d him to some destination, John kept a
wary watch, with eyes now growing used to the darkness. If German
troops appeared and speed to escape were lacking, he would jump from
Marne's back and hunt a new covert. But he saw nobody. The evidences of
man's work were present continually in the cannonade, but man himself
was absent.

The horse went on with ponderous and sure tread. Evidently he had
wandered far under the influence of the firing, but it was equally
evident that his certain instinct was guiding him back again. He crossed
a brook flowing down into the Marne, passed through a wheat field, and
entered a little valley, where grew a number of oaks, clear of
undergrowth.

When he saw what was lying under the oaks he pulled hard at the rough
mane, until the horse stopped. He had distinctly made out the figures of
men, stretched upon the ground, apparently asleep, and sure to be
Germans. He stared hard at them, but the horse snorted and tried to pull
away. The action of the animal rather than his own eyesight made him
reckon aright.

A horse would not be afraid of living men, and, slipping from the back
of Marne, John approached cautiously. A few rays of wan moonlight
filtered through the trees, and when he had come close he shuddered over
and over again. About a dozen men lay on the ground and all were stone
dead. The torn earth and their own torn figures showed that a shell had
burst among them. Doubtless it had been an infantry patrol, and the
survivors had hurried away.

John, still shuddering, was about to turn back to his horse, when he
remembered that he needed much and that in war one must not be too
scrupulous. Force of will made him return to the group and he sought for
what he wanted. Evidently the firing had been hot there and the rest of
the patrol had not lingered in their flight.

He took from one man a pair of blankets. He could have had his choice of
two or three good rifles, but he passed them by in favor of a large
automatic pistol which would not be in the way. This had been carried by
a young man whom he took to be an officer, and he also found on him many
cartridges for the pistol. Then he searched their knapsacks for food,
finding plenty of bread and sausage and filling with it one knapsack
which he put over his shoulder.

He returned hastily to his horse, guided him around the fatal spot, and
when he was some distance on the other side dismounted and ate as only a
half-starved man can eat