d feet further on, was a
second wire fence. There reigned a profound silence here, a silence of
absolute loneliness as though the world was asleep.

"There are the trenches of the Boches," said the Commandant, in a low
tone.

"Where?" asked the senator, making an effort to see.

The Chief pointed to the second wire fence which Lacour and his friend
had supposed belonged to the French. It was the German intrenchment
line.

"We are only a hundred yards away from them," he continued, "but for
some time they have not been attacking from this side."

The visitors were greatly moved at learning that the foe was such a
short distance off, hidden in the ground in a mysterious invisibility
which made it all the more terrible. What if they should pop out now
with their saw-edged bayonets, fire-breathing liquids and asphyxiating
bombs to assault this stronghold! . . .

From this window they could observe more clearly the intensity of the
firing on the outer line. The shots appeared to be coming nearer. The
Commandant brusquely ordered them to leave their observatory, fearing
that the fire might become general. The soldiers, with their customary
promptitude, without receiving any orders, approached their guns which
were in horizontal position, pointing through the loopholes.

Again the visitors walked in single file, going down into cavernous
spaces that had been the old wine-cellars of former houses. The officers
had taken up their abode in these dens, utilizing all the residue of
the ruins. A street door on two wooden horses served as a table;
the ceilings and walls were covered with cretonnes from the Paris
warehouses; photographs of women and children adorned the side wall
between the nickeled glitter of telegraphic and telephonic instruments.

Desnoyers saw above one door an ivory crucifix, yellowed with years,
probably with centuries, transmitted from generation to generation, that
must have witnessed many agonies of soul. In another den he noticed in
a conspicuous place, a horseshoe with seven holes. Religious creeds
were spreading their wings very widely in this atmosphere of danger and
death, and yet at the same time, the most grotesque superstitions were
acquiring new values without any one laughing at them.

Upon leaving one of the cells, in the middle of an open space, the
yearning father met his son. He knew that it must be Julio by the
Chief's gesture and because the smiling soldier was coming toward him,
h