"Lie down, Sergeant, lie down!"
I lost all consciousness of what was passing. I was thinking of a thousand other things—of my brother.... I calmly wondered if he had been killed in this way. However, some instinct urged me to kneel down, and then the realisation of the danger we were in seized me.... If only I could have thrown myself down and lain still! But ten of my men were still on the other side. I felt bound to wait until the last one had come through. And they did not hurry themselves! How bitter I felt. All my senses were waking up again. I was annoyed with myself for exposing myself like this, but I could not prevent myself from doing so.
I had got them all over at last! Guillaumin got his poilus together for a new rush.
"Advance!"
Nobody dropped out; nobody, that is, except two poor lads who were killed on the spot.
"At the gallop!" cried Judsi, who was once more pretending to be a horse.
I signed to them to keep extended order. We ran along like that for about one hundred yards, almost without casualties, and then crowded all together behind a narrow tank.
There was heavy firing for a few minutes; a relaxation for the nerves! Two hundred and fifty yards! At the edge of the wood! Fire! I had given my orders quite at random.
Bouillon assured me emphatically that he could make out the peaked helmets. I, too, was firing madly, as an excuse for giving no more directions.
I suddenly saw Henriot beside me; he shouted: