“Where?” asked Bob.
Ned took his chums by the arms, and led them a little way down the trench where there was an improvised periscope. It was not being used by the officer in charge just then, and Ned peered through it.
He said nothing for a moment, and then called to Jerry:
“Take a look at that brush pile just inside the first line of German wire.”
“I see it,” remarked Jerry, after a look through the mirror arrangement.
“Well, that’s where Mr. Fritz is keeping himself,” 130 said his chum. “It’s just in line with the direction from which that last bullet came. I’ve been thinking for some time that he was hidden there, but I wasn’t sure until I saw the flash of his gun as he nearly hit me just now. But now I’ll get him!”
“That bush doesn’t seem big enough to shelter a man,” observed Bob, as he, too, took an observation.
“There’s a hole dug under it, and he’s hiding in that,” said Ned. “At first I thought the sharpshooter was popping at us from some height, and I believe he was, a week or so back. But now he has changed his tactics. He’s doing ground sniping, and that bit of bush hasn’t any roots.”
“What do you mean?” asked Jerry.
“I mean it’s a bit of camouflage. The sharpshooter moves it about with him, thinking we’ll believe it’s natural. He scoops a hole, gets in with only his head sticking out, and puts this bit of foliage in front of him as a screen. Now, Bob, you take your helmet, and when I tell you hold it up on your gun. Jerry, you come with me down the trench a way, and please don’t fire until after I do. If I miss, you get him, but I want first shot.