Evening was falling. We had not gone more than three hundred yards after leaving the wood, when we halted. We were warned to make the best of the position. A certain sector was allotted to us, and we were told that we must hold it all the next day. Hold it only? Guillaumin looked at me and pulled a face. What we wanted to do was to get on. The Big Push was what we were out for. He urged me to question the captain on the situation, as I was on such good terms with him. I refused. A little occurrence which had taken place that morning was still rankling in my mind. I had thought I might be permitted to ask our company commander whether the enemy was far off. Ribet had heard me all right, but had not deigned to answer. He had looked through me as if I did not exist, and then called his orderly. That meant--what? Simply that the captain intended to be familiar only when it suited him. I had been annoyed and offended. I should let him make the advances, next time! The lieutenant seemed embarrassed by the task entrusted to him. As we were occupying the edge of a wood the temptation was great to make use of the resources at hand--the trees for instance. Henriot bustled about and had the saws got out; then asked me whether there was not some way of getting hold of some petard of melinite to put round the big trunks. He spoke too loudly. The _poilus_ snorted when they heard him. Nobody felt inclined to undertake such a piece of work which would have lasted all night. And then, we were so certain to leave it all behind when we charged to-morrow. Some time was lost in bandying words. We had been there for half an hour when the captain came up. "Not begun yet?" Henriot began to unfold his plan. Ribet cut him short, after the first words. "You're quite off the mark! The edge of a wood! Do you imagine we're going to settle down at the edge of a wood--a line which is sure to be especially marked? You wouldn't have a man left. Take two or three hundred yards in front there. Exactly! And now dig me some good trenches!" "Deep ones, sir?" "That's your lookout. You must arrange that. Let your men do the best they can--and remember that you may be attacked any minute." He went on. His tall silhouette disappeared behind the bushes. Covered by a new patrol party, we chose a piece of ground of the length indicated. Night had come. The stars shone out one by one. The cannonade was diminishing in intensity. The long beams of the searchlight were probing the dark sky in all directions. And now to our task. Guillaumin and I wielded spades ourselves, but the work did not get on fast, in spite of our efforts to hasten it. The men were lazy. They had made so many of these trenches in the Meuse and in Argonne which were never used at all. At the end of an hour we had a ditch only a yard wide at the most, and not deep, allowing just enough room to fire kneeling down. We had to be content with it. CHAPTER XVIII THE FIRST IMPACT