The two men ride off together, and the narrator wonders why they're so excited about the end of the war. He wonders if they'll be able to ask each other questions now that they don't have to worry about each other anymore. He's worried that she'll try to pass the conversation off as if it were a special mission, but he doesn't think she's really looking for him. He also worries that she may have left without permission, but the narrator reassures him that he's a medical officer, so he can't be too worried about that. He asks if they can go faster because they've got to cross a mountain in half a day. The narrator is worried that the horses are going their own way, which is dangerous because the forest is so dense. He tells the men to keep an eye out for anything that might be wrong. They're not sure what's happening, but they do know that the other side of the mountain is under attack.