"That _sale tête de Boche_ William has committed an infamous action! Here am I forced to go to the war--I who have four children, and the eldest only seven. But since we must defend our native country, let us do so cheerfully." "You are right," replied the Alpine chasseur. "Only a fortnight ago I got back from Morocco, where I caught a fever and was two months convalescent. And yet I'm going to set off like the others." Conversations on those lines enabled us to while away the time until we reached Dijon at half-past ten. Jumping out of the train, I saw a notice-board bearing the words, "Belfort direction, 12.12 a. m. Platform No. 3." I proceeded to the _trottoir_ mentioned, and waited for the hour of the train's departure. At half-past eleven the _employés_ got together a long string of cattle trucks. I was at a loss what to do, whether to get into one of them or ask the men if that was really the train for Belfort. In the midst of my speculation, and as though they had understood my dilemma, the railway officials put up five or six notices similar to the one I had seen on arriving. So I entered the nearest truck I could find. It was supplied with four seats, made of planks. I stretched myself upon one of them and was quickly asleep. III--"I FOLLOWED THE FRENCH ARMY" When I awoke the sun had already risen. Looking through an opening in one of the sides of the truck, my gaze encountered an immense plain, neither the beginning nor the end of which I could distinguish. I asked a man who was next to me where we were, and he told me not far from Besançon. Half an hour later we entered that place. It was there that I saw a convoy of automobiles--about a hundred--pass by. The train set off once more, and an hour's travelling brought us within sight of the first forts of Belfort. An hour and a half later we reached our destination. Unperceived I was able to slip through the exit on to the square in front of the railway station. An ambulance was drawn up there. Drawing near, I raised the covering and saw a number of soldiers stretched at full length. In answer to my question as to what was the matter, they replied that they were ill and had just left the hospital; they were being "evacuated" to other towns. Thereupon I wandered forth to make a tour of the town and discover the object of my search. The first corps I encountered was the 8th Regiment of Territorial Infantry. I followed it and found it was quartered on the ground floor of an hotel in the Rue Thiers. At the end of the day, which I spent with the men, a sergeant said to me: "Eh! young man, you don't belong here?" "No, sir," I replied. "Where do you come from?" "Monaco." "Why did you leave Monaco for Belfort?" "To go on campaign." "But where are your parents--your father?" "Father is mobilized." "Where?" "I don't know." "And your mother?" "She's at Monaco, with my sisters." "And why did you leave them?" "As I've already told you, to go on campaign."