"'Marteau! Brigadier Marteau!' I called out. There was no reply.
"'Good Heavens! Had he been hit at the last hole?'
"'Marteau!' I called again and a voice that sounded a long way off replied, 'Captain!'
"'Are you whole, my boy?'
"'Yes, Captain.'
"'Well played then! Now listen. The tree that lies across the road is fifty yards from us. We are going to run to it at full speed, jump over it, and lie down behind it to get our breath again. The Lieutenant will lead off.'
"De Zaeydydt started and bullets whizzed through the air and exploded. He reached the tree, got mixed up in the branches, and rolled on the ground. I thought he had been hit and I shuddered. He got up again, cleared the tree, and disappeared. I said to myself, 'My dear boy, you are too short to scale that. You had better go round the tree again and the house.' 'Marteau,' I called out, 'I am going to start. Follow me.' I sprang out. Marteau followed me and there was a shower of bullets, but our hour had not yet come—and we got through safely.
"We were very soon in the French trenches and the soldiers welcomed us heartily. They had not expected to see us again. Our return journey, from the time we had seen the first bullet to the last one, had taken an hour and twenty minutes. Ah, I forgot to tell you that we had taken notes on the map and from the last 'e' of Kaesteelhoek, there was a gleam from a Boche battery. That battery will hear from us to-morrow!"
The beefsteak and the coffee now put in an appearance, and our Captain started on his meal like a wolf that had been starving for a fortnight in the snow. He is now sleeping and I am noting down this souvenir of the war, by the side of a fire which is smoking badly, as it is raining and raining outdoors....