n of a people who look upon might as right, and who, if
they could, would deprive France and Britain and all the Allies of
their liberty. So, murder! Yes, my comrade, but, as you observe,
necessary. If the Kaiser, seeking for some great event, casts his
hosts of men at us, our duty is plain; not an inch of ground of the
sacred soil of France must be rendered up unless absolutely necessary;
while the enemy, if they advance, must advance over the corpses of
their comrades. But let me proceed. The Bois de Caures was evacuated,
and then the southern end of it seized once more by some of our gallant
fellows. Then there was fighting on the line to Ornes and at
Herbebois, and there, too, the garrisons held their positions, having
fought throughout the day and inflicted enormous losses on the Boches.
Elsewhere I cannot tell you what the position is, though there is
rumour that all is favourable."

Taking it in turns to go on duty, to watch the ground in front of them
or to repair their battered trenches, that slender garrison which the
policy of the French High Command had placed in the first line of
trenches about the salient of Verdun waited with calm confidence for
the morrow--for the 22nd February. Nor had they long to wait ere the
conflict once more reopened. Guns had boomed throughout the night, and
shells had continued to rain about them, but now, as light broke, and
they hastily gulped down their breakfast, the bombardment increased in
intensity along that northern sector, while presently enemy troops
could be seen forcing their way up a ravine which cuts its way between
Brabant and Haumont. _Poilus_ in positions there were driven back for
a moment by flame-projectors, which were used freely by the
enemy--spurts of flaming liquid were scattered over them, and sometimes
whole lengths of trenches set burning. Then the torrent of shells
which was pouring upon the northern sector was increased, though that
had seemed almost impossible, in the neighbourhood of those two places.
Brabant and Haumont were shattered, the village of the latter name
being flattened out and destroyed utterly. Shells ploughed the ground
behind the French front position, so that communication-trenches, which
had suffered severely on the previous day, and support- and
reserve-trenches were blown to pieces and out of all recognition.
Indeed, as the day passed, the slender garrison in that part were
forced to abandon whatever protection the g