y and at good speed ran towards Paris. The day throughout
proved a strenuous one with many detentions caused by suspicious
sentries and over cautious prefects, together with four blow-outs and
one breakdown. Each self-important petty official could see no reason
why I should not spend several hours explaining things for his special
benefit. It was manifestly impossible to keep the babies out
over-night, and therefore I overrode objections, answered innumerable
questions, and freely used the magic name of the American Ambassador.

The frequent tire trouble, which gave the rest of us much anxiety,
filled the heart of little Count Paul, aged seven, with unalloyed
delight, for when the machine stopped to shift tires, he could get out
in the road and listen to the thrilling sound of guns booming off to
the left.

In the end, what had to be done was done. We made Paris and "Mother"
at eight o'clock after a fourteen-hour run--all dead tired, but no
one the worse for the trip.

I obtained a very telling idea of the immensity of the Battle of the
Aisne on this rapid run, for today the atmosphere had cleared and was
in a sound-transmitting mood, so that all day long we could hear the
cannon on our left booming, booming, without cessation--eighty miles
of cannon, or fourteen hours of booming, a big measure. Our route lay
through Etaples, Montreuil, Abbeville, Pont Remy, Aviames, Poix, where
we stopped for luncheon, Grandvilliers, Pontoise, and through the
Porte Maillot into Paris.

CHAPTER VII

THE AMERICAN AMBULANCE

_Paris, Thursday, October 15th._ For the present the jottings in my
diary grow farther and farther apart, as events worth recording have
during the past weeks occurred with less and less frequency. The
volume of Embassy work in the department of Germans, Austrians, and
Hungarians has of late been steadily decreasing. Since the end of
September our work has chiefly consisted of routine diplomatic
correspondence relating to prisoners of war. Mr. Herrick's efforts
have recently been successful in obtaining from the French government
an order permitting interned civilians to return by way of Switzerland
to their homes in Germany and Austria-Hungary. This achieves the last
vital aim for which he has struggled and now that everything has been
reduced to calm and routine it is probable that he will soon return to
America. The volunteer Attaches, whose duty does not keep them
permanently in the diplomatic ser