on her handsome face, and a tiny little head pressed tenderly
to her swelling breast. It was easy to understand that war had taught
this young mother to cut short the period of quiet repose which is
deemed needful for woman in her circumstances. Still another cart I
must mention, for it contained a singular group. A young man, with a
powerfully-made frame, which must once have been robust, but was now
terribly reduced by the wasting fires of a deadly fever, was held
forcibly down by a middle-aged man, whose resemblance to him revealed
his fatherhood. Two women helped the man, yet all three were barely
able to restrain the youth, who, in the fury of his delirium, gnashed
with his teeth, and struggled like a maniac. I knew nothing about them,
but it was not difficult to read the history of one who had reached a
critical period in a fell disease, who had, perchance, fallen into a
long-desired and much-needed slumber that might have turned the scale in
his favour, when the hope of parents and the chances of life were
scattered suddenly by the ruthless trump of war. War had taught him how
to throw off the sweet lethargy that had been stealing over him, and to
start once again on that weary road where he had been grappling in
imagination with the brain-created fiends who had persecuted him so
long, but who in reality were gentle spirits compared with the human
devils by whom he and his kindred were surrounded.

On this journey, too, I met many brethren of the medical profession,
who, urged by the double motive of acquiring surgical skill and
alleviating human woe, were pressing in the same direction. Some had
been fortunate enough, like myself, to obtain horses, others, despising
difficulties, were pushing forward through the mud on foot. I need
scarcely add that some of us turned aside from time to time, as
opportunity offered, to succour the unfortunates around us.

At last I reached the front, went to headquarters, presented my
credentials, and was permitted to attach myself to one of the regiments.
At once I made inquiries as to the whereabouts of Nicholas
Naranovitsch, and was so fortunate as to find him. He was in the act of
mounting his horse as I reached his quarters.

It is impossible to describe the look of surprise and delight with which
he greeted me.

"My dear fellow!" said he, turning at once to his girths and stirrups
after the first hearty squeeze, "what breeze of good fortune has blown
you here?