And with the enemy thus in costly and undignified flight, with never a chance to stop even for a few hours to reorganize, and with all the boasted discipline and morale of the German forces destroyed beyond all hope or possibility of re-establishment, the Allied commanders were well content for the time being to conserve their own men and supplies by vigorously prodding the Huns in their flight whenever and wherever they seemed to lag. The orders to go forward came at about 8 o’clock on the second morning. They went in heavy marching order and with full rounds of rations. It looked, indeed, as if they were bound upon a long journey this time, and as it turned out they were. As they swung off in a cloud of dust—for the ground had dried out pretty well during the preceding day—they were preceded overhead by flocks of scouting aeroplanes. With them along the roads and through the fields went trucks loaded with munitions and food, while behind these came the light artillery, and, far, far back, the heavies. Two hours march brought them to a point where the entire army came to a halt while the scouts and pioneer infantry went ahead to reconnoitre and destroy the first of the wire entanglements thrown behind them by the fleeing Germans. The quick pop of guns and the rattle of rapid fire as these men approached a thick wood which lay just ahead was ample proof that the artillery had not dislodged all of the Huns, and that snipers and machine gunners were hidden there as a rear guard to delay the American advance long enough to permit the main German army to get away. The American fire from the north had died down to little more than an occasional bombardment, and necessarily directed at a long angle to prevent shelling the other troops which were now making the advance. Company C was one of the five units deployed to attack and take the wood. As the men started forward the officers in command of the various companies again gave a warning which the men had heard repeatedly before going into an attack. “Do not touch a dead German for any purpose whatever.” It was not that the situation was any different here from what it had been in other battles in other places, but the order was issued as a matter of course and to keep it fresh in the minds of the advancing men. At no time during the war were the Allied armies even accused of looting the dead; but where great masses of men are drawn together in thousands there are bound to be exceptions to any rule—men so selfish and unprincipled that they would place the gratification of personal desire above the sacred repute of their army and their country if they thought they could do so and escape detection.