The Captain of the 10th Battery, which we had believed lost, arrived on horseback at the camp. He told the Major that in the Guéville woods he had managed to save his four guns, but had had to leave the ammunition wagons behind. His battery had taken up position somewhere on the hills surrounding Marville on the south-east, and he had come to get orders. * * * * * The rent made by a shell-splinter two days previously in the seat of my breeches was causing me great discomfort. Divided between the wish to patch it up and the fear lest the order might come to break up the camp before I had finished, I let the quiet hours of the evening pass without doing this very necessary work. _Tuesday, August 25_ I was awakened by the sun, and stretched myself. "A good night at last, eh, Hutin?" Hutin, still asleep, made no answer. Déprez called out: "Now then, oats!" Nobody was in a hurry. Two men, a confused mass of dark blue cloth, quietly went on snoring amid the straw strewn under the chase of the gun. Suddenly I thought I heard a familiar sound, and instinctively turned to see whence it came. "Down!" cried some one. The men threw themselves down where they stood. In mid-air, above the camp, a shell burst. In the still atmosphere the compact cloud of smoke floated motionless among the thin grey mists. "It's that aeroplane we saw yesterday we've got to thank for that," said Hutin, who had been fully awakened by the explosion. "Yes, but it was too high." "That's only a trial round to find the range. We shall get it hot in a few minutes, you'll see!" "Now then, bridle! Hook in! Quick!"