ation for the British forces. The offensive
was begun, the time for striking back had come, and every column
resounded with marching choruses. The countryside was lovely, as
had been all the countryside through which the retreating armies
had passed, gay with the little French homesteads, flower decked
and smiling, heavily laden orchards, and rich grain fields, some
as yet uncut, some newly stacked. Women and children, with here
and there an old man, ran along the line of march ministering to
the wants of their defenders. There was no need for language, as
courtesy and gratitude are universal, and the English were fighting
for "La Belle France." So the morning wore on.

Through the forested region of Crecy the British passed, and it has
been told hereinbefore how they surprised the two cavalry commands
thrust out as scouts by General von Kluck. But, as they reached
the land that had been occupied by the German hosts, the bearing
of the men changed, even as the country changed. The simple homes
of the peasants were in ashes, every house that had showed traces
of comfort had been sacked or gutted with fire. Between noon and
three o'clock in the afternoon of that day three burned churches
were passed. The songs stopped. A black silence fell upon the ranks.
Bloody business was afoot.

It was in the middle of the afternoon, a slumbrous harvest afternoon,
that a big gun boomed in the distance, and the shell shrieked dolefully
through the air, its vicious whine ceasing with a tremendous sudden
roar as it burst behind the advancing British lines. On the instant,
Sir John French's batteries almost wiped out the German cavalry,
and ten minutes had not elapsed before the full artillery on both
sides had begun a terrific fire that was stunning to the senses.
Under cover of their own fire, the British infantry advanced and
hurled themselves against the outer line of General von Kluck's
Second Army. The attack failed. The British were driven back, but
though the loss of life was sharp, it was not great, as the British
commander had but advanced his men to test out the invader's strength.
The British artillery was well placed, and under its cover the
British made a second advance, this time successful. The Germans
replied with a counterattack which was repulsed, but in that forty
minutes 10,000 men had fallen.

A dispatch has been quoted from a French soldier, showing the terrible
havoc caused by the German machine guns, and a let