for us the English heavy artillery,
which would have smashed the beggars to bits, had not yet come up to
help us, although we expected them with some anxiety, as big business
events began as soon as we drove the outposts back to their main lines.

"However, we were equal to the preliminary task, and, heartened by the
news of an ammunition convoy which had been turned into a pretty
fireworks display by 'Soixante-dix' Pau, my Zouaves, (as you see, I
belong to the First Division, which has a reputation to keep up, n'est
ce pas?) were in splendid form. Of course, they all laughed at me. They
wanted to get near those German guns and nearer still to the gunners.
That was before they knew the exact meaning of shellfire well.

"They did good things, those Zouaves of mine, but it wasn't pleasant
work. We fought from village to village, very close fighting, so that
sometimes we could look into our enemy's eyes. The Moroccans were with
us. The native troops are unlike my boys, who are Frenchmen, and they
were like demons with their bayonet work.

"Several of the villages were set on fire by the Germans before they
retired from them, and soon great columns of smoke with pillars of
flames and clouds of flying sparks rose up into the blue sky and made a
picture of hell there, for really it was hell on earth. Our gunners were
shelling Germans from pillar to post, as it were, and strewing the
ground with their dead. It was across and among these dead bodies that
we infantry had to charge.

"They lay about in heaps. It made me sick, even in the excitement of it
all. The enemy's quick-firers were marvelous. I am bound to say we did
not get it all our own way. They always manoeuvre them in the same
style, and a very clever style it is. First of all, they mask them with
infantry; then, when the French charge, they reveal them and put us to
the test under the most withering fire. It is almost impossible to stand
against it, and in this case we had to retire after each rush for about
250 meters. Then, quick as lightning, the Germans got their
mitrailleuses across the ground which we had yielded to them and waited
for us to come on again, when they repeated the same operation.

"I can tell you it was pretty trying to the nerves. My Zouaves were very
steady in spite of fairly heavy losses. It is quite untrue to say that
the Germans have a greater number of mitrailleuses than the French. I
believe that the proportion is exactly the same to