At each of the narrow, iron-barred windows the three paused a moment to make an observation. Arriving at the top, they looked carefully over the edge of the broken wall. The view, very charming and beautiful by the light of the moon, was equally so enveloped in the hazy sunlight. Patches of timber and hills and valleys were spread out before their eyes. It was vast and impressive, with the far distant slopes scarcely seen against the brilliant sky. Here and there little clusters of ruined buildings marked the sites of former villages. Faint whitish lines, glimpses of roads, ran in this direction and that. They could make out, too, both the French and German trenches and hear the occasional cracking of rifles, which showed that the countryside was not so deserted as it seemed. But once again the famous "No Man's Land" aroused their greatest interest. Through Dunstan's binocular the field of ripening grain which flourished upon its sinister surface was plainly visible, still waving and rippling in the capricious breeze.
"Magnificent!" exclaimed the art student. "There's only one thing that prevents me from making a sketch."
"What's that?" asked Chase.
"The danger of being discovered by the Germans," chuckled Dunstan.
"My, what a jolly fine park this is!" broke in Don. "There's the fountain we saw the other night." He turned the field-glass upon it. "Crickets! Through this it seems just as if I were standing right beside it. Say, fellows, the guns are still pounding away in a pretty lively fashion."
"When aren't they?" demanded Chase.
"And look—look!—A shell-burst! My, my! What a whopper!"
"That's not a very unusual sight," commented the art student dryly.
"No; it's almost impossible to glance in any direction without seeing a cloud of smoke just above the ground," declared Chase. "And though it seems like peace itself up here in the tower, amidst this balmy sunshine, in reality it is a terribly dangerous position. Better not test the laws of chance too far."
"Quite correct!" assented Dunstan. "Hello!—a German observation balloon!"