t gave no breath. All the lush green-stuff
seemed to be issuing its sap, till the air was deathly, sickly with the
smell of greenness. There was the perfume of clover, like pure honey and
bees. Then there grew a faint acrid tang--they were near the beeches;
and then a queer clattering noise, and a suffocating, hideous smell;
they were passing a flock of sheep, a shepherd in a black smock, holding
his crook. Why should the sheep huddle together under this fierce sun.
He felt that the shepherd would not see him, though he could see the
shepherd.

At last there was the halt. They stacked rifles in a conical stack, put
down their kit in a scattered circle around it, and dispersed a little,
sitting on a small knoll high on the hillside. The chatter began. The
soldiers were steaming with heat, but were lively. He sat still, seeing
the blue mountains rising upon the land, twenty kilometres away. There
was a blue fold in the ranges, then out of that, at the foot, the
broad, pale bed of the river, stretches of whity-green water between
pinkish-grey shoals among the dark pine woods. There it was, spread out
a long way off. And it seemed to come downhill, the river. There was
a raft being steered, a mile away. It was a strange country. Nearer,
a red-roofed, broad farm with white base and square dots of windows
crouched beside the wall of beech foliage on the wood's edge. There were
long strips of rye and clover and pale green corn. And just at his feet,
below the knoll, was a darkish bog, where globe flowers stood breathless
still on their slim stalks. And some of the pale gold bubbles were
burst, and a broken fragment hung in the air. He thought he was going to
sleep.

Suddenly something moved into this coloured mirage before his eyes. The
Captain, a small, light-blue and scarlet figure, was trotting evenly
between the strips of corn, along the level brow of the hill. And
the man making flag-signals was coming on. Proud and sure moved the
horseman's figure, the quick, bright thing, in which was concentrated
all the light of this morning, which for the rest lay a fragile, shining
shadow. Submissive, apathetic, the young soldier sat and stared. But
as the horse slowed to a walk, coming up the last steep path, the great
flash flared over the body and soul of the orderly. He sat waiting. The
back of his head felt as if it were weighted with a heavy piece of fire.
He did not want to eat. His hands trembled slightly as he moved them.