Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

124 HISTORY OF THE WAR.

their bursting lungs. A few more strokes, and they saw the sky and one or two stars. They had been Oc: working for twenty hours, and it was "°°" now just about dawn, though still dark. They stopped and listened, and a German voice

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was speaking just at their ear. They found that they had come out close below a loophole of the

German front parapet. Determined at all costs not to be made prisoners, they slipped back into the tunnel, and began to dig a new sap horizontally towards where they believed the French were. All that day of 31st October they worked like moles, and in the night suddenly emerged into the mine crater which had been the cause of all their troubles. Unfortunately the sky was clear, and there was a bright moon, so they did not dare to cross the crater, which was watched both by their friends and foes. They lay in the tunnel the whole of Noo. 1. Ist November, with no food or water, * °° with bombs and grenades bursting all around the mouth of their sap. They found a few roots to chew, and managed to suck some moisture from the wet herbage. That night at eleven o’clock the sky became overcast, and they crawled from their hole, staggered across the crater, and scrambled over the French parapets, under heavy German fire. For three days and two nights they had had nothing to eat and drink, and for a large part of the time they had been labouring feverishly in fetid air. Their feat was a triumph of resolution and endurance, most deservedly recognized by the grant of the Meédaille militaire. The German counter-attacks of October won nothing back. Indeed they greatly served the Allied