The trouble now was to man it. How many of my fellows would live to
cross that bullet-swept road? Well, we should see. The first thing was
to try and fetch them.
Leaving Pierrat with strict injunctions to keep under cover and have a
nap if he liked, but on no account to attract the enemy's attention,
I sneaked back somehow to my platoon and ordered a move. "Every man
will shift for himself," I told them. "Rendezvous this side of the
road opposite the station." I knew Chasseurs could be trusted to find
their way through anything. My only doubt was whether I should not be
outpaced. As a matter of fact, I was by no means the first in, yet not
the last.
When everybody had joined but those whom it would be no use to wait
for, I bade them crouch behind me in a line on the verge of the bullet
stream, ready to plunge ahead the moment they heard the word.