spoke of it quietly, yet with no false hesitation, no
careless clouding of the facts. With the rest of
them he had learned out here to face facts for
what they were worth. He wasn't surprised at
our interest.
He wasn't bored by our questions.
"Individually we didn't know much except that we were going back, turning and fighting Huns without end, and slipping out of the net when it got too tight. The men were mad through and through mad, because it's harder to fight and die on the run than any other way. At night, black and fagged out as we were, we lost rest asking when we were going to turn. After an eternity one evening the word came. The French commander had visited ours. The next morning the stand was to be made, the great battle fought. Tired as we were, we didn't sleep much that night for the relief and the joy of it. And when day dawned the word came to fall back again, and we went with heads down, sullen and ashamed. It lasted for two days more. You can't know. Then the definite stand was made and the push to the Marne and beyond. It was what we had craved, because we were like people caught in a fog."
Another inevitable question:
How, with the German artillery on the hills,
