III. RECONNOITRING COURGIVAULT



_September 5th._


The provisional brigade which had just been formed, with our regiment
and the _Chasseurs d'Afrique_ (African Light Cavalry), was paraded at
dawn by our Colonel, who had taken command of it. The united regiments
had been formed up under cover of a line of ridges, on the summit of
which the watchful scouts stood out against the sky, looking north.
The sun was already shining on the motley picture formed by the light
uniforms of the dismounted troopers and the motionless rows of horses.
They were all half asleep still.

The Colonel had drawn up the officers of the brigade in front of the
squadrons. He held a paper in his hand and read it to us in a resonant
voice, full of unfamiliar vibrations. On hearing the first few
sentences we drew closer around him as by instinct. We could not
believe our ears. It was the first time we had heard anything like it
since the outbreak of the war.

When he had finished we were all amazed. Had we not been told the day
before--when, together with the ---- Corps, we crossed the Grand Morin
closely pressed by the enemy's advance guard--had we not been told
that we were going to retire to the Seine? And now in a few noble,
simple words the Commander-in-Chief told us that the trials of that