"Just in time!" observed Angus, well pleased. "Bogle, what are you
doing here?"
"I was given tae unnerstand, sirr," replied Mr. Bogle calmly, "when I
jined the regiment, that in action an officer's servant stands by his
officer."
"That is true," conceded Angus; "but you had no right to follow me
against orders. Did you not hear me say that no one but Corporal
M'Snape was to come?"
"No, sirr. I doubt I was away at the 'phone."
"Well, now you are here, wait inside this doorway, where you can see
Sergeant Mucklewame's party, and look out for signals. M'Snape, let us
find that machine-gun."
The pair made their way to the hitherto blind side of the building,
and cautiously peeped through a much-perforated shutter in the
living-room.
"Do you see it, sirr?" inquired M'Snape eagerly.
Angus chuckled.
"See it? Fine! It is right in the open, in the middle of the street.
Look!"
He relinquished his peep-hole. The German machine-gun was mounted
in the street itself, behind an improvised barrier of bricks and
sandbags. It was less than a hundred yards away, sited in a position
which, though screened from the view of Angus's platoon farther down,
enabled it to sweep all the ground in front of the position. This it
was now doing with great intensity, for the brief public appearance
of Angus and M'Snape had effectually converted intermittent into
continuous fire.
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