We looked at each other, then I exclaimed: "Come along, the 2nd with me!" The men did not seem to understand. "Bouguet, Donnadieu." Guillaumin had gone off to rally his thirty _poilus_. Mine at last made up their minds to follow me, in some disorder. What formation ought we to adopt? Two deep? Columns of four? Consult Henriot? I hailed him. Waste of energy. He went off making incomprehensible signals to Guillaumin. We must make the best of it. "Two deep! Two deep!" The booming began again ... for us, this lot! "Kneel!" I shook Siméon by the shoulder! "Close! Testudos!" A few actually remembered what to do--Lamalou and Bouillon. They stuck their heads between the legs of the men kneeling in front of them. Their neighbours imitated them. I had been the last to get down, at the head of my small column. There was no one for me to shelter behind, so I ran a greater risk than any of the others. "Get back here, Sergeant," said Corporal Bouguet, "we'll make room for you!" I crawled back, and slipped in between him and Trichet. "Thanks!" I was guilty of a little bit of bluff and stuck my head out. There was a regular hurricane going on. All round us there were great spurts of smoke and dust, and clods of earth were hurled against us. But the pack seemed a great protection, and I felt that we were not very vulnerable really. Some shells did not burst, and I made a remark to that effect. I had to watch the movements of the neighbouring sections in order to conform to them. They were going on again. "Advance!" We went on. "Pretty hot stuff!" said Judsi. "We ought to go in zigzags, best way to get through," he advised. I approved. Judsi's right. The range only varies in depth. We were beginning to distinguish the sound of the different shells through this infernal din. The big ones were always impressive; we frankly snapped our fingers at the smaller ones. "Is that all?" said Bouguet as a splinter of shrapnel bounced off his pack. "Listen!" Lamalou exclaimed, "there are the 75's letting loose." I don't know what we expected. A miracle--the immediate cessation of the enemy's fire. We were disillusioned. It redoubled in intensity. One or two shells again fell near by. "Ah!" exclaimed Bouguet. "That got 'em!" "Who?" "The lads of No. 1! Fell slap in the middle of 'em." A shiver ran down my back. I only hoped to goodness that Frémont was all right. Looking round I saw haggard faces turned towards us. Corporal Donnadieu was deadly white. I forced a smile and shouted: "Halloa there! How are you getting along?" "So, so," said Lamalou. I nearly tripped over a black, cylinder-shaped mass. "Look out there. A 'dud'!" They avoided it and Bouillon said: "Lucky you gave tongue like that. I was just going to tip it a hefty biff."