column and started up the road, there was a general rush on the part of the inhabitants out into the street, and we found ourselves in the center of a great storm of "adieu", "au revoir", and "bon voyage." With tears running down their cheeks the women waved madly to us, crying incoherent messages to the boys whom they knew best, while the men, more self-con­ tained, stood silently watching, darting forward now and then to exchange a hearty grip with some friend in O. D. "Bonne chance, mon ami, et au revoir." As we neared the crossroad where we must turn our backs on Varennes forever, an old woman, her voice shaking with emotion, cried out, "Non, non c'est pas adieu, c'est au revoir; vous reviendrez, tous, mes enfants!"

                Adieu to Varennes. Silently we turned and swung off down the long road toward La Ferte, the most dour of us strangely moved by this touching fare­ well on the part of those whose cheery good-fellow­ ship had done so much to make bearable the dreary weeks of waiting.

                The hike from Varennes to Vitry was an event to be long remembered. Thirty black kilometers over a frozen road, with heavy packs on our backs, and the halts maddening rare. La Ferte, our detraining point, was passed, the men casting wistful glances at the station, wondering why the powers that be had seen it necessary to send us to Vitry, to give us a hike of thirty kilometers instead of sixteen. At last we swung off the main road, and crept forlornly into Vitry, just as the church bells struck the hour of mid­ night. As far as the eye could reach the tracks were

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