He continued crawling stealthily on his stomach, dragging his rifle after him. Every movement was made softly, but to Benners the sound of his trousers rubbing on the grass seemed to carry out as far as the German trenches. Now and again, as he lay still and stared at the level in front, he thought he could discern something moving. Then he would remain absolutely motionless for a few minutes, listening and watching. But all was quiet; nothing to be heard save the wind rustling and a stray mouse running through a little clump of bracken ahead.
The sniper had become very quiet now; his rifle had not spoken for several minutes.
"He'll be having a kip," Bowdy thought, and got to his feet.
The long crawl had made his knees sore and his feet felt numb. Standing upright, he placed his rifle between his knees and stretched his arms. The light of the last starshell had died away, the circle of horizon had grown smaller and in the near distance objects stood out weirdly silhouetted with a blurred, though definite outline. It was then that several starshells went up together and the open was lit with the brilliance of day. In the glaring light Benners saw the sniper. He was standing barely a dozen yards away, his hand resting on his rifle. Benners could see that he had his sword fixed and the steel shone brightly.
"I'll make him a prisoner," Benners said in a loud voice, and made at the man as a hawk swoops on a lark.
The sniper heard Benners approach, turned his eyes and sprang up to a position of defence.
"Has he a round in the breech?" Benners asked himself. "Shall I fire at him or not?"
Even as he approached, Bowdy saw the German raise his rifle to his shoulder and a sharp report rang out. Bowdy blinked at the flash, but the bullet went wide.
"I'll settle you," he said in a loud voice, and, rushing up, he thrust his bayonet forward. The sniper parried it and for a moment there was a brisk duel, then Bowdy saw an opening for a left point, a favourite of his, which had never failed. Now, however, it did not work. The sniper stepped to the right; by a deft move brought his own bayonet point downwards to the ground and Bowdy tripped across it in the rush forward and went to earth.
"Blow me blind!" muttered Bowdy as he fell, and made a wild effort to secure his own rifle which had slipped out of his hands. But in this he was unsuccessful; the darkness had fallen and the weapon had disappeared. No doubt it was lying quite near, but there was little time at Bowdy's command to scrutinise the field around him.