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Half of it was used for the telephone operator, and sleeping accommodation for the orderlies, the other half was used as officers' quarters. Several officers were busy discussing plans when I arrived. The conversation might sound strange and callous to an ordinary listener. "Well, what's the news? How's Brother Bosche?" "Bosche reported quite near," was the reply.
At last we decided to risk seven o'clock in the evening, and the four orderlies and ourselves, copper tray and all, bade farewell to the Belgian sisters, who had cut off their hair, and wandered across to the station. The train arrived two hours late and stood, ready to go out, guarded by tatterdemalions with guns. "You can't get in yet," said one of them barring our way. "Why?" "Ne snam."
French and Russian orderlies were provided, each detailed to look after one or two rooms. RECREATION. At first it was possible to play football, but that was soon stopped. Rackets, boxing and a sort of cricket were played in the riding-school; once or twice a week we organised a concert or a dance, theatrical costumes being hired from the town on parole.
From where we lay to the horses would be three hundred yards; from the horses to those officers would be about two hundred and fifty yards farther at an angle of something like forty degrees. Counting their orderlies and hangers-on we outnumbered that party by two to one; and "the fish starts stinking from the head" as the proverb says.
Orderlies and officers came and went; the Mairie was a hive of seething activities. But he listened patiently. "Where do you want to go?" he asked when I had finished. "I should like to stay here, if I may. And from here, of course, I should like to get to the front." "Where?" "Can I get to Ypres?" "It is not very safe."
I'll try 'ard, I'll do me best but it is painful, sir." However, as soon as the bandage was pulled a little he yelled and writhed. The surgeon at last lost patience and said: "Hold him down." Two orderlies and two bearers seized his hands and feet while the bandage was quickly removed. He shrieked and struggled violently, but he was firmly held.
On Sunday morning, October 11th, with a special train loaded with our orderlies and clerks, the horses of our staff, the battalion of the Thirteenth United States Regulars, and a few officers going forward to join their commands, among them Brigadier-General Hugh Ewing, I started for Corinth.
Standing on a knoll raised above the plain, he could see what was invisible to the enemy. He signed to a group of officers who were near him, awaiting orders; behind stood orderlies holding their horses. The officers advanced. Bonaparte pointed to the forest of bayonets, now glistening in the sunlight, and said to one of the officers: "Gallop to those bayonets and tell them to hasten.
The little group which followed me had been much reduced by a blast of grape-shot which had wounded several of my orderlies and I had beside me only the trumpeter, a charming and good young man, when I heard from all along the line, cries of "Look out, Colonel!" And I saw ten paces away Bavariana ammunition wagon which one of our shells had set on fire.
While we were there a consulting surgeon arrived to investigate the condition of a seriously wounded lieutenant, whose leg might need amputation. Two orderlies put the patient on a stretcher, and he was taken into the next room for examination. Later in the day the amputation was performed.