The officers are quartered here. Lieutenant Casanova is stretched out on a mattress on the ground, smoking and dreaming over his eternal cigarette. Lieutenant Delpos leaning on a box which serves him for a table, is reading, by the light of a lantern, an illustrated novel. I look over his shoulder. They are rather sprightly, suggestive illustrations, reinforced with a vengeance by the fervid imagination and second-hand talent of the readers who have handed it around. The wind and rain rage outside the window. Poor weather for an attack. “I’m sure that we’ve come here for nothing.” “Oh, that can be launched at any time.” “I should be much surprised if it came this evening.” “Listen.” A heavy, faraway, continuous rumble, like the beating of a drum, is heard just then. The sound seems to come from the direction of Lihons and to get nearer by degrees. In the midst of the fusillade we hear distinctly the regular crackle of the machine guns. Suddenly, a terrific fire breaks out opposite us. D ... company, which we are to support, must have gone into action. “That’s getting close.” We go out. The road forms a sort of embankment at this spot, which is forbidden during the daytime, and from which we look toward the lines. A great light has risen. More and more frequent bursts of shrapnel at this distance have the effect of immense red Venetian lanterns, tossed about by the wind in the dark night. Rockets go up suddenly on our right. That is a call for the artillery. The expected attack is probably taking place over there. We have been placed in reserve for fear that the attack might widen out on the sector, but it is probable that we shall not have to intervene. “It looks as though it were quieting down there in front.” “Hum! You’ll see.” Lieutenant Casanova has had great experience in battles, and he isn’t taken by surprise by apparent lulls. On the contrary. Silence is what he dreads most. “You’ll see.” And as a matter of fact we didn’t have long to wait.... A tornado of shells falls between the lines and our cantonment. This is immediately followed by another, then still another, all in a couple of minutes. It is a barrage of “77’s,” effected by a battery which has taken us in its fire. “I certainly think that something is going to happen.” “Go and tell the section leaders to get their men together and to have them ready.” I go into the night in search of the cantonment. All the men are awake. The corporals and sergeants have foreseen the order and everyone is waiting. The shells and the fire of our rifles and our machine guns is only one frightful uproar in which all noises are confounded. As I return toward the officers badly aimed spent machine-gun bullets whistle in the trees above. “All we can do is to wait. If they need us, they’ll call us.” As he said this the ever-imperturbable Lieutenant Casanova went back into his quarters and we followed him. “I suggest poker,” said Delpos. “I’ll go and find the cards.”