The Ely miner., 1926-10-29
THE.
GOD OF
BATTLES
BY FRANK F1LsoN
Copyright by w. O. chapman.)

tCOpyrfBht Dy w. -. Cnapman.D
I" DWARDES, listening could plain
Il ly hear the sound of the Ger
l. man saps being driven toward
the Canadian trenches. 1t was
eerie, listening there by the light of
the electric torch, burrowing deeply
beneath the slushy Flanders soil, and
crouching knee-deep in water, to pre-
vent striking his head against the TIM
bered roof.
: He wondered often whether the Ger
mans had heard him. Each side was
projecting sap against the trenches
of the enemy. When the sap head
was ready hundreds of pounds of gun
powder would be ignited there would
be devastating explosion, and the
trenches, damaged beyond repair,
would be occupied by the troops be-
hind.
1t was thus race between the
Canadians and the Germans. The sap,
extended outward from the Canadian
lines, was now parallel with that of
the enemy, and the extremity Of each
was barely dozen yards from that
of the other.
The sappers were resting In the
traverse behind. Edwardes sat alone
In the water, figuring out the plan.
So many yards, so many cubic feet of
timber. Milly, in Toronto; his
thoughts always recurred to her.
They were to have been married a
month ago. But he had been fighting
with his contingent for seven weeks,
and the marriage was postponed In
definitely-forever, probably. Not many
men would come back to Canada !;
those that did would be crippled be-
yond repair.
AS he crouched there, to his aston
ishment he found that he could hear
the voices of the Germans. There was
flaw in the ground, section of the
| crumbling rock, soft as chalk, had
slipped, probably as a result of the
subterranean operations, leaving a
I crack in the earth, imperceptible, but
| conveying sounds clearly.
Two men were talking. Edwardes
! iolhOA ot ShoIs AiO,
as the engineer, had nobody to talk to
during those rare minutes when work
was suspended. His task was to
crouch in the water at the end of the
sap, waiting until the time came for
resumption Of work. The German
was situated more fortunately
He could not hear the voices Of his
own men. They had retired to the
traverse, their headquarters, waiting
for the relieving party. 1t was time
for the resumption. He left the sap
head and, bending double, trudged
back toward them through the water
Suddenly the earth rocked about
him. He was flung to the bottom ot
| the sap by terrific explosion. The
plank roof collapsed over his head
Stunned, dazed, bewildered, he man
aged by supreme effort to keep his
face above the water.
In a few moments he understood
what had occurred. A shell from d
German 42-centimeter gun had fallen
squarely above the opening of the sap
obliterating it and destroying all the
men of his company.
He stretched out his arm and felt
1 the wall that blocked the entrance
j He called In a low voice, but there
I came no response. His electric torch
had gone out, shattered by the force
/ of the explosion. He was alone
twelve feet beneath the surface Of the
earth, between which and himself
there intervened the solid timbered
roof.
The air was already filled with the
creeping fumes Of the explosive. Ed
wardes crawled back toward the sap
head. He crouched there, consider.
ing. He could still hear the murmuI
Of the voices of the hostile party. But
they seemed clearer.
Edwardes felt the earth wall eau
tiously. His fingers touched the damp
impenetrable mass and found no crey.
ice;- yet of a sudden he was amazed
to see a tiny twinkle, apparently In
the heart of the ground.
He stared at 1t In doubt; presently
he could no longer deny the truth. In
credible as it seemed, the explosion
had shaken the collapsing stratum
still further, leaving tiny gap be-
tween the two passages. And the en-
/ envy worked on, all unconscious Of his
presence.
The only possible way of escape
from his underground hiding place lay
through that gap, into the midst OF
the enemy.
He must do something, not only for
/ his own life but because there was
nothing to stop the German sap from
being driven home into the heart OF
his own trenches.
Noiselessly as mole he began to
scrape way toward the light But
suddenly he remembered that three
bombs had been left near his own sap
head, In case of surprise. They could
not be discharged until the firing pin
was withdrawn. He crept back, fum-
bled in the darkness until he found
them, and returned.