The legions of longshoremen had also disappeared. They were all in the
trenches. The sidewalks were now swept by women, and squads of
Senegalese sharpshooters were unloading the cargoes,--shivering with
cold in the sunny winter days, and bent double as though dying under
the rain or the breeze of the Mistral. They were working with red caps
pulled down over their ears, and at the slightest suspension of their
labor would hasten to put their hands in the pockets of their coats.
Sometimes when formed in vociferating groups around a case that four
men could have moved in ordinary times, the passing of a woman or a
vehicle would make them neglect their work, their diabolical faces
filled with childish curiosity.

The unloaded cargoes piled up the same articles on the principal
docks,--wheat, much wheat, sulphur and saltpeter for the composition of
explosive material. On other piers were lined up, by the thousands,
pairs of gray wheels, the support of cannons and trucks; boxes as big
as dwellings that contained aeroplanes; huge pieces of steel that
served as scaffolding for heavy artillery; great boxes of guns and
cartridges; huge cases of preserved food and sanitary supplies,--all
the provisioning of the army struggling in the extreme end of the
Mediterranean.

Various squads of men, preceded and followed by bayonets, were marching
with rhythmic tread from one port to another. They were German
prisoners,--rosy and happy, in spite of their captivity, still wearing
their uniforms of green cabbage color, with round caps on their shaved
heads. They were going to work on the vessels, loading and unloading
the material that was to serve for the extermination of their
compatriots and friends.

The ships at the docks seemed to be increasing in size, for on arrival
they had extended only a few yards above the wharf; but now that their
cargo was piled up on land, they appeared like towering fortresses.
Two-thirds of the hull, usually hidden in the water, were now in
evidence, showing the bright red of their curved shell. Only the keel
kept itself in the water. The upper third, that which remained visible
above the line of flotation in ordinary times, was now a simple black
cornice that capped the long purple walls. The masts and smokestacks
diminished by this transformation appeared to belong to other smaller
boats.

Each of these merchant and peaceful steamers carried a quickfirer at
the stern in order to protect itself from t