houses under the
foundations, gardens, backyards, and streets to beneath the
foundations of the next row of houses. There they had planted mines.
The explosion I had just witnessed was of a mine. Much of the debris I
saw flying through space had been German soldiers a few seconds
before.

Before the smoke died away we heard a savage yell. That was the French
cry of victory. Then we heard a rapid crackling of rifles. That was
the sign that the French had advanced across the space between the
houses to finish the work their mine had left undone. When one goes to
view the work of those mines afterward all that one sees is a great,
round, smooth hole in the ground--sometimes thirty feet deep, often
twice that in diameter. Above it might have been either a chateau or a
stable; unless one has an old resident for guide it is impossible to
know.

It takes many days and nights to prepare these mines. It takes careful
mathematical precision to determine that they are correctly placed. It
takes morale, judgment, courage, and intelligence--this fighting from
house to house. And yet the French are called a frivolous people!

A cry from a soldier warned us of a German aeroplane directly
overhead; so we stopped gazing at Neuville-St. Vaast. A French
aeroplane soon appeared, and the German made off rapidly. They usually
do, as the majority of German aeronauts carry only rifles; the French
now all have mitrailleuses. A fight between them is unequal, and the
inequality is not easily overcome, for the German machines are too
light for mitrailleuses.

Four French machines were now circling above, and the German batteries
opened fire on them. It was a beautiful sight. There was not a cloud
in the sky, and the sun had not yet gone. We could not hear the shells
explode, but we could see little feathery white clouds suddenly appear
as if some giant invisible hand had just put them there--high up in
the sky. Another appeared, and another. There were several dozen
little white clouds vividly outlined against the blue before the
French machines, all untouched, turned back toward their own lines.

Again our thoughts and actions were rudely disturbed by the soldier
with us, who suddenly threw himself face down on the ground. Before we
had time to wonder why a German shell tore a hole in the field before
us, less than a hundred yards away. I asked the officer if we had been
seen, and if they were firing at us. He said he did not think so, but