Part 31 (1/2)

'Then are we friends indeed,' said the voice 'Come out of the darkness, friend, and I will do you no harlish in Kordofan and learned their tongue I live only to see the ruin of Enver, who has beggared my fahiaours'

'I don't knohat the Musky jaws are, but if you ot news for theet to them, and that is where you shall helpthat little tune of yours again Tell them to expect within the next half-hour a deserter with an ie Tell them, for God's sake, not to fire at anybody till they've made certain it isn't me'

The man took the blunt end of his bayonet and squatted beside the bell The first stroke brought out a clear, searching note which floated down the valley He struck three notes at slow intervals For all the world, Peter said, he was like a telegraph operator calling up a station

'Send the lish,' said Peter

'They may not understand it,' said the man

'Then send it any way you like I trust you, for we are brothers'

After ten minutes the man ceased and listened Fro they used on the Western Front to give the gas-alarm

'They say they will be ready,' he said 'I cannot take down nal which ood,' said Peter 'And now Ifiring up to the north get ready to beat a quick retreat, for it will be all up with that city of yours And tell your folk, too, that they'rethose fool Ger Enver and his little friends, and we'll be happy once more'

'May Satan receive his soul!' said the Turk 'There is wire before us, but I will show you a way through The guns this eveningparty may be here presently to repair it Remember there is much wire before the other lines'

Peter, with certain directions, found it pretty easy to lement There was one bit which scraped a hole in his back, but very soon he had come to the last posts and found hiraveyard of the unburied dead that s theht he could hear behind hi party, and was in terror that a flare ht reveal him and a volley accompany his retreat

From one shell-hole to another he wormed his way, till he struck an old ruinous coht direction The Turks must have been forced back in the past week, and the Russians were now in the evacuated trenches The thing was half full of water, but it gave Peter a feeling of safety, for it enabled hiround Then it came to an end and he found before hinal had ht it was nearer two hours before he got through that noxious entanglehts were all there, and the barbed strands seeround Re but his bare hands Once again fear got hold of hi to pounce on hio up and a dozen rifles find their e which had been sent, for no e could dissuade the ever-present death he felt around hi an old lion into bush when there was but one narroay in, and no road out

The guns began again-the Turkish guns froe-and a shell tore up the wire a short way before hi large portions of his clothing in the strands Then, quite suddenly, when hope had alround rise steeply He lay very still, a star-rocket from the Turkish side lit up the place, and there in front was a ra beyond it It was the Russian hour for stand-to

He raised his cralish!+'

A face looked down at hiain descended

'Friend,' he said hoarsely 'English'

He heard speech behind the parapet An electric torch was flashed on him for a second A voice spoke, a friendly voice, and the sound of it see up, and as he got his hands on the parapet he seemed to feel bayonets very near him But the voice that spoke was kindly, so with a heave he scrambled over and flopped into the trench Once more the electric torch was flashed, and revealed to the eyes of the onlookers an indescribably dirty, lean,of shi+rt on his back The said rinned cheerfully

'That was a rough trek, friends,' he said; 'I want to see your general pretty quick, for I've got a present for hi-out, who addressed hiht of Stumm's plan worked wonders After that he was fairly bundled down communication trenches and then over swa trees There he found staff officers, who looked at him and looked at his map, and then put him on a horse and hurried hi ruined house, and was taken into a rooenerals

The conclusioncoffee, and when I saw him my heart jumped out of we in '98-hi curled reat general When I saw hiat het, Mynheer?” and he knew me and shouted in Dutch, ”daave ood bread, and he looked atred in the face