"There are fifty thousand there. Leave
what you don't want!"
"Where do we get the earth to fill the sandbags?" asked Blaikie. "The
trenches, or the middle of the redoubt?"
"Oh, pretty well anywhere," replied the Engineer. "Only, warn your men
to be careful not to dig too deep!"
And with this dark saying he lounged off to take Ayling for his
promised walk.
"I'll take you along the road a bit, first," he said, "and then we
will turn off into the field where the corner of the redoubt is, and
you can look at things from the outside."
Ayling thanked him, and stepped somewhat higher than usual, as a
bullet struck the ground at his feet.
"Extraordinary how few casualties one gets," continued the Sapper
chattily. "Their snipers go potting away all night, but they don't
often get anybody. By the way, they have a machine-gun trained on
this road, but they only loose it off every second night. Methodical
beggars!"
"Did they loose it off last night?"
"No. To-night's the night. Have you finished here!"
"Yes, thanks!"
"Right-o! We'll go to the next corner. You'll get a first-class field
of fire there, I should say."
The second position was duly inspected, the only incident of interest
being the bursting of a star-shell directly overhead.
"Better lie down for a minute," suggested the Engineer.
Ayling, who had been struggling with a strong inclination to do so for
some time, promptly complied.
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