"Where is your equipment?" he said.
"I left it behind me, sergeant," replied Dennis. "We were mustered so quickly that I had no time to go to our dug-out, which was at the other end of the trench close to the big crater."
"Ha! We have cause to remember that crater, is it not so?" said the sergeant gravely. "Eighteen men and two officers it cost us, and that was why I was appointed to this company three days ago. What is your name?"
"Carl Heft, sergeant."
"Carl Heft? Were you not attached to headquarters? What are you doing here?"
Dennis lowered his voice.
"It is like this, sergeant," he said. "I want to be a soldier, not a clerk. I have not fired a shot at the enemy for two months, and when the order came to fall in I could not resist it."
The sergeant raised his eyebrows, and then a smile crept into his face.
"My boy, you are in the way to get into trouble, but never mind; I like your spirit, and I will see what I can do for you. Can you throw bombs?"
"Ja."