treme.

Arms and legs stuck out from heaps of earth. Dead men lay all around;
blood was on everything. Nauseating odors filled the air. Suddenly
from a spot directly behind Earl came a sound that made his blood run
cold.

Lippen, the soldier who had fought so valiantly in the chateau,
suddenly sprang to his feet. He uttered a wild, hideous, hysterical
laugh and seizing an arm that protruded from the trench in front of him
he hurled it far out over the battlefield.

He shrieked raucously and then suddenly sat down and began to sob. His
companions gazed at him a moment in surprise and then in pity.

"What is it, Jacques?" demanded Earl. "What ails him?"

"He's crazy," said Jacques quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"He's gone insane; his nerves are shattered."

Lippen sat and sobbed; now and again he raised his head and gazed about
him and the look in his eyes showed that all his reason had departed.

"How awful!" exclaimed Earl with a shudder. "Do you suppose he'll ever
get well again?"

"It's hard to say," replied Jacques. "Sometimes they do and sometimes
they don't."

"I've heard about these things happening in the trenches," remarked
Leon. "This is the first case I've seen."

"There are a good many made the same way," said Jacques soberly. "The
terrible strain and the awful slaughter affect men's nerves so that
they sometimes go entirely to pieces. It is very sad."

"It's horrible!" muttered Earl with a shudder.

"For my part I'd rather be killed," said Leon.

Attendants came and led poor Lippen away. Perhaps with constant care
and prolonged quiet his shattered nerves might mend. At any rate he
was but one small part of the army and the war must go on whether he
was gone or not. Of course all would be done for him that was
possible, but after all one man more or less is a very tiny part of a
big army. If sympathy was expended on every pitiful case there would
not be much time left for fighting.

As the soldiers crouched behind the parapet Captain Le Blanc approached
the spot where Jacques was seated.

"Private Dineau," he said, "I understand that you are an aviator."

"Yes, sir," exclaimed Jacques, quickly springing to his feet and
saluting.

"You were once attached to the flying corps?"

"Yes, sir."

"You think you can still drive an aeroplane?"

"I am sure of it, sir."

"Very good," said the captain. "Come with me."

CHAPTER XVIII

AN ASSIGNMENT

"Well what do yo