d among little towns and farms on the prairie. They were
a miserable looking lot as they got together, stumbling about in
the dark.

After the Colonel had gone over the map with Captain Maxey, he
came out and saw the Company assembled. He wasn't going with
them, he told them, but he expected them to give a good account
of themselves. Once in Beaufort, they would have a week's rest;
sleep under cover, and live among people for awhile.

The men took the road, some with their eyes shut, trying to make
believe they were still asleep, trying to have their agreeable
dreams over again, as they marched. They did not really waken up
until the advance challenged a Hun patrol, and sent it back to
the Colonel under a one-man guard. When they had advanced two
kilometers, they found the bridge blown up. Claude and Hicks went
in one direction to look for a ford, Bruger and Dell Able in the
other, and the men lay down by the roadside and slept heavily.
Just at dawn they reached the outskirts of the village, silent
and still.

Captain Maxey had no information as to how many Germans might be
left in the town. They had occupied it ever since the beginning
of the war, and had used it as a rest camp. There had never been
any fighting there.

At the first house on the road, the Captain stopped and pounded.
No answer.

"We are Americans, and must see the people of the house. If you
don't open, we must break the door."

A woman's voice called; "There is nobody here. Go away, please,
and take your men away. I am sick."

The Captain called Gerhardt, who began to explain and reassure
through the door. It opened a little way, and an old woman in a
nightcap peeped out. An old man hovered behind her. She gazed in
astonishment at the officers, not understanding. These were the
first soldiers of the Allies she had ever seen. She had heard the
Germans talk about Americans, but thought it was one of their
lies, she said. Once convinced, she let the officers come in and
replied to their questions.

No, there were no Boches left in her house. They had got orders
to leave day before yesterday, and had blown up the bridge. They
were concentrating somewhere to the east. She didn't know how
many were still in the village, nor where they were, but she
could tell the Captain where they had been. Triumphantly she
brought out a map of the town--lost, she said with a meaning
smile, by a German officer--on which the billets were marked.

With this to