For full five minutes the defenders lay low, replying cautiously to the hostile fire, yet conserving their energies for the time when the Huns would attempt to rush the scantily-held post.
Then came a catastrophe. A bullet, passing through an aperture in the concrete, struck Fortescue in the chest. Almost at the same time the already wounded Digger who had brought the news received a second wound in the right shoulder.
Malcolm Carr was now in charge of a garrison of four effectives all told.
With a weird attempt at cheering a number of Boches, mostly bombers, emerged from behind the tree-trunks and rushed towards the defences. Both guns quickly stopped the rush, but not before three men were astride the concrete wall.
Hardly realizing what he was about, Malcolm abandoned the machine-gu
