"You took photographs?"
"Certainly."
"Then you know that our trenches pass under the bell-tower?"
"Yes."
"Very well. The wind is north. When the Boches enter our trenches they'll try to gas our salient while the wind holds. But west winds are predicted after sunrise tomorrow. I'm going to get into the Nivelle belfry tonight with a sack of bombs. I'm going to try to explode their gas cylinders if I can. The[pg 222] tocsin is the signal for our people in the salient."
"You're crazy!" remarked one of the airmen.
"No; I'll bluff it out. I'm to have a Boche uniform in a few moments."
"You are crazy! You know what they'll do to you, don't you, Jim?"
The bandaged airman laughed, but in his eyes there was an odd flicker like a tiny flame. He whistled "La Brabançonne" and glanced coolly about the room.
One of the airmen said to another in a whisper: