Hal stepped back and Matin
slid to the floor. Hal stooped over and laid a hand over the man's heart.
"Dead!" the lad exclaimed, and added: "but not by my hand. He pressed the
trigger himself!"
CHAPTER XXX
THE ADVANCE
A bugle sounded.
The sleeping French camp sprang suddenly to life. Men, half dressed,
sprang from their cots--they had not disrobed entirely the night
before--and hurried to their positions, adjusting their clothing as they
did so. Regiments formed hurriedly in the darkness that is always more
intense just before dawn. Officers shouted and swore; horses whinnied
from the distance, indicating that the French cavalry, as well as the
infantry was forming.
A second bugle sounded; then many more. More commands from the various
officers. Aides rushed hither and yon delivering sharp orders to division
commanders. The men stood quietly in line. Came other sharp commands all
down the line:
"_En avant_!"
The troops began to move.
Overhead, screaming French shells from the big guns in the rear flew as
they raced for the distant German lines. This was no new sound. For
more than twenty-four hours now these big guns had been hurling shells
into the German ranks; and the men had become so used to the sounds of
their voices that they would have been almost unable to sleep had they
become silent.
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