McKechnie said:
"I wish you would not go out like that. . . . I'll make you some cocoa. . . ."
Tietjens said:
"I can't keep the men waiting while I dress. . . . I'm as strong as a horse. . . ."
He was out amongst the bitterness, the mist, and the moongleams on three thousand rifle barrels, and the voices. . . . He was seeing the Germans pour through a thin line, and his heart was leaden. . . . A tall, graceful man swam up against him and said, through his nose, like any American:
"There has been a railway accident, due to the French strikers. The draft is put back till three pip emma the day after to-morrow, sir."
Tietjens exclaimed:
"It isn't countermanded?" breathlessly.
The Canadian sergeant-major said:
"No, sir. . . . A railway accident. . . . Sabotage by the French, they say. . . . Four Glamorganshire sergeants, all nineteen-fourteen men, killed, sir, going home on leave. But the draft is not cancelled. . . ." Tietjens said: