"'All right, take a load of coffee and follow the leader, but if you
spill so much as a drop of it you'll face a firing squad at daybreak.'

"Two heavy containers filled with hot coffee, suspended from a yoke
that fitted over the shoulders, were placed on the lad. The soldiers
expected to see him collapse under the heavy load, but Remi stood up
very straight and awaited the command to go forward. He was stronger
than they thought he was. The journey through the dark trenches was a
long one, made thrilling by the Germans, who were trying to drop
shells into them as the food was coming up to the front line. The
'chow' carriers, however, arrived safely at Company C's station and
Remi had every drop of coffee that he had started out with.

"'Well, here I am,' he announced loudly. 'Remi wants a gun, he wants
it right away, and then he wants to see a Boche.'

"'You'll see him sooner than you expect if you don't lower your
voice,' rebuked a soldier.

"At that moment a star-shell shot high up into the air and, bursting,
flooded the space between the French and German lines with a brilliant
light. Remi peered over the top of the parapet and across the 'No
Man's Land' of which he had so often heard, over its barbed-wire
entanglements and on to the parapets of the German trenches.

"'Why do they do that?' he questioned.

"'To see if any of our patrols are out there nosing about. You see, we
send out night patrols to find out what the enemy is doing,' he was
told.