God helping them, even so desperate a deed might be
accomplished, although it would test the foot and nerve of a Swiss
mountaineer. He glanced again uneasily toward his companion, and saw
the same motionless figure, the same sober face turned deliberately
away. Hampton did not smile, but his square jaw set, and he clinched
his hands. He had no fear that she might fall him, but for the first
time in all his life he questioned his own courage.
CHAPTER III
BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
The remainder of that day, as well as much of the gloomy night
following, composed a silent, lingering horror. The fierce pangs of
hunger no longer gnawed, but a dull apathy now held the helpless
defenders. One of the wounded died, a mere lad, sobbing pitifully for
his mother; an infantryman, peering forth from his covert, had been
shot in the face, and his scream echoed among the rocks in multiplied
accents of agony; while Wyman lay tossing and moaning, mercifully
unconscious. The others rested in their places, scarcely venturing to
stir a limb, their roving, wolfish eyes the only visible evidence of
remaining life, every hope vanished, yet each man clinging to his
assigned post of duty in desperation.
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