But that was partly because having tramped all night, he was really beginning to be tired.

So he went on to the village, and there he found a little inn, where he got a good breakfast and a bed, in which, as soon as he had eaten his meal, he was sound asleep.
Few men were about the village when he went in.

He had noticed, however, the curious little throng, early as it was, about a bulletin ominously headed, "Kriegzustand!" That meant mobilization and war.

The men had answered the call already, all except those who were too old to spring to arms at once.

Some of the older ones, he knew, would be called out, too, for garrison duty, so that younger men might go to the front.
In his sleep he had many dreams, but the most insistent one was made up of the tramp of heavy feet and the blowing of bugles and the rattling of horses' feet.