"But, Captain, seeing all these troops here reassures me. We were two whole days without setting eyes on a soldier. That was the time to be afraid. All the troops you are bringing up will drive them back still further. And besides, Captain, if danger threatened, wouldn't these troops insure the escape of the civilians who are left?"
"If it were in their power, certainly."
"But, Captain, let me say again, I have faith in your soldiers."
"You are quite right," he said, as he shook hands with me and wished me good luck.
Voisins-Quincy. Rue de Condé
"For my part, Captain, I am sure good luck will go with you."
The 117th stopped at Voisins. The soldiers are billeted everywhere, but preferably in the few houses that are still inhabited.
This regiment, which made the retreat from Belgium, has just come on foot from Asnières where it had been sent to recuperate. Several of the men with bleeding and blistered feet stop me in the street to ask if I can give them socks. Unfortunately, I have none. All I can offer them is women's stockings, linen bandages, and talcum powder.
For several days Boche aviators have been reconnoitring above us. One of them was only a hundred or two feet up, directly over the heights of Huiry. We thought he was going to land. He looked like an immense bat.