in
this fog."

"Good idea," said Carstairs. "I'm as anxious as you to know more. This
fair land of France is bearing strange fruit now."

Keeping a wary eye for Uhlans who must be somewhere near they rode with
all the courage of youth into a clump of trees that grew upon a hillock
close to the road. There, in the shelter of the foliage, they looked
down upon what was passing.

"Busy Bertha!" said Wharton.

John beheld a giant cannon, one of the mighty howitzers which he had
treated as a fable, a soldier's idle dream, until he had heard it
booming in the night. But here was another drawn by a powerful motor.
Its monster mouth was turned up at an angle toward the sky, and in the
fog lighted only by the torches the thing became alive to John, huge and
misshapen, dragging itself over the ground, devouring human beings as it
went, like the storied dragons of old.

He glanced at his comrades and saw that the monster had taken hold of
them in the same way. They were regarding it with a kind of awe, and yet
it was not alone. Its sinister shape merely predominated over everything
else. It was preceded and followed by many other cannon, giants
themselves, but overshadowed by the mammoth.

Motors drew most of the great guns, and there were thousands more
carrying soldiers, arms and various kinds of equipment. Behind them came
vast masses of gray infantry, marching with the steady German tread. The
heavy fog, which the torches lighted but dimly, magnified and distorted
everything, and the sight was uncanny and terrifying.

John had the deepest respect for German arms. He knew the strong and
tenacious German nature, and he had had some insight into the mighty
preparations of the empire. Now he saw them rolling down every road upon
France, and, for a little while he did not see how they could be beaten,
not though all the world combined against them. The mammoth cannon
moving slowly on through the fog typified their irresistible advance.

"I think we've seen enough," said Wharton. "We'd better be up and away."

"Too much for me," said Carstairs. "My eye what a gun!"

"It looks more like a dragon to me," said John.

They wheeled and rode away over the wet ground, which gave back but
little sound of hoofs, and soon they were again on their own road,
bearing to the west. They were very thoughtful, but their own risks of
the morning from the hidden bullets were forgotten. The mind of every
one of the three turned forward.