ic scythe, and so were the reserves as
they tried to advance. The first attack had collapsed. After a short
time, however, they came on again, this time more cautiously,
armed with nippers to cut the barbed wire and using the bodies of
their own fallen comrades as a rampart. Again they were repulsed.
Once more their cavalry executed a feigned attack under cover of
which the Russian infantry rallied, strongly reinforced by reserves,
and more determined than ever.

Supported by heavy artillery fire their lines rolled endlessly on and
hurled themselves against the barbed-wire fences. For a short time
it almost seemed, as if they would break through by sheer weight of
numbers. At that critical moment, however, our reserves
succeeded in executing a flanking movement. Surprised and
caught in a deadly cross-fire, the Russian line wavered and finally
they fled in disorder.

All these combined artillery, infantry, cavalry, and aeroplane attacks
had utterly failed in their object of dislodging our center or shaking
its position, each one being frustrated by the resourceful, cool
alertness of our commanding general and the splendid heroism and
stoicism of our troops. But the strain of the continuous fighting for
nearly the whole day without respite of any kind, or chance for food
or rest, in the end told on the power of endurance of our men, and
when the last attack had been successfully repulsed they lay mostly
prostrated on the ground, panting and exhausted. Our losses had
been very considerable too, stretcher-bearers being busy
administering first aid and carrying the wounded back to the nearest
field hospital, while many a brave man lay stark and still.

By eight o'clock it had grown perceptibly cooler. We now had time
to collect our impressions and look about us. The Russians had left
many dead on the field, and at the barbed-wire entanglements
which our sappers had constructed as an obstacle to their advance,
their bodies lay heaped upon each other, looking not unlike the
more innocent bundles of hay lying in the field. We could see the
small Red Cross parties in the field climbing over the horribly
grotesque tumuli of bodies, trying to disentangle the wounded from
the dead and administer first aid to them.

Enthusiasm seemed suddenly to disappear before this terrible
spectacle. Life that only a few hours before had glowed with
enthusiasm and exultation, suddenly paled and sickened. The
silence of the nigh