We steered a lot of them to the rear like that. There was a lot to think of, and a lot to do, and I was doing the best I could for the company, with help of the lieutenants and noncoms. At the first aid station, one of the doctors caught sight of me and called out: “This way, Captain!” and almost dragged me into his coop. “Not much,” I said. “I am all right!” “No, you ain’t,” he insisted, “your face is all covered with blood.” It was a slight scalp wound, and though I had bled like a stuck pig, I did not know about it until then, and needed only a little sticking plaster to fix it all right. I was as glad to escape from that doctor as though he had been a Boche. Turning away, I saw one of our men up a roadside tree that was strung with telegraph wires, apparently. A man had just been knocked out, he was explaining to me, and as he had been in the business at home, he thought he would finish the job. Just then, _whiz bang!_ came a shell that knocked off his tin hat without hurting him and sent it spinning away. After recovering from a transient daze, he coolly remarked: “Captain, I guess I’d better finish the business now that I have begun it.” Then he came down and saluted in a shame-faced way, and I hadn’t the heart to censure him, though he had no business to be up that tree without orders, and away from his real duties. When we got together that evening some of my men were missing, and naturally so, after such a mix up of a fight. We got some boss chow that the Salvation Army had brought up, and then bunched down on the ground for sleep--and we sure needed it. CHAPTER XXVIII A MYSTERY SOLVED Just after the scenes described in the foregoing chapter, there was comparative quiet along our front--the calm that follows a storm. The British army under Haig had struck a staggering blow at Ludendorff’s northern lines, and had driven him back in defeat. This had seemingly withdrawn the German attention, or ability, to concentrate for the defeat of the American and French armies on their southwestern front. General Burbank explained to me that it evidently was the policy of General Foch, while remaining in watchful touch with the enemy, to strengthen by rest and reorganization the forces that had for so long a time been hotly engaged at our part of the line; and in this way keep them fresh and vigorous for service. I was favored through the kindness of the general in being allowed to take up my quarters in the same building with him. This gave me the benefit of his daily counsel and association, and was of inestimable value to me, both in increasing my military knowledge and improving my bearing. Both were needful for my further advancement as an officer as the general was so kind as to say that I was naturally endowed with the qualities of a good soldier. I valued this association and by daily contact with him grew more and more to love and admire my general.