Each man has his own tale to tell.
Sergeant Moricet shows his coat with a hole right in the middle of the breast; his pocket-book has stopped the bullet, though all the papers in it are cut in pieces.
Corporal Chevalier has been bleeding at the nose ever since the previous evening. At the moment of attack, as he was crawling along, a huge beetroot, hurled forward by a ball, struck him full on the nose. He thought he had swallowed a 210. He now spends all his time in padding his swollen organ.
In the stone bedroom the men are very kind and attentive to one another—
"I hope I'm not in your way, old fellow? Have you enough room to stretch yourself?"
"Yes, thanks. Oh! I beg your pardon if I kicked you."
Each man fusses over the other as though to thank him for not being killed.
The men lie on the ground against their haversacks, their rifles supported against the wall, with cans and all accoutrements hooked on to the guard. The first squadron is complete. Corporal Matois is a big, bearded peasant, from the neighbourhood of Langres, a roughly built countryman. He is really the best character I know.
Charensac, squatting in a corner, is stuffing into his haversack a flannel belt some one has given him. He has already stored away seven shirts, which he intends to carry home with him after the war.
Everything offered him he takes. "Look here, Charensac, would you like this?" Without looking, he shouts out from the other end of the room: "Thanks, old fellow!" It may be what remains at the bottom of a sardine tin, a piece of sausage, chocolate, cigars, a pair of socks, nothing comes amiss. Charensac's stomach is a veritable pit. His haversack, another pit, weighs over sixty-five pounds. Huge shoulders and the flanks of a bull are needed to carry it. He has also two enormous musettes, which form baskets projecting on either side. His comrades frequently regard him as a mule. They assure him that he will kill himself. Nothing, however, can rob him of his imperturbable good humour. The only time his face assumes an expression of seriousness is when he affirms: "You should never throw anything away."