"Why so?" asked Alfred.
"Because, at a given signal, the guns are again raised at the highest angle, and the result is that all who have ventured to come forward, are trapped, and will be caught by the next sweep of shots as they are brought forward," answered the lieutenant.
For more than five hours this incessant stream of shells continued without interruption. The men at the guns were perspiring. The relief crews were lying on the ground, some of them actually sleeping. Occasionally the boys would see a squad arise, spring forward and take their places, while those who had been serving the guns would drop back exhausted in the shelters.
An orderly rode up and handed the captain a paper. He signaled the lieutenant. "They are preparing for the charge," he said. "Come, come, my men!"
They rushed down the hill, and stopped before the telephone booth, which had been installed while the first assault was being carried out in the forenoon. The operator was dictating information to an assistant.
"The batteries will commence close action at two o'clock. Commanders will observe the strictest care as the columns move forward. The curtain of fire will be in advance of the first line at least two hundred meters. Scouts report heavy columns of enemy on the road to Albert. All batteries east of hill 60 must concentrate on the ridge behind hill 307, until the skirmishers are near."
"Low depression!" ordered the captain, as he glanced at his watch. The boys noticed that it was now within ten minutes of two.
The excitement was intense. There were no men in the shelters now. Those not on duty were near the crest of the ridge, shading their eyes and glancing across the smoking fields. Two minutes passed. The captain then marched out, followed by the officer and the boys. As they reached the top of the hill the captain, watch in one hand, raised a handkerchief with the other.
It did not seem possible that the din could increase, but it now seemed to be intensified. Every gun was so low that the shells barely missed the crest of the hill as they passed over. Five minutes,—ten minutes,—it seemed an age.
"Look at the men along the river," shouted Ralph. "They are going forward,—they have crossed the narrow field, and are running up the hill. There is the second column. Why, they act as though they were only having a practice drill."