It was a pity, but it was necessary.

We could not afford to let the enemy turn our own weapons against us.
Now ensued one of the dullest quarter-hours I had ever endured.
We waited in a silent solitude enclosed by our circles of wire, and by a circle of heavy smoke outside of these.

We couldn't see over the wall of smoke, and we couldn't see through it.

But at last it began to shred away lazily, and by the end of another quarter-hour the land was clear and our curiosity was enabled to satisfy itself.

No living creature was in sight! We now perceived that additions had been made to our defenses.