"You might have waited a few instants," said the Colonel, kindly.

But the runner, astonished, showed the envelope.

"My Colonel, look--it is written--'_urgent!_'" That was the spirit.

Or listen to this fragment from the journal of Captain Delvert, defending one of the redoubts that protect Fort Vaux: "Six o'clock--the bombardment has just begun again.

The stretcher-bearer, L----, has just been leaning a few moments--worn out--against the wall of my dug-out.