“Say! do you know I believe we killed every Jerry in the bunch?”
So the cries and comments ran on as the fighting engineers surveyed the havoc they had wrought. The hand-grenades had exploded with terrific force, sending pieces of the machine-guns almost to where they were standing. All the gun crews had been either killed or fatally wounded, some of the bodies being horribly mutilated.
“It certainly makes a fellow sick to look at it,” murmured Dave to Roger.
“So it does, Dave. But this isn’t child’s play. It’s stern war.”
The machine-gun nests had been seen from a distance, but the Yankee soldiers had had no opportunity to get at them. Now the annihilation of the nests was viewed with astonishment, which quickly turned to intense satisfaction. A cheer went down the line, and then in a twinkling the Americans came over at those who had advanced to lay them low.
The outbreak had been nothing but a skirmish at the start, but now it was gradually growing into a genuine battle. Before night the fighting line extended for over a mile and a half, and the conflict kept up long after darkness had fallen.
Having accomplished his purpose, Dave ordered his command to retire. They were just leaving the end of the gully to get back to the trench when the young sergeant saw Captain Obray running toward him.
“What does this mean, Sergeant Porter? Where have you been?” called out the captain of the engineers.
“We’ve just blown up two machine-gun nests, Captain,” answered Dave, with pardonable pride.
“What? Were you responsible for those explosions we heard in that direction?” and the captain pointed with his hand.