He was in
the front line from the beginning, he was, and I've never seen him
boozed, I haven't."
"Yes, but all must be told. Unfortunately for him, there was a
'previous conviction.' There were two, you know, that did the
trick--the other got two years. But Cajard, [note 1] because of the
sentence he got in civil life couldn't benefit by extenuating
circumstances. He'd done some giddy-goat trick in civil life, when
he was drunk."
"You can see a little blood on the ground if you look," said a
stooping soldier.
"There was the whole ceremonial," another went on, "from A to Z--the
colonel on horseback, the degradation; then they tied him to the
little post, the cattle-stoup. He had to be forced to kneel or sit
on the ground with a similar post."
"It's past understanding," said a third, after a silence, "if it
wasn't for the example the sergeant spoke about."
On the post the soldiers had scrawled inscriptions and protests. A
croix de guerre, cut clumsily of wood, was nailed to it, and read:
"A. Cajard, mobilized in August, 1914, in gratitude to France."
Returning to quarters I met Volpatte, still surrounded and talking.
He was relating some new anecdotes of his journey among the happy
ones.
______
[note 1:] I have altered the name of this soldier as well as that of
the village.--H. B.
11
The Dog
THE weather was appalling. Water and wind attacked the passers-by;
riddled, flooded, and upheaved the roads.
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