"So here we are again," Elliot sucked at his cheroot and blew a long column of blue smoke into the air. "Standing in a trench opposite Sebastopol, wondering if we will survive the day."
"Things are not quite the same," Jack said. "The weather is far better, and we are going on the attack at last."
Elliot stood up to scan along the length of the front line. "We"ve been here for more than eight months, and we"re about a hundred yards closer than we were. We"ve hammered at their walls with our artillery, and ever bit damage we"ve done, they"ve repaired that same night." Removing the cheroot from his mouth, he used it as a pointer. "And still, there is the Malakoff, that great circular fortress that dominates everything. The Malakoff remains the fulcrum of the defences. Whatever we do is poi
