ment the French, whose
fortunes we shall next describe, found it possible to check the fury
of the pursuit. The drive of the German masses, which had so nearly
annihilated the British end of the line, was blocked, and the
remainder of the great retreat followed a more orderly fashion,
proceeded at a much slower rate, and approached that term at which a
counter-offensive might be attempted.

The whole process may be compared to the flood of a very rapid tide,
which, after the first few hours, is seen to relax its speed
considerably, and to promise in the immediate future an ebb.

In order to appreciate how this was, let us next consider what the
larger French forces to the east of the British had been doing. There
are no details available, very few published records, and it will not
be possible until an official history of the war appears to give more
than the most general sketch of the French movements in this retreat;
but the largest lines are sufficient for our judgment of the result.

It will be remembered that what I have called "the operative corner"
of the Allied army had stood in the angle between the Sambre and the
Meuse. It had consisted in the British contingent upon the left, or
west, in front of Mons; the 5th French Army, composed of three army
corps, under Lanrezac, to the east of it, along the Sambre, past
Charleroi; and the 4th French Army, also of three army corps, under
Langle, along the Middle Meuse, being in general disposition what we
have upon the accompanying sketch. It had been attacked upon Saturday,
the 22nd August, by seventeen German army corps--that is, by forces
double its own. On that same day Namur, at the corner, had fallen into
complete possession of the Germans, the French retreat had begun, and
on the following day the English force had, after the regrettable
delay of half a day, also begun its retirement.

We have seen that the British retirement (following the dotted lines
upon Sketch 60) had reached, upon the Friday night, the position from
Noyon to La Fere, marked also in dots upon the sketch.

What had happened meanwhile to their French colleagues upon the east?

[Illustration: Sketch 60.]

The first thing to note is that the fortress of Maubeuge, with its
garrison of reserve and second line men, had, of course, been at once
invested by the Germans when the British and French line had fallen
behind it and left it isolated. The imperfection of this fortress I
have already d