They look haggard and dazed, and are covered with mud from head to foot. We crowd around. Their first words are—
"Have you any tobacco? All ours is finished."
We supply them with tobacco, even with a superior brand of cigarette.
Thereupon interest in life returns, and they consent to talk.
"And what of Verrier? Is he alive?"
"Yes."
"Which company?"
"The 23rd."
Reymond and I run off in the direction indicated.
In front of a grotto some men are lying on the ground.