
ter learned that the alarm was false. A
German patrol. perhaps seeking an Eng
lander for the Duke of wurtembergs
Intelligence Department, had reached
the British wire and been fired on, and
the trench mortar activity was intended
to create a diversion and cover their re-
treat British trench mortars, as we re-
tired. sent back what had come over
with interest, and possibly the incident
was worth a line or two in the report OF
the battalion whose sector we had in
vaded. The news" was hardly import
ant enough to reach the general COM
manding the division. but the brigade
General may have been informed in the
morning. Hostile trench mortars were
silenced at 2:45 a. m.," varying the mo-
notony of the situation normal" and
nothing to report" messages sent in by
his other battalions.
We stopped and chatted with officers
and Tommies on our way back through
NhO hsAdAA0 Slcppe0 on ana
lodged more rats, "froze" while Ger
man flares burned. Not a British verey
light was sent up during the night 1t
seems a point of honor with the Eng
iish not to display undue nervousness
over the possible activity Of the enemy.
The return trip was uneventful but very
firing. and 1t was after o'clock when,
plastered with mud, we staggered into
battalion headquarters whence We had
started. We got our filthy boots on,
drank some tea and munched biscuits.
while our guide, after receiving our
hearty but inadequate thanks, went on
to his poor apology for a bed After
the adtutant had finished his work. the
last company report having come in, he
showed a disposition to sit up In the
name of hospitality to entertain US. but
We managed to persuade him to go to his
bunak. and this two Yankee reporters
were left holding the fort alone.
At sunrise we strolled out and looked