The evidences of man's work were present continually in the cannonade, but man himself was absent.
The horse went on with ponderous and sure tread.

Evidently he had wandered far under the influence of the firing, but it was equally evident that his certain instinct was guiding him back again.

He crossed a brook flowing down into the Marne, passed through a wheat field, and entered a little valley, where grew a number of oaks, clear of undergrowth.
When he saw what was lying under the oaks he pulled hard at the rough mane, until the horse stopped.

He had distinctly made out the figures of men, stretched upon the ground, apparently asleep, and sure to be Germans.

He stared hard at them, but the horse snorted and tried to pull away.