Page:History of the 305th field artillery (IA historyof305thfi01camp).pdf/203

Rh Shoulders drooped again.

"Ha-a-a-lt!"

The command sang down the line like a savage chant. The regiment dismounted. One by one men dropped over against the bank, and drifted into sleep, keeping a listless hand on bridles. The horses, weary too, for the most part stood with drooped heads, not even troubling to nibble the lush grass. Now and then one would wander indifferently from the feebly restraining grasp of his master. An officer would rebuke sleepily, consigning the careless one to walk the rest of that stage. At such a time the world seemed drunk with sleep.

A dim headlight pushed through the mist below—guiding one of the first trains, we guessed, to carry troops along the reopened Château Thierry line.

The dawn strengthened. It grasped the fringes of the mist and lifted it slowly from the valley. A stream, like a ribbon, narrow and decorative, was strung across the fields.

Tired eyes opened to gaze with an expression of discovery at the pleasant little river that twice had been wider than the ocean to Germany.

We resumed our crawling. There was no longer any reason in mounting and dismounting. We would go ahead few paces, then stop again. An anxiety grasped the command to get somewheres beneath green trees before the light should grow much stronger. Then we saw the head of the column moving to the left to be swallowed by

History of the 305th field artillery - On the march.png Drawn by Capt. Dana, Battery A On the march