"Tell him that his mother is going to die of grief....

You can do so much!" But all that Captain Ferragut could do was to obtain a permit and an old automobile with which to visit the encampment of the legionaries.
The arid plain around Salonica was crossed by numerous roads.

The trains of artillery, the rosaries of automobiles, were rolling over recently opened roads that the rain had converted into mire.

The mud was the worst calamity that could befall this plain, so extremely dusty in dry weather.
Ferragut passed two long hours, going from encampment to encampment, before reaching his destination.

His vehicle frequently had to stop in order to make way for interminable files of trucks.