rmans and where the French, so completely was I turned around on
account of the constant zigzag of the trench lines. Sometimes, when I
was positive that a furious cannonade coming from a certain position
was German, it turned out to be French. At other times, when I thought
I was safely going in the direction of the French, I was hauled back
by officers, who told me I was heading directly into the German line
of fire. I sometimes felt that the German lines were on three sides,
and often I was quite correct. On the other hand, the French lines
often almost completely surrounded the German positions.

One could not tell from the nearness of the artillery fire whether it
was from friend or foe. Artillery makes three different noises; first,
the sharp report followed by detonations like thunder, when the shell
first leaves the gun; second, the rushing sound of the shell passing
high overhead; third, the shrill whistle, followed by the crash when
it finally explodes. In the Labyrinth the detonations which usually
indicated the French fire might be from the German batteries stationed
quite near us, but where they could not get the range on us, and
firing at a section of the French lines some miles away. I finally
determined that when a battery fired fast it was French; for the
German fire is becoming more intermittent every day.

I shall attempt to give some idea of what this fighting looks like.
Late one afternoon, coming out of a trench into a green meadow, I
suddenly found myself planted against a mudbank made of the dirt taken
from the trenches. We were just at the crest of a hill. In khaki
clothes I was of the same color as the mudbank; so an officer told me
I was in a fairly safe position.

Modern war becomes quite an ordinary--often even a sedate,
methodical--affair after the first impressions have been rubbed off.

We flattened ourselves casually against our mudbank, carefully
adjusting our glasses, turned them toward the valley before us, whence
came the sound of exploding shells, and calmly watched a village
developing into nothingness in the sunset. It was only about a
thousand yards away--I didn't even bother to ask whether it was in
French or German possession. There was a loud explosion, a roll of
dense smoke, which was penetrated quickly enough by the long,
horizontal rays of the descending sun to permit the sight of tumbling
roofs and crumbling walls. After a few seconds' intermission there was
another exp