ouch for a moment in that strange whirlpool of human activity
last summer in France.

BURGES JOHNSON.

Vassar College,
March 3, 1919.

CHAPTER I

FIVE WEEKS IN A FLIVVER

"Halt!"

When above the noise and rattle of the car--for a Ford always carries
a rattle--you hear the stentorian command of the guard, _instantly_
every stopping device is automatically applied.

"_Who Goes There?_"

"A friend with the countersign."

"Advance! and give the countersign."

The guard at charge, with bayonet fixed, awaits your coming. When you
get within a few feet of the point of his bayonet the guard again
commands, "_Halt!_" In the silence and blackness of the night you
whisper the password and if he is satisfied that you are indeed a
friend he says, "Pass, friend." If he is not satisfied you are
detained until your identity has been established.

No matter how many hundreds of times you hear the challenge ring out,
each time you hear it a new thrill runs through your whole being and a
new respect for military authority holds you captive, for you
instinctively know that behind that challenge is the cold steel and a
deadly missile.

It was a splendidly camouflaged camionette that I inherited from
Hughes when I went to Baccarat on the Alsatian border. In all my
dangerous trips, by night and day, it never failed, and I think back
to it now with a tenderness bordering on affection.

My first day on the job I was sent out to five huts with supplies,
driving my own car and piloting the men who were sent out to pilot me.
Although they had been over the roads and were supposed to know the
way, they did not have a good _sense_ of direction and so were easily
lost.

The headquarters of the 37th Division were at Baccarat on the
Alsatian border. Strasburg lay fifty miles to the east and Metz
fifty-five miles to the northwest. To hold this front, an area fifteen
to twenty miles long, was the task of the Ohio boys until they were
relieved by the French the middle of September and sent into the
Argonne Forest.

Over this area were scattered twenty-one Y.M.C.A. huts. The
Headquarters hut was at Baccarat, which was farthest from the front
line--about ten miles back as the crow flies. The other huts were
scattered over the area at points most advantageous for serving the
boys and up to within a few hundred yards of the line. We had
thirty-four men and ten women secretari