My mouth was terribly parched. Already I had resorted to
shaking the rain-wet young trees over my upturned face; I had even
pressed their wet leaves against my tongue. Now I drank--drank till I
could hold no more. The water was almost as filthy as Gunga Din's--but
it was wonderful!

Broad day had come when I reached another such wide clearing as that of
our dueling exploit. I was timid of taking it, but it ran south;
indeed, it may have been the same. The firing was faint behind me, and
I decided to follow it. I was vexed because I could not quite control
my steps. My gun was swinging listlessly in my hand, and for the first
time in twenty-four hours I pushed it back into its holster.

Half an hour's going disclosed a broad road ahead. I was passing
untenanted trenches. I heard voices ahead presently and sprang into
the bushes at the side. Then I went ahead slowly, with ears keen. The
voices grew more distinct; I caught syllables and--it was English, good
old English!

I tumbled out and approached several Americans standing near a funk
hole. I went up to one of them. He looked at me with some concern in
his eyes.

"My God, but I'm glad to see you!" I said. They were of the Third
Battalion, and my exclamation must have startled them, for, of course,
I did not know them. "Tell me something in American," I added. My
nerves were frayed, I guess, and my voice sounded curiously far-off.

"Is anything the matter, sir?" one of them asked.

"Nothing at all. I'm on my way back to regiment at Karlsruhe. Will
this path take me?"

Then I learned that I had reached the Tirpitz trench, the reserve
battalion's new position.

"Let me go back to the next runner post with you," said one, and made
to take my arm. Which annoyed me, naturally.

The colonel was about to eat breakfast when I arrived at the fancy
dugouts we had taken so many eons ago. I indicated my battalion's
position on his map and told him the situation briefly.

Lieutenant McKeogh adds, "Relief was sent with ammunition and food on
September 30, and on the following day the refreshed command started
forward again--again to be cut off, this time for five days." The men
in the battalion crouched in the rain and the cold in their shallow and
hastily constructed trenches. The Germans kept a constant fire upon
them from machine guns and attempted to reach them with their
artillery, but fortunately they did not get the exact range.

There we