Page:War's dark frame (IA warsdarkframe00camp).pdf/85

Rh try to locate them with their artillery, and when they do they simply blow them to pieces. That night they got the range of this post and turned their guns loose. Your poor countryman thought the end of the world had come. His escape was cut off. The sap, leading out, was obliterated by great shells. There was nothing for him to do except to stay and take his chances, and they were pretty slender. At the end of an hour nothing whatever was left of the post except a heap of formless earth; yet, through one of the miracles of war, the sentry remained untouched. As soon as the fire had lifted, the poor devil crawled back to the front line trench and climbed the parapet. He expected to be greeted as a hero, as the saviour of France. He pictured a deputation welcoming him at the parapet with the Croix de Guerre, with the Military Medal, with the Legion of Honour.

“There was a deputation at the parapet—of poilus, crowding around him with anxious and envious faces. They greeted him in an excited fashion.

"You lucky devil!'" they cried. “For the love of Heaven, let us see! How much aluminum did you get from those Boche shells?'"

The machine gun officer, in spite of his appreciation of the incident as humorous, expressed