It was still daylight when we returned to our domicile, where the Crown
Prince, just back from his day's work, was resting in the doorway. A
moment later I went out for a walk in the town. At the bridges over
the Meuse I was stopped by the sentries, who in authoritative but
invariably polite tones asked to see my _Ausweis_. That they found me
suspicious-looking, ambling along as I did with a sketch-book under my
arm, was not to be wondered at. Only one of them, an honest Landwehr
man, declared categorically that my pass was not sufficient. "Oh," I
said. "The name of the Chief of the General Staff of the Field Army,
General Moltke, does not impress you?" "No, the permit must be viséd by
the 5th Army," he replied. A couple of his comrades saved the situation
after reading the permit, and declared that General Moltke was good
enough for them....
It had been arranged that at about half-past six I should look out for
the Crown Prince and his staff as they passed through Dun on their
way back from Romagne. The time was approaching, and we were on the
watch. The traffic had not decreased at all, rather the reverse. For
a moment it looked like a block, and it would have been a nice thing
if the Crown Prince had arrived just then. We crossed the bridge and
were outside the town, when the aristocratic-looking cars, bearing
the mark, _General Ober Kommando V. Armee_, came tearing along at full
speed. Beside the chauffeur of the first one sat the Crown Prince
himself in a cloak with a high collar. He made a sign to me to get
in and I took my seat behind him. Then he talked for a while to the
officers of the lines of communications, and after that we started. But
now the pace was slow, as we happened to meet an infantry regiment.
The men took hold of their helmets by the spike, raised them aloft and
gave a rousing cheer, as if they were charging a French position. But
this time the cheer was meant for the Commander of the 5th Army and the
heir to the throne, and we drove through a roaring sea of loud hurrahs.
Gradually the ranks thinned out and finally came the stragglers--for
there are footsore men even in the best marching army of all--in small
groups of two or three, but they cheered as wildly as the rest. Last of
all a solitary man stood by the side of the road. He, too, joined in
with all the strength of his lungs. When the Crown Prince had reassumed
his motor goggles and turned up the collar of his cloak he was not
easily recognised, especially by the men of the transport columns we
met, who had their horses to look after. But his Imperial and Royal
Highness turned half round to me and said unassumingly that nothing
pleased him more than to find that he was supported and understood
by the soldiers. He considered it the first duty of a prince to show
himself worthy of the confidence of his whole people, and for his own
part he could not imagine a greater happiness than to occupy such a
position in the minds of the German people.