When I awoke it was quite early, but to my surprise I had the rooms to myself, my companions having already gone out. I found them downstairs, and learned that they had passed the night seated in the car; they had decided that anything was preferable to the “comfortable” beds of the hotel. I then comprehended the cause of my “restlessness.” It was a striking instance of “Where ignorance is bliss,” etc., for I had managed to have a good sleep in spite of it all. Gorizia, in the early morning sunshine, looked delightful, and everybody we met seemed bright and cheerful like the weather; and quite indifferent to the bombardment which still continued at intervals. An officer told me that one often ended by trying mentally to calculate what all this senseless waste of ammunition was costing per hour. Nothing had come of the counter-attack, except to give the Italians a chance of further consolidating their front here, and as there appeared no likelihood of anything important happening that day we arranged to return to Udine forthwith. Instead, however, of going via Grafenberg, we took the road which follows the left bank of the Isonzo and goes through Savogna, Sdraussina, and Sagrado, as Bacci was anxious to shake hands with a doctor friend of his who was with a field hospital somewhere this way. This gave us an opportunity of seeing the wonderful cantonments of the troops waiting to advance on the Carso. From Savogna right on to Sagrado, a distance of, roughly speaking, six miles, was one continuous encampment on either side of the road. A whole army corps must have been gathered here, cavalry, artillery, infantry, motor transport, cyclists and motor ambulances, in endless encampments. It was as interesting a panorama of military activity as I had seen anywhere on the Italian Front, and was alone worth coming here to see. The troops were fully protected from shell fire, as the road all the way is sheltered by Monte San Michele and the adjacent hills, which tower above the route, so it was possible to construct permanent huts on the slopes of the hill, and also to take advantage of the many caves which are a feature of this region, to quarter the men in. Monte San Michele, as I shall describe in my next chapter, was captured simultaneously with Gorizia, and one saw from here the formidable series of trenches the Italians, with a courage which will pass into history, constructed and gradually pushed forward up the hill, under the fire of the Austrian guns, until the final assault, when the whole position was taken. Unless this operation had been successful, no troops would have been here now, as this road was, prior to the victory, a “No man’s land.”