Far away in the distance was a wood, occupied by a large force of our troops, that had been fighting for its possession. In the half-ruined town was our division headquarters, the huts of the Y. M. C. A., and hospitals, some of them occupying temporary buildings like those elsewhere described. “This looks as though we were going in for some real fighting,” I said to a fellow officer. “Yes,” replied Captain Cross, who had come up, “those are ‘the symptoms,’ as our doctors say;” and then thoughtfully added, “A year ago, most of us here were green as grass so far as fighting was concerned. Some of us were recruits that scarcely knew one end of a rifle from another. But now look at them! They have been trained down to a fighting edge and have already shown great soldierly qualities; and the Boche recognize it by being mighty cautious when they are facing us. That’s why we are on the fighting line here. Our soldiers, I learn, are on the front line in nearly a dozen different places from the Picardy to the Alsace front.” “I hope that we may be able to give a good account of ourselves before long,” I asserted. “Never doubt it,” rejoined our adjutant, who was in the group. “Our men have got the right stuff in them, and association with French soldiers has strengthened their confidence in themselves.” “Yes,” said another confidently, though in a jocular vein, “we will wipe the Prussian monarchy from the map, and hang the Kaiser to a sour apple tree!” “What we lack now--so I understand,” said Captain Cross, “is better means of getting information of the plans of the enemy; a better spy system.” “Well,” said my friend Jot, “gentlemen, we must do everything necessary to win the war, or the world won’t be a safe place for Christian men and women to live in. There can be no peace until it is done.” The captain as he turned to go to his duties said, “A million of our men will soon be here, and other millions are coming, that will put victory beyond doubt.” Several days passed and I was becoming accustomed to the duties of my new station and office. I enjoyed it, for it brought me in closer intercourse with men of a higher social grade than I had hitherto been with; and it was especially gratifying to be in closer social touch with Jot and Chaplain John Fuller. At every opportunity, when off duty, Jot had been riding and teaching Jack. “He is the most intelligent creature I ever saw,” he said to me one evening. “You remember we used to call him by a peculiar whistle? He remembers it, and answers it; no matter where I am, he will come when he hears me. I was at the colonel’s this afternoon about keeping him, and had an understanding about other matters, not so pleasant.” And then his face darkened, as a cloud dispels sun-light, and I saw that something deep like an undercurrent of reflection was worrying him. That night as we parted, he said, “If anything should ever occur to make you doubt me, always remember that I love you and love my country.”