When we reached the shed we saw Chocolate’s great neck and shoulders and enormous head free from the rubbish which hid the rest of his body. He was stretched out full length on his side, browsing serenely on the young shoots of an apple tree, which had gone down with the building. His large eye looked us over as we stood there, overcome and absolutely stupefied with amazement, as much as to say: “What ... you’ve come at last ... you needn’t have been in so much of a hurry.” I ran to the air-hole of the cellar. “Hey there, men with spades; quick, come, dig out Chocolate.” “Dig out Chocolate!” and they all rushed out utterly surprised by the announcement of such a job. The bricks were scattered with a few blows of the shovels, the beams raised, and the place cleared away. With all the ease of a circus horse who has been playing dead, Chocolate stretched out his front feet, then his hind ones, balanced himself two or three times, took a spring, and without the slightest hurry stood up, shaking himself all over like a dog coming out of the water. There were a few scratches on his hide, but it was an old hide, hard and tanned, which resists everything. Nothing broken! Brave Chocolate, come on! The men all look at him, admire him, and fondle him. He seemed somewhat surprised by such manifestations of great affection. And without a care in the world for the bombardment which was beginning again, he went to the nearby pond and drank deeply. CHAPTER VIII THE AEROPLANE Dawn had just broken. Some of the boldest of the men in the echelon were already up, rubbing down their horses and adjusting the breast collars. At daylight we had to go a long way to exchange the pack-saddles for munition-wagons. This has been the way from the start. The companies of machine guns, probably even more than the other branches of service, although I don’t know, are experiment stations on which they try one sort of gear one day and another the next. First it is a round shield, then a square shield, and then a periscope. We adopted the Wikers saddle, only to have it replaced with the Hotchkiss. And we had scarcely put it in service than it was withdrawn to give us ammunition wagons. These changes are one of the slight distractions of the trade. They must distract still more the handlers of the public funds to judge by the frequency they offer them to us. But what difference does it make to us whether we do one thing or another? While we wait time passes and the war goes on. And then “there’s no use trying to understand.” That is the typical expression in every army. Before the most unexpected orders, the most unusual, which seem the most useless and incoherent, we can only bow without trying to use our intelligence. “There is no use in trying to understand.” That’s the whole secret of discipline. If one did try to understand, he would never obey—or too late. * * * * *