and you see them sitting around looking for all the world like Arabs in the distance. Before closing I might mention also that besides fishing to pass the time, the _poilus en repos_ catch foxes, hedgehogs, rabbits, and other animals and train them. There are two of the cutest little foxes I have ever seen over across the road in one of the courtyards. They play around and are just like little collies until we show up; then they scamper and get behind a box or a stove and blink at us. We tried to buy one of them, but the owners are too fond of them to let them go. Well, good-night and best love to you and G. As ever, CHICK (_Charles Baird_) Have not seen George Hollister yet, as he is in Section 3. Maybe I'll run across him later. III [Illustration: AMERICAN AMBULANCE IN VERDUN] _S. S. Américaine No. 3, July 3, 1916_ _Dear ----_ I never meant to let so long a time go by without more than a postal or so. We are back, far back, of the lines in repose with the tattered remains of our division. I have a lot that is worth while writing about, but make allowances if it comes disconnectedly. We have just come back from two weeks at Verdun! Our cars are battered and broken beyond a year's ordinary service. Barber, though seriously wounded, is on the road to recovery. No one else was more than scratched. The Section we relieved told us what to expect. It began strong. The first night the fellows worked through a gas attack. I was off duty and missed out on one disagreeable experience. One has to breathe through a little bag affair packed with layers of cloth and chemicals. The eyes are also protected with tight-fitting isinglass, which moists over and makes driving difficult. The road was not shelled that night, so it might have been worse. The second night was my go. We rolled all night from the _poste de secours_ back to the first sorting-station. The _poste_ was in a little town with the Germans on three sides of the road and all in full view, which made daylight going impossible. The day work was evacuating from sorting-stations to field hospitals. There our work stopped. English and French sections worked from there back to the base hospitals. The road ran out through fields and a little stretch of woods, French batteries situated on both sides the entire way; that is what drew the fire. Four trips between dusk and dawn were the most possible. The noise of French fire was terrifying until we learned to distinguish it from the German _arrivées_. It is important to know the difference, and one soon learns. The _départ_ is a sharp bark and then the whistle diminishing. The _arrivées_ come in with a slower, increasing whistle and ripping crash. In noise alone it is more than disagreeable. The _poste de secours_ was an _abri_ in a cellar of four walls. Of the town there was scarcely a wall standing: _marmites_ had done their work well. The road was an open space between, scalloped