e case by an expressive gesture:
Another poor fellow who was soon to answer the great roll-call! while
on his perspiring face was again seen that expression of weariness and
utter dejection, that hopeless, unanswerable: "What is the use?" since
out of every ten cases that they assumed the terrible responsibility of
operating on they did not succeed in saving four. He wiped his forehead,
and set to work to draw down the flap of skin and put in the three
sutures that were to hold it in place.

Delaherche having told Gilberte that the operation was completed, she
turned her gaze once more upon the table; she caught a glimpse of the
captain's foot, however, as the attendant was carrying it away to the
place behind the lilacs. The charnel house there continued to receive
fresh occupants; two more corpses had recently been brought in and added
to the ghastly array, one with blackened lips still parted wide as
if rending the air with shrieks of anguish, the other, his form so
contorted and contracted in the convulsions of the last agony that he
was like a stunted, malformed boy. Unfortunately, there was beginning
to be a scarcity of room in the little secluded corner, and the human
debris had commenced to overflow and invade the adjacent alley. The
attendant hesitated a moment, in doubt what to do with the captain's
foot, then finally concluded to throw it on the general pile.

"Well, captain, that's over with," the major said to Beaudoin when he
regained consciousness. "You'll be all right now."

But the captain did not show the cheeriness that follows a successful
operation. He opened his eyes and made an attempt to raise himself, then
fell back on his pillow, murmuring wearily, in a faint voice:

"Thanks, major. I'm glad it's over."

He was conscious of the pain, however, when the alcohol of the dressing
touched the raw flesh. He flinched a little, complaining that they were
burning him. And just as they were bringing up the stretcher preparatory
to carrying him back into the other room the factory was shaken to its
foundations by a most terrific explosion; a shell had burst directly
in the rear of the shed, in the small courtyard where the pump was
situated. The glass in the windows was shattered into fragments, and a
dense cloud of smoke came pouring into the ambulance. The wounded men,
stricken with panic terror, arose from their bed of straw; all were
clamoring with affright; all wished to fly at once.

Delaherche