ridden them. I saw them patting the disabled mounts affectionately
on the neck and heard one of them say,

"'Salright, old timer--'salright. Frenchy here is going to take care of
you all right. Uncle Sam's paying the bill and I am coming back and get
you soon's we give Fritzie his bumps."

An hour later, a young cannoneer gave in to fatigue and ignored orders
to the extent of reclining on gun trail and falling asleep. A rut in the
road made a stiff jolt, he rolled off and one ponderous wheel of the gun
carriage passed over him. One leg, one arm and two ribs were broken and
his feet crushed, was the doctor's verdict as the victim was carried
away in an ambulance.

"He'll get better all right," said the medico, "but he's finished his
bit in the army."

The column halted for lunch outside of a small town and I climbed on
foot to the hilltop castle where mediaeval and modern were mixed in mute
melange. A drawbridge crossed a long dry moat to cracked walls of rock
covered with ivy. For all its well preserved signs of artistic ruin, it
was occupied and well fitted within. From the topmost parapet of one
rickety looking tower, a wire stretched out through the air to an old,
ruined mill which was surmounted by a modern wind motor, the tail of
which incongruously advertised the words "Ideal power," with the
typical conspicuity of American salesmanship.

Near the base of the old mill was another jumble of moss-covered rocks,
now used as a summer house, but open on all sides. At a table in the
centre of this open structure, sat a blond haired young American soldier
with black receivers clamped to either ear. I approached and watched him
jotting down words on a paper pad before him. After several minutes of
intent silence, he removed the harness from his head and told me that he
belonged to the wireless outfit with the artillery and this station had
been in operation since the day before.

"Seems so peaceful here with the sun streaming down over these old
walls," he said.

"What do you hear out of the air?" I asked.

"Oh, we pick up a lot of junk," he replied, "I'm waiting for the German
communique now. Here's some Spanish stuff I just picked up and some more
junk in French. The English stations haven't started this afternoon. A
few minutes ago I heard a German aeroplane signalling by wireless to a
German battery and directing its fire. I could tell every time the gun
was ordered to fire and every time the aviator said the