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294 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
for themselves and their ammunition boxes. Bess showed
the soldiers how to mask the guns in the best possible way
with grass and plants.
We had not been there very long before a dark column of
water flung itself into the air on the horizon. We estimated
its height at thirty metres and the distance, calculated from
the interval between sight and sound, at 5.6 kilometres. The
column was almost black, as if the water had been mixed with
slime from the bottom and resembled a naphtha fountain in
the Balakhani. We at once sent a man to fetch chart and
compasses. I myself had my kodak ready, but was too late
to snap this first explosion.
However, it was not many minutes before the next water
column spurted up from the surface of the sea in the same north-
north-westerly direction as the other and accompanied by the
same deafening report. This time I was just quick enough to
get a picture. A moment later two other mines exploded,
this time to the north-north-east and only about 3.3 kilo-
metres away. We waited for two more explosions at 3 and
4.3 kilometres respectively, and had then had enough.
The bearings of the six mines were pricked on the chart and
in this way the officers obtained the necessary data for deter-
mining the position of the mine-field. Possibly it extended
right across the Channel. The mines we had noticed exploded,
curiously enough, in couples. They had clearly been laid in
double or multiple lines and had been equipped with time
fuses. What the time was, we could not tell, perhaps a week,
perhaps longer. Mines of this type are employed for the
temporary blockade of a harbour, which it is intended to
attack on a more suitable occasion. But now, as it happened,
the only creatures incommoded were the fishes in the sea.
The Germans, on the other hand, were very glad to know
where the mine-field lay and that the fairway was now
clear.
After dinner I learnt that a motor-car had arrived from
Ghent with one of Krupp’s engineers, and was to return im-
mediately to that city. Captain Jakobson, one of my friends,
arranged for me to avail myself of this opportunity, so I made
ready to depart. Good-bye to Tägert, Bess, Jakobson and
Kiibler and greetings to all the others—these splendid and
capable fellows who had been my companions during these
never-to-be-forgotten days and with whom I shared the
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