To-day we have our full measure of shell adventures, night driving, and long hours at the wheel. But these are, of course, only the usual incidents of life at the front. We, too, the whole Section feels, will have our Second Battle of the Yser, or our attack on Hartmannsweilerkopf, and we are as eager as any soldier to prove what our men and cars can do in the face of such emergencies.[9] GEORGE ROCKWELL [9] Shortly after this was written, the Section was sent to the Verdun sector, where for five months it has worked in the vicinity of Mort Homme and Hill 304. During this period one of its members, Edward J. Kelley, was killed, and another member, Roswell Sanders, was gravely wounded. (_November, 1916._) [Illustration] X UN BLESSÉ À MONTAUVILLE "_Un blessé à Montauville--urgent!_" Calls the sallow-faced _téléphoniste_. The night is as black as hell's black pit, There's snow on the wind in the East. There's snow on the wind, there's rain on the wind, The cold's like a rat at your bones; You crank your car till your soul caves in, But the engine only moans. The night is as black as hell's black pit; You feel your crawling way Along the shell-gutted, gun-gashed road-- How--only God can say. The 120's and 75's Are bellowing on the hill; They're playing at bowls with big trench-mines Down at the Devil's mill. Christ! Do you hear that shrapnel tune Twang through the frightened air? The _Boches_ are shelling on Montauville-- They're waiting for you up there! "_Un blessé--urgent?_ Hold your lantern up While I turn the damned machine! Easy, just lift him easy now! Why, the fellow's face is green!" "_Oui, ça ne dure pas longtemps, tu sais._" "Here, cover him up--he's cold! Shove the stretcher--it's stuck! That's it--he's in!" Poor chap, not twenty years old. "_Bon-soir, messieurs--à tout à l'heure!_" And you feel for the hell-struck road. It's ten miles off to the surgery, With Death and a boy for your load. Praise God for that rocket in the trench, Green on the ghastly sky-- That _camion_ was dead ahead! Let the _ravitaillement_ by! "_Courage, mon brave!_ We're almost there!" God, how the fellow groans-- And you'd give your heart to ease the jolt Of the ambulance over the stones. Go on, go on, through the dreadful night-- How--only God He knows! But now he's still! Aye, it's terribly still On the way a dead man goes. "Wake up, you swine asleep! Come out! _Un blessé--urgent--_damned bad!" A lamp streams in on the blood-stained white And the mud-stained blue of the lad. "_Il est mort, m'sieu!"_ "So the poor chap's dead?" Just there, then, on the road