the 28th,
92nd, 81st, and 7th Divisions with the Second American Army,
who launched a fire-eating attack above Vigneulles just at dawn
on the 11th. It was no mild thing, that last flare of the
battle, and the order to cease firing did not reach the men in
the front line until the last moment, when runners sped with it
from fox hole to fox hole."

I hurried along the line deeply pondering the startling report of the
good Colonel. We had been hearing various rumors that the enemy was
frantically suing for peace; all these we had set down as but
propaganda. If the end were in sight, why this terrific eleventh hour
barrage?

The only reason I could imagine was, that its very frightfulness might
so deeply impress the resisting troops themselves as to utterly destroy
their morale. Once the soldiers themselves realized the weakness of the
tottering dynasty behind them, and the overwhelming force of the army in
front of them, total failure of their cause must be apparent.

Supreme was my confidence in Foch and Pershing, and I felt that the
course they were pursuing would prove, from the military point of view,
the best.

At five minutes to eleven I walked a little apart, up the trail, and
began saying my Rosary Beads. They were always companion and comfort to
my trying hours. Fervently I implored her, who is "Mightier than an army
in battle array," to intercede for us to her Divine Son. That, it were
pleasing and good in _His_ holy sight, this hour of eleven would mark
the end.

So occupied was my mind I had not noticed the falling off in firing.
Battery after battery was silencing! Gun after gun growing still.

"Cease firing!" The command sped down the line; and it seemed these two
words leaped into the blue vaulted sky above and were echoed in Heaven!

The utter silence that of a sudden came down upon that front was
terrifying. More awful in its gripping impressiveness than the most
terrific cannonading. You seemed, in that tense moment, to have lost
your footing on some storm-swept hill, and fallen headlong into a deep
valley. There was no cheering. The boys simply looked at each other and
waited; waited like the boxer who, having delivered a fatal blow, stands
intently watching his fallen opponent, until the referee has tolled off
the final count, and raised his arm in token of victory.

Then came the reaction. Lusty cheers rose from all sides, helmets were
tossed into the air, rifles were