We are still there at the first rays of dawn.
“This is exasperating. We can never get these munitions to the P. C. before daylight.”
“Say, Roudon, we have a bridge right in front of us. It will do.”
And indeed the large poplar might let us get across the canal.
We try it.
We leave one man to guard the five wagons, and the rest detach the caissons from their supports, hang them on our shoulders, and one after another we try the chance bridge which bends a little but does not break.
Less than fifteen minutes later all the munitions are together on the opposite bank.
We reached the P. C. at five o’clock, exhausted without a doubt, but the order has been executed.
When the artillery officer saw us arriving, he started shouting,
“What do you want me to do with that?”