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Page 16
John peered over the edge of the trench. A man was allowed to put his
head in the German range but not his hand. So long as he lived he must
preserve a hand which could pull the trigger or wield the bayonet.
They were not firing in the immediate front, and he had a good view of
fields and low hills, deep in snow. Just before him the ground was
leveled, and he saw many raised places in the snow there. He knew that
bodies lay beneath, and once more he shuddered violently. But the world
was full of beauty that morning. The sun was a vast sheet of gold,
giving a luminous tint to the snow, and two clusters of trees, covered
to the last bough and twig with snow, were a delicate tracery of white,
shot at times by the sun with a pale yellow glow like that of a rose. On
the horizon a faint misty smoke, the color of silver, was rising, and he
knew that it came from the cooking fires of the Germans.
It reminded him that he was very hungry. Cave life under fire, if it did
not kill a man, gave him a ferocious appetite, and turning into one of
the transverse trenches he followed a stream of the Strangers who were
already on the way to their hotel.
The narrow cut led them nearly a mile, and then they came out in a
valley the edges of which were fringed with beeches. But in the wide
space within the valley most of the snow had been cleared away and
enormous automobile kitchens stood giving forth the pleasant odors of
food and drink. At one side officers were already satisfying their
hunger and farther on men were doing the same. They were within easy
range of the German guns, but it was not the habit of either side to
send morning shells unless a direct attack was to be made.
John had no thought of danger. Youth was youth and one could get
hardened to anything. He had been surprised more than once in this war
to find how his spirits could go from the depths to the heights and now
they were of the best. He was full of life and the world was very
beautiful that morning. It was the fair land of France again, but it was
under a thick robe of snow, the golden tint on the white, as the large
yellow sun slowly sailed clear of the high hills on their right.
General Vaugirard stood near the first of the wagons, drinking cup after
cup of hot steaming coffee, and devouring thick slices of bread and
butter. He wore a long blue overcoat over his uniform, and high boots.
But the dominant note was given to his appearance by the thick white
beard which seemed to be touched with a light silver frost. Under the
great thatch of eyebrow the keen little eyes twinkled. He made John
think of a huge, white and inoffensive bear.
The general's roving eye caught sight of Scott and he exclaimed:
"Come here, you young Yankee! I hear that you distinguished yourself
last night by saving the life of one of our enemies, thus enabling him
perhaps to fight against us once more."
"I beg your pardon, General," said John, "but I'm no Yankee."
"What, denying your birthright! I never heard an American do that
before! Everybody knows you're a Yankee."
"Pardon me. General, you and all other Europeans make a mistake about
the Yankees. At home the people of the Southern States generally apply
it to those living in the Northern states, but in the North it is
carried still further and is properly applied to the residents of the
six New England states. I don't come from one of those states, and so
I'm not in a real sense a Yankee."
"What, sir, have I, a Frenchman, to do with your local distinctions?
Yankees you all are and Yankee you shall remain. It's a fine name, and
from what I've seen in this war you're great fighting men, worthy to
stand with Frenchmen."
"Thank you for the compliment, General," said John, smiling. "Hereafter
I shall always remain a Yankee."
"And now do you and your friends take your food there with de Rougemont.
I've had my breakfast, and a big and good one it was. I'm going to the
edge of the hill and use my glasses."
He waddled away, looking more than ever an enormous, good-natured bear.
John's heart, as always, warmed to him. Truly he was the father of his
children, ten thousand or more, who fought around him, and for whose
welfare he had a most vigilant eye and mind.
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