"What?"
"In artillery formation."
I was disgusted.
"How absolutely idiotic."
De Valpic exclaimed in a hoarse voice:
"We're outflanked on the right."
The edge of the wood sloped away on that side.
A sudden squall hurled us all to the ground. We were blinded by soil. De Valpic was half buried. Two yards from us a man, who was leaning against the parapet, reeled, but remained standing on his feet. Horrors! His head was severed as if by the blow of an axe, just above the contorted mouth. De Valpic who had freed himself, and was none the worse, except for feeling somewhat dazed, could not bear the sight of it. He tottered, and his eyes were dimmed. I went to his help, but he recovered himself immediately.
"Carry on, carry on," he murmured. "You're needed over there."
I went back and found Henriot feverishly repeating: