In an hour's time they were back in their old billets, and the Officers opened a bottle of wine, on the strength, as some one said, of getting out of an "extraordinarily awkward position."
"Well," said the Captain, with a half-full tumbler in his hand, "here's hoping that our wonderful luck keeps in."
They drank in silence, and soon after adjourned to the outhouse.
CHAPTER XXX
THE JAWS OF DEATH
The next morning they learned that their turn of duty as Local Reserve was over, and that they were "to take over" a line of trenches that evening. The Captain went alone to be shown round in the morning.
They wrote letters all morning, had an early dinner, and retired early to the outhouse to put in a few hours sound sleep in anticipation of several "trying" nights.
At about five o'clock they awoke, and found that the Captain had returned in the meantime. He explained the position to them as they drank their tea.
"The trenches are just in the edge of a wood," he said. "It is extraordinarily thick. It would be absolutely impossible to retire. The field of fire is perfect. The skyline is only two hundred yards away, and there wouldn't be an inch of cover for them, except a few dead cows."