"Better get as much sleep as you can now, my friends," said an officer
as he came along the trench. "A few men to keep watch will be quite
sufficient, and the rest had better turn in to their dug-outs or lie
down here at their posts. It won't be for long, my lads, I can tell
you, for the Germans are not likely to rest now they have got us
moving. Wait, though; is there a man amongst you not too fatigued to
creep forward and reconnoitre?"

"There is, mon Capitaine; I am that man."

"And I also--here; ready and eager."

The two voices were those of Jules and Henri, who happened to be quite
close to the officer as he was speaking, and who, leaping to their feet
from the fire-bank, at once stood at attention, their eager faces
turned towards him.

"You--ah!"

The officer surveyed them both critically.

"Henri and Jules--our particular Henri and Jules--mon Capitaine,"
called out the sergeant who had been speaking to them a little while
before, and who, like the regiment, knew our two heroes thoroughly.
"Henri and Jules, who joined us from Ruhleben, and preferred to fight
in a battle such as this rather than stay in safety--though not in
comfort--in Ruhleben."

"Ah! Henri and Jules, of course. And you are ready?" smiled the
officer.

"Ready, mon Capitaine!" the two answered.

"Then strip off your packs and equipment, and take only your rifles and
bayonets and ammunition; creep down through the trees yonder, and, if
you can, let us know what's happening."

Down below, towards the foot of the lower slopes of the Cote du Poivre,
overlooking the village of Champneuville and the Cote de Talou,
stretched a strip of wooded country, those same evergreens which,
towards the north and elsewhere, had given the Germans such tremendous
opportunities for completing preparations for their attack upon the
salient. Sliding down the hill, diving from one shell-hole to
another--for already the German artillery had turned its attention to
this new French position--creeping along any fold in the ground which
offered even the smallest shelter, Henri and Jules soon gained the
woods, and plunged into them.

"It's as likely as not that the Germans have already sent
reconnoitring-parties here," said Henri in a whisper, as they crouched
at the edge of the wood and gathered breath again after their
exertions. "That is a thing which one would anticipate, and of course
our commanders will expect that just as we do, so that it seems t