He thinks it so kind of them--the first time. But the second!
He understands. He will be sent back into the arena to be ripped up
again, and again after that. This is the third time I have been wounded,
and as soon as you've all patched me up and I've got my breath again,
they'll send me back into it. Mam'selle will forgive my not feeling
grateful to her." He gave a short laugh that brought the blood into his
mouth.
The village consisted of one long straggling street, following the course
of a small stream between two lines of hills. It was on one of the great
lines of communication: and troops and war material passed through it,
going and coming, in almost endless procession. It served also as a camp
of rest. Companies from the trenches would arrive there, generally
towards the evening, weary, listless, dull-eyed, many of them staggering
like over-driven cattle beneath their mass of burdens. They would fling
their accoutrements from them and stand in silent groups till the
sergeants and corporals returned to lead them to the barns and out-houses
that had been assigned to them, the houses still habitable being mostly
reserved for the officers.
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