He rubbed his hand several times across his face. The throbbing in his
head was becoming less acute. Evidently he had been there a long time,
as he saw a faint touch of daylight in the east. He drew himself out of
the hole, saw some pieces of metal lying near and then knew the truth.

One of the giant shells striking there had made the cavity and luckily
for him he had fallen into it. The German cavalry riding by in the night
had passed him, unseeing.

"I never expected one of those big shells to be so kind to me," murmured
John.

He drew himself out of the hole, and flexed and tensed his muscles until
his physical vigor returned. The throbbing in his head continued to
decrease, and he felt confident and cheerful. He began to believe that a
special Providence was watching over him. If a giant shell, intended to
destroy his comrades and himself, merely made a safe hiding place for
him while the triumphant legions stalked past then he was indeed a
favorite child of fortune.

It was early dawn and the air was very crisp and fresh. He drew deep
breaths of it, and continually grew stronger. Far to the southwest he
saw a long, white line of smoke, and beneath it the rapid flash of many
great guns. The horizon thundered. It was the pursuing German army, and
John sighed. "Still on the road to Paris," he murmured.

He wondered what had become of his comrades in that wild charge of the
Uhlans in the night, but his was a most hopeful nature, and since they
had escaped he must have done so too. Moreover, fortune as he had
observed was watching over them as well as himself. Safe therefore in
supposition they slipped from his mind.

He stood for a little space watching the line of battle, as it rolled
off toward the southwest and then he looked at the ground about him, the
lovely country torn to pieces by the armies. He had resented sometimes
that attitude of superiority assumed by Europeans, but, here was Europe
gone mad. Americans were sane and sensible. No military monarchs or
military autocracies could drag them into wholesale war.

It was the spectacle spread before him that caused John to condemn
Europe for the moment. The armies had passed on, but all about him lay
the dead. Most of them had been torn horribly by shells and shrapnel,
while some had met a quick death from the bullets.

He saw the gray of the Germans and the khaki of the English often close
together. Two or three shattered cannon also lay in the fiel