If they were they would make a new effort
an hour or so later.
Perhaps the French would give way and the Germans would occupy the
trenches. A short time later the French would re-form under the very
rifles of the enemy, and, by a grand charge, oust the Germans from their
newly won positions. Then came the work of concentrating and fortifying
the trenches all over again.
It was terrible work, these days before Verdun.
Hal and Chester played no small part in the advance of the French army.
More than once they were despatched upon important missions; and their
fortune had been of the best. Not once had they failed to accomplish a
piece of work entrusted to them. General Petain began to look upon them
as among his best men. Many a piece of work that, a month before, he
would have entrusted to an older head now fell to the lot of either Hal
or Chester; and the boys did not complain. In fact, the more they had to
do the better they liked it.
Nor, for the matter of that, was there complaint from any of the men in
the French army, officers or men. They stood to their work bravely and
never flinched under fire. Nor did they protest when they were forced to
go for long hours without sleep, other than that they could catch between
the battles that raged almost incessantly and seemed to be nothing less
than one continuous struggle.
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