to water and feed the horses before they crawled under their caissons, to snatch a few hours sleep.

                Experience in the army had taught everyone not to believe that anything was true until that thing actually happened. Just because we had been told that we would probably stay in Jouarre for twenty-four hours did not prove that we would remain so long; in fact, it would usually be a safe wager that the opposite would happen. Orders were continually changing. The following night was a classic. Late in the afternoon orders were received to be ready to move out at 6.30 P. M. We were, but that was as far as we got. Ten o'clock came; we were still ready to move out! Finally, definite orders arrived: "Unharness and unhitch, we will stay here until tomorrow." Yet the night had just begun! The men had hardly lain down and hardly stopped airing their opinions about the army and its ever changing plans before somebody sang out "All up, harness as fast as you can; we have got to make 25 kilometers before day­ break." In the meantime, the battery commanders were tearing up and down the roads many kilometers to the west, trying in vain to And the Regiment. They had gone forward to reconnoitre the front and to arrange for the relief with the Second Division when information was received that the Germans would probably launch an attack within forty-eight hours. Consequently, all previous plans were thrown into confusion. Instead of relieving the Second Division, the 26th was to take up Reserve positions in the rear, and to act as the second line of defense in case the enemy broke through.

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