The bomb they used was the Mills bomb which had been adopted for general use in the British army.
"Let's hope there'll be plenty of them, whatever else we're short of," remarked Bart.
"They're handy little things to have around when the Boches come over for a friendly call," observed another lad.
"If we run short we can make some ourselves," declared Frank. "They won't be quite so nifty as these Mills bombs, but they'll do the work."
"Listen to Edison talking," chaffed Billy.
"I'm not kidding," declared Frank. "I got the tip from one of the Tommys who was wounded in the Ypres fighting and is over here on leave. Hustle around some of you chaps and get me an old tin can and I'll show you what the Tommy showed to me."
"What kind of a can?" asked Billy.
"Oh, any old kind," answered Frank. "An old soup can, tomato can, any can that Eli hasn't eaten up already."
Eli was the big goat that served as the mascot of the regiment. He had an omnivorous appetite and ate anything from cigarette butts to washrags, and if anything was missing it was customary to charge it against Eli. He was not only a billygoat but a scapegoat.
A little search however brought to light an old can that Eli had spared, and the boys looked on with interest while Frank prepared his homemade bomb.