The band struck up the _Star Spangled Banner_ and every hat was lifted. Then suddenly, at a signal from the leader, the band swung into the Marseillaise. Then the scene beggared description. How long it had been since these French people had heard those glorious strains! How often in those weary years they had despaired of ever hearing them again! From grown men to children, the whole population was sobbing. They grasped the hands of the soldiers and tried to kiss them. The emotion was contagious, and most of the husky doughboys felt a strange dampness about their eyes. “Well,” said Frank, when he could trust himself to speak, “just this one thing, if nothing else, would pay me for whatever I’ve done or suffered since I came to France.” And this experience was paralleled in every French town through which they passed. Everywhere it was the same story of oppression, of robbery, of slavery, of men deported against all the laws of war to toil in German fields or factories, of girls torn from the arms of shrieking mothers and carried off, never to be seen or heard of again, of cruelty just for the sake of cruelty. And now that the Germans had been driven out in ignominy and defeat, these stalwart young Americans who had helped so largely to compass that defeat were looked upon almost in the light of demi-gods. Nothing was too good for them, although the scanty means of the people were pathetically small. Attentions were showered upon them. Little school children stood in rows and shyly held out bouquets of flowers. A hideous nightmare had been lifted from the land. The plan of the advance called for two days of marching and then two days of rest. Everything moved with military precision and the schedule was strictly maintained. Now and then they saw some Germans in uniform, but these were members of the medical corps who had been left behind, by agreement with the Allies, to take care of such German wounded as could not be moved. At other times, a car would drive up with some group of German officers who found it necessary to consult with the American officers about some matter connected with the fulfilment of the terms of armistice. But in general, that hated field gray uniform was conspicuous by its absence. Soon the Americans had crossed the French border and reached the province of Luxemburg. Here there was a grand review of the troops. The Grand Duchess of Luxemburg stood on a balcony of the palace in company with General Pershing and received the salutes of the soldiers as they marched past. It was a beautiful city, and the Army Boys were not sorry when they learned that they were to stay there for two days before resuming their march. “It’ll seem good to get out from a tent and sleep under a roof again,” remarked Frank. “I’ve rather got fed up with tent life myself,” agreed Billy. “I wonder where they’re going to put us up?” “I don’t care much,” observed Tom, “provided that the beds are clean and the grub is good.”