Captain O'Neill and his followers got to their feet and dashed upon the
enemy -- all but Private Briggs.

Besides his rifle, each man was armed with hand grenades - bombs --
which he carried in his pockets.

When Private Briggs sprang to his feet, it took him so long to untangle
himself that the others had gone on ahead of him.

He could see no one.

However, want of courage was not one of his failings. He determined
upon a plan of his own. While the other combatants were locked in a
death grapple, he would advance by himself to the German trenches and
hurl his grenade.

To think with Private Briggs was to act. He advanced at a run.

Suddenly a parapet loomed up before him. In this same parapet, low
down, Briggs beheld a black and gaping aperture -- plainly a loophole
of some kind. Without a moment's hesitation, Briggs hurled a Mills
grenade straight through the loophole, and, forgetting for the moment
that others of his troop were not with him, uttered a wild screech!

"Come on, boys!"

He leaped to the top of the trench by himself, and jumped from the
parapet -- into his own trenches. Having lost his sense of direction,
he had charged the wrong way.