Page:War's dark frame (IA warsdarkframe00camp).pdf/187

Rh differed from the ordinary hand grenade in just one particular. A long slender steel rod protruded from one end.

The hand grenade, it was explained, was satisfactory enough when the trenches were within throwing distance, or for a swift dash across No-Man's Land and a retreat through the night, but there were many hours of daylight in a place like this when it wasn't wise to let the other fellow feel too much at ease.

He passed the grenade around, cautioning us not to release the safety pin.

"The usual pattern," he said with a reminiscent frown. "When you draw the pin the spring flies back and fires the fuse. If you don't throw it then there's general hades. Maybe you've heard. A couple days ago in a bombing school a new man was standing by the instruction officer who was showing him how to release the spring and throw. The soldier had drawn the pin, and, as new men do now and then, got a sudden touch of panic.

The instructor shouted at him:

"Throw that thing away, man! For God's sake, throw it away!!

"Poor devil! You see in his anxiety about the other he'd quite forgotten he'd drawn the pin in his own grenade."

He ended with an exclamatory gesture. Wil-