Page:War's dark frame (IA warsdarkframe00camp).pdf/250

214 had no doors or roof into an overgrown back yard.

Williams stooped, kicking through the long grass at something. We went closer and saw him staring at a faded German uniform coat with sinister tears and stains about the back. An object, long and white, lay near by. In our own minds we hesitated to give it a name.

Williams moved on.

"All that's left of some poor devil,” he said.

“ I told you there had been hard fighting here."

As far as possible we kept out of the grass after that. Grass and weeds grow too quickly in the war zone. They permit too much to remain. We came to a barn with gaping holes in its sides and roof. Beyond it, half destroyed buildings clustered around a square with a monastic appearance. Between them and a ragged wall yawned an open space, perhaps ten yards across.

"Take that in a hurry," Williams commanded.

"The Huns can see us there."

We dashed across and circled the end of the wall into a small enclosure which was all that remained of an outhouse. Wire netting had been stretched across an eyeless window in the front wall. Through that the panorama of war was visible below us. Names rang in our ears that connote almost as much horror as Verdun. Not