the Friday at three o'clock
I understood that glory consists in doing what others have done , in being able to say , `` I , too . '' * * * * * * Three days went by in this `` rest camp . '' I got used to an existence crowded with exercises in which we were living gear-wheels ; crowded also with fatigues ; already I was forgetting my previous existence . On the Friday at three o'clock we were paraded in marching order in the school yard . Great stones , detached from walls and arches , lay about the forsaken grass like tombs . Hustled by the wind , we were reviewed by the captain , who fumbled in our cartridge-pouches and knapsacks with the intention of giving imprisonment to those who had not the right quantity of cartridges and iron rations . In the evening we set off , laughing and singing , along the great curves of the road .