Water was served to the severely wounded by their comrades in tin cups given to them by the Germans, and then all but a few lay on the grass and sought sleep.
John and his new friend, Fleury, were among those who yet sat up and listened to the sounds of battle still in progress, although it was far in the night.

It was an average night of late summer or early autumn, cool, fairly bright, and with but little wind.

But the dull, moaning sound made by the distant cannonade came from both sides of them, and the earth yet quivered, though but faintly.

Now and then, the searchlights gleamed against the background of darkness, but John felt that the combat must soon stop, at least until the next day.

The German army in which he was a prisoner had ceased already, but other German armies along the vast line fought on, failing day, by the light which man himself had devised.
Fleury was intelligent and educated.