But the light machine guns posted in the trenches kept up a rapid and terrible crackle.

The front lines of the Germans were cut down again and again, always to be replaced by fresh men, who unflinchingly exposed their bodies to the deadly hail.
"The massed attack!" exclaimed Wharton.

"What courage! Nobody was ever more willing to die for victory than these Germans!" Even in the moment of danger and utmost excitement he could not refuse tribute to the enemy.

Nevertheless he snatched up a rifle and was firing as fast as he could into the gray ranks.

John and Carstairs were doing the same and the trench held by the Strangers was a continuous red blaze.