"From the looks of things one might suppose that nothing else escaped alive," remarked Don, walking across the street in order to gaze upon a conspicuous sign placed on the front of a tottering wall.
"Cave de Refuge"
"An echo of something that has passed!" said Dunstan. "No doubt at one time the cave, as the French call a cellar, served a very useful purpose. Allons—allons!"
Turning the bend, the three unexpectedly came upon a huge camion[9] resting on its side, the bluish-gray shadow of its massive form streaking fantastically across the road.
"Another symbol of the twentieth century!" growled Chase.
There could be no question as to what had happened: three wheels and a part of the rear of the vehicle had been destroyed, and the days of that particular camion were over forever.
The Red Cross men gathered around the battered object, once so powerful, now so inert and powerless, and speculated as to the consequences which had followed its destruction. What had happened to the drivers? Was that camion a temporary monument marking the spot where some obscure heroes had fallen?
"That's another thing we'll never know," said Dunstan, thoughtfully, after Don had given expression to such reflections.
Even to the aviator's son and the art student, who had had many unusual experiences in the war zone, there was something very strange and unique in going through a village so absolutely devoid of life. The utter silence, the wreck and ruin about them, the ghostly lights and bluish shadows half revealing, half concealing the details, all seemed to impart an air of curious unreality to the scene.
Continuing on, the ambulanciers were often compelled to climb over piles of wreckage which stretched across the entire width of the street, and their feet occasionally kicked up fragments of shells. Toward the center of the village the destruction was even more complete, and yet, strangely enough, not far beyond a roofless, spireless little church stood a gray, stuccoed building almost intact. Across the façade was painted in bold, black letters: