My duties take me southward, and night is coming fast." "And it will be dark, cold and snowy," said John, shivering a little.
"These trenches are not exactly palace halls, but I'd rather be in them now than out there on such a night." The dusk had come and the French fire was dying.

In a few more minutes it would cease entirely, and then the French hour with the guns having matched the German hour, the night would be without battle.
But the silence that succeeded the thunder of the guns was somber.

In all that terrible winter John had not seen a more forbidding night.

The snow increased and with it came a strong wind that reached them despite their shelter.

The muddy trenches began to freeze lightly, but the men's feet broke through the film of ice and they walked in an awful slush.