We stood wondering how we were going to spend the night when orders were bawled out that we were to sleep in the open!  This intimation was received with a wailing and groaning which sounded ominous to me.  But the guard, which had been strongly reinforced, was in overwhelming array so that all discontent and protest counted for naught.  A bewildering string of orders was yelled, the substance of which was that we were to shake ourselves down upon the grass in long regular rows, with a narrow passage between each two.  I think this was the first occasion upon which I had ever seen so many prisoners give way, since in the majority of cases the men were devoid of any means of making themselves comfortable for the night in the open air.  Some of us, including myself, had taken the precaution to bring our blankets with us:  indeed, we considered the blanket such an inestimable boon and companion that we never parted with it even for a moment.  We rolled ourselves in these, and although the grumblings and growlings which rose and fell over the field recalled the angry murmuring of the sea and were disturbing, I was so exhausted that I soon fell sound asleep.

So far as I was personally concerned I was not particularly sorry that Major Bach, in his devilish intention to exasperate us, had conceived the idea of compelling us to sleep in the open.  The weather was intensely hot and the night became insufferably sultry.  It must have been about midnight when I awoke for the first time.  For the moment I could not collect my thoughts and sat up somewhat surprised at the unusual brilliancy of the light playing upon my face, which was in striking contrast to the dismal blackness of the barracks.  Then I realised that we were in the open and that a glorious full moon was shining upon us from a cloudless sky.

I got on my feet and looked around.  It was a strange, albeit extraordinarily impressive sight.  Guards were patrolling the lines, their bayonets flashing sharply as they caught the glittering silvery light of the moon.  My guard came along and ordered me to lie down, but I refused, and, in fact, walked along between the rows of prostrate forms.  The air was uncannily still, broken only by the twitterings of night birds, the hooting of the owls, the subdued clanging of rifles, the footsteps of the guards, and the groans of many of the sleepers who were twisting and turning upon the ground.  The hill-side was crowded with the restless forms; they seemed so thick and densely packed as to cover every inch of space.

As I surveyed the scene the loneliness and helplessness of our position did not strike me.  All was so quiet and apparently peaceful.  Now and again a sleeper would stir, mutter something in his sleep about his poor wife and children at home, and would sit up to ascertain what light was playing upon his face, would turn to the moon and then completely satisfied would lie down and relapse into slumber.  As I observed the heavy dew which had dressed the grass and sleeping forms with beads which sparkled like diamonds I could not repress a feeling of thanks that the weather was kind to us.  Supposing it had rained!  I shuddered at the thought.