No sooner had the first and second lines passed from view, than the third columns were noticed, and behind them the reserves.
"Where did they all come from?" asked Alfred.
CHAPTER VI
A SHELLED BATTLEFIELD
The one hundred and two guns, which the French had massed in this sector, covered a line equal to nearly a mile and a half in length, as they were less than seventy feet apart. As each gun was able to fire twenty shots a minute, they hurled over one thousand high explosive shells from all of the guns each minute.
This multiplied by sixty, to represent an hour, and then by five to get the grand total, in point of time, makes more than three hundred thousand missiles distributed over an area of less than five square miles. Imagine, if you can, what it would mean to have ten of those terrific shrapnel shells explode over every acre in that region. No wonder that human flesh cannot stand that sort of warfare.
Slowly the muzzles of the guns were raised higher and higher. In the front, over that broad field, although the sun was shining brightly, yet there was a thick haze. Absolutely nothing could now be seen but the densest smoke, and noises were no longer distinguishable.
The boys rushed down to the telephone station. The operator, streaming with perspiration, and with a voice so hoarse that it was scarcely above a whisper, was still taking the messages.