Still he had been with the rest at the sawmill.
Chocolate, as the veteran of the echelon, received special consideration from the men. As far as the dispositions of the cantonment permitted, they reserved for him a covered shelter, a feeding rack, and a manger.
This time the sawmill offered many resources. The stable walls still stood with only a few gaps, and the roof was still intact. Beside some artillery horses, who were generally absent, there was an available place and they had given it to Chocolate. And there the drivers had forgotten him.
If it had been any other animal we would have let him go, but Chocolate was an entirely different matter and we must go and find him.
“Raynal, I hand over the command of the detachment to you. Liniers, come with me, we’ll go and find Chocolate.”
We went back over the path, on foot this time, but as fast as our legs would go. As we reached the village the intensity of the bombardment seemed to decrease. Were we going to be lucky enough to strike another lull? Again there were particularly violent explosions, nearer, then nothing more.
We reached the village entirely out of breath.
As we turned into the street which led to the sawmill Liniers stopped suddenly, as if petrified, and began to wave his hands.
“M ...!”
“What?”