at
admiration their comrade charged with the management of these machines.
They looked upon him as one of the wizards so venerated and feared in
all the countryside.

Don Marcelo was struck by the general transformation in the French
uniforms. All were now clad in gray-blue, from head to foot. The
trousers of bright scarlet cloth, the red kepis which he had hailed with
such joy in the expedition of the Marne, no longer existed. All the
men passing along the roads were soldiers. All the vehicles, even the
ox-carts, were guided by military men.

Suddenly the automobile stopped before some ruined houses blackened by
fire.

"Here we are," announced the official. "Now we shall have to walk a
little."

The senator and his friend started along the highway.

"Not that way, no!" the guide turned to say grimly. "That road is bad
for the health. We must keep out of the currents of air."

He further explained that the Germans had their cannon and intrenchments
at the end of this highroad which sloped suddenly and again appeared as
a white ribbon on the horizon line between two rows of trees and burned
houses. The pale morning light with its hazy mist was sheltering them
from the enemy's fire. On a sunny day, the arrival of their automobile
would have been saluted with a shell. "That is war," he concluded. "One
is always near to death without seeing it."

The two recalled the warning of the general with whom they had dined the
day before: "Be very careful! The war of the trenches is treacherous."

In the sweep of plains unrolled before them, not a man was visible. It
seemed like a country Sunday, when the farmers are in their homes, and
the land scene lying in silent meditation. Some shapeless objects could
be seen in the fields, like agricultural implements deserted for a day
of rest. Perhaps they were broken automobiles, or artillery carriages
destroyed by the force of their volleys.

"This way," said the officer who had added four soldiers to the party to
carry the various bags and packages which Desnoyers had brought out on
the roof of the automobile.

They proceeded in a single file the length of a wall of blackened
bricks, down a steep hill. After a few steps the surface of the ground
was about to their knees; further on, up to their waists, and thus they
disappeared within the earth, seeing above their heads, only a narrow
strip of sky. They were now under the open field, having left behind
them the mass of ruins