Calm of eye, cool of feature, an old gray-bearded gunner-I can see him to this day-approached the cannon, put it in position, and took aim for a good while.
Range Tables were created that allowed gunners to look up environmental conditions and the distance they wanted to fire, and the table would tell them the angle to set the canon.
Bah! he said. So that animal is faster than the Abraham Lincoln. All right, we'll see if it can outrun our conical shells! Mate, man the gun in the bow!
But an accident ensued, the victim being, not one of the cannoneers who had proved their mettle at Leipsic and at Montreuil, but the future deputy-mayor, M. de Moirod.
Presently when the telephone is repaired, the message reaches the gunners, who fire high-explosive shells on to the wire, and on to the slopes where the machine guns may be hidden.