Half an hour, however, after our departure from Saint Agil,
they entered the village.
In a very wretched condition, half-famished and footsore, we went on,
through the sudden thaw which had set in, towards Vibraye, whose forest,
full in those days of wild boars and deer, stretched away on our left.
We were now in the department of the Sarthe, and, cutting across country
in the direction of the Huisne, we at last reached the ancient little
_bourg_ of Connerre, on the high-road running (left of the river) towards
Le Mans. There I took leave of our column, and, after buying a shirt and
some socks, hastened to the railway station--a mile and a half distant--
hoping, from what was told me, that there might be some means of getting
to Le Mans by train, instead of accompanying our men along the highway.
At Connerre station I found a very good inn, where I at once partook of
the best meal that I had eaten since leaving Le Mans, sixteen days
previously. I then washed, put on my new shirt and socks, and went to
interview the station-master. After a great deal of trouble, as I had a
permit signed by Colonel Bernard, and wore an ambulance armlet, I was
allowed to travel to Le Mans in a railway van.
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