By virtue of the nature of his work the ambulance driver must always be in the warmest places, and has a really unusual opportunity to observe by moving from sector to sector and battle to battle what few other branches of the service can see. I had the honor to be associated with Section XXXI of the American Field Service, and have endeavored to weave my simple tapestry from the swiftly-moving pictures of life “in the zone” and out of it, as they passed before me. P. D. O. BOSTON, _June, 1918_ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contents CHAPTER PAGE I. THE WHITE ROAD OF MYSTERY 19 II. IN ACTION 41 III. EN REPOS 87 IV. AT THE FRONT 117 V. L’ENVOI 151 GLOSSARY 171 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Illustrations PAGE AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE, SECTION XXXI 4 A SAUCISSE 33 BRANCARDIERS LOADING AN AMBULANCE 57 AN ABRI 77 A DIVISION EN REPOS 95 NORMAL TRAFFIC AT THE FRONT 131 TAKING A LOAD FROM THE ABRI 147 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Prelude THE _sweet, clear notes of a bugle come faintly up to me through the cool air of morning, and as the sound dies away I hear the great guns begin their bombardment, the rumbling echoes merging into the matin chimes wafted across the valley from some small church as yet unscarred by Mars._ _Reveille, the summons, calls man from his peaceful, prenatal slumber, rouses him and bids him prepare for what the world will send him. Man goes forth to meet the world, and struggles through his allotted time until the bells of God ring for him to fold himself in his soul and sleep._ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I THE WHITE ROAD OF MYSTERY