He made me put my face to the hole and explained to me that there was a wooded slope, right in front of us, of which the bottom was occupied by the enemy; and to the right of us, three hundred yards away, the Chauny road--"They're there." I had to watch the black hollow of the little wood, and at every star-shell the creamy expanse which divided our refuge from the distant hazy railing of the trees along the road.

He told me what to do in case of alarm and left me quite alone.
Alone, I shivered.

Fatigue had emptied my head and was weighing on my heart.

Going close to the loophole, I opened my eyes wide through the enemy night, the fathomless, thinking night.
I thought I could see some of the dim shadows of the plain moving, and some in the chasm of the wood, and everywhere! Affected by terror and a sense of my huge responsibility, I could hardly stifle a cry of anguish.

But they did not move.