We Germans are not barbarians, as our enemies allege." John saw fires burning in an ancient wood, through which a clear brook ran.

The ground was carpeted with bodies, which at first he thought were those of dead men.

But they were merely sleepers.

German troops in thousands had dropped in their tracks.

It was scarcely sleep, but something deeper, a stupor of exhaustion so utter, both mental and physical, that it was like the effect of anesthesia.