“Yes, that is it,” Moritz Abel said. “That is the quality. And many times among those who do not make claim nor talk of brotherhood, the reality is beaming from their daily service. Yes, that is it. I hope to know him better after the long night.”
They had reached the place of blood and torture.
“And now you must rest a little,” he told her. “You know he asked me to take care of you. I like him for that. A man would see a great deal in that, for he honored me.”
It was not yet dawn. Peter heard the moaning of the men as they awoke and turned in their bandages. Surgeon and assistants passed through; two of the latter remained to start up the malingerers. Machine and rapid-fire men especially were needed at the front, it was said. Four thousand men had fallen in the past three days, and this was to be the day of the most furious battle--Kohlvihr to drive a hole through the hills, this day. An early incident revealed certain facts--personal--and had a temporary numbing influence upon Mowbray. The day had risen and Samarc awakened, when a strange orderly entered the ward, and came leisurely to the cot where Peter sat:
The orderly looked under the cot for the uniform, as if to determine Samarc's place and rank.
“It was covered with blood,” said Peter. “They took it away.”
Peter was not sure--infantry possibly. He didn't care for the stranger's manner, nor to have this particular gunner of the rapid-fire pieces hurried to the field unhealed. The orderly bent suddenly, whispering.
_“She told me to tell you that she wants to come, but that it isn't safe--“_
...Moritz Abel looking for an interpreter would have been interested now; also the Old Man of _The States_. The stranger had spoken leisurely. Peter's temptation was conquered before he was half through.
“Are you sure you were to give me some message?” he asked.
The other regarded him keenly. Peter was well trained for that. An officer appeared in the doorway and beckoned the orderly.
“It must have been a mistake,” the latter muttered.
Peter was thinking fast. The fact remained that their meeting the night before had been noted. He was leaving for the field shortly; the harm of suspicion would fall upon her.
“I promised to call a moment this morning at the amputation house--but no one was to come for me,” he added.