The open space in front of our dugout forms a sort of terrace. Here we have laid out tables and dug seats in the chalk of the quarry. Men are descending by real scaling paths to get water from the canal, although it is against the major’s explicit orders.
The towpath is visible from the enemy’s trenches on the other side of the Somme. During the preceding days, those who tried to follow it to get back to Éclusier more easily were wounded by the fire of a machine gun which sweeps the way.
Our men come back from this expedition without accident, and we are able to proceed to our summary ablutions. We have not been able to do that for six days, and it is a real delight to feel the fresh water on our eyes and to rid the skin of its sticky moisture.
Two of our sections hold the first-line trenches twenty yards in front of us. We must relieve them presently....
The artillery is still silent, and without a doubt the enemy has given up the stroke he was preparing. He was counting on the usual morning mist of the Somme, but this morning the air is very clear without a suspicion of fog. A fresh breeze blows from the north.
As we wait for the hour of relief, we talk, and an interminable game of cards goes on.
During the dark dreary days of forced seclusion in the bottom of the sap I discovered a very fine fellow, one of our comrades whom I had not had occasion to notice until then. He was very simple, talked but little, lived by himself, and I did not know his name.
Chance placed us side by side and permitted me to engage him in conversation.
Under a rough, taciturn appearance I found a soul full of kindness, a life touched by sacrifice, kindly, modest, the heroism of the humble who live simply for their long, hard tasks without complaining and without anyone being able to pity them in their sorrow and lighten their burdens.
One night—was it night?—hermetically sealed in the deep sap, lighted only by the wavering light of scanty candles, all our hours were nocturnal. Without the irregular arrival of supply parties we would have been absolutely ignorant of the flight of time.