"How pale you are," says a second-lieutenant who comes up. "Are you wounded?"
"I don't think there is anything much the matter with me," I reply. "A bunch of shrapnel caught me in the knapsack fortunately."
The wounds of the injured soldier are dressed. A second man lies prone and still, a bullet through his brain.
Shells are hurrying over us now, carrying their shrill messages; a good number burst a little before us, and the echo of their harsh, metallic explosions is flung from one side of the ravine to the other. At each explosion huge, torn fragments of steel fly high above us across the sky. Columns of yellow smoke, dense and heavy, drift slowly through the still air, until they encounter the pines whose branches part and disperse them.
"Do you know where I can find Colonel G----?" I ask the chasseur lieutenant.
"Not exactly! Somewhere close at hand, I think. But the major will be able to inform you of his whereabouts."
I find the major to be quite a young man, tall, with an expression at once frank and resolute. He listens to my mission and says:
"That is quite all right. You will find the Colonel behind that wood there--at least he was there less than an hour ago. Some of the --th are entrenched on that slope.
... "Go along, and good fortune go with you!"
I am pretty well exhausted by this time. Only some internal exaltation sustains me. This hollow is endless ... this hill steep beyond imagination! Up at the top some men are moving about and talking. I tell myself to run onwards ... but all I can do for the moment is to rest on my sword and slowly drag one swollen foot after the other. The pain in my back has become intense. Nevertheless I must go on. One final effort and I shall have reached my destination. Onwards!...
The men I totteringly approach have assumed the dimensions of giants. They possess enormous, unbalanced bodies; they are monstrosities who dance before my burning eyes. With a gentle, sustained power, the mud itself seems to draw me towards them.
Forward!... But I can no longer move forward.... The light is failing.... Ah, what an unfortunate devil I am!
Someone raises and carries me with strong, careful arms. The sensation is good. Then some burning liquid scorches my mouth and throat, and instantly causes me to open my eyes. Close to my face, a voice asks: