, I
suppose, who has gone back on the job. He admitted he had received the
Admiralty notes about us, but thought we acted suspicious. Did you ever
hear of such nerve?"

[Sidenote: Courage of the submarine patrol.]

When the war was young, I served on land with _messieurs les poilus_. I
have seen the contests of aviators, also trench-raids and the fighting
for Verdun. Since then I have seen the war at sea. To my mind, if there
is one service of this war which more than any other requires those
qualities of endurance, skill, and courage whose blend the fighting men
call--Elizabethanly, but oh, so truly--"_guts_," it is the submarine
patrol.

Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, October, 1918.

* * * * *

France took tender care of her wounded heroes, and the following
narrative gives a number of touching incidents observed by one who
visited several of the French hospitals and received stories and
experiences from the wounded soldiers.

WOUNDED HEROES OF FRANCE

ABBE FELIX KLEIN

The descriptions which are to follow belong to history already ancient;
to the end of 1917 and the beginning of 1918. So rapid is the march of
events with us now!

[Sidenote: The enthusiasm of a wounded soldier in 1914.]

The soldier wounded during the first months of the War came to us
overflowing with enthusiasm, eager to express himself. His mind was full
of picturesque and varied impressions and he asked for nothing better
than to tell about them. Willingly he described the emotions and spirit
of the moment of departure; his curiosity in the presence of the
unknown, the shock of the first contact with the enemy, the dizzy joy of
initial successes. He confessed the amazement and pain of the first
checks and the headlong retreat which followed them. He spoke of the
famous Joffre's "_ordre du jour_" when, in the battle of the Marne, the
men were told to take the offensive. They stopped the enemy. They
pursued him. They experienced the intoxication of a victory that gave
back to France her old prestige and felt with certainty, although at
first confusedly, that their battle was a decisive event in human
history.

[Sidenote: The wounded of 1918 reflect the long tragedy.]

[Sidenote: They have faced terrible new weapons.]

To this brilliant and epic beginning succeeded a long and sombre
tragedy, to this _Iliad_ worthy of a Homer an _Inferno_ worthy of a
Dante. So we cannot wonder that the wounded o