For, as you remember, we had been requested--requested,
mind you, and not ordered--to march to the station with the armed escort
that would be in charge of the prisoners of war, and it had been
impressed upon us that we were to assist in guarding the convoy,
although no one of us had any more deadly weapon in his possession than
a fountain pen; and finally, according to our instructions, if any
prisoner attempted to escape in the dark we were to lay detaining hands
upon him and hold him fast.
This was all very flattering and very indicative of the esteem in which
the military authorities of Beaumont seemed to hold us. But we were not
puffed up with a sense of our new responsibilities. Also we were as a
unit in agreeing that under no provocation would we yield to temptations
to embark on any side-excursions upon the way to the railroad.
Personally I know that I was particularly firm upon this point. I would
defy that column to move so fast that I could not keep up with it.
In the black gloom we could make out a longish clump of men who stood
four abreast, scuffling their feet upon the miry wet stones of the
square.
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