Page:Ambulance 464 by Julien Bryan.djvu/184

even scratched the buildings on all four sides. The éclat appeared to have been shot high in air, and fallen harmlessly to the ground some distance away. Bouy is certainly a poor place for a hospital. Besides the big aviation field, it contains a good sized munition depot, and since it is liable to continual bombardment the authorities decided to evacuate all their patients to St. Hilare, even though the shelling was over. We worked at this for several hours, along with a French section. We formed in a long line at the H.O.E. in St. Hilare, waiting for the bulky French ambulances, which had arrived before us, to discharge their blessés. It was a very hot day and the air inside the ambulances was stifling. I gave my two Algerians a sip of water from my canteen, and they were so delighted with it, that I carried it down the line. Finally I came to a couple of wounded Boches, who couldn't resist the temptation of "Ein trinken Wasser," although at first they thought it was poisoned. The average German prisoner I have seen so far has been an ill-fed, stupid-looking, round-headed specimen who looked mighty sick of the war. But these fellows, although rather thin, had bright, intelligent faces. One was nineteen, another twenty, and the third a little fellow who claimed to be twenty-four. I had a long talk with them, while we were waiting, although my own German was pretty well mixed with French words