New-York tribune., 1917-07-20
1.-The Mine
By Patrick MacGill. author OF
The Great Push" Etc.

Ahal mine was 10 ~ uP ""S N'
mon talk among soldiers fighting on the
Western front. They spoke OF the
mine when lying down in their barn
t:llets, and hinted at the many tunnels
piled with smmonal and awaiting the
spark that would blow tunnels, earth,
villages and trenches sky-high when
the hour came. The soldiers spoke
secretly, one TO another, when nobody
outside their circle was nigh.
This mine-"The Nine" as they
called twas up near Ypres, and hun
dreds Of men for hundreds Of days had
been busy at the making Of it. Some
cay it would go up. When? Nobody
could tell; but the soldiers who had
visited the Ypres salient wished that ii
would be their luck TO be near az hand
When the mine welt up TO the heavens.
Cockney Knew About the Mine
Two English soldiers-Spudhole
Bubb, cockney, and Bowdy Benners,
a Devon man-knew of this mine, and
ctten spoke about it when alone in the
trenches or in their billets to rear OF
the firing line. But they never
breathed of il when in a cafe, for, as
Spudhole said: THE Boche has his
ears glued'to every wall in the world
He can tell US what we're up to afore
we know ourselves"
Spudhole showed fatherly interest
in the mine. When the Germans re-
treated toward St. Quentin last spring
Spudhole was in great suspense lest
they should retire from Ypres "'fore
the bloomin' ole mine went up About
that time he went home on leave, and
one day in a railway carriage a man
who sat on the seat opposite him
/ leaned over and asked: "They haven't
put up the mine at Ypres yet have
tbey?" Spudhole, with three gold
stripes on his sleeve and d. c. VI. on
his breast, looked at the man who
spoke and said in a fierce voice: you
dent arf give the show away. Who
told you that cock-and-bull story about
mine?'
The man smiled and hit his trousers
leg with his walking stick.
There was a sharp report, as If wood
had struck wood.
Left my leg out there" said the
man.
"Blimy!" Spudhole exclaimed, and
the two became the best Of friends be-
fore the journey ended.
Mine Went Up at Last
When Spudhole's mine went up at
last the eocknoy had the good luck 10
be there as witness of the event All
the night of June he had been in the
trenches, side by side with his friend
Bowdy Benners. And all night long
they told stories TO each other sto-
ries Of the many mines which they had
seen go up during their long expert
ence of war.
Both men were old soldiers and had
seen war in many aspects, but despite
this they watched for the blowing up
of the mine with strained faces. The
trench was crowded with men waiting
for the order to charge. Some were
vsibly excited, and near Spudhole a
man was humming a music hall song,
his shrapnel helmet pulled we'll down
over his eyes and the hand which
gripped his rife whitening at the
knuckles. An air OF suspense hung
over the whole front. and this air of
suspense seemed TO be intensified BY
the loud-voiced barking of the massed
guns behind the English lines.
1t was little past in the morning
when the mines for there were sew
eraD went up TO the dark heavens.
Spudhole with his friend Bowdy went
TO the parapet and looked over. The
land stood on end and the sky went
afre. The world shook TO its founda-
tions. German trenches and their oc-
cupants went heavenward in the glare
Of hell. Men gaped helplessly at one
another; thought was deadened for the
moment and understanding gone. The
soldiers rocked TO and fro on sway
ing battle front, just as shipwrecked
sailors are rocked on a raft in a
stormy sea. The men in the trenches
covered under this stupefying splendor
of war.