As it was my day on duty it fell to me to march the men who had reported sick to the M.O. that morning. I should have liked to have time to cast an eye over my men's equipment before the captain came to take kit inspection. My mind was not entirely at ease on the subject, when, in passing, I had asked Corporal Bouguet if he thought it would go all right, he had curtly replied that he couldn't see everything, he hadn't got eyes all over his head.
Sick parade naturally promised to take longer than usual. Captain Ribet had made searching enquiries the day before and consulted the sick lists. He had told of about twenty weaklings to report themselves to the chief Medical Officer. I had not been surprised to catch sight of De Valpic's name on the list which I had been told to hand over.
Surgeon-major Bouchut, a stout, apoplectic-looking man, arrived in a state of perspiration, and swearing hard began to sound the men's hearts and lungs. He was not very ferocious to-day. He must have had instructions to strike out the good-for-nothings. Whenever it was a case of enteritis, rheumatism, or bronchitis he jerked out at me:
[Pg 118]
"Oh, he'd better stay at the dep?t!"
Then, turning to the man, he would growl:
"You'll have to stay behind my lad!"
A well-set-up fellow out of my section came and announced:
"I'm an old trooper, I am!"
"Well, what about it?"
"And so I shan't march."
"Oh, you think so, do you?"
"I never have marched."
"A good opportunity to learn!"
"It's on account of a slight rupture...."
"Let's have a look!"
Bouchut felt his groin.
"You wear a truss, do you?"
"Yes, sir-r!"
"In that case you can walk round the world!"
"But...."
"Off with you! Brr! Next man now!"
The next one on the list was De Valpic. I considered his thin body with all the ribs showing.
"What's the matter with you?" Bouchut asked.
"Nothing much, sir, but the captain told me to...."
Bouchut bent down over him:
"Take a deep breath...."
Just then a hubbub arose, an orderly was slating a man who had just upset the bottle containing the tincture of iodine.
"Can't you keep quiet, confound you!"
But Bouchut's attention was again distracted by the arrival of a surgeon-lieutenant. They gossiped for a moment and then returning at last to De Valpic, he said:
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"Then you don't cough at all?"
"Hardly at all, sir."
"Do you want to go to the front?"
"Certainly, sir."
"Very well, then. Must not be overdone," he dictated to me.
The examination came to an end. When I went out I came across the man with the rupture again. He was cursing and swearing! "Well, if that wasn't a shame! To make an old dragoon, with an illness like that, walk! They were a set of bullies, that's what they were!..." But he'd be even with them yet! He knew a thing or two. The first time they were under fire, he would stagger, and let himself fall. But first, he was going to write to Sembat, who was a pal of his.
"Switch off Loriot!" somebody warned him. "Here come the N.C.O.'s!"
I wondered whether I should pack him off to the defaulters' room.... Perhaps it would raise my prestige, but I let the opportunity slip by, and finally decided to have heard nothing.
Guillaumin came up to me. He was bringing the letters from the barracks and good-naturedly drew my attention to the fact that I was the one who ought to have gone to fetch them. He agreed in addition to be responsible for their distribution. He was rummaging in his pockets.
"There's a post card for you."
A post card really! I was not expecting anything. A few lines from my father and a note from Laquarriére, in answer to one I had written him, was all I had received since the beginning.
I looked at the post mark; illegible. I did not[Pg 120] recognise the handwriting, it was feminine. I turned to the signature: "Jeannine!"
The little Landry girl!
What does she think of it all? I wondered, amused. She, who would not hear of war! I remembered our trifling on that railway platform.... What a short time ago it was ... and yet it seemed so long. She had written very closely. I noted her graceful attempt to write me something beyond the usual commonplace remarks. She gave a short description of their railway journey. On hearing the great news, they had gone to Geneva (a reassuring atmosphere), and on to Paris the day after. Since then they had settled down again as well as might be, and without a maid, at St. Mandé. But what about me? I was far more interesting! In barracks, no doubt? Or perhaps already on my way to the front? They were counting on my being able to let ... friends, know how I was getting on. The card ended with these words, "We think of you a great deal."
I re-read it; I was touched. I would certainly answer this delightful girl very soon! I should have liked to do so at once; but a stupid feeling of bashfulness forbade my seeming in too much of a hurry.
We assembled for the inspection. The men came on to parade, one by one, staggering under their packs, which were continually slipping and having to be hoisted up again, with a jerk of their shoulders. All at once they ............