stump was left. Every yard of the sandy soil had been upturned by a dozen shells as far as eye could see. But,—this was all a past destruction; what we had just left was a very present one, a fact that made all the difference to us.

                It was amazing how promptly everyone's spirits revived in this new atmosphere. It was as if a heavy weight which was bearing us down had suddenly been lifted. We had good food, plenty of sleep, perfect dugouts, enough work, freedom from worry, proximity with the ever-cheerful Frenchmen in the Grande Carriere, and we didn't care if the war lasted twenty years. We were occasionally subjected to a shelling which a year ago would have seemed terrible, but now it was a joke after Death Valley. On sunny days we could watch the German "heavies" pounding Douaumont a mile away, or searching for our railroad guns near Charny. The huge shells would roar over our heads with a noise like a train of cars, and then seem to slow down and fall amid grinding brakes, kicking a stately black geyser of dirt and smoke two hundred feet into the sky. There was also enough aerial activity to keep us amused.

                As November Eleventh—a date as yet unborn—drew near, things seemed to be speeding up for a crisis of some sort. On the second the Battery fired forty-seven rounds of H. E. on the Fond de Vaux to disperse a possible Hun attack.

                On the third and fourth extensive harrassing was done by us with both H. E. and gas. We fired a rolling barrage the evening of the third.

                On the fifth came the rumor that we were to

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INDEX