We are at this instant at the point where the road from Béthincourt starts to the top of Dead Man's Hill. A little wagon is turned upside-down, with the stiffened remains of the horse and its swollen belly still in the shafts.
We just had time to crawl into a shell-hole behind the carcass which hid us from the enemy and served as a shield. Our protector gave off nauseating puffs of a very rich scent:
"It is _drôle_," observed Guéneau, "that Dead Man is nothing but a rotting horse!"
CARNAVAL! DEAD MAN'S HILL. _March_ 7, 1916.
The cannonade was elaborate to-day--What desolation! This moonlighted scenery would sadden you profoundly--enough that man be that heartless he can utterly destroy and ruin nature beautiful, even to the very roots. The machine-guns sputter intermittently. Someone shouts:
IMAGINATIVE EXPRESSIONS, VERDUN. _March_, 1916.
The sector is being frightfully bombarded and all one can do is to wait for the attack----
"Good morning, _mon petit_, is it going?----"
"Yes, lieutenant, it's bad in the aquarium--has been that way all morning. I've changed my sex three times since you saw me a short while ago----"
[Illustration: Ravin des Fontaines (Verdun) during bombardment.]
MY ORDERLY HABERT, VERDUN. _March_, 1916.
I have just returned from Verdun, worn out by fatigue, at the beginning of the afternoon, with the idea of getting a few hours sleep in the silent and empty house of Monsieur Louis. Habert, alone, had not left it. I had taken him as an orderly for the reason he was the father of five children. Besides, he is not a warrior and it is plainly uncomfortable for him to wait on us when the shells break around _Rue sur-l'eau_.[26]
I am dying with envy to get into bed. I climb the stairs to the first floor where the bed is made. Habert has found a pretext not to accompany me----
The shells whistled angrily and fell thick and fast on the city. They seemed to say: "Ah! you wish to sleep--but just try it." At the end of a few seconds I slept profoundly----
What good sleep, what a deep sleep, during which Death itself would come without one knowing it----
I had, nevertheless, the vague sensation of having been shaken and left dizzy by an explosion that prevented my making a movement. I finished by opening my eyes. The room was yet filled with dust and smoke; the window frame and part of the wall were thrown on the quilt! It was with difficulty that I could extricate myself and I shouted: