They made a little knot around him, silent, quivering. “It is the Colorado,” someone said. “His friend, Shayne—it is he who was the lieutenant just killed.”

They shook their heads and felt a strange fear of the unconscious man. “He is breathing.” They called for stretcher-bearers. They faced the enemy again, bent over on the stocks of their rifles, surged forward.

Hugo was washed and dressed in pyjamas. His wounds had healed without the necessity of a single stitch. He was grateful for that. Otherwise the surgeons might have had a surprise which would have been difficult to allay. He sat in a wheel chair, staring across a lawn. An angular woman in an angular hat and tailored clothes was trying to engage him in conversation.

“Is it very painful, my man?”

Hugo was seeing that trench again—the pulp and blood and hate of it. “Not very.”

Her tongue and saliva made a noise. “Don’t tell me. I know it was. I know how you all bleed and suffer.”

“Madam, it happens that my wounds were quite superficial.”

“Nonsense, my boy. They wouldn’t have brought you to a base hospital in that case. You can’t fool me.”

“I was suffering only from exhaustion.”

She paused. He saw a gleam in her eye. “I suppose you don’t like to talk—about things. Poor boy! But I imagine your life has been so full of horror that it would be good for you to unburden yourself. Now tell me, just what does it feel like to bayonet a man?”

Hugo trembled. He controlled his voice. “Madam,” he replied, “it feels exactly like sticking your finger into a warm, steaming pile of cow-dung.”

“Oh!” she gasped. And he heard her repeat it again in the corridor.

XIV

“Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Jordan Shayne,” Hugo wrote. Then he paused in thought. He began again. “I met your son in Marseilles and was with him most of the time until his death.” He hesitated. “In fact, he died in my arms from the effect of the same shell which sent me to this hospital. He is buried in Carcy cemetery, on the south side. It is for that reason I take the liberty to address you.

“I thought that you would like to know some of the things that he did not write to you. Your son enlisted because he felt the war involved certain ideals that were worthy of preservation. That he gave his life for those ideals must be a source of pride to you. In training he was always controlled, kindly, unquarrelsome, comprehending. In battle he was aggressive, brilliant, and more courageous than any other man I have ever known.