"Up!" came the word of command, and again the men were on their feet and racing like mad toward the trench.
They came at last to where it had been. For it was no longer a trench!
Gone was the zigzag line that the boys knew by heart from having faced and fought against it for weeks. The mine had done its work thoroughly.
Everywhere was a welter of hideous confusion. Barbed wire entanglements with their supporting posts had been rooted from the ground. Guns had been torn from their carriages. "Pill boxes" had been smashed to bits. Horses and men and wagons and camp kitchens were mingled together in wildest chaos.
Parts of the trench had been filled to the surface with earth, while huge boulders blocked the entrance to some of the communicating passages.
There were a few sharp fights with scattered units of the enemy that had retained their senses and were trying to get their machine guns into action. But these detachments were soon cut down or captured. The great majority of the survivors were so dazed that they surrendered with scarcely a show of resistance and were rounded up in squads to be sent to the rear.
The first trench had been won, and it was almost a bloodless victory, only a few of the American troops having fallen in the sudden rush.
But sterner work lay ahead, for the second and third German lines were still intact, bristling with men and supported heavily by their guns.
"This was easy," grinned Billy.
"Like taking a dead mouse from a blind kitten," chuckled Tom, as he wiped the grime and perspiration from his face.