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La der Natier mobile a Zacion by
W. A. Dwiggins. On the

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left, the road comes up the
hill out of a pool of mist.

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On the right, it loses itself
in the shadow of a wood. On

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the far side of the highway,
a hedgerow, dusty in the moonlight,

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spreads an irregular border of black from
the wood to the fog. Behind the

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hedgerow, slender poplar trees, evenly
spaced rule off the distance with inky lines.

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A movement stirs the mist. At
the bottom of the hill. A

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monotonous rhythm grows in the silence.
The mist darkens, and from it there

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emerges a strange, shadowy column that
reaches slowly up the hill, moving in

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silence to the somber and muff beating
of a drum. As it draws nearer,

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the shadow becomes two files of marching
men, bearing between them a long,

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dim burden. The leaders advance into
the moonlight. Each two men are

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carrying between them a pole, and
from pole to pole have been slung planks,

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making a continuous platform. But that
which is heaped upon the platform is

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hidden with muddy blankets. The uniforms
of the men of various sorts, indicating

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that they are from many commands,
are in shreds and spotted with stains of

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mold and earth. Their heads are
bound in cloth so that their faces are

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covered. A single drummer at the
side of the column carries slung from his

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shoulder the shell of a drum.
No flag flies from the staff at the

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column's head, but the staff is
held erect. Slowly, the head of

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the line advances to the shadow of
the wood, touches it, and is

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swallowed. The leaders, the bare
flagstaff, the drummer disappear, but still

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from the shade is heard the muffled
rhythm of the drum. Still the column

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comes out of the mist. Still
it climbs the hill and passes with its

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endless articulated burden. At last,
the rearmost couple disengages itself from the mist,

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ascends, and is swallowed by the
shadow. There remains only the moonlight

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and the dusty head drew from the
left, the road runs from Belgium.

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To the right, it crosses into
France. The dead are leaving their resting

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places in that lost land. The
end of La der Natier mobile Lascion by

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W. A. Dwiggins