"The ray is still too near," warned Guncotton. "It is premature to move."
"Hun-timely?" corrected Charley. "Perhaps; well, we have plenty of time."
"Oh Sergeant, don't be cruel!"
"Do you really think me Hun-merciful? It seems that my puns are Hun-successful...."
And so it went on for a time, while we lay motionless under the rays of the search-light. Yet the Sergeant did not cease thinking of anything else than words beginning with an optional Hun.
But when we were inside the wood our real business began. It consisted in reaching a certain spot where in all probability a small detachment of Germans was posted, for it was a naturally sheltered part. Should no Germans be there, then we were to come back and if possible our troops were to occupy it during the same night.
We had been walking silently when the Sergeant suddenly stopped.
"They are here," he whispered.
"What are we to do?" I inquired.