adow-land cut in
half by the Meuse flooding her banks; and the shattered houses of the
Ferme Mont Meuse, which now form the point of the salient. At this place
the opposing trenches are only a hundred yards apart, and all of this
low ground is commanded by the French guns on the heights of Les
Paroches. On the day of our visit they were being heavily bombarded. On
each side of the salient are the French. Across the battle-ground of
St. Mihiel I could see their trenches facing those in which we stood.
For, at St. Mihiel, instead of having the line of the enemy only in
front, the lines face the German, and surround him on both flanks.
Speaking not as a military strategist but merely as a partisan, if any
German commander wants that kind of a position I would certainly make
him a present of it.

[Illustration: _From a photograph, copyright by Underwood and
Underwood._

A first-line trench outside of Verdun.

The trench enfilades the valley beyond, and the valley is covered with
barbed-wire and gun-pits.]

The colonel who commanded the trenches possessed an enthusiasm that was
beautiful to see. He was as proud of his chalk quarry as an admiral of
his first dreadnaught. He was as isolated as though cast upon a rock in
mid-ocean. Behind him was the dripping forest, in front the mud valley
filled with floating fogs. At his feet in the chalk floor the shells
had gouged out holes as deep as rain-barrels. Other shells were liable
at any moment to gouge out more holes. Three days before, when Prince
Arthur of Connaught had come to tea, a shell had hit outside the
colonel's private cave, and smashed all the teacups. It is extremely
annoying when English royalty drops in sociably to distribute medals
and sip a cup of tea to have German shells invite themselves to the
party. It is a way German shells have. They push in everywhere. One
invited itself to my party and got within ten feet of it. When I
complained, the colonel suggested absently that it probably was not a
German shell but a French mine that had gone off prematurely. He seemed
to think being hit by a French mine rather than by a German shell made
all the difference in the world. It nearly did.

At the moment the colonel was greatly interested in the fact that one of
his men was not carrying a mask against gases. The colonel argued that
the life of the man belonged to France, and that through laziness or
indifference he had no right to risk losing it. Until this