One Chance in a Million 



each little brook or larger stream lined with bearded 

 men industriously netting these diminutive minnows, 

 which, when caught, were cooked and eaten " Bones, 

 guts, hide and all." 



A more favored method of getting fish in the larger 

 streams, and the method universally employed by the 

 poilu, was through the use of the regulation hand 

 grenade, and it is this fact that I ask you to remem- 

 ber as the second essential to the understanding of 

 my experience. 



The regulation grenade was an affair the size of 

 a large pear containing within its half-inch shell of 

 iron a large amount of explosive actuated by a per- 

 cussion cap. The nose of the grenade, containing 

 the cap, was struck sharply against a stone, a second 

 grenade, or against the steel dome of the wearer's 

 helmet, and then, according to regularly ordained 

 movements, was thrown at the count of " three " 

 the miniature shell exploding exactly five seconds from 

 the time the cap was exploded. 



These hand grenades were of terrific force. They 

 were capable of killing a dozen men or, as I myself 

 saw when working with the engineers, of blowing 

 out the entire end of a stone house when the grenade 

 was properly placed at its base. 



Now I am ready for the story itself and it is 

 short. It was a beautiful day in mid- July. The 

 sun was very warm and bright even in France. I was 



81 



