... Take care of the
moonlight."

And then, to my infinite relief and comfort, behind the
cottages we found our wounded man. There was a dark yard
here, apparently quite deserted. The Feldscher made an
exclamation and stepped forward. Three bodies lay together,
over one another; two men were dead and cold, the third
stirred, very faintly, as we came up, opened his eyes,
smiled and said:

"Eh, _Boje moi_ ... at last!"

As we moved him on to the stretcher, with a little sigh he
fainted again. He had a bad stomach-wound. Before picking up
the stretcher, the Feldscher wiped his forehead and crossed
himself.

"It's a heavy thing for two," he said. "He's a big man,"
looking at the soldier. There was now somewhere, apparently
not very far away, hot rifle fire. The crackle sparkled in
the air, as though one were living in a world in which all
the electricity was loose. The other firing seemed to have
drawn away, and the "Boom--Boom--boom" in front of us was
echo from the hill....

We picked up the stretcher and started. It was fortunate for
us that we had that difficult bit beside the river at the
beginning of our journey. I don't know how we managed it,
stepping over the endless row of legs, with every side step
the stretcher lurching over to the left and threatening to
pitch us into the river. So slippery too was the ground that
our boots refused to grip. The man on the stretcher was
dreaming, making a little sound like an unceasing lullaby on
two notes--"Na ... na! Na ... na! Na ... na!"

We were compelled to cross the river twice, and the planks
bent under our weight until I was assured that they would
snap. My arms were beginning to ache and the sweat to
trickle down my spine. My right boot had rubbed my heel. We
left the river behind us and then, suddenly, my right hand
began to slip off the iron handle of the stretcher.

"We'll have to put it down a moment," I said. We laid it on
the ground and at the same instant a bullet sang so close to
my ear that I felt it as though an insect had bitten me.
Then a shell, exploding, as it seemed to us, amongst the
very cottages where we had just been, startled us.

"We saved our man," said the Feldscher, looking at the
soldier, "but we'd better move on. It's uncomf