"Courage! We'll never allow the Boches to get through. Cheer up! They shall never get your town. _Vive Verdun et les Verdunois!_" Thus, in a hundred and one different ways, did the brave _poilus_, marching with admirable _entrain_ towards Verdun, instil hope into our downcast hearts. We were on our way, the civilians of Verdun, to Paris and elsewhere, in cattle-trucks and military wagons--a painful journey, in bitter cold and snow, which would have been almost unbearable but for the sight of those merry-hearted troops, swinging along in the daytime on the road bordering the railway, and at night sweeping past us in trainload after trainload in the direction of the town which, shattered by shot and shell though it was, we still pictured in our hearts as home. There were long waits in the darkness at wayside stations or on sidings, whilst the saviours of France went forth to battle, but wherever possible we found help and encouragement. At the larger _gares_ warmth and creature-comforts were in readiness to cheer us on our way. The waiting and refreshment rooms were crowded with railway officials, charitably-disposed ladies, and military officers, all of them eager to do something to ameliorate our lot, and at the same time to hear the latest news from the Front. I was fortunate in making the acquaintance at Chalons of a young officer, Lieutenant Marcel R----, who was able to tell me a good deal about the Battle of Verdun, or, more strictly speaking, a singular episode in it. Vague rumours of the "_Coup_ of the Caures Wood" had already reached my ears, but it was not until I met Lieutenant R---- that I heard all the dramatic details, in the planning and execution of which he himself had played a part, though a minor one. "_Eh bien!_ How have you been getting on at Verdun lately?" he began by asking me. "I was quite sorry to have to leave the battlefield and go, _en mission_, to Paris. But I shall be back there to-morrow. Shall I find a soul left?" "Only Père François, the _marchand de vin_ of the Rue Nationale," I replied. "He alone remains of the three thousand inhabitants. We left him standing at the door of his wine-shop, which he said he would not abandon for all the Boches in creation." "He plays his part, without a doubt," replied Lieutenant R----, with a laugh. "It was at Père François's that we celebrated the _coup_ of the Caures Wood, and I shall never forget his enthusiasm when we told him the story." "I envy him the privilege," said I. "Might I hope to hear you repeat it, if there is time before the train starts?" "_Mais certainement!_ This is what happened. But I must begin at the very beginning. The setting for the episode I have to describe is indispensable." And Lieutenant R---- proceeded to tell his story as follows:-- II--LIEUTENANT R---- TELLS HIS STORY