It was General Petain who spoke.
"My compliments to General Bordeaux, Lieutenant Paine, and tell him that the left of the newly won trenches must be held at all hazzards!"
Hal sprang upon a nearby motorcycle and soon was speeding toward the front.
"Lieutenant Crawford! The same instructions to General Ducal on the right!"
A moment later Chester was speeding forward.
His message delivered, Hal stopped for a moment to gaze about the trenches won at such terrible cost.
There had been no time to bury the dead, or even to have the bodies removed; and the trenches were piled high with French and German dead. In between the rows of corpses, which had hurriedly been pushed to one side, the other troops worked, apparently without thought of their fallen comrades. Red Cross physicians and nurses were working among the wounded, lightening the suffering.
Hal looked at his watch.
"Twelve o'clock!" he muttered. "It seems as if this single battle had been going on for days!"
He made his way slowly back to General Petain.