"The stretcher party will come and pick him up; they are sure not to be far off."
I bent down over the wounded man:
"Do you hear, old chap?"
He gave me a poignant look, without uttering a word. I stammered:
"You'll be all right, you'll find! Au revoir!"
Then raising myself I added more firmly:
"And now we must get on!"
The men followed me, but there were some very painful moments to be got through.
"The father of a family!" signed Siméon who knew him.
Our column was lengthening. I waited for the stragglers.