"To-morrow or the day after we must place the explosive," he said. "We shall need ten tons of gelatine and dynamite. I'm having the extreme end of the galleria, which cannot be far away now from the enemy's positions, blocked with a shield of thick armoured steel, in order to turn the force of the explosion upward, and at the same time save the remaining portion of the main tunnel from destruction. I'm counting on that as an open pathway when the moment comes for rushing the enemy trenches—or all that will be left of them. Ah! in spite of all their tardy attempts to counter-mine us, they little suspect on what a volcano they are sitting!"
For the dangerous task of leading the way through the tunnel, directly after the explosion, forty of our bravest alpini came forward, being promised a fortnight's leave if the attempt succeeded.
At last everything was ready and the hour fixed—half-past eleven on a Tuesday night—for the firing of the mine. How the time hung on our hands all that afternoon and evening!
All the while we wondered what progress the enemy had made with his boring, asking ourselves whether we should forestall him or not. More anxious hours I never passed in my life.
What a relief it was when the hour struck for testing the efficiency of our work. I can still see Don Gelasio Caetani as he stood at the wheel of his little electric generator, ready to give the couple of turns which would set free the destructive spark. We surrounded him in his little dugout, waiting with bated breath, for the sound of the explosion.
III—"A HELLISH ROAR BURST FORTH"
At last Caetani spun the wheel. Heavens! what a din ensued! The mountain seemed to be shaken to its very base. A hellish roar burst forth and rolled like thunder over the vast wastes of the Dolomites, and a terrific blast of air smote upon us even in our shelter.
Out we rushed, to find that the gallant forty, marshalled at the entrance to the main gallery, had been struck full in the face by a mighty ice-cold blast, due to the displacement of air, and that for a few moments they were held up by a series of after-explosions, caused by the ignition of the mines which the hapless Austrians had prepared.
One of the men, describing the explosion to me the next day, said:—
"A huge tongue of flame, followed by a mighty column of smoke, shot into the air, blowing the entire top of the mountain into the sky. Ah! capitano, it resembled nothing so much as the eruption of a volcano; and if it is true, as I am told, that Don Gelasio spoke of imitating Vesuvius, he could not have chosen a happier image or succeeded better."