Empty ammunition wagons loaded again with wounded, went creaking slowly to the rear, the sharp cries of suffering echoing above the infernal din.

Just outside the gate, under the tree shadows, was established a field hospital, a dozen surgeons working feverishly amid the medley of sounds.
I had heretofore seen war from the front, in the excitement of battle, face to face with the enemy, but this sickened me.

I felt my limbs tremble, the perspiration bead my face.

I now knew what war was, stripped of its glamour, hideous in its reality of suffering and cruelty.

For a moment I felt remorse, fear, a cowardly desire to escape, to get away yonder, beyond the reek of powder, the cries of pain.