ighter. We began to respect him
on the day he laid low sixteen Germans with eighteen cartridges. He did
it as nonchalantly as though he were in a shooting gallery. But lazy!
Why, he was so lazy he would not brush the perspiration off his forehead.
He asked a neighbor to do it for him!"

The sergeant stopped and eyed His Lordship.

"Look," he said, "he's going to bed again."

It was true. His Lordship had stretched out on the cold, hard ground.

"Great Scott! Can he sleep there?" asked Chester, in surprise.

"His Lordship," said the sergeant calmly, "can sleep anywhere!"

CHAPTER XVI.

THE GERMAN ATTACK.

A battle, as severe in its hand-to-hand struggle and toll of life as
Fredericksburg or Antietam, in the American Civil War--yet in this vast
conflict only an incident, chronicled as "progress" in the official
reports--such was the battle of Soissons. It was the most terrific and
the most bitterly contested of the great war up to date, January 8.

There, for eight days, men fell, torn with shell and bullet, and over
these trenches men charged in the face of certain death.

A German attack in force opened the battle on January 8. General Joffre
had slightly altered his plan, as outlined to Hal and Chester, and
immediately the battle began the French made a counter-attack.

The Aisne river, at this point, is one of the most strategic positions.
The battlefield covered a front of approximately seven miles. On the
western side is a deep valley, running northward, which is bounded on
either side by turnpikes from Soissons, La Fere and Laon.

A high, level plateau rises steeply a couple of hundred feet from the
valley of the Aisne and formed the center and eastern flank of the
battlefield. The plateau is deeply notched by three steep-sided ravines
running down to the Aisne. Through these General Joffre, if he chose,
could bring up supports unnoticed and without danger to positions on
the plateau.

The French counter-attack, then, was made up the valley to the west
between the two turnpikes.

Immediately the Germans had begun their offensive the French made ready
for their attack by a terrible artillery bombardment. Field guns and
heavy artillery concentrated their fire on this section of the German
trenches, and there was such a rain of shell and shrapnel on the
defenders that they were unable to make an effective defense against the
French infantry attack which followed.

The French, with great dash,