Hence, they never went to sleep, and in only a single instance recorded in history had a tortoise won a footrace from a hare.

Yet an old proverb, even if based upon a solitary exception, is wonderfully consoling, and John was able to use it now as comfort.
After he had passed the fortifications and was well behind the German interior lines, travel became easier.

The Germans, considering their army a wall before them, were less suspicious and the interruptions were few.

John, moreover, was a cheerful peasant.

He had a fair voice, and he sang German hymns and war songs in a mellow baritone as he strode along.
The road was really not so bad, after that long and hideous life in filthy trenches.