The recruits are eyeing him.
We must watch them, these things are catching, already some lips begin to quiver.
It is good that it is growing daylight; perhaps the attack will come before noon.
The bombardment does not diminish.
It is falling in the rear too.
As far as one can see spout fountains of mud and iron.
A wide belt is being raked.
The attack does not come, but the bombardment continues.
We are gradually benumbed.
Hardly a man speaks.
We cannot make ourselves understood.
Our trench is almost gone.
At many places it is only eighteen inches high, it is broken by holes, and craters, and mountains of earth.
A shell lands square in front of our post.
At once it is dark.
We are buried and must dig ourselves out.
After an hour the entrance is clear again, and we are calmer because we have had something to do.
Our Company Commander scrambles in and reports that two dugouts are gone.
The recruits calm themselves when they see him.
He says that an attempt will be made to bring up food this evening.
That sounds reassuring.
No one had thought of it except Tjaden.
Now the outside world seems to draw a little nearer: if food can be brought up, think the recruits, then it can't really be so bad.
We do not disabuse them; we know that food is as important as ammunition and only for that reason must be brought up.
But it miscarries.
A second party goes out, and it also turns back.
Finally Kat tries, and even he reappears without accomplishing anything.
No one gets through, not even a fly is small enough to get through such a barrage.
We pull in our belts tighter and chew every mouthful three times as long.
Still the food does not last out; we are damnably hungry.
I take out a scrap of bread, eat the white and put the crust back in my knapsack; from time to time I nibble at it.
The night is unbearable.
We cannot sleep, but stare ahead of us and doze.
Tjaden regrets that we wasted the gnawed pieces of bread on the rats.
We would gladly have them again to eat now.
We are short of water, too, but not seriously yet.
Towards morning, while it is still dark, there is some excitement.
Through the entrance rushes in a swarm of fleeing rats that try to storm the walls.
Torches light up the confusion.
Everyone yells and curses and slaughters.
The madness and despair of many hours unloads itself in this outburst.
Faces are distorted, arms strike out, the beasts scream; we just stop in time to avoid attacking one another.
The onslaught has exhausted us.
We lie down to wait again.
It is a marvel that our post has had no casualties so far.
It is one of the less deep dug-outs.
A corporal creeps in; he has a loaf of bread with him. Three people have had the luck to get through during the night and bring some provisions.
They say the bombardment extends undiminished as far as the artillery lines.
It is a mystery where the enemy gets all his shells.
We wait and wait.