He took the money and cigars thankfully enough; the story of the railway pass and the place he did not seem to believe.

Railway travelling was for soldiers, and an existence without beatings seemed an incredible idea.
"He kept on thanking me till I was out of sight, waving his hand, and thanking me in his German-Russian gibberish.
"A terrible thing is war.

Terrible at all times, but worst of all in one's own country.

We at home suffer hunger and cold, but at least we have been spared up to now the presence of the enemy hordes.
"This is a curious place--melancholy, yet with a beauty of its own.

An endless flat, with just a slight swelling of the ground, like an ocean set fast, wave behind wave as far as the eye can see.