ue that we fight tomorrow?"

"As surely as the rising of the sun."

"In that case it would be better for us all to go to sleep," said
Carstairs phlegmatically. "We'll need our full strength in the morning."

But John was not able to close his eyes for a long time. His rather
loose position as an aide enabled him to go about much with Darrell, the
young officer to whom he had been introduced first, and he saw that the
British army awaited the battle with eagerness, not unmixed with
curiosity. In John's opinion they held the enemy far too lightly, and he
did not hesitate to say so. Darrell was not offended.

"It's our national characteristic," he said, "and I suppose it can't be
changed. This overweening confidence sometimes brings us defeats that we
might have avoided, and again it brings us victories that we might not
have won otherwise. Tommy Atkins is always convinced that he can beat
two soldiers of any other nation, unless it's you Yankees. Of course he
can't, but the belief helps him a lot."

"Remember how you fared in the Boer war." Darrell laughed.

"Tommy Atkins doesn't read history, and those who remember it have long
since convinced themselves that the Boer successes were due to strange
tricks or are merely legendary."

John was not at all sure that Darrell was not a better born and better
educated Tommy Atkins himself. He, and all the other young officers whom
he met, seemed to be absolutely sure of victory on the morrow, no matter
how numerous the German host might be.

After a while he lay down in the grass, wrapped in a blanket, near his
comrades and slept. But the August night was not quiet, and it was an
uneasy sleep. He awoke far before dawn and stood up. He heard distant
shots now and then from the pickets, and the powerful searchlights often
played on the far horizon, casting a white, uncanny glare. Darker spots
appeared in the dusky sky. The aeroplanes were already hovering above,
watching for the first movement of the enemy.

He walked to the place, where the _Arrow_ was lying, and saw Lannes
standing beside it, fully clothed for flight.

"I'm carrying dispatches to our own army on the right," said Lannes,
"and I don't think you will see me again for several days. You fight
today, you know."

"And we shall win?"

Lannes was silent.

"All the English are confident of victory," continued John.

"Confidence is a sublime thing," said Lannes, "but in a great war it
goes best with numbers