"True enough," exclaimed Earl. "That's a great scheme."
A moment later the order came. The soldiers debouched from the trench and in long lines advanced down the hill. From the German positions the French formation gave more or less the impression of one man every fifty yards charging at them.
Almost immediately, however, their appearance was greeted by a storm of shot and shell. Guns of all caliber belched their deadly missiles at the charging French. The attackers quickened their pace and breaking into a run, raced down the hill.
At the bottom of the incline were numberless great pits blasted out of the ground by the prodigious explosions. Into these the attackers dove pell-mell and a halt was called for a few moments' rest.
Leon, Jacques and Earl found themselves in one of these, along with five other men of their company.
"Look at those two big howitzers," exclaimed Leon pointing to two big German guns lying half-imbedded in the earth.
"Where are the men to attend to them?" queried Earl.
"Ask our gunners," advised Jacques grimly. "Perhaps they can tell you."
"What do you mean?" demanded Earl somewhat puzzled by this remark.
"Simply this," said the young Frenchman. "One or two of our big shells made direct hits on this battery and the gunners are not in existence anymore."