"Pass on. You'll find your friends just beyond here."
A moment later the two newcomers were grasping hands in the dark with the three waiting ones.
"The five Brothers are united again," said Roger Barlow in a low voice.
"Sooner than I expected," commented Jimmy Blaise. "Now we can go over the top together."
"Over the top, may we all go together, in the wind and the rain or in damp, foggy weather," was Bob Dalton's contribution. He sometimes "perpetrated verse," as he dubbed it—a reminder of his cub reporter days.
"But say, Jimmy, how did you manage to get here?" asked Franz.
"Walked," was Jimmy Blaise's laconic answer. "They haven't had to carry me on a stretcher—at least not lately."
"Oh, you know what I mean," said Franz. "I mean, did you ask to be transferred from your station to this trench?"
"No, and that's the funny part of it," said Roger Barlow. "You know after we wrote our letters to-night—or, rather last night, for it's past twelve now—Blazes and I went back to our station."
"Yes, and we came here to wait for the zero signal," interpolated Dal.