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Show 'l‘lllf ltt\l(l\' lt‘UlilCS'l‘ NIKlTlN to travellers who had eoine from some count ry that one knew and desired. ln the early morning. when the light was so cold and in‘ human, when the eandles stuek in hottles on the window,»ills shirered and (plarered in the little breeze , when the bi‘Lr basin on the lloor seemed to swell ever larger and larger. with its hurdt-n ot' bloody rags and soiled handages and tilthy fragments ot' dirt)' elothes. when the air was weighted down with the smell of lilood and lnnnan flesh, when the sighs and groans and eries kept up a perpetual ninleu-urrent that one did not notice and yet taltered before, when again and again bodies. torn almost in half, faces mangled for lite. hands hattered into pulp, legs hanging almost by a thread. rose before one, passed and rose again in endless procession, then. in those early hours, some tan- tastie world was about one. The poplar trees beyond the window. the little heeehwood on the hill, the pond across the road. a round grey sheet of rntiled water, these things in the half-light seemed to wait for our defeat. One instant on our part and it seemed that all the pain and torture would rise in a flood and overwhelm one . . . in those early mom in}; hours the enemy crept very elose indeed. We could almost hear his hot breath behind the bars of our fastenol doors. whether one really knew them. even unsure about oueselt'. one-s historv, one‘s tuture: neither hungry. tired. nor thirst\'. neither sad nor joyful, neither exeited nor dull, inlv with the wold hand upon one's hrow, eatehina' twith Moulded lu‘eathl the heating of one's heart. In normal times the night-duty was of. eourse taken in rotation. but (ltlt‘lttfl‘ the pressure of those tour days we had to snateh our rest when we might. Wounded suddenly slaelxened. and lt'V two o‘eloek in the 'mtl'lllllil' had et-ased The two nurses went to ll .- little room was empty «d all wounded, they ha\ in: lawn 1i unwell to the tent on the l'artln'r side ol' the road. The n, wlles had stink deep into the bottles and were splitttt't‘ltt‘f sea of grease. l Ililit‘ room snn-lt altotninalilw the blood the tloor had tl'll'l\l1‘1l in thin red li'n‘s into the I‘l'.|t'l\¢ iw‘mwn tlte boards. and the basins with the soiled handa ~‘tfli-\H'tl. luttl "‘lk 'l'hern- was absolute silent-:2 Hue lt'stln'll, >llll ‘l.|lt|llll[', HH'!' :I I'ltittl'. -~.initat'. and lit. boa with his llt‘:l\\ ltauxiuuluaol high :Iltt"t‘llt'1'.t[ltllt‘ i' tl .- \\.!l|. 7"" ~~~tt'tit|""lyutttlelnthvtailin'wairttllwlipht‘ \ ' ' early morning's. It was not a headache that alllieted ollt‘ with definite physical pain. It was like a cold hand press» ing upon the brow, a hand that. touched the eyes, the nose, ‘Xt‘ . ‘.\' l't‘ luxtf'tl llll'ltl'tl ' ' _ ,l ' , i \\il_ ', ' ' i r v ' t‘tl l, lt'llxv l. l1 v ' \ v H. l s .t d!' l 'if'wl l. s Mu lll'. s \.l,l,,lt‘ Apr: rt he ml id : ltltl 'l 'I'Il'tt‘l, vl‘ :71‘l t'«-'1,‘l. llw‘ llllt!\‘.lll1l ‘ ' lb twill llltl Nemw. lit" 4: thrf tll'dt' ml. tn-‘tl. \ l-lw'l‘ lll\ "‘tl " ll~1llil ll i‘ ‘.‘»l!tilnr\‘.. ". ,l t lllt‘tl't" ‘1 Ili.'l ‘ chose one‘s words slowly, lookingr at people «lowly t" 5", entirely. l vl '1 .ai'ing‘ Xihitin. nt\‘selt‘. and some sleepy sanitars alone. There was a peculiar little headache that I have it‘ll the month. then remained, a chill weight upon the 'llt‘lld? the blood seemed to stop in its course, one‘s heart beat tw'l'l)? and things were dim before one's eyes. (lne was stlllml "ml ‘ .\l'out midnight on the fifth day the proeession ot ‘IIHV nowhere else, before or since, that attacked one on thost‘ 11'.) ltlt ,\ t}, Haul mitt" litigl, lottrlo-r, u Mp'i n 'i s i , .go. t'» "l ll l ll l I l tlr' l l ‘ ,, all ' l'tl'r \\l lo l t's'i no'h 't w-"ii l |