The Benson signal., 1916-09-23
British Officer Writes of Thrilling
Adventure Between the
Lines.
GETS into CLOSE QUARTERS
Finds Germans Building Redoubt and
Returns to Give Range for Machine
Guns-Then Watched Stretch
er-Bearers at Work.

home tells of a thrilling patrol adven-
ture between the hostile lines at night.
He says:
Ihe moon was not due to rise till
about IL that night, so l decided to
go out at nine. The company sergeant
major asked if he could come, so ar
ranged to take him and one platoon
scout from each platoon. Getting out
onto No Mans Land marks a distinct
epoch in mans training for trench
warfare. We each carried a couple of
bombs, the men had knobkerries
(spiked clubs) and l had revolver
and dagger, to be on the safe side. But
we We're out for information, not scrap
ping.
1T was beautifully dark, and, start
ing from a saphead, clear of our own
wire, we crossed the open very quick
ly, hardly so much as stopping till we
were close to the German wires. Now,
when we began crawling through the
wire l made the sort of mistake one
does make until experience teaches.
l occupied myself far too much with
what was under my nose and too little
with what lay ahead-and too little
with my compass.
A Little Bit Close.
suddenly l ran my face against the
side of giant gooseberry with peculi-
arly virulent prongs, and in that mo-
ment bullet whizzed low over my
-and-here's the point-the bolt
of the rifle from which that bullet
came was pulled back and jammed
home for the next shot-as it seemed,
right in my ear. We all lay perfectly
fiat and still.
se:Very slowly and quietly raised my
head enough to look around the side
of that giant goOseberry, and instinct
made me look over my right shoulder.
We were less than ten PAGES from the
German parapet. l turned my face
left, so as to look down at the sergeant
majors over my left shoulder. why,
we're on top of them! !! he breathed to
me. 1 whispered to him Pretty good
for start-a fine place, sergeant ma
jOr. But Wen manage to get a bit
nearer before we leave 'em, won't we.'
''It worked like a charm. 1t was as
though his mind were all lighted up,
and could see the thoughts at work
there. oh, come; so it's all right, af
ter all. My officers quito pleased. He
knew all about it, and it's just what
he wanted; SO that's all right"
''Those were the thoughts. And
from that moment he began to regard
the whole thing as rather creditable
lark.
'And the wonderful thing was
there must be something in telepathy,
you knOw-that this change seemed to
communicate itself almost instantly to
the men crOuched round about behind
I'd no time to think of the grimness of
it. The thought in my mind was: I've
brought these fellows here in careless.
ness. I'll get 'em back with whole
skins.
What He Wanted to Know
Il whispered to the sergeant major,
and very slowly and silently we began
to back away. The sentry must have
been half asleep, fancy. My compass
showed me we must have been forty or
fifty yards left of the point in the
German line we wanted; so as soon as
we were far enough back we worked
slowly up right. And then we found
all we'd hoped for. 1t was a regular
redoubt the German was building, and
he had nearly hundred men at work
"That was good enough for me. ALI
l wanted now was to get my men back
safely. l knew the o: G. (officer com
manding) had two machine guns
trained precisely on the redoubt. All
wanted was to make sure their fire
was shade to the left, and every bull
let would tell. We should be firing
fairly into them, because the little
cross-communication trench we had
watched them working in was no more
than waist deep; just short cut for
convenience in night work only. We
had 'em. The stationmaster told me
the men wanted to bomb 'em from
where we were. But that was not my
game at all. l saw the last man into
our sap, and found the o. G. waiting
there for me. I'd no sooner given him
my news than he was at the guns. We
had twenty or thirty rifles leveled on
tn same mark. too, and at the o. C.'s
signal they all spoke at once.
1.-THE men were wildly delighted
They had seen the target, lain and
watched it, under order not to make
sound. Listening now, the German
guns having ceased fire, our sentrie>
could plainly hear groaning and moan
ing opposite, and see the lights reflect
ed on the German parades moving t.
and fro as their stretcher-bearers wen
about their work."