"
The injunction was kindly and John, thanking him, took up the road. Von
Boehlen and his Uhlans rode on, and John looked back once. He caught a
single glimpse of the colonel's broad shoulders and then the long column
of horsemen rode by. There was no military pomp about them now. Their
gray uniforms were worn and stained and many of the men sagged in their
saddles with weariness. Not a few showed wounds barely healed.
The cavalry were followed by infantry, and batteries of guns so heavy
that often the wheels sank in the paved road. Sometimes the troops sang,
pouring forth the mighty rolling choruses of the German national songs
and hymns. The gay air as of sure victory just ahead that marked them in
the closing months of summer the year before had departed, but in its
place was a grim resolution that made them seem to John as formidable as
ever. The steady beat of solid German feet made a rolling sound which
the orders of officers and the creaking of wagons and artillery
scarcely disturbed. The waves of the gray sea swept steadily on toward
France.
John showed his passport twice more, but all that day he beheld marching
troops. In the afternoon it snowed a little again and the slush was
everywhere, but he trudged bravely through it. Having escaped from the
trenches he felt that he could endure anything.
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