zy of rage which had swept like an epidemic over the whole
kingdom during the first days of disaster had died away and in its place
had come the quiet but desperate resolve that if Britain was to be
conquered she should be depopulated as well.

All male employment, save that which was necessary to produce coal and
iron, to keep the shipyards and the gun factories going, and the
shipping on the west coast running, was stopped. In thousands of cases,
especially in the north, the places of the men were taken by the women;
and, in addition to these, every woman and girl, from the match-girls of
Whitechapel to the noblest and wealthiest in the land, found some work
to do in the service of their country.

Every day, thousands and tens of thousands of the sons of England,
Scotland, Ireland and Wales were taken in hand by "Mr Sergeant
What's-'is-Name," and drilled into shape with miraculous speed; and
every day, as detachment after detachment went to the battle front,
which now extended from North Foreland to Portland Bill, the magic of
patriotism and the long-inherited habits of order and obedience changed
the raw recruit into the steady-nerved, strong-hearted soldier, who
learnt his duty in the grim school of battle, and was ready to do it to
the end.

In less than a month Britain had become a military nation. It seemed at
the time and afterwards a miracle, but it was merely the outcome of
perfectly natural causes.

After all, every British man has a strain of fighting blood in him. Even
leaving out his ancient ancestry, he remains the descendant of families
who have given soldier-sons to their country during five hundred years
of almost ceaseless war in one part of the world or the other. He is
really born with battle-smoke in his nostrils, and the beat of the
battle-drum in his heart--and he knows that, neither on land nor sea has
he ever been finally beaten.

Remember, too, that this was to him a holy war, the holiest in which the
sword can be drawn. He was fighting for freedom, for the possession of
his land, for the protection of wife and child and kindred, and the
heritage which his fathers of old time had handed down to him. Was it
any wonder, then, that within the space of a few weeks the peaceful
citizens of Britain, like the fabled harvest of the dragon's teeth,
seemed to spring as men full-armed from the very ground? Moreover, this
was no skirmishing with sharpshooters over a vast extent of country, six
thous