.

Now it is very unusual for a commanding officer to have two lieutenants
on his staff, as had General French in the persons of Hal and Chester;
but the General had commissioned them as such on the spur of the moment,
and when they took command of the troop they consequently, for the time,
superseded the captain in command--for they were the personal
representatives of the General himself.

The two lads placed themselves at the head of the troop and rode forward
at a rapid trot. Past dense masses of infantry, battery after battery of
heavy artillery and troop upon troop of cavalry they rode toward the
northeast.

They were not yet at the front of the long battle line, for General
French had his headquarters well back, but still close enough to be in
constant danger from the enemy's artillery fire.

From a trot the troop broke into a gallop, and soon were beyond the
farthest trenches. Skirting this at the extreme north--close to the
sea--they progressed still further toward the enemy. It was the boys'
duty, if possible, to find out the position of the German forces at this
point and to determine their numbers; also the strategic positions that
could be used by either army.

Now an order was given for the troop to spread out, and, leaving the
road, the two lads led their men into the woods, where they could advance
with less danger of being seen. They had not been ordered forward to give
battle, and there would be no fighting unless it became necessary in
order that their mission might be successful.

But, as in most missions upon which the lads had been dispatched, there
was to be fighting; and these British were not the men to turn their
backs upon the enemy without giving them a warm reception.

From the shelter of the sand dunes there came suddenly a fusillade. Two
British troopers reeled in their saddles and tumbled to the ground.

CHAPTER II.

A BIT OF HISTORY.

While Hal and Chester and their troop of British cavalry are preparing to
meet this unexpected attack, it will be well to introduce here a few
words relating to the positions of the gigantic armies battling in France
and Belgium.

The war had now been in progress for five months. From the time that the
Allies had braced and checked the Germans in their rapid advance upon
Paris, and had assumed the offensive themselves, they had progressed
consistently, if slowly.

The Germans contested every inch of the ground, and all along the great