The poor little parrot is ill at ease in his cage since Madame Louis went away and since the bombardment of the city began.
When window panes were smashed his feathers bristled up and his frail little body began to tremble----
I placed the cage in the machine that takes me to Bar-le-Duc--Repeatedly during the journey the bird cries:
It is surely Habert who has taught him this new "song"----
[21] Marmites--German shells of big caliber.--Tr.
[22] As they leave the trenches, muddy, unshaven, dirty, red-eyed.--Tr.
[23] Cassé means wounded, hurt or smashed, and when pronounced sounds very much like "K.C."--Tr.
[24] This is the first time the author saw a member of the Knights of Columbus actively engaged in succoring wounded at the immediate front.--Tr.
[25] A familiar expression, friends or companions.--Tr.
THE RECAPTURE OF FORT DOUAUMONT AND THE ATTACK OF PEPPER HILL
_The author assisted in two important episodes of the great war. On October 24, 1916, he flew over Fort Douaumont with Major Armengaud at the precise moment the poilus swarmed over it after eight months' of incessant battle. The first men who entered Douaumont were the same sappers of the 19th Company, 2nd Engineers, with whom the author fought at Grande Dune. (Chaps. I and III.)_
_It is during this period that the author was appointed first lieutenant in July and Captain in October after the capture of Douaumont._
_On December 15, 1916, Captain Capart was at Pepper Hill during the victorious advance of the French._
STORY OF A PAIR OF BOOTS, BAR-LE-DUC. _June_ 6, 1916.
I have just dined with General Pétain. I find myself in the little home of M. and Mme. Lévy, where I have put up during the last days of our sojourn in this city.
I occupy a pretty room looking out on the garden, at which I look every morning on awakening----
Seated on my bed, I do not think of sleep, but let my thoughts wander, fixedly regarding the flame of my candle!
All at once my eyes rest on the new boots which I have bought the same morning in Paris.
I begin to laugh. It had been very apparent to me that all my comrades had admired them----
Yes, I recall, when the general was talking to me, I heard one of them say to the other:
That is not all! I got ready for bed--From to-morrow a new life opened for me--I began with the boots.