"Could you give me an idea of the situation as it stands, Captain?"
"I can only guess. Briefly, we are moving on Strassburg from the Donon peaks to Château-Salins. As I understand it, our armies now stretch from the Sambre to the Seine, from the Meuse to the Oise.
"I can tell you only what is gossiped about among cavalry officers. We believe that we are leading a great counter-offensive movement; that it is our General Joffre's strategy to drive the Germans out of upper Alsace, block Metz and Strassburg, and, holding them there in our steel pincers, let loose our army on their flank and rear."
"And Longwy? And this drive just north of us at Ausone?"
D'Aurès smiled.
"Can you still hear the cannonade?"
They halted to listen; there was no longer that deadly rumor from the north.
"Verdun and Toul are taking care of that raid, I think," said D'Aurès pleasantly. "It comes from Metz, of course. Verdun must look out for the country between it and Longwy, too. That is not our route. Ours lies by Nancy toward Vic and Moyenvic, and through Altkirch to Mülhausen, and then—" he laughed—"it does not become a Frenchman to prophesy or boast. There were too many dreamers in 1870.
"I am telling merely the gossip of our camps. It is human to gossip when the day's work is over. But for the rest—route step and plod ahead!—That is what counts, not bragging or splendid dreams."
When they reached the terrace Warner fell back to speak to Asticot.