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io8 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
prepared for those who are slumbering in the garden down
below. By one of the new graves a dog howls plaintively.
Perhaps he is lamenting his master—it is a very common
thing for the German soldiers to adopt for the sake of company
French dogs without a master, who take to them and follow
them faithfully.
In a special little chapel at the side of the churchyard are
buried the priests, natives of Dun, who have died there.
We descend by another way, a steep lane between ruined
houses. One of them has been exposed by the fall of the
outer wall, and one can see the interior of a room, the bed
standing in its place with blankets and pillows, while a mirror
has fallen down and been smashed to pieces. Through the
dark, gaping holes in the heap of debris surrounding the house
one can see into the kitchen in the basement.
One or two saw-mills and workshops driven by water-
wheels had stood by the side of the river, but now nothing
was to be seen but the most terrible devastation where formerly
they had been. Machinery, belts and wheels lay twisted
together into rubbish among charred beams. Close by were
to be seen the remains of a bridge, which crossed the river
in two spans, and which was blown up by the French when
they had to evacuate the place. They also blew up the western
span of the three-arched stone bridge over the Meuse, which
carries the high road and the main street. With great skill
and rapidity the German engineers have replaced the wTecked
arch by a wooden bridge.
The railway to Dun has been repaired by the Germans, and
the station showed a scene of animation and traihc which
the little town can scarcely have witnessed before. All the
storehouses and baggage-rooms were literally packed with
mountains of provisions, ready-baked loa.ves, tinned foods,
meat, sacks of flour and oats, and even with wine. These
warehouses had a smell like a grocer’s shop. The supply
columns are loaded at new and old platforms and then go
forward to the troops. I sketched here one of these columns,
consisting of requisitioned farmers’ carts, drawn by horses
also requisitioned at the seat of war, only two to each cart.
The long lines of vehicles are brought up to their loading
stations by special roads marked out by placards. Everything
is done rapidly, but in silence and with unfailing accuracy.
When a column is ready, you hear a shout to the horses, a
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