had obscured the heavens burst
in a deluge of rain. The men had received so many duckings within the
past few days that they took this one without a murmur, bowing their
heads and plodding patiently onward; but when they had left Balay behind
them and were crossing a wide extent of level ground near Quatre-Champs
a violent wind began to rise. Beyond Quatre-Champs, when they had fought
their way upward to the wide plateau that extends in a dreary stretch of
waste land as far as Noirval, the wind increased to a hurricane and the
driving rain stung their faces. There it was that the order, proceeding
from the head of the column and re-echoed down the line, brought
the regiments one after another to a halt, and the entire 7th corps,
thirty-odd thousand men, found itself once more reunited in the mud and
rain of the gray dawn. What was the matter? Why were they halted there?
An uneasy feeling was already beginning to pervade the ranks; it was
asserted in some quarters that there had been a change of orders. The
men had been brought to ordered arms and forbidden to leave the ranks
or sit down. At times the wind swept over the elevated plateau with
such violence that they had to press closely to one another to keep
from being carried off their feet. The rain blinded them and trickled in
ice-cold streams beneath their collars down their backs. And two hours
passed, a period of waiting that seemed as if it would never end, for
what purpose no one could say, in an agony of expectancy that chilled
the hearts of all.

As the daylight increased Jean made an attempt to discern where
they were. Someone had shown him where the Chene road lay off to the
northwest, passing over a hill beyond Quatre-Champs. Why had they turned
to the right instead of to the left? Another object of interest to him
was the general and his staff, who had established themselves at the
Converserie, a farm on the edge of the plateau. There seemed to be
a heated discussion going on; officers were going and coming and the
conversation was carried on with much gesticulation. What could they be
waiting for? nothing was coming that way. The plateau formed a sort of
amphitheater, broad expanses of stubble that were commanded to the north
and east by wooded heights; to the south were thick woods, while to the
west an opening afforded a glimpse of the valley of the Aisne with the
little white houses of Vouziers. Below the Converserie rose the slated
steeple of Quatre-C