A Lively Bit of the Front Part 22

"So when you fellows _impshied_ down the tunnel I slipped in after you. You wanted looking afters just fancy, nosing around a dug-out and not taking any bombs. I kept out of sight while the Captain was taking stock, knowing he'd send me back if he twigged me. Then, when the Boches tried to hold you up, I nipped behind and slung a bomb at 'em. By gum! It was a beauty, though for the life of me I don't know how we got blown out here. It wasn't my bomb that played a dirty trick like that, and it wasn't fifty tons of high explosives. So what was it? Anyone got a drink? My throat's like blotting-paper."

"The last of the paper," announced M'Turk. "Any of you fellows got some more? No; well, I'll nip round to see if I can find any. I'd as soon set the show on fire as stick here in the dark."

"There's someone coming," declared Malcolm.

"Where?" enquired M'Turk and the bomber simultaneously.

The sound of footsteps grew nearer and nearer, the rays of a torch flashed on the ground, and Captain Nicholson's voice was heard exclaiming:

"It's no go that way, M'Kane. We'll have to make the best of things; but it's no use denying the fact that we're trapped."

CHAPTER XX

The Way Out

"So, you cat with nine lives, we've to thank you for this beautiful fix!" remarked Captain Nicholson after he had greeted his companions in misfortune.

"Don't know about that, sir," replied the bomber. "If I hadn't been nippy, those Huns would have plugged the lot of you, and more'n likely they would have got away. What were those coves doing with the pick and shovel, sir, if they didn't know there was a chance of getting out that way?"

"That pa.s.sage is closed, at any rate," decided Captain Nicholson, glancing in the direction of the mound of debris and the displaced girders. "M'Kane and I have explored the entrance, There's been a big fall. The supplementary shoots are also choked. We followed a level working for nearly a hundred yards. It leads nowhere. Fritz never had time to finish it. Look here, this torch won't hold out for ever. The battery's running down. How's Selwyn?"

"Only suffering from shock, sir," replied Malcolm.

"All right; you can do nothing more so far as he is concerned,"

decided the officer. "We'll make a thorough search of these sleeping-quarters, and see if we can find any candles. Knowing the systematic thoroughness of Fritz, I guess he's taken precautions in the event of the electric light going out. By Jove," he added, as the dug-out trembled violently, "there's some strafing going on outside!"

A search resulted in the discovery of several oillamps and packets of candles. There was also food in considerable quant.i.ties and wine in bottles.

"I'd swop all that fizz for a pannikin of tea," declared Joliffe.

"You're never satisfied, chum," remarked M'Turk, deftly knocking off the neck of a bottle and taking a draught.

"If you had what I've got you'd be satisfied," retorted the bomber.

"I don't mind telling you now. Captain can't order me back out of it, can you, sir?"

"Well, what have you got?" enquired Nicholson.

"Splinter of sh.e.l.l in me shoulder--copped that last night along with the ration-party, sir; then this crack on the skull from that tin-pot Boche; and now I've copped it in both legs--and still I'm not knocked out."

The men sat down to make a meal. Selwyn, under the reviving effect of a drink of wine, had opened his eyes. Although considerably shaken, he was otherwise unhurt.

Captain Nicholson's story of what had occurred threw little light upon the mystery. He remembered the explosion; he was conscious of being hurled high in the air and of falling on top of the prostrate body of one of his men. The first to recover, he waited until M'Kane regained consciousness, and, having placed M'Turk and Selwyn in a reclining position, set off to find an egress and bring a.s.sistance.

At the thirtieth step they were stopped by a solid ma.s.s of rubble that was only prevented from falling upon them by the fact that two ma.s.sive timbers had dropped across the tunnel. To tamper with them meant certain disaster. Retracing their way to the main dug-out, they found a hitherto overlooked pa.s.sage running at right angles to the longer walls. As the Captain had previously reported, it was a blind alley.

"Although I believe that the Hun's yarn about fifty tons of stuff is all moonshine," continued Nicholson, "I can't see how one bomb would raise Cain like this. It's just possible that there was a small quant.i.ty of explosives in the place--sufficient to bring the roof down and to give us a pretty shaking up."

The imprisoned men ate, drank, and talked--all except Selwyn, who complained of a violent headache and dizziness. Captain Nicholson let them carry on at their leisure. As long as they kept their spirits up there was little cause for anxiety. The great thing was to guard against depression.

"Now then, boys!" he exclaimed at length. "Heaven helps those who help themselves--how about it? Are we going to sit here until we are dug out or are we going to extricate ourselves?"

"Win off our own bat, sir," replied M'Turk.

"That's the sort," rejoined his officer. "Now, look here. Do any of you fellows remember if there were other dug-outs close to this?"

"There was an entrance about twenty yards to the left of this one, sir," said Malcolm. "I noticed that it was clear, for when I came up our fellows were hauling out a batch of Huns."

"That's our direction," decided Captain Nicholson. "It's not much use trying to open up the tunnel at which the Boches were working when we surprised them. It leads towards Messines Ridge, and I guess there's not much tunnelling left there. I should imagine they were ignorant of the actual results of the mine, or they would have given it up as a bad job."

Armed with mattocks and picks, Malcolm, M'Turk, and M'Kane attacked the side of the entrance-tunnel at a spot a few yards beneath the choke. The ground was clayey and easy to work, but in the absence of shoring material there was a grave risk of the new tunnel caving in.

At the end of an hour's strenuous activity a tunnel about twelve feet long, and sufficiently large to enable a man to crawl along, had been excavated.

"Any luck?" enquired Captain Nicholson for the twentieth time during that hour.

"No, sir," replied Malcolm, who was working at the head of the sap and cautiously dislodging soil, which, in turn, was picked up by M'Turk and pa.s.sed out so as not to obstruct the portion of the tunnel already dug.

The ground vibrated under the impact of a heavy sh.e.l.l thirty or forty feet overhead. Although the bombardment had decreased in violence the Huns were still sending heavy stuff across at irregular intervals.

"Hanged if I like this job," soliloquized Malcolm. "I thought the whole show would collapse that time. By Jove, something's going!"

Making a vain attempt to back out of the confined s.p.a.ce, Carr felt the ground giving way beneath his bent legs.

"What's up, Digger?" enquired M'Turk, hearing his companion's exclamation.

Without waiting for an answer M'Turk crawled to within arm's length of the lad and grasped him by the arm. As he did so the subsidence increased, and, amidst a shower of soil, the two riflemen found themselves falling through the air.

Both uttered an exclamation of horrified surprise, not knowing at that stage if they were hurtling into a deep abyss to be dashed to pieces at the bottom. Antic.i.p.ating the worst, they were agreeably relieved to find that they had dropped only ten or twelve feet, and had alighted upon a pile of soft material that proved to be a stack of folded blankets.

"It's all right, sir," shouted Malcolm.

"Where are you?" enquired Captain Nicholson, crawling cautiously along the newly-excavated gallery.

"That's more than I can say, sir," replied Carr. "We're in the dark absolutely."

Having tested the ground at the edge of the hole, Captain Nicholson flashed his torch into the dug-out into which the two riflemen had fallen.

"By Jove," he exclaimed, "you've found a way out! I won't join you just yet. Stand by while I drop some candles and matches; then have a look round and report. See if there's a ladder available."

The torch was switched off and the two riflemen waited in utter darkness.

"I'm beginning to fancy I'm a blessed mole!" remarked M'Turk. "Twice I've been buried in our own dug-out. First time wasn't much to speak of; but Plug Street--ugh! For five mortal hours I was pinned down, the Huns strafing all the time, and the water rising up through the dirt that covered me up to my chin. And, as if I hadn't had enough, one of the boys who were digging me out must needs drive a pick through my calf. After all," he added, "it was worth it. I got six months in Blighty, and haven't had the same luck since. I'd give five pounds for old Fortyscrew's buckshie. Guess he's having a fair holiday by now."

"Fortescue was. .h.i.t only quite recently," said Malcolm. "I met him on my way up."