Page:Ambulance 464 by Julien Bryan.djvu/43

 Thursday, Feb. 8th, 1917.

Section XII left its comfortable (?) quarters in Rue Raynouard today, after a grand review and military send off by Capitaine Aujay, the Frenchman who directs all the Automobile work in Paris. He delivered a thrilling speech in French which none of us understood until it was carefully interpreted afterwards.

It took us several hours to get out of Paris, for we had to go eastward across the whole city. Several of the cars had engine trouble and one received a bad bump from a street car. Otherwise nothing unusual happened. By the time we came to Champigny, a little village twenty kilometers from the city, it was noon, and we stopped there for lunch. It was a funny meal, served in a queer little café. First a loaf or so of stale bread and some wine appeared and after a long wait some prime ribs of horse. This appeared to be the last course, but as we were about to leave, in came a plate of rice and a minute later some cheese and jam.

In the afternoon we started up at a faster pace than before, with orders to keep the cars about fifty yards apart. It was extremely cold, and the bitter