We had hardly taken fifteen steps when the whistle began in our ears again! We threw ourselves down. But not quickly enough! Our left hesitated ... and got mixed. "Scatter! Can't you? You ..." I shouted.
A man spun round and fell.
Henriot bellowed:
"Can't you lie down?"
But his voice hardly reached us.
"Why doesn't he lie down himself?" said Judsi. "Wot's the sense in it?"
He added:
"Pore Siméon. See wot a bloomin' pirouette 'e made. Didn't I say 'e was too tall!"
The firing slackened off, but we naturally saw nothing. A new rush—too long that one! Pffmm.... Crack! We were enveloped in a noise like the snapping of straps. A man fell not far from me, and the fellow next him looked as if he were going to stop.
"No, no! There isn't time," I shouted.
"Run! Run!" shouted Henriot.
It was easily said!
We had just gone into a ploughed field, and the earth stuck to our shoes.
[Pg 222]
"Will you run?" repeated the subaltern in a feverish tone.
I began to trot ponderously, steadying my water-bottle and my haversack. Two or three of the men did the same, but at the end of twenty yards we gave it up, out of breath....
I turned round and saw one of my chaps fall. I ran up.
"Well, Loriot, what's up now?"
"Oh, the blighters!" he groaned. "Oh, the bloody bastards!"
"What's the matter?"
His hands were glued to his front. He shrieked.
"Ow! my rupture!"
It was put on. I was not going to be caught!
"Get up!"
"Not much!"
I shook him.
"Up you get, Loriot!"
While he was going into contortions the others were gaining ground. Infuriated I yelled in his ear:
"You could be shot for this!"
But I suddenly felt doubtful. Was he really shamming? Tears were oozing out of his eyes.
"It's because I ran," he groaned.
The rest was lost.... He abruptly unbuckled his belt, and his braces. I bent down; there was a lump as big as my fist.... He hiccoughed, and vomited.
Stupefied and sickened, I stammered:
"Yes, yes.... Then.... St-tay where you are!"
All I had to do was to catch up with the rest. But now a new storm of bullets began to whizz by—thicker[Pg 223] than ever—buzzing like a swarm of bees.... And, Pap! Pap! Parapap! Pap!... There surely must have been a mitrailleuse in action.
I was alone. I no longer had the support of friendly presences. I did not take more than thirty yards. Good God! I suddenly collapsed. I hurled myself on to the ground.
My temples were throbbing. I could not get my breath. What did my life hang on? A thread! Pfffff! Pffmm.... If one of these sinister flies touched me ... there would be nothing left. The horror of such near annihilation ... suffocated me. Nothing!... The black chasm.... I did not want to....
With my mouth open I convulsively breathed the air. I soaked myself in the supreme sweetness of things ... the dazzling sun, the transparent sky, the green fields spread in my sight, and the blue curtain of the woods, encircling the clear horizon...!
Pffmm! Less than two yards from my face a little dust arose, a clod had been hit by a bullet. I buried my head in the furrow. I dreamt of digging a hole, and burying myself in it, alive!
My section was almost disappearing yonder, nearly two hundred yards away.... I suddenly regained consciousness. What was I doing? I was a coward then?
A coward? The word hurt me! Stay here behind. Oh, if only I had a wound! How I longed for one, no matter how bad a one as long as it was not mortal!... Or a sprain. I twisted my ankle and—must I confess it—pressed on it with all my strength.
There was nothing to be done! The ligaments[Pg 224] held. As a matter of fact I soon gave it up, realising that I must go on. It had got to be done!
I was just about to overtake my section when there was a new unexpected noise ... like a huge piece of calico being torn.... They were opening fire farther down the line. But upon what? Nobody knew, but it was the signal for everyone to let fly. Instantly there was a crackle from one end of our line to the other.
When I came up some of the men turned round to look at me.
"Here's the sergeant!"
"Didn't expect to see you again!"
"Why not?"
"Thought you must be dead!"
"Oh, rot!"
Did I redden. Bouguet whispered to me:
"You must keep your eyes open. Some of 'em try to do a bunk on the Q.T.!"
I did not feel quite sure that he was not pulling my leg. Henriot bellowed:
"Yes, yes. Keep it up. Fire away!"
No detail as to the sight, or target, or the length of range. A man was missing! Guillaumin who crawled past, exclaimed:
"You ought to have been there, you see!"
Henriot now corrected himself:
"Cease firing! Advance!"
He got up and repeated the order. Nobody stirred. He lay down again and looked at us as if asking for advice. I pretended not to notice it. The men feverishly continued to bring their rifles to the shoulder, fire them, and reload.
I dropped on Moulard who was lying just behind[Pg 225] Trichet and barely escaped hitting him at every shot he fired. Trichet drew back looking dazed, without seeming to understand.
The worthy Gaudéreaux who was beside him was firing precipitously.
But at what? At what?
In his agitation he got his lock jammed. I took hold of his rifle which burnt my hand. It took me a long while to repair the damage and I repeated:
"Why, in thunder, are you so set on playing with your trigger?"
Our losses were still slight. Only one man hit, in Guillaumin's section. But on ahead I caught sight of a barbed-wire entanglement surrounding a field. An unpleasant obstacle! And it was in our sector all right!
There was probably a ditch too. Henriot shouted:
"Here goes for cover!"
He started off courageously, and this time the men followed him. We covered the intervening space in a single rush, a foolish mistake which cost us two men. Judsi delighted his lads by imitating a horse's gallop.
The bullets shrieked over our heads as we crouched in the ditch. We let off a few desultory shots on the chance of hitting something. A minute or two passed. The subaltern was worrying about how to cross this entanglement!...
"It's quite simple," said Guillaumin. "Who's got the wire-nippers?"
"I have," said Corporal Bouguet.
Henriot hesitated:
"They'd better...."
"What?"
"Be made use of...."
[Pg 226]
"Very good, sir."
Bouguet calmly got up, and climbed out of the ditch. He knelt up and set to work.
"Good for you, Corporal!" shouted Bouillon.
It was a thrilling moment. The bullets whizzed and whistled all round him. He was a hero. He took his time about it, and it was a miracle that he was not hit ten times over!
"Will that do?" he asked.
"Excellently!"
He passed through the gap he had made and went and lay down in the field.
How tempted I was to admire h............