The one hundred and two guns, which the French had massed in this sector, covered a line equal to nearly a mile and a half in length, as they were less than seventy feet apart. As each gun was able to fire twenty shots a minute, they hurled over one thousand high explosive shells from all of the guns each minute.

This multiplied by sixty, to represent an hour, and then by five to get the grand total, in point of time, makes more than three hundred thousand missiles distributed over an area of less than five square miles. Imagine, if you can, what it would mean to have ten of those terrific shrapnel shells explode over every acre in that region. No wonder that human flesh cannot stand that sort of warfare.

Slowly the muzzles of the guns were raised higher and higher. In the front, over that broad field, although the sun was shining brightly, yet there was a thick haze. Absolutely nothing could now be seen but the densest smoke, and noises were no longer distinguishable.

The boys rushed down to the telephone station. The operator, streaming with perspiration, and with a voice so hoarse that it was scarcely above a whisper, was still taking the messages.

"The second line has just been taken. They are rounding up a division beyond the hill. The traverses beyond are filled with Germans, who have not offered any resistance. Prisoners are coming in by the thousands. The railroad has been reached."

"Wonderful! wonderful!" shouted the lieutenant in an ecstasy of joy. "I didn't expect that. We have cut into them two miles, at least."

The operator held up his hand. "The main defenses on the ridge have just been taken. The reserves have been ordered up to handle the prisoners. Four staff officers have been taken from the tunnel shelters," he said.

Every one was in a delirium. Each felt that he had contributed some share to the glorious victory. It was a revelation of the power of the French gunnery, and the wonderful co-operation of the infantry in moving forward in the shelter of the curtain, as it has been so aptly termed.

Gradually the deafening din ceased and appeared to die away. One gun from each battery still remained on duty, and fired at regular intervals. With field glasses many things could now be distinguished, the important one, and that which most interested the boys, being the immense number of troops moving to and fro and through the fields so lately harrassed by their guns.

"Would you like to take a trip across that territory?" asked the lieutenant, as the boys came up.

"Indeed, we would," replied Ralph.

"It is too late tonight, but we intend to make an inspection tomorrow," he replied. "I promise you shall go along."

At supper that night there did not seem to be any extraordinary show of enthusiasm. Probably every one had been surfeited with excitement.

"Don't you have a queer feeling in your ears?" said Alfred.

"Well, my ears have been humming and buzzing right along. It appears sometimes as though the guns were still going. It seems unnatural to have this quiet," remarked Ralph.

"You'll get over that after a few days of this," said a gunner. "It wasn't an exceptionally noisy day, as we had only about a hundred guns on tap; but over in the Champagne, when we cut a swath of six kilometers, fifteen kilometers long, in two days, we had over three hundred guns. That meant some pounding."

At nine o'clock in the morning the boys were ready for the trip over Dead Man's land, as the region was termed. Four officers and a half dozen of the gunners made up the party of observation.

As they marched down the hill the lieutenant said: "This is not a trip to satisfy mere curiosity, but to give us an idea of the nature and extent of our work. In order to appreciate it we are compelled to make an investigation before the traces of our work disappear."

They had little difficulty in crossing the stream, for hundreds of crafts were all about. The first evidences of the galling fire did not appear until they had gone a thousand feet from the stream, where the first line trenches of the Germans zig-zagged around the inclined surface of the fields.

"This may interest you," said the captain, as he pointed to a section directly behind the main trench. The scene was an excellent one, as it gave them a clear view over a field covering about two acres. Before the onslaught, it had been a field of sod, level as a floor, and part of the green was in front of a magnificent country home.

The house was a mass of ruins, of course, and two of the outbuildings had been burned. It would not be a misstatement to say that so close together were the holes and the upturned pieces of sod that it would have been possible for one to go over that entire lawn stepping from hole to hole, without touching the grass.

"That must be a tunnel," said Ralph, as he approached an opening, which could be observed from the ruins of the house.

Together the party moved over and entered the covered way. His surmise was correct. It was a timbered channel way, three feet wide, and high enough to permit a tall man to walk erect in it.

Alfred peered in. As his eyes became accustomed to the darkness, several objects were noticed in the enlarged space.

"I suppose they have furniture here," remarked Ralph. "Hello! what's this?"

The captain came forward, and struck a light. Three bodies of Germans were lying on the floor. That was queer. A closer examination was made. It was then discovered that in the sound chamber were other bodies, more than a dozen, and most of them officers, as the insignias on their uniforms indicated.

"They were, undoubtedly, brought here at the beginning of the fight," said the lieutenant. "They had no idea what they had to contend with when we opened on them."

All hurried away from the place. A plowed field at the rear of the house was crossed, their steps being directed to the stumps of trees at the other side of the field. In crossing this short stretch of field more than fifty dead were found, all in such positions as to indicate that there must have been a panic in their ranks.

An infantry officer in the party, who had been with the reserve the previous day, remarked: "More than three hundred prisoners were taken along the edge of this field where these trees stood. In taking them back into our lines I had a conversation with one of the officers. He said:

"'I cannot begin to describe the effect of the fire when your shots reached the timber. We had our traverses alongside these rows of trees, and it seemed as though a hurricane was going through and breaking off the limbs, leaves and branches, and flinging them down on the men. But that was not the worst of it. As long as we were in the traverses we could get some shelter from the bursting shells; but it was impossible to get away from the falling branches. The ditches didn't help us then, and the men, despite all our efforts, rushed out, preferring the bursting shells to the new terror.'"

"Did you ever see such kindling wood?" remarked Ralph, as they picked their way through the debris.

"But did you ever see such a fine collection of metal?" replied Alfred, as he pointed at the pieces of shells which were scattered on all sides, and in every conceivable place.

One trench after the other was crossed. Without exception all contained bodies of men, who were stricken before they could get out, for the men delegated had not yet been able to give the dead proper burial. Various parties were at work, performing the last rites to those who had fallen, and they stopped before one party thus at work.

Several dozen men were engaged in carrying the bodies to the trenches where they were laid side by side close together. Not all were Germans, for many Frenchmen lost their lives on that day. When a sufficient number were gathered the officer in charge of the party directed the assistant to examine the remains of each.

The first quest was to determine the number tag, usually attached to each soldier, and after this had been entered in a book, a search was made to discover letters, photos, money and souvenirs which the pockets might contain. A note was made of all these things, and, finally, the exact location of the interment was added to the transcript, thus giving a reasonable assurance that the friends or relatives might know with some degree of certainty the burial place and also in time receive the effects taken from the bodies of the fallen soldiers.

It was, indeed, a gruesome sight, not worse, perhaps, than many others which belong to the battlefield. In the heat of battle, when everything is noise and bustle, and when men grit their teeth and rush into every sort of danger, they become numbed to scenes even worse than this. But it is different when in the calm of the morning, they see the results of their work and allow their thoughts to wander.

The party had reached the base of the hill, and was nearing the formidable fourth line of the German trenches, which were taken at the last assault. One company after the other of French infantry was even then marching over the fields to take up positions in the newly acquired territory. The trenches were turned around facing the other way, the shelters revised to meet the new conditions, and the underground retreats properly cleaned out.

"Did you ever see anything so awful as this?" said Alfred with a shudder, as they gazed on the great corpse-filled trench directly behind the crest of the ridge.

"There must have been an infantry charge here," said Ralph.

"Quite right," said the infantry officer. "They made the last stand here. It was really pitiful to see them, as our infantry came up the hill. The shells were exploding over them, not a hundred meters ahead of our foremost columns. They tried to fight, it must be said to their credit, but they were crazed by the terror of that fire."

"How far are we from our battery?" asked Ralph.

"I should say about three kilometers," said the lieutenant.

"Just to think of it," responded Alfred, "about two and a half miles distant, and see what happened here."

It would be merely a repetition of the same sights over and over to describe the scenes. Every sort of accoutrement, guns, swords, knapsacks, articles of food, clothing of every description, kitchen utensils, and at one place a poor dog, horribly mutilated, made up the scene and afforded a gruesome picture.

"What is this?" said Alfred, as he stopped and picked up an envelope. It was sealed, and had not, evidently, reached the one for whom it was intended.

"What shall I do with it?" asked Alfred.

"Turn it over to the searchers,—the ones who are now burying the dead," replied the lieutenant.

Alfred marched across the open and handed it to the officer. "I found this at the corner of the field," he explained.

The officer acknowledged the receipt with a bow, and held it up. "Lieutenant Johann Schroeder, 10th Infantry," the inscription read. "Have you the name there?" he asked, looking at the clerk.

The latter examined the index. "Yes; here it is; body in the tenth lateral, over to the left," so the letter was deposited in a huge sack carried by two assistants.

But there were other objects which had to be taken care of besides the bodies, as everything on the battlefield that has a value is gathered up. Metals are of great utility, leather can be used over again, and so on through the whole list. Repairs to roads were necessary and parties for this purpose were also in evidence, as it was their business to make this region habitable again for the army which must occupy it.

Several large vans were now seen coming up over what was once a roadway. It stopped at intervals while the men carried the various articles to them and others put them in place inside the vehicles. The boys with their party were passing a group of men thus engaged when a terrific explosion took place.

The noise created by the unexpected calamity attracted the attention of hundreds of soldiers and officers, who rushed to the scene. The captain was killed, and the lieutenant wounded. When Ralph regained consciousness, he saw a half dozen men lying on the ground, and finally recognized Alfred among the number lying still.

An officer rushed up and shouted: "That makes the second accident with unexploded shells. Where is your commanding officer?" he inquired of one of the workers.

"There!" said the man, as he pointed to the figure of an officer who was lying in the unfortunate group.