Page:Ambulance 464 by Julien Bryan.djvu/59

 equipment that distance; and beside him strode a tall gaunt man of forty whom the long march had fatigued even more than it had the youth. As they passed us, their band broke out with a lively air and every soldier there straightened up immediately, and unconsciously quickened his step. And I shall never forget how they cheered and sang when the band played the "Marseillaise." Company after company took up the strain, and before long it had spread far down the valley, to the other end of the regiment.

We entered Vadélaincourt about noon and parked our cars at the entrance of the big aviation field there. Two minutes after we arrived every fellow in the section was out exploring the grounds. There were no officers around and since the workmen seemed to have no objections to our examining the machines, we went into every hangar and looked them all over. There were only three types here, the Farnam observation plane, and two fast little machines, the Spad and Nieuport. All of these were biplanes but some distance down the hill were six or seven monoplane tents. Lundquist and Gilmore got a couple of empty bombs as souvenirs. They are a yard long, look like great steel cigars, and are rather awkward to carry around.

The guns sound extremely clear now. We are about fifteen kilometers from Verdun and ten from