The general nodded, but did not take his glasses from the
horizon, where a long gray line was beginning to appear against the
green of the earth. "It goes well so far," John heard him say in the
under note which was audible beneath the thunder of the battle.
In a quarter of an hour the great batteries limbered up again, and once
more the French army went forward, the troops to lie down and wait
again, while the artillery worked with ferocious energy. It was yet a
battle of big guns, at least in the center. The armies were not near
enough to each other for rifles; in truth not near enough yet to be
seen. John, even with his glasses, could only discern the gray line
advancing, he could make little of its form or order or of what it was
trying to do.
But a light wind was now bringing smoke from one flank where the battle
was far heavier than in the center, and the concussion of the artillery
at that point became so frightful that the air seemed to come in waves
of the utmost violence and to beat upon the drum of the ear with the
force of a hammer. Owing to the wind John could not hear the battle on
the other flank so well, but he believed that it was being fought there
with equal fury and determination.
He was watching with such intentness that he did not hear the sweep of
an aeroplane behind him, but he did see Lannes run to General
Vaugirard's car and give him a note.
While the general read and pondered, Lannes turned toward the wheel on
which John sat.
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