It is nothing. A stone hurled violently by the bursting of a shell has hit me in the back. It has just missed killing me. I remain there a moment without being able to get my breath back or to get up.
All around there is an incessant rain of bullets and shrapnel.
However, I can’t remain there right in the barrage. I make an effort to catch up with the company. My fall which took only a few seconds has put considerable distance between the wave and me. More than three hundred yards separate us.
I want to run after it, but I can’t.
A greenish cloud rolls like a flood over the plain. The enemy is launching gas.
Some one out of breath joins me. It is Morin who took a message to the major. He is now carrying an order to the lieutenant.
“This is dangerous.”
“One might think so.”
“Commandant Courier was just killed getting out of the parallel.”
“No?”