HAVE you ever seen three hundred thousand men and one hundred thousand horses moving in one compact, marvelous unit of organization, discipline and system? If you have not seen it you cannot imagine what it is like. If you have seen it you cannot tell what it is like. In one case the conceptive faculty2 fails you; in the other the descriptive. I, who have seen this sight, am not foolish enough to undertake to put it down with pencil on paper. I think I know something of the limitations of the written English language. What I do mean to try to do in this chapter is to record some of my impressions as I watched it.
In beginning this job I find myself casting about for comparisons to set up against the vision of a full German army of seven army corps3 on the march. I think of the tales I have read and the stories I have heard of other[Pg 83] great armies: Alaric's war bands and Attila's; the First Crusade; Hannibal's cohorts, and Alexander's host, and C?sar's legions; the Goths and the Vandals; the million of Xerxes—if it was a million—and Napoleon starting for Moscow.
It is of no use. This Germanic horde4, which I saw pouring down across Belgium, bound for France, does not in retrospect5 seem to me a man-made, man-managed thing. It seems more like a great, orderly function of Nature; as ordained6 and cosmic as the tides of the sea or the sweep of a mighty7 wind. It is hard to believe that it was ever fashioned of thousands of separate atoms, so perfectly8 is it welded into a whole. It is harder still to accept it as a mutable and a mortal organism, subject to the shifts of chance and mischance.
And then, on top of this, when one stops to remember that this army of three hundred thousand men and a hundred thousand horses was merely one single cog of the German military machine; that if all the German war strength were assembled together you might add this army to the greater army and hardly know it was there—why, then, the brain refuses to wrestle9 with a computation so gigantic. The imagination just naturally bogs10 down and quits.
I have already set forth11 in some detail how it came to pass that we went forth from Brussels in a taxicab looking for the war; and how[Pg 84] in the outskirts12 of Louvain we found it, and very shortly thereafter also found that we were cut off from our return and incidentally had lost not only our chauffeur13 and our taxicab but our overcoats as well. There being nothing else to do we made ourselves comfortable along side the Belgian Lion Café in the southern edge of Louvain, and for hours we watched the advance guard sliding down the road through a fog of white dust.
Each time a break came in the weaving gray lines we fancied this surely was all. All? What we saw there was a puny14 dribbling15 stream compared with the torrent16 that was coming. The crest17 of that living tidal wave was still two days and many miles to the rearward. We had seen the head and a little of the neck. The swollen18 body of the myriad-legged gray centipede was as yet far behind.
As we sat in chairs tilted19 against the wall and watched, we witnessed an interesting little side play. At the first coming of the German skirmishers the people of this quarter of the town had seemed stupefied with amazement20 and astonishment21. Most of them, it subsequently developed, had believed right up to the last minute that the forts of Liège still held out and that the Germans had not yet passed the gateways22 of their country, many kilometers to the eastward23. When the scouts24 of the enemy appeared in their streets they fell for the moment into a stunned25 state. A little[Pg 85] later the appearance of a troop of Uhlans had revived their resentment26. We had heard that quick hiss27 and snarl28 of hatred29 which sprang from them as the lancers trotted30 into view on their superb mounts out of the mouth of a neighboring lane, and had seen how instantaneously the dull, malignant31 gleam of gun metal, as a sergeant32 pulled his pistol on them, had brought the silence of frightened respect again.
It now appeared that realization33 of the number of the invaders34 was breeding in the Belgians a placating35 spirit. If a soldier fell out of line at the door of a house to ask for water, all within that house strove to bring the water to him. If an officer, returning from a small sortie into other streets, checked up to ask the way to rejoin his command, a dozen eager arms waved in chorus to point out the proper direction, and a babble36 of solicitous37 voices arose from the group about his halted horse.
Young Belgian girls began smiling at soldiers swinging by and the soldiers grinned back and waved their arms. You might almost have thought the troops were Allies passing through a friendly community. This phase of the plastic Flemish temperament38 made us marvel1. When I was told, a fortnight afterward39, how these same people rose in the night to strike at these their enemies, and how, so doing, they brought about the ruination of their city and the sum[Pg 86]mary executions of some hundreds of themselves, I marveled all the more.
Presently, as we sat there, we heard—above the rumbling40 of cannon41 wheels, the nimble clunking of hurrying hoofs42 and the heavy thudding of booted feet, falling and rising all in unison43—a new note from overhead, a combination of whir and flutter and whine44. We looked aloft. Directly above the troops, flying as straight for Brussels as a homing bee for the hive, went a military monoplane, serving as courier and spy for the crawling columns below it. Directly, having gone far ahead, it came speeding back, along a lower air lane and performed a series of circling and darting45 gyrations, which doubtlessly had a signal-code meaning for the troops. Twice or three times it swung directly above our heads, and at the height at which it now evoluted we could plainly distinguish the downward curve of its wing-planes and the peculiar46 droop47 of the rudder—both things that marked it for an army model. We could also make out the black cross painted on its belly48 as a further distinguishing mark.
To me a monoplane always suggests a bird when it does not suggest an insect or a winged reptile49; and this monoplane particularly suggested the bird type. The simile50 which occurred to me was that of the bird which guards the African rhinoceros51; after that it was doubly easy to conceive of this army as a rhinoceros,[Pg 87] having all the brute52 strength and brute force which are a part of that creature, and its well-armored sides and massive legs and deadly horned head; and finally its peculiar fancy for charging straight at its objective target, trampling53 down all obstacles in the way.
The Germans also fancy their monoplane as a bird; but they call it Taube—a dove. To think of calling this sinister54 adjunct of warfare55 a dove, which among modern peoples has always symbolized56 peace, seemed a most terrible bit of sarcasm57. As an exquisite58 essence of irony59 I saw but one thing during our week-end in Louvain to match it, and that was a big van requisitioned from a Cologne florist's shop to use in a baggage train. It bore on its sides advertisements of potted plants and floral pieces—and it was loaded to its top with spare ammunition60.
Yet, on second thought, I do not believe the Prussians call their war monoplane a dove by way of satire61. The Prussians are a serious-minded race and never more serious than when they make war, as all the world now knows.
Three monoplanes buzzed over us, making sawmill sounds, during the next hour or two. Thereafter, whenever we saw German troops on the march through a country new to them we looked aloft for the thing with the droopy wings and the black cross on its yellow abdomen62. Sooner or later it appeared, coming always out of nowhere and vanishing always[Pg 88] into space. We were never disappointed. It is only the man who expects the German army to forget something needful or necessary who is disappointed.
It was late in the afternoon when we bade farewell to the three-hundred-pound proprietress of the Belgian Lion and sought to reach the center of the town through byways not yet blocked off by the marching regiments63. When we were perhaps halfway65 to our destination we met a town bellman and a town crier, the latter being in the uniform of a Garde Civique. The bellringer would ply66 his clapper until he drew a crowd, and then the Garde Civique would halt in an open space at the junction67 of two or more streets and read a proclamation from the burgomaster calling on all the inhabitants to preserve their tranquillity68 and refrain from overt69 acts against the Germans, under promise of safety if they obeyed and threat of death at the hands of the Germans if they disregarded the warning.
This word-of-mouth method of spreading an order applied70 only to the outlying sections. In the more thickly settled districts, where presumably the populace could read and write, proclamations posted on wall and window took its place. During the three days we stayed in Louvain one proclamation succeeded another with almost the frequency of special extras of evening newspapers when a big news story breaks in an American city:
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The citizens were to surrender all firearms in their possession; it would be immediately fatal to him if a man were caught with a lethal71 weapon on his person or in his house. Tradespeople might charge this or that price for the necessities of life, and no more. All persons, except physicians and nurses in the discharge of their professional duties, and gendarmes—the latter being now disarmed72 and entirely73 subservient74 to the military authorities—must be off the streets and public squares at a given time—to wit, nine P.M. Cafés must close at the same hour. Any soldier who refused to pay for any private purchase should be immediately reported at headquarters for punishment. Upper front windows of all houses on certain specified75 streets must be closed and locked after nightfall, remaining so until daylight of the following morning; this notice being followed and overlapped76 very shortly by one more amplifying77, which prescribed that not only must front windows be made fast, but all must have lights behind them and the street doors must be left unlocked.
The portent78 of this was simple enough: If any man sought to fire on the soldiers below he must first unfasten a window and expose himself in the light; and after he fired admittance would be made easy for those who came searching for him to kill him.
At first these placards were signed by the burgomaster, with the military commandant's[Pg 90] indorsement, and sometimes by both those functionaries79; but on the second day there appeared one signed by the commandant only; and this one, for special emphasis, was bounded by wide borders printed in bright red. It stated, with cruel brevity, that the burgomaster, the senator for the district and the leading magistrate80 had been taken into custody81 as hostages for the good conduct of their constituents82; and that if a civilian83 made any attack against the Germans he would forfeit84 his own life and endanger the lives of the three prisoners. Thus, inch by inch, the conquerors86, sensing a growing spirit of revolt among the conquered—a spirit as yet nowise visible on the surface—took typically German steps to hold the rebellious87 people of Louvain in hobbles.
It was when we reached the Y-shaped square in the middle of things, with the splendid old Gothic town hall rising on one side of it and the famous Church of Saint Pierre at the bottom of the gore88, that we first beheld89 at close hand the army of the War Lord. Alongside the Belgian Lion we had thought it best to keep our distance from the troops as they passed obliquely90 across our line of vision. Here we might press as closely as we pleased to the column. The magnificent precision with which the whole machinery91 moved was astounding—I started to say appalling92. Three streets converging93 into the place were glutted94 with men, extending from curb95 to curb; and[Pg 91] for an outlet96 there was but one somewhat wider street, which twisted its course under the gray walls of the church. Yet somehow the various lines melted together and went thumping97 off out of sight like streams running down a funnel98 and out at the spout99.
Never, so far as we could tell, was there any congestion100, any hitch101, any suggestion of confusion. Frequently there would come from a sideway a group of officers on horseback, or a whole string of commandeered touring cars bearing monocled, haughty102 staff officers in the tonneaus, with guards riding beside the chauffeurs103 and small slick trunks strapped104 on behind. A whistle would sound shrilly106 then; and magically a gap would appear in the formation. Into this gap the horsemen or the imperious automobiles108 would slip, and away the column would go again without having been disturbed or impeded109 noticeably. No stage manager ever handled his supers better; and here, be it remembered, there were uncountable thousands of supers, and for a stage the twisting, medieval convolutions of a strange city.
Now for a space of minutes it would be infantry110 that passed, at the swinging lunge of German foot soldiers on a forced march. Now it would be cavalry111, with accouterments jingling112 and horses scrouging in the close-packed ranks; else a battery of the viperish113 looking little rapid-fire guns, or a battery of heavier cannon, with cloth fittings over their[Pg 92] ugly snouts, like muzzled114 dogs whose bark is bad and whose bite is worse.
Then, always in due order, would succeed the field telegraph corps; the field post-office corps; the Red Cross corps; the brass115 band of, say, forty pieces; and all the rest of it, to the extent of a thousand and one circus parades rolled together. There were boats for making pontoon bridges, mounted side by side on wagons116, with the dried mud of the River Meuse still on their flat bottoms; there were baggage trains miles in length, wherein the supply of regular army wagons was eked118 out with nondescript vehicles—even family carriages and delivery vans gathered up hastily, as the signs on their sides betrayed, from the tradespeople of a dozen Northern German cities and towns, and now bearing chalk marks on them to show in what division they belonged. And inevitably119 at the tail of each regiment64 came its cook wagons, with fires kindled120 and food cooking for supper in the big portable ranges, so that when these passed the air would be charged with that pungent121 reek122 of burning wood which makes an American think of a fire engine on its way to answer an alarm.
Once, as a cook perched on a step at the back of his wagon117 bent123 forward to stir the stew124 with a spoon almost big enough for a spade, I saw under his hiked-up coat-tails that at the back of his gray trousers there were four[Pg 93] suspender buttons in a row instead of two. The purpose of this was plain: when his suspenders chafed125 him he might, by shifting the straps126 to different buttons, shift the strain on his shoulders. All German soldiers' trousers have this extra garnishment127 of buttons aft.
Somebody thought of that. Somebody thought of everything.
We in America are accustomed to think of the Germans as an obese128 race, swinging big paunches in front of them; but in that army the only fat men we saw were officers, and not so many of them. On occasion, some colonel, beefy as a brisket and with rolls of fat on the back of his close-shaved neck, would be seen bouncing by, balancing his tired stomach on his saddle pommel; but, without exception, the men in the ranks were trained down and fine drawn129. They bent forward under the weight of their knapsacks and blanket rolls; and their middles were bulky with cartridge130 belts, and bulging131 pockets covered their flanks.
Inside the shapeless uniforms, however, their limbs swung with athletic132 freedom, and even at the fag-end of a hard day's marching, with perhaps several hours of marching yet ahead of them, they carried their heavy guns as though those guns were toys. Their fair sunburned faces were lined with sweat marks and masked under dust, and doubtless some were desperately133 weary; but I did not see a[Pg 94] straggler. To date I presume I have seen upward of a million of these German soldiers on the march, and I have yet to see a straggler.
For the most part the rank and file were stamped by their faces and their limbs as being of peasant blood or of the petty artisan type; but here and there, along with the butcher and the baker134 and the candlestick maker135, passed one of a slenderer build, usually spectacled and wearing, even in this employment, the unmistakable look of the cultured, scholarly man.
And every other man, regardless of his breed, held a cheap cigar between his front teeth; but the wagon drivers and many of the cavalrymen smoked pipes—the long-stemmed, china-bowled pipe, which the German loves. The column moved beneath a smoke-wreath of its own making.
The thing, however, which struck one most forcibly was the absolute completeness, the perfect uniformity, of the whole scheme. Any man's equipment was identically like any other man's equipment. Every drinking cup dangled136 behind its owner's spine-tip at precisely137 the same angle; every strap105 and every buckle138 matched. These Germans had been run through a mold and they had all come out soldiers. And, barring a few general officers, they were all young men—men yet on the sunny side of thirty. Later we were to see plenty of older men—reserves and Landwehr—[Pg 95]but this was the pick of the western line that passed through Louvain, the chosen product of the active wing of the service.
Out of the narrow streets the marchers issued; and as they reached the broader space before the town hall each company would raise a song, beating with its heavy boots on the paving stones to mark the time. Presently we detected a mutter of resentment rising from the troops; and seeking the cause of this we discerned that some of them had caught sight of a big Belgian flag which whipped in the breeze from the top of the Church of Saint Pierre. However, the flag stayed where it had been put during the three days we remained in Louvain. Seemingly the German commander did not greatly care whose flag flew on the church tower overhead so long as he held dominion139 of the earth below and the dwellers140 thereof.
Well, we watched the gray ear-wig wriggling141 away to the westward142 until we were surfeited143, and then we set about finding a place where we might rest our dizzy heads. We could not get near the principal hotels. These already were filled with high officers and ringed about with sentries144; but half a mile away, on the plaza145 fronting the main railroad station, we finally secured accommodations—such as they were—at a small fourth-rate hotel.
It called itself by a gorgeous title—it was the House of the Thousand Columns, which[Pg 96] was as true a saying as though it had been named the House of the One Column; for it had neither one column nor a thousand, but only a small, dingy146 beer bar below and some ten dismal147 living rooms above. Established here, we set about getting in touch with the German higher-ups, since we were likely to be mistaken for Englishmen, which would be embarrassing certainly, and might even be painful. At the hotel next door—for all the buildings flanking this square were hotels of a sort—we found a group of officers.
One of them, a tall, handsome, magnetic chap, with a big, deep laugh and a most beautiful command of our own tongue, turned out to be a captain on the general staff. It seemed to him the greatest joke in the world that four American correspondents should come looking for war in a taxicab, and should find it too. He beat himself on his flanks in the excess of his joy, and called up half a dozen friends to hear the amazing tale; and they enjoyed it too.
He said he felt sure his adjutant would appreciate the joke; and, as incidentally his adjutant was the person in all the world we wanted most just then to see, we went with him to headquarters, which was a mile away in the local Palais de Justice—or, as we should say in America, the courthouse. By now it was good and dark; and as no street lamps burned we walked through a street that was like a tunnel for blackness.
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The roadway was full of infantry still pressing forward to a camping place somewhere beyond the town. We could just make out the shadowy shapes of the men, but their feet made a noise like thunderclaps, and they sang a German marching song with a splendid lilt and swing to it.
"Just listen!" said the captain proudly. "They are always like that—they march all day and half the night, and never do they grow weary. They are in fine spirits—our men. And we can hardly hold them back. They will go forward—always forward!
"In this war we have no such command as Retreat! That word we have blotted148 out. Either we shall go forward or we shall die! We do not expect to fall back, ever. The men know this; and if our generals would but let them they would run to Paris instead of walking there."
I think it was not altogether through vain-glory he spoke149. He was not a bombastic150 sort. I think he voiced the intent of the army to which he belonged.
At the Palais de Justice the adjutant was not to be seen; so our guide volunteered to write a note of introduction for us. Standing151 in a doorway152 of the building, where a light burned, he opened a small flat leather pack that swung from his belt, along with the excellent map of Belgium inclosed in a leather frame which every German officer carried. We mar[Pg 98]veled that the pack contained pencils, pens, inkpot, seals, officially stamped envelopes and note paper, and blank forms of various devices. Verily these Germans had remembered all things and forgotten nothing. I said that to myself mentally at the moment; nor have I had reason since to withdraw or qualify the remark.
The next morning I saw the adjutant, whose name was Renner and whose title was that of major; but first I, as spokesman, underwent a search for hidden weapons at the hands of a secret service man. Major Renner was most courteous153; also he was amused to hear the details of our taxicabbing expedition into his lines. But of the desire which lay nearest our hearts—to get back to Brussels in time haply to witness its occupation by the Germans—he would not hear.
"For your own sakes," thus he explained it, "I dare not let you gentlemen go. Terrible things have happened. Last night a colonel of infantry was murdered while he was asleep; and I have just heard that fifteen of our soldiers had their throats cut, also as they slept. From houses our troops have been fired on, and between here and Brussels there has been much of this guerrilla warfare on us. To those who do such things and to those who protect them we show no mercy. We shoot them on the spot and burn their houses to the ground.
"I can well understand that the Belgians[Pg 99] resent our coming into their country. We ourselves regret it; but it was a military necessity. We could do nothing else. If the Belgians put on uniforms and enroll154 as soldiers and fight us openly, we shall capture them if we can; we shall kill them if we must; but in all cases we shall treat them as honorable enemies, fighting under the rules of civilized155 warfare.
"But this shooting from ambush156 by civilians157; this murdering of our people in the night—that we cannot endure. We have made a rule that if shots are fired by a civilian from a house then we shall burn that house; and we shall kill that man and all the other men in that house whom we suspect of harboring him or aiding him.
"We make no attempt to disguise our methods of reprisal158. We are willing for the world to know it; and it is not because I wish to cover up or hide any of our actions from your eyes, and from the eyes of the American people, that I am refusing you passes for your return to Brussels to-day. But, you see, our men have been terribly excited by these crimes of the Belgian populace, and in their excitement they might make serious mistakes.
"Our troops are under splendid discipline, as you may have seen already for yourselves. And I assure you the Germans are not a blood-thirsty or a drunken or a barbarous people; but in every army there are fools and, what is worse, in every army there are brutes159. You[Pg 100] are strangers; and if you passed along the road to-day some of our more ignorant men, seeing that you were not natives and suspecting your motives160, might harm you. There might be some stupid, angry common soldier, some over-zealous under officer—you understand me, do you not, gentlemen?
"So you will please remain here quietly, having nothing to do with any of our men who may seek to talk with you. That last is important; for I may tell you that our secret-service people have already reported your presence, and they naturally are anxious to make a showing.
"At the end of one day—perhaps two—we shall be able, I think, to give you safe conduct back to Brussels. And then I hope you will be able to speak a good word to the American public for our army."
After this fashion of speaking I heard now from the lips of Major Renner what I subsequently heard fifty times from other army men, and likewise from high German civilians, of the common German attitude toward Belgium. Often these others have used almost the same words he used. Invariably they have sought to convey the same meaning.
For those three days we stayed on unwillingly161 in Louvain we were not once out of sight of German soldiers, nor by day or night out of sound of their threshing feet and their rumbling wheels. We never looked this way or[Pg 101] that but we saw their gray masses blocking up the distances. We never entered shop or house but we found Germans already there. We never sought to turn off the main-traveled streets into a byway but our path was barred by a guard seeking to know our business. And always, as we noted162, for this duty those in command had chosen soldiers who knew a smattering of French, in order that the sentries might be able to speak with the citizens. If we passed along a sidewalk the chances were that it would be lined thick with soldiers lying against the walls resting, or sitting on the curbs163, with their shoes off, easing their feet. If we looked into the sky our prospects164 for seeing a monoplane flying about were most excellent. If we entered a square it was bound to be jammed with horses and packed baggage trains and supply wagons. The atmosphere was laden165 with the ropy scents166 of the boiling stews167 and with the heavier smells of the soldiers' unwashed bodies and their sweating horses.
Finally, to their credit be it said, we personally did not see one German, whether officer or private, who mistreated any citizen, or was offensively rude to any citizen, or who refused to pay a fair reckoning for what he bought, or who was conspicuously168 drunk. The postcard venders of Louvain must have grown fat with wealth; for, next to bottled beer and butter and cheap cigars, every common[Pg 102] soldier craved169 postcards above all other commodities.
We grew tired after a while of seeing Germans; it seemed to us that every vista170 always had been choked with unshaved, blond, blocky, short-haired men in rawhide171 boots and ill-fitting gray tunics172; and that every vista always would be. It took a new kind of gun, or an automobile107 with a steel prow173 for charging through barbed-wire entanglements174, or a group of bedraggled Belgian prisoners slouching by under convoy175, to make us give the spectacle more than a passing glance.
There was something hypnotic, something tremendously wearisome to the mind in those thick lines flowing sluggishly176 along in streams like molten lead; in the hedges of gun barrels all slanting177 at the same angle; in the same types of faces repeated and repeated countlessly; in the legs which scissored by in such faultless unison and at each clip of each pair of living shears178 cut off just so much of the road—never any more and never any less, but always just exactly so much.
Our jaded179 and satiated fancies had been fed on soldiers and all the cumbersome180 pageantry of war until they refused to be quickened by what, half a week before, would have set every nerve tingling181. Almost the only thing that stands out distinct in my memory from the confused recollections of the last morning spent in Louvain is a huge sight-seeing car—[Pg 103]of the sort known at home as a rubberneck wagon—which lumbered182 by us with Red Cross men perched like roosting gray birds on all its seats. We estimated we saw two hundred thousand men in motion through the ancient town. We learned afterward we had under-figured the total by at least a third.
During these days the life of Louvain went on, so far as our alien eyes could judge, pretty much as it probably did in the peace times preceding. At night, obeying an order, the people stayed within their doors; in the daylight hours they pursued their customary business, not greatly incommoded apparently183 by the presence of the conqueror85. If there was simmering hate in the hearts of the men and women of Louvain it did not betray itself in their sobered faces. I saw a soldier, somewhat fuddled, seize a serving maid about the waist and kiss her; he received a slap in the face and fell back in bad order, while his mates cheered the spunky girl. A minute later she emerged from the house to which she had retreated, seemingly ready to swap184 slaps for kisses some more.
However, from time to time sinister suggestions did obtrude185 themselves on us. For example, on the second morning of our enforced stay at the House of the Thousand Columns we watched a double file of soldiers going through a street toward the Palais de Justice. Two roughly clad natives walked between the[Pg 104] lines of bared bayonets. One was an old man who walked proudly with his head erect186. He was like a man going to a feast. The other was bent almost double, and his hands were tied behind his back.
A few minutes afterward a barred yellow van, under escort, came through the square fronting the railroad station and disappeared behind a mass of low buildings. From that direction we presently heard shots. Soon the van came back, unescorted this time; and behind it came Belgians with Red Cross arm badges, bearing on their shoulders two litters on which were still figures covered with blankets, so that only the stockinged feet showed.
Twice thereafter this play was repeated, with slight variations, and each time we Americans, looking on from our front windows, drew our own conclusions. Also, from the same vantage point we saw an automobile pass bearing a couple of German officers and a little, scared-looking man in a frock coat and a high hat, whose black mustache stood out like a charcoal187 mark against the very white background of his face. This little man, we learned, was the burgomaster, and this day he was being held a prisoner and responsible for the good conduct of some fifty-odd thousand of his fellow citizens. That night our host, a gross, silent man in carpet slippers188, told us the burgomaster was ill in bed at home.
"He suffers," explained our landlord in[Pg 105] French, "from a crisis of the nerves." The French language is an expressive189 language.
Then, coming a pace nearer, our landlord added a question in a cautious whisper.
"Messieurs," he asked, "do you think it can be true, as my neighbors tell me, that the United States President has ordered the Germans to get out of our country?"
We shook our heads, and he went silently away in his carpet slippers; and his broad Flemish face gave no hint of what corrosive190 thoughts he may have had in his heart.
It was Wednesday morning when we entered Louvain. It was Saturday morning when we left it. This last undertaking191 was preceded by difficulties. As a preliminary to it we visited in turn all the stables in Louvain where ordinarily horses and wheeled vehicles could be had for hire.
Perhaps there were no horses left in the stalls—thanks to either Belgian foragers or to German—or, if there were horses, no driver would risk his hide on the open road among the German pack trains and rear guards. At length we did find a tall, red-haired Walloon who said he would go anywhere on earth, and provide a team for the going, if we paid the price he asked. We paid it in advance, in case anything should happen on the way, and he took us in a venerable open carriage behind two crow-bait skeletons that had once, in a happier day when hay was cheaper, been horses.
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We drove slowly, taking the middle of the wide Brussels road. On our right, traveling in the same direction, crawled an unending line of German baggage wagons and pontoon trucks. On our left, going the opposite way, was another line, also unending, made up of refugee villagers, returning afoot to the towns beyond Louvain from which they had fled four days earlier. They were footsore and they limped; they were of all ages and most miserable-looking. And, one and all, they were as tongueless as so many ghosts. Thus we traveled; and at the end of the first hour came to the tiny town of Leefdael.
At Leefdael there must have been fighting, for some of the houses were gutted192 by shells. At least two had been burned; and a big tin sign at a railroad crossing had become a tin colander193 where flying lead had sieved194 it. In a beet195 patch beside one of the houses was a mound196 of fresh earth the length of a long man, with a cross of sticks at the head of it. A Belgian soldier's cap was perched on the upright and a scrap197 of paper was made fast to the cross arm; and two peasants stood there apparently reading what was written on the paper. Later such sights as these were to become almost the commonest incidents of our countryside campaignings; but now we looked with all our eyes.
Except that the roadside ditches were littered with beer bottles and scraps198 of paper, and the[Pg 107] road itself rutted by cannon wheels, we saw little enough after leaving Leefdael to suggest that an army had come this way until we were in the outskirts of Brussels. In a tree-edged, grass-plotted boulevard at the edge of the Bois, toward Tervueren, cavalry had halted. The turf was scarred with hoofprints and strewed199 with hay; and there was a row of small trenches200 in which the Germans had built their fires to do their cooking. The sod, which had been removed to make these trenches, was piled in neat little terraces, ready to be put back; and care plainly had been taken by the troopers to avoid damaging the bark on the trunks of the ash and elm trees.
There it was—the German system of warfare! These Germans might carry on their war after the most scientifically deadly plan the world has ever known; they might deal out their peculiarly fatal brand of drumhead justice to all civilians who crossed their paths bearing arms; they might burn and waste for punishment; they might lay on a captured city and a whipped province a tribute of foodstuffs201 and an indemnity202 of money heavier than any civilized race has ever demanded of the cowed and conquered—might do all these things and more besides—but their common troopers saved the sods of the greensward for replanting and spared the boles of the young shade trees!
Next day we again left Brussels, the submissive, and made a much longer excursion[Pg 108] under German auspices203. And, at length, after much travail204, we landed in the German frontier city of Aix-la-Chapelle, where I wrote these lines. There it was, two days after our arrival, that we heard of the fate of Louvain and of that pale little man, the burgomaster, who had survived his crisis of the nerves to die of a German bullet.
We wondered what became of the proprietor205 of the House of the Thousand Columns; and of the young Dutch tutor in the Berlitz School of Languages, who had served us as a guide and interpreter; and of the pretty, gentle little Flemish woman who brought us our meals in her clean, small restaurant round the corner from the H?tel de Ville; and of the kindly206, red-bearded priest at the Church of Saint Jacques, who gave us ripe pears and old wine.
I reckon we shall always wonder what became of them, and that we shall never know. I hoped mightily207 that the American wing of the big Catholic seminary had been spared. It had a stone figure of an American Indian—looking something like Sitting Bull, we thought—over its doors; and that was the only typically American thing we saw in all Louvain.
When next I saw Louvain the University was gone and the stone Indian was gone too.
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1
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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2
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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4
horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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retrospect
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| n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯 | |
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6
ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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wrestle
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| vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付 | |
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bogs
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| n.沼泽，泥塘( bog的名词复数 )；厕所v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 )；妨碍，阻碍 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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13
chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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puny
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| adj.微不足道的，弱小的 | |
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15
dribbling
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| n.（燃料或油从系统内）漏泄v.流口水( dribble的现在分词 )；（使液体）滴下或作细流；运球，带球 | |
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16
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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17
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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18
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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19
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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20
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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21
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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22
gateways
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| n.网关( gateway的名词复数 )；门径；方法；大门口 | |
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23
eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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24
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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25
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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26
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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27
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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28
snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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29
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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30
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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31
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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32
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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33
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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34
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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35
placating
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| v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的现在分词 ) | |
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36
babble
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| v.含糊不清地说，胡言乱语地说，儿语 | |
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37
solicitous
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| adj.热切的，挂念的 | |
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38
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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39
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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40
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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41
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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42
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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43
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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44
whine
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| v.哀号，号哭；n.哀鸣 | |
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45
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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46
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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47
droop
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| v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡 | |
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48
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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49
reptile
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| n.爬行动物；两栖动物 | |
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50
simile
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| n.直喻，明喻 | |
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51
rhinoceros
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| n.犀牛 | |
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52
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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53
trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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54
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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55
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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56
symbolized
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| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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58
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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59
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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60
ammunition
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| n.军火，弹药 | |
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61
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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62
abdomen
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| n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分) | |
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63
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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64
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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65
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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66
ply
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| v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲 | |
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67
junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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68
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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69
overt
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| adj.公开的，明显的，公然的 | |
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70
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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71
lethal
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| adj.致死的；毁灭性的 | |
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72
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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73
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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74
subservient
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| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
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75
specified
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| adj.特定的 | |
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76
overlapped
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| _adj.重叠的v.部分重叠( overlap的过去式和过去分词 )；（物体）部份重叠；交叠；（时间上）部份重叠 | |
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77
amplifying
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| 放大，扩大( amplify的现在分词 )； 增强； 详述 | |
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78
portent
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| n.预兆；恶兆；怪事 | |
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79
functionaries
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| n.公职人员，官员( functionary的名词复数 ) | |
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80
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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81
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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82
constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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83
civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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84
forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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85
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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86
conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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87
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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88
gore
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| n.凝血，血污；v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破；缝以补裆；顶 | |
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89
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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90
obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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91
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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92
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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93
converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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94
glutted
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| v.吃得过多( glut的过去式和过去分词 )；（对胃口、欲望等）纵情满足；使厌腻；塞满 | |
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95
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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96
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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97
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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98
funnel
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| n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集 | |
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99
spout
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| v.喷出，涌出；滔滔不绝地讲；n.喷管；水柱 | |
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100
congestion
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| n.阻塞，消化不良 | |
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101
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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102
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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103
chauffeurs
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| n.受雇于人的汽车司机( chauffeur的名词复数 ) | |
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104
strapped
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| adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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105
strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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106
shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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107
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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108
automobiles
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| n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 ) | |
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109
impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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111
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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112
jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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113
viperish
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| adj.毒蛇般的，阴险的 | |
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114
muzzled
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| 给（狗等）戴口套( muzzle的过去式和过去分词 )； 使缄默，钳制…言论 | |
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115
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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116
wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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117
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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118
eked
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| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
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119
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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120
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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121
pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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122
reek
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| v.发出臭气；n.恶臭 | |
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123
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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124
stew
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| n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑 | |
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125
chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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126
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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127
garnishment
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| n.装饰，装饰品 | |
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128
obese
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| adj.过度肥胖的，肥大的 | |
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129
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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130
cartridge
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| n.弹壳，弹药筒；(装磁带等的)盒子 | |
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131
bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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132
athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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133
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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134
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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135
maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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136
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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137
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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138
buckle
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| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
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139
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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140
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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141
wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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142
westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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143
surfeited
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| v.吃得过多( surfeit的过去式和过去分词 )；由于过量而厌腻 | |
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144
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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145
plaza
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| n.广场，市场 | |
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146
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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147
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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148
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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149
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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150
bombastic
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| adj.夸夸其谈的，言过其实的 | |
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151
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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152
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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153
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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154
enroll
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| v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol | |
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155
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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156
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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157
civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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158
reprisal
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| n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠 | |
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159
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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160
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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161
unwillingly
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| adv.不情愿地 | |
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162
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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163
curbs
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| v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的第三人称单数 ) | |
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164
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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165
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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166
scents
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| n.香水( scent的名词复数 )；气味；（动物的）臭迹；（尤指狗的）嗅觉 | |
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167
stews
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| n.炖煮的菜肴( stew的名词复数 )；烦恼，焦虑v.炖( stew的第三人称单数 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
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168
conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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169
craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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170
vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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171
rawhide
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| n.生牛皮 | |
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172
tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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173
prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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174
entanglements
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| n.瓜葛( entanglement的名词复数 )；牵连；纠缠；缠住 | |
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175
convoy
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| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
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176
sluggishly
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| adv.懒惰地；缓慢地 | |
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177
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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178
shears
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| n.大剪刀 | |
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179
jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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180
cumbersome
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| adj.笨重的，不便携带的 | |
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181
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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182
lumbered
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| 砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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183
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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184
swap
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| n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易 | |
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185
obtrude
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| v.闯入；侵入；打扰 | |
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186
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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187
charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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188
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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189
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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190
corrosive
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| adj.腐蚀性的；有害的；恶毒的 | |
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191
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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192
gutted
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| adj.容易消化的v.毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的过去式和过去分词 )；取出…的内脏 | |
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193
colander
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| n.滤器，漏勺 | |
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194
sieved
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| 筛，漏勺( sieve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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195
beet
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| n.甜菜；甜菜根 | |
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196
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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197
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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198
scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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199
strewed
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| v.撒在…上( strew的过去式和过去分词 )；散落于；点缀；撒满 | |
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200
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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201
foodstuffs
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| 食物，食品( foodstuff的名词复数 ) | |
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202
indemnity
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| n.赔偿，赔款，补偿金 | |
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203
auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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204
travail
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| n.阵痛；努力 | |
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205
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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206
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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207
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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