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A DAY AT ECLISFONTAINE 97
wards and forwards, and orderlies were keeping up constant
communication between us and the fighting Hne. At times
the road became almost congested. On such occasions, an
officer gave out the order that as many as possible should
stand under the shade of the trees so as not to draw the
French fire and thus disturb the direction of the fight. A car
arriving from the village had been instructed to move down
the hill, horsemen had been told to dismount, and a detach-
ment of cyclists were instructed to disperse, all in order not to
give the enemy any inkling of the whereabouts of the General
Staff by conspicuous massing of individuals.
General von Mudra still kept to his post and old von
Haeseler seemed determined to wait until the night sky was
tinted red by the burning villages. At a quarter past six I
took my leave. As Major Matthiasz seemed very busy, I
arranged to have the company of Captain Suhlmann, who
was going the same way.
Thirty kilometres and a wide, straight high road—we ought
to have done it in no time. We began well at a good speed,
but had not proceeded far before the car was stopped. It was
four wounded soldiers who had to go to Stenay and asked for
a lift. One of them was badly injured and very exhausted.
He was stowed away as comfortable as possible. Then we
met a string of steaming kitchen wagons carrying the con-
queror’s reward, his dinner, and later on several endless
ammunition columns. We progressed by fits and starts. The
drivers of the ammunition train, who shrewdly suspected
that their dinners might be deferred, were cutting into their
loaves, but turned round to gaze attentively at our wounded
with their white or blood-drenched bandages. Further on
the crowd becomes even denser. Fresh streams of men and
wagons—a new cavalry force is moving forward. The same
thing is going on throughout the immense front. Now we
come to a dead stop : we must shift to the edge of the road
and try to be patient An aviator is passing overhead. We
hear the buzz of an aeroplane at a considerable height. The
undersides of its planes are illumined by the setting sun, but
it is travelling at too high an altitude to see whether it bears
the mark of the Iron Cross or of the Tricolor. If the airman is
a Frenchman it is unpleasant to have him right overhead,
for he is certain to drop bombs. But he is probably a German,
and soon he has vanished altogether.
H
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