The Sergeant on my right, in an undertone, whispered to me:
"Say, Yank, how are we going to get a couple of prisoners if the old fool thinks 'personally that that part of the trench is unoccupied,' -- sounds kind of fishy, doesn't it mate?"
I had a funny sinking sensation in my stomach, and my tin hat felt as if it weighed about a ton and my enthusiasm was melting away. Old Pepper must have heard the Sergeant speak because he turned in his direction and in a thundering voice asked:
"What did you say?"
The Sergeant with a scared look on his face and his knees trembling, smartly saluted and answered:
"Nothing, sir."
Old Pepper said:
"Well, don't say it so loudly the next time."
Then Old Pepper continued:
"In this section of the German trenches there are two or three machine guns which our artillery, in the last two or three days, has been unable to tape. These guns command the sector where two of our communication trenches join the front line, and as the brigade is to go over the top tomorrow morning I want to capture two or three men from these guns' crews, and from them I may be able to obtain valuable information as to the exact location of the guns, and our artillery will therefore be able to demolish them before the attack, and thus prevent our losing a lot of men while using these communication trenches to bring up reinforcements."