If the Germans come to Quincy, or the heights over opposite, we shall be between two fires!
We were awakened last night by the tramping and neighing of horses. The horses' hoofs seemed to have been wrapped in something. The sound was muffled.
My mother and I called to each other: "It is the Boches." Did they hear us? The windows of our bedroom open on the street. At any rate, the pace quickened, and finally died away in the direction of the ford—a road leading to the Aulnois woods behind our house, then to Pavé-des-Roizes, communicating with the Condé woods and the banks of the Chalifert canal.
We did not get up quickly enough to find out what this expedition was that was being carried on with so much mystery. It is a great pity, for the night was clear, and it would certainly have been possible to see.
VI
2 September, 1914.
THE King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, commanded by Captain Simpson, arrived at the same time as the heavy artillery, and is camping at Demi-Lune. The regiment has retreated all the way from Belgium and these brave men have been fighting continually since the Battle of Mons on August 23. These are their first days of rest.