s.

At about four o'clock I noticed that the stars were thinning out. If
only it _would_ rain! I will always believe that there was something
miraculous about the way the heavens were swept clear of those stars,
as if a great hand had gathered them in. For soon a wind came up that
tossed the tree tops and bent even the bushes. And with it, within a
few minutes, a heavy, lashing rain. Nothing could have better suited
my purpose.

I reached up and snapped off a few branches. No danger now of being
heard. The wind was kicking up a delightful rustling. The twigs I
inserted under my collar, their leaves thus giving some covering to my
face and breaking the line of my helmet.

Without loss of time I began crawling, taking care merely to keep low.
As I left, a German voice was traveling along what I assumed to be the
line of funk holes, yelling "_Posten_!" every few seconds. I figured
that it was their "Stand to," or the relieving of a guard, for a little
earlier there had been the regular tramp of feet--maybe two squads,
from the sound--along a plank walk to my rear.

Machine guns were clattering away at their matins in several places in
the woods, but I was leaving them farther and farther in my wake--the
only wake of mine that I wanted them to attend. Once more it was the
struggle with the forest; once more the difficulty of keeping my
bearings, constantly watching the delicate compass. But breasting the
wilderness didn't matter now. I was hungry and thirsty and so tired
that it was a real effort to plow my feet through the undergrowth. But
at least, I was done with boche voices.

Then I came to a path in the exact center of which was a shell crater
nearly full of clay-colored water. I almost fell upon the hole
reaching back for my canteen. But as I leaned toward it, a strong
smell of mustard gas rose. And I went on!

I hadn't gone far along the path when somewhere a boche shouted
something, but he was not very near and must have been calling to a
comrade. I darted into the woods again, resolved to stay in them if I
dropped some place for good. I was awfully tired, and to my surprise
found myself staggering.

Over fallen trees I climbed, so high that at times I was well above the
young saplings. Dawn was breaking now, and it was easier to preserve a
sense of direction. I came to another crater. While I took the
precaution to smell, I would have drunk, I believe, even had the water
been gassed.