An announcement made at this time through the _Stars and Stripes_ gave the information that any organization could become the foster parent of a French orphan by depositing five hundred francs with the Red Cross. This brought a quick response and Company D was soon listed as one of the A. E. F. units to take a share in this enterprise. Upon occasion the Hun would send over a few gas shells in the hope of getting the unwary in the vicinity of the Company's quarters, but his efforts proved unfruitful and most of the remaining days in that sector were comparatively quiet. Inured to the effects of rumors the men scoffed at reports of impending peace, and the news that Bulgaria had surrendered was received with little enthusiasm. The report early in October that Austria-Hungary had given Germany a day in which to accept the Allied peace terms was barely noticed by the men. Constant attention to the details of waging the war had a tendency to confine the soldier's outlook on the prospects of peace to his own immediate world and such an outlook only emphasized in his mind what a huge task it was, producing a certain doggedness to see it through, endless as it seemed. On the contrary, folks at home were able to grasp the end toward which all the operations were moving and the great successes which General Foch's tactics were bringing strengthened in their minds the idea of an early peace. [Illustration: _Left, top to bottom_—Concrete dugout, filled with water, Ormont.—View toward German lines, Ormont.—Ruins of Ormont Farm.—Elephant iron shelter, Ormont. _Center, bottom_—Destroyed trees on the road to Ormont. _Right, top to bottom_—Shelter in the Ormont.—Cross roads near Ormont.—Portion of trench in which Capt. Paton and Wilfore were killed, Ormont.—Charcoal brazier in trench, Ormont.] [Illustration: _Left, top to bottom_—Cpl. T. W. Quinn, Cpl. C. Conroy.—Battalion football team, Divisional champions.—Sgt. A. H. Viebranz.—P. F. C. Hogan, Medical Dept. _Center, top to bottom_—Sgt. J. J. Hunihan.—Sgt. M. E. Kondrat, Sgt. C. M. Kelley.—Pvt. J. I. McAviney, first member of company killed in action. _Right, top to bottom_—Pvt. W. H. Standen and Sgt. M. Shea.—1st Sgt. W. E. Bell, Cpl. D. H. Wickwire, Sgt. J. A. Sullivan, Sgt. E. W. Viebranz.] Relieved by a unit of the divisional machine gun battalion of the 79th Division during the night of October 7, the Company hiked to Vaux, where the men found that B Company had preceded them by a short time and had taken possession of all available shelter, so D Company disposed itself for sleeping in the open in the customary rain of moving days. Deluded too many times to think that furloughs might be in sight, there was little comment on hopes for a rest and it was no surprise to the men when the hike which started at 5 o'clock on the afternoon of October 8 headed the Company northward in the general direction of the area where the fiercest fighting of the war was taking place,—the Argonne Forest.