Jouin either does not or will not hear.
"Hear him laughing, the idiot!" remarks the lieutenant, quite furious.
Jouin is at the edge of the trench. One more leap and he will be safe. Just then he stops, looks fixedly at his hand, and falls to the ground. Parvis, his mate and friend from childhood, rushes up to him and says, after a moment's examination—
"He has a couple of bullets right in his chest. Nothing to be done."
"Well, then, come down; it will be your turn next."
"No, I must stay; he is still breathing."
A continuous and indefinable sound, like the gurgle of a bottle being emptied.... It is Jouin in his death agony, which lasts fully a quarter of an hour. Parvis holds his friend's hand, watches his face pale and his features become rigid. He seems not to hear the bullets whistling about his ears.
At last he leaps into the trench, remarking—
"He is dead."