Distances were short, and an abundance of railways brought vast quantities of supplies from fertile regions.
While he was still eating he heard a shriek and a roar and a huge shell burst two or three hundred yards away.

Much earth was torn up, four men were wounded slightly and an empty ambulance was overturned, but the regular life of the German army went on undisturbed.
"I told you that we had French messengers now and then," said Lieutenant Schmidt, holding a glass of beer in his right hand and a sausage in his left, "but that message was delivered nearer to us than any other in three days.

I don't think they'll fire again for a half-hour, and the chances are a hundred to one that it will fall much further away.

So why be disturbed ?" Lieutenant Schmidt was beginning to feel happy.

He had a sentimental German soul, and all the beer he wanted brought all his benevolence to the surface.
"I like you, Castel," he said.