"Oh, there'll be plenty to do as soon as we unlimber," replied the sergeant.
"One, two, three, four, five, six. I suppose they'll put them all along this hollow'?"
"What are they bringing that brush for?" asked Ralph. "Look at those trucks filled with trees."
"We're going to plant a grove here," said the sergeant. "That will take some work."
The boys looked at each other. There would be plenty to do. An officer, the commander of the battery, rushed up in a motor car, and, in a business-like manner ordered the spacing of the guns, and the disposition of the racks which held the ammunition. The racks are really pigeon holes in a heavily built frame, each frame holding a hundred of these shells. They are located about ten feet from the gun so as to be within convenient distance for supplying the ordnance after each discharge.
The boys admired the wonderful mechanism, and the sergeant was quick to notice their great interest in the arrangement for rapidly manoeuvering the piece.
"That is the most remarkable weapon that the war has produced," explained the sergeant, as he dismounted. "The Germans have tried to imitate it, but we are always just a little ahead of them, and can fire three shots to every two that they will get out of their best. Wait until tomorrow and you will see some business with the fellows on the other side."
"Good!" said Alfred. "We owe them a thing or two for what they tried to do to us yesterday."
"What's that?" he asked.