When morning dawned again, peace and quietness—the quietness that was strange and unbelievable—had transformed the front from a roaring, seething strip of madness into a rest camp. Rather, it had that appearance until a bugler broke the spell. Hal was sleeping in the corner of what had once been a church. Chester was resting comfortably upon a pile of green camouflage a few feet away. Sergeant Bowers, despite his wounds, also slept near by. "I can’t get ’em up, I can’t get ’em up—" said the bugler. "You sure can’t," said Chester. "Not me, anyway." Then he turned over and went to sleep. Hal did likewise, after one sleepy look at the sun. Sergeant Bowers merely rolled over. It was almost noon when the sergeant finally crawled out from under his blanket. Hal and Chester were standing nearby. "What’s the use of getting up?" Sergeant Bowers complained. "The war’s over, ain’t it?" When the sergeant and the two lads finally emerged from the shattered church, the former soon discovered that life on the front line had become suddenly complicated by the presence of a young lieutenant. "Where have you been all day?" the lieutenant demanded of Sergeant Bowers the moment he saw him. "Sleeping," replied Sergeant Bowers briefly. "Well," said the lieutenant, "you’re on guard. You go on duty right now." Sergeant Bowers bit of a chew of tobacco and strode off. But before he went he delivered this parting shot, addressed to Hal and Chester: "This old armistice," said he sadly, "isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, is it?" *CHAPTER XXX* *CONCLUSION* Thus ended the greatest war in the history of the world. True, no formal treaty of peace had been signed, and none was signed until months later. But fighting ceased on the western front and in virtually all quarters of the globe on the moment the armistice became effective. In the days that followed, Hal and Chester did their full parts with the American troops. They were with the American army of occupation that marched to the west bank of the river Rhine soon after the armistice. As usual, they saw considerable excitement, but of their adventures with the Yankee troops in the German interior we have not space to speak here. And yet there is one incident that is worthy of particular mention. The American army had crossed the Rhine and the Thirty-second division, with which the lads now found themselves, was stationed in the little city of Frankfort, only a few miles within German territory. What seemed strange in the minds of Hal and Chester, and other American officers as well, was the fact that the Americans were most cordially received in the German towns through which they passed. It is true that they were able to relieve the privation of some German families by distributing food to the needy, but it is probable they would have been welcomed anyhow.