He
is as game as game, and says he is just holding things together until
the war is over. He is 75 and remembers the horrors of the last war, in
which he fought in the artillery.... Our "look-out" men are ever on the
alert, for we never take a meal or rest altogether. Sentries and
signalers are always posted before we dismount. The cure joined us at
the farmer's house and we enjoyed an excellent repast, with the honor of
two local gendarmes who had brought in a German spy caught red-handed
robbing the house of a peasant the night before and attempting to murder
her. The man was dressed as a French peasant. Upon him we found evidence
that he was a spy. Summary procedure made it easy to decide that the
sentence of drumhead court-martial was death. And here again is an
instance of the extraordinary clemency of the French clergy. The cure
pleaded that the spy should not be shot and the extreme penalty
inflicted. So I consented (not being a man of blood) to the prisoner
being sent to the nearest French military post, to be executed or not,
as the General shall order.
I really believe that all of the evidence which crowds into me supports
the charge that this is not a campaign which has proved attractive to
the German rank and file. Prisoners we have taken say that they have no
relish for the fighting. They have been well plied with drink, and seem
to urge that drunkenness may be pleaded as an excuse for crime.
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