lost its sense of being made under the menace of aeroplanes.
And at Mareuil-le-Pont, where that twenty kilometer
stage ended, an officer brought joy with several motor
trucks assigned to the regiment for the transportation of a
certain number of dismounted men. Sixty were chosen
from each organization and put in charge of Lieutenants
Brassel, Putnam, and Copelin. Although it wasn't generally known at the time, the destination of these trucks
was La Grange, three kilometers northwest of St. Mennehould. The rest of the regiment, condemned to the long
hike, continued to foresee a glorious rest ahead. The
rumor was that the billets were four days' march away.
Mareuil-le-Pont had other cheering features. The
weather still held fair. The country, not yet scourged by
autumn, was pleasant to men fresh from the gashed slopes
and devastated forests of battlefields. The gun park,
the picket lines, the straight rows of shelter tents were
arranged in pleasant fields; and in the village the civilian
population went about its business. There were shops,
for the first time since Douc, and they specialized in a fresh
cheese that nearly everyone added to his rations. Best
of all the column didn't form again until 10 'clock of the
morning of the 18th, so that there was all day and a large
part of the night for rest.
The roads now were not particularly congested. The regiment traveled rapidly, which is far less fatiguing than a snail's march with many halts.
It was generally known by this time that the French were routing the column, and were keeping it off the congested main lines of supplies. Therefore twenty kilometers were covered by 11 o'clock on the morning of the 18th to the summit of a high hill at Greuves, near Epernay.
The weather threatened here, but the place had matters of interest. It was in the heart of the Champagne country, and the wine was plentiful, cheap, and harmless, as
