The French aeroplanes which had been soaring overhead for a long time now began to swoop lower. Evidently the aviators were searching for the battery in question. A swift biplane swept past, barely two hundred and fifty yards above the trenches. Amid a perfect storm of shot it returned safely to its lines.
"Dig the trenches deeper," came the order.
"Hear that?" demanded Jacques. "That means we stay out here all night, I guess."
CHAPTER VII
IN THE DITCH
The time passed slowly. The cannonade slackened in intensity and at times almost ceased entirely. The men spent their time in improving their positions and enlarging the ditches in which they were lying.
"What are you doing, Jacques?" demanded Leon suddenly.
"Watch me," was the young Frenchman's only reply.
He placed his steel helmet on the end of his bayonet and raised it cautiously above the edge of the parapet. Almost immediately a storm of German bullets struck all around the spot.