front and were busily attending
their machine-guns; and behind, along the communication-trenches, in
the support and reserve trenches, in a hundred and more dug-outs, there
were more _poilus_ with officers amongst them, hearty, confident
individuals, living a curious existence, which had now lasted so many
months that it seemed to have been their life from the very
commencement. Farther beyond still, it was impossible to see, for
Henri and Jules had their duties and might not leave the regiment; yet
in hundreds of hollows there was hidden the deadly French
soixante-quinze--the 75-millimetre quick-firing gun, which from the
commencement of this gigantic conflict has controlled and beaten German
guns of a similar calibre. Yet again, behind them, were other bigger
guns, splendidly dug in and hidden cleverly with straw-thatched roofs,
many of them no doubt once filling the embrasures of Douaumont and
other forts which in times of yore had gained for Verdun the reputation
of impregnability. Yet German leviathan guns had proved that they
could now smash Douaumont or any other fortress to pieces within a few
hours, whereas in the old times it had been a matter of days, when even
the artillery was sufficiently powerful. Modern invention, high
explosives, and scientific artillery had altered modes of defence, and
the fort at Douaumont and the forts elsewhere encircling the sleepy
town of Verdun were now but shells of masonry, mere billets for
soldiers, while the guns were ranged out in the open.

What a busy scene it was behind the fire-trenches in which Henri and
Jules were now standing. In a hundred cunning little nooks, in corners
which one hardly expected to come upon, there were field-kitchens,
where a fire might be kindled without attracting the enemy or his
artillery-fire, and where soup--beloved of the _poilu_--might be
prepared for those on duty.

"Mon ami, it's a good thing to have warmth both without and within,"
said, the Sergeant who had already befriended our two heroes, beating
his hands together to promote the circulation, and blowing upon his
fingertips, for it was a chilly day this late February, 1916. "A man
who is cold faces the enemy and the dangers attendant upon this sort of
business with a courage which is perhaps a trifle damped, while if he
be hungry also, and cold within, then indeed he is at a disadvantage.
Come, a bowl of soup! Our cook is a specialist in its manufacture,
and, myself, I thin