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100 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
most delicate region of the abdomen. He is as pale as his
tanned and weatherbeaten skin permits and his pulse is
terribly weak. But his eyes are wide open and his glance
roams in unknown regions far beyond this earth. It is certainly
not the trench life, which he has just left, that is reflected in
his vacant gaze. What a wonderful contrast ! From the
turmoil out there in the fighting line he is already on the way
to eternal rest. It is difficult to give a name to the heart-
felt sorrow which gripped the wanderer from the north before
the quiet death struggle of the nameless soldier. In the midst
of all his comrades he seemed so alone and abandoned. One
could not help thinking of his people at home, still full of hope
but who would soon weep bitter tears. " He won’t live till
sunrise, I suppose ?
" I asked the doctor.
" No, he is growing cold already "—but the memory of the
brave does not grow cold, does not die.
A school-house close to the church had also been
requisitioned by the field hospital, and its rooms, usually
filled with French children learning their Liberie, Egalite,
Fraternité, are now occupied by wounded Germans. Here,
too, is an atmosphere of deathly torpor and fatigue. One of
the school-rooms has been turned into an operating theatre.
In the field one has to do what one can to make the best of
the resources at hand. A couple of young surgeons, dressed
in white from top to toe, were standing by the side of the leaf
of a table rigged up on high trestles, on which a handsome and
fresh-looking young soldier lay stretched out. He had had
both feet shot through, but was in good spirits nevertheless.
" Please don’t slash me about," he ordered, with some con-
viction. A sister of mercy, the only one so near the front—for
usually the organisation in the fighting zone is purely military
—now undid the emergency dressings, which, clotted with
the blood, had become a shapeless mass. It hurt a bit
when the clotted blood was cleaned away and the wound
laid bare, but the soldier bit his lips and made no sound. The
left leg was crushed above the ankle and even the uninitiated
could see that it was a very nasty wound. For the moment
there was nothing to be done. His feet were put in splints
and a fresh bandage applied, and he thanked the doctors
very heartily for having been so kind. Soon after he was
carried by two attendants to an empty bed and seemed
determined to go to sleep and forget all about it. " Will he
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