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204 WITH THE GERMAN ARMIES IN THE WEST
" Where have you come from and where are you oft to ?
"
I asked.
" We come from Berhn and are going to Sedan," she an-
swered.
" But surely there are hardly any wounded left in Sedan
now ; most of them have been taken into Germany."
" Yes, we have heard that is so, but no doubt plenty more
will be coming down from the front. Where have you come
from yourself ?
"
" From the country south of Sedan."
" Are you a German ?
"
" No, I am a Swede." In the end I could not help intro-
ducing myself to the young lady and her companions. Con-
versation was soon in full swing and we had just got to know
each other nicely when my train slowly glided out of the
station. I just had time to wish them success in their chari-
table work, and in reply was greeted with friendly wavings from
their window—and so that little idyll came to an end.
On the way between Aye and Hogne some men belonging
to a fatigue party made signs that they wanted to come on
board. The train slowed down so that they could jump on
to the step and get a free ride with their picks, spades, and
rifles.
To the left the country falls away in enormous flat wooded
waves which die away on the horizon in a haze of dark green,
light green, greenish blue, and bluish grey. Our train takes
us through little woods and shrubs, coppices, clumps of fir
and oak, and tunnels blasted through the solid rock. Now
and then we come across a crowd of Belgian workmen at work
on the embankment. The little signal-boxes along the line
are guarded by Landsturm soldiers in pickets of ten to twelve
men.
The little town of Ciney boasts an unusually handsome station
building, round which things seem livelier than elsewhere.
Sometimes we meet colossal empty trains with straw in the
goods trucks and benches piled up topsy-turvy. One wonders
whether they have been to carry reinforcements to the besieging
army outside Antwerp. Often one sees attractive and well-
kept kitchen gardens at the stations or between the fine-
looking stone houses in the villages. At some distance from
the railway we sight at length the fort of Naninnes, flying the
German flag. Soon after we cross the Meuse by a Kriegs-
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