France at War - On the Frontier of Civilization by Rudyard Kipling
page 29 of 63 (46%)
page 29 of 63 (46%)
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Those last two were theirs, but _that_"--it was a full roar
--"was ours." BEHIND THE GERMAN LINES The valley held and increased the sounds till they seemed to hit our hillside like a sea. A change of light showed a village, exquisitely pencilled atop of a hill, with reddish haze at its feet. "What is that place?" I asked. The priest replied in a voice as deep as an organ: "That is Saint------ It is in the Boche lines. Its condition is pitiable." The thunders and the smokes rolled up and diminished and renewed themselves, but the small children romped up and down the old stone steps; the beginner's aeroplane unsteadily chased its own shadow over the fields; and the soldiers in billet asked the band for their favourite tunes. Said the lieutenant of local Guards as the cars went on: "She--play--Tipperary." And she did--to an accompaniment of heavy pieces in the hills, which followed us into a town all ringed with enormous searchlights, French and Boche together, scowling at each other beneath the stars. |
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