"Sleeping," replied Sergeant Bowers briefly.
"Well," said the lieutenant, "you're on guard. You go on duty right now."
Sergeant Bowers bit of a chew of tobacco and strode off. But before he went he delivered this parting shot, addressed to Hal and Chester:
"This old armistice," said he sadly, "isn't what it's cracked up to be, is it?"
CHAPTER XXX
CONCLUSION
Thus ended the greatest war in the history of the world. True, no formal treaty of peace had been signed, and none was signed until months later. But fighting ceased on the western front and in virtually all quarters of the globe on the moment the armistice became effective.
In the days that followed, Hal and Chester did their full parts with the American troops. They were with the American army of occupation that marched to the west bank of the river Rhine soon after the armistice. As usual, they saw considerable excitement, but of their adventures with the Yankee troops in the German interior we have not space to speak here.
And yet there is one incident that is worthy of particular mention.
The American army had crossed the Rhine and the Thirty-second division, with which the lads now found themselves, was stationed in the little city of Frankfort, only a few miles within German territory.