"That night there was general consternation: his men cried. A little sapper went out all by himself to recover the body. He could not endure to see the body of his lieutenant remain in the hands of the enemy.
"Three times he tried to reach Kuhn's corpse in spite of incessant enemy fire which remained on the qui-vive.
"Finally, crouching, he came close enough to pass a cord under the arms and started back, rolling the circular wire entanglements in a manner you can very well imagine.
"At last he cleared the body from the wire, but we thought several times he would be the victim of his own devotion.
"At sunrise all that remained of Kuhn was in our lines. Captain Perroud came to see him and I accompanied him. Our poor friend's body was literally riddled with bullets, he was almost unrecognizable——
"What are you going to say to his mother. He was the only one left.
"He liked you very much and of course you will not fail to write a few words to the poor woman.
"Come back soon—we miss you!
"Degove."