One feels in this place a veritable impression of horror——
In front, pointing into the starry heavens, the crest of Eparges——
Laboriously we climb the hill, stopping from time to time to get our breath. Only a few cannon and machine guns trouble the calm of the night.
At last we arrive close to Grenet's shelter, where several men formed a group along the embankment. I called one of his sergeants whom I already knew.
"Do you know Charles Dubois?"
"Yes, lieutenant. You heard then that we recovered his body?"
"He has been killed——?"
"This morning——"
"Where is he?"
The poilu turned—I saw a stretcher, a shapeless mass covered with a blanket, two heavy shoes which stuck out, shrouded with red soil——