That great smoke cloud was eternally writhing and twisting and taking
on new forms as if anguished Cantigny were trying to escape its fate,
but every instant more guns flashed. Beside the observation post the
cloud grew larger. Finally the smoke streamed off to the right. Near
by the American gunners were working, stripped to their undershirts,
dripping with perspiration. We walked over there.
"This is the fastest firing we've ever done," said one breathless
officer.
Further to the right was the house where the correspondent spent
several days and nights a month ago. It is ruined now, but batteries
are still there, and they, too, were spouting fire and smoke.
To the left new batteries had opened and the din was terrific. It was
hard to resist the impulse to put one's fingers in one's ears. A glance
at the watch showed that it lacked barely five minutes of the "zero"
hour. Those five minutes passed more rapidly, and yet more slowly, than
any I had ever experienced.
Ahead was a green slope dotted with trees, up which our infantry was
to advance. It was bare and empty. It seemed incredible that in a few
minutes our men would be there. The second hand crawled, yet raced,
around the dial. It rested on the figure 10 and we looked at one
another. "They're over," we whispered.
We looked up from our watches to find that the smoke clouds had drifted
down the slope until the whole country for miles about Cantigny
was obscured by shifting, changing vapor from the great caldron
toward which our unseen men were plunging. We almost groaned our
disappointment, for in a moment there came a little rift in the smoke,
revealing something moving on the ground.
Imagine looking at the teeth of a black comb through a wire screen and
having some one pass the comb slowly before your eyes. That was what it
looked like--those black teeth, our men, were screened by the shifting
smoke. It was only the tiniest glimpse. Then the smoke drifted over and
rose again, but we had seen them going forward and upward to Cantigny.
After a time the smoke spread still further. Nothing remained to be
seen.