e were
surprisingly few French dead and the German dead, though more plentiful
than the French, were not very numerous. It seemed that the French
artillery had absolutely pinioned the Germans to their trenches and
communication trenches in the Dompierre sector and the French appearing
close under their own shells in a swift and eager wave gathered in all
the German garrison as prisoners. The ruins of the villages might have
been made either by French, British or German artillery. There is true
internationalism in artillery destruction.

It was something to see the way that French transport and reserves were
going right across the plain in splendid disregard of any German
artillery concentration. But, as usual, they knew what they were doing.
No shells fell among them while I was at the front, and out on the
plain where the battle still raged the _soixante-quinze_ batteries were
as busy as knitting-machines working some kind of magic which protected
that column from tornadoes of the same kind that they themselves were
sending. The German artillery, indeed, seemed a little demoralized.
Krump-krump-krump, they put a number of shells into a group of trees
beside the road where they mistakenly thought that there was a battery.
Swish-swish-swish came another salvo which I thought was meant for us,
but it passed by and struck where there was no target.

I have had glimpses of nearly every feature of war, but there was one in
this advance which was not included in my experiences. The French
infantry was hardly in the first-line German trench when the ditch had
been filled in and the way was open for the _soixante-quinze_ to go
forward. For the guns galloped into action just as they might have done
at manoeuvers. Some dead artillery horses near the old trench line told
the story of how a German shell must have stopped one of the guns, which
was small price to pay for so great a privilege as--let us
repeat--galloping the guns into action across the trenches in broad
daylight and keeping close to the infantry as it advanced from position
to position on the plain.

Here was a surviving bit of the glory and the sport of war, whose
passing may be one of the great influences in preventing future wars;
but there being war and the French having to win that war, why, the
spectacle of this marvelous field gun, so beloved of its alert and
skilful gunners, playing the part that was intended for it on the heels
of the enemy made a thrilli