cessary
to stay away a week.

We ran rapidly to Lagny along an unobstructed route, where only a few
days ago Hall and I had continually been held up by the barriers and
troops of the defensive zone. We had then not been permitted to travel
half a mile without being halted. Today what a change! We saw no
troops at all in this defensive zone and with a thrill we thus
realized that the battle must be going favorably for the Allies.

Between the Porte de Vincennes and Lagny our papers were examined only
once, by a solitary sentry on the bridge at Bry-sur-Marne. It is
evident that the Germans have either been beaten back or have chosen
to retire from the neighborhood. From Lagny we passed rapidly to
Villeneuve-le-Comte, which was now totally devoid of troops. At Crecy
we came upon the first signs of war. Here we saw a big park of British
reserve ammunition. All along the roads were the remains of a German
field telephone line, which had doubtless been constructed about the
time Hall and I had been in Villeneuve on Sunday.

* * * * *

All day the rain continued to pour in torrents.

* * * * *

Our machine rolled over the brow of a hilltop and below us in a hollow
we saw the little village of Rebais. The road straight before us
gently sloped down to the hamlet, passing through it as its principal
street. Yesterday there had been heavy fighting in and around the
town; French troops had entered it and advanced through it under heavy
fire. There were great black holes in the roofs and walls and the
ground was littered with bits of glass and slate. The village lay very
still and motionless in the pelting rain. We glanced up each of its
lanes as we glided by, and in each the bodies of numerous dead French
soldiers lay sodden in the mud, with their red legs sticking out in
attitudes of ludicrous ghastliness. A line of ammunition wagons half a
mile long was parked at the side of the village street and the horses
were picketed in long lines in the adjacent gardens and fields.

On the right there was a level mowed field along the edge of which the
teamsters were huddled over campfires, cooking. Beginning a few yards
behind them the field was strewn with dead soldiers lying monstrously
conspicuous on the bare ground. On the far side of the field half a
mile away was a jumble of houses, trees, and fences, and here German
infantry supported by two batteries had the day