"Écarté, sir." 

 "All right; écarté." For a full hour Vignerte lost steadily. It was an odd game. The two penniless soldiers were looking at each other in amazement, unable to determine which was the more remarkable feature of this adventure, the honour Lieutenant Vignerte had done them or the sum—12 francs—they had won from him. 

 I looked at him in growing perplexity. Suddenly he threw down the cards: "A silly game. It's eight o'clock and I'm going out to see the first relief." 

 "I'm going with you." 

 I shall never forget that night. The sky had gradually shed its fleece of clouds, and the moon, almost at the full, shone in the cold blue dome. Below, the line of sandbags and trenches made long white tracks. 

 Starshells were now useless and none were seen. 

 Dead silence reigned. Occasionally a sharp buzz marked the passage of a stray bullet close by and soon after the crack of the rifle down in the valley was heard. 

 In low tones we exchanged the password with our sentries, some sprawling full length in a shell-hole, others crouching behind bushes. The company was strung out over a long front, five hundred yards at least, and our round took us a good hour. 

 When we got to the end of it Vignerte asked me: 

 "Where is the last post of the 23rd?" 

 We visited it. The four men were about to bury the German who had just been killed as deeply as they could. 

 Vignerte quickly stepped down among them and leaning over the grave searched in the soil they were throwing back. The corpse appeared. 

 "—182nd. That's it," he murmured. 

 He shivered and turned to me: "Let's go back. I'm beginning to feel cold." 

 Damestoy and Henriquez were asleep in the dug-out where the three runners had come for them. With the natural deference of the private soldier they had arranged the best spots for us—two holes with plenty of straw and a pile of dark blankets. 

 The silence was broken only by the gentle breathing of these good fellows and, occasionally, the squeak of a field-mouse hunting for the ears still left in the straw. I could not see Vignerte, who 

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