r men fell
doon, and their faces grew black, and they deed, in an agony such as
the man wha hasna seen it canna imagine--and weel it is, if he would
sleep o' nichts, that he canna.

The French Colonials broke and ran. The line was open. The Canadians
were dying fast, but not a man gave way. And the Hun came on. His gas
had broken the line. It was open. The way was clear to Ypres. That
auld, ruined toon, that had gi'en a new glory to British history in
November o' the year before, micht ha' been ta'en that day. And, aye,
the way was open further than that. The Germans micht ha' gone on.
Calais would ha' fallen tae them, and Dunkirk. They micht ha' cut the
British army awa' frae it's bases, and crumpled up the whole line
along the North Sea.

But they stopped, wi' the greatest victory o' the war within their
grasp. They stopped. They waited. And the line was formed again.
Somehow, new men were found tae tak' the places of those who had deed.
Masks against the gas were invented ower nicht. And the great chance
o' the Germans tae win the war was gone.

Why? It was God's will? Aye, it was His will that the Hun should be
beaten. But God works wi' human instruments. And His help is aye for
they that help themselves--that's an auld saying, but as true a one as
ever it was.

I will tell you why the Germans stopped. It was for the same reason
that they stopped at Verdun, later in the war. It was for the same
reason that they stopped again near Chateau Thierry and gave the
Americans time to come up. They stopped because they couldna imagine
that men would stand by when they were beaten.

The Canadians were beaten that day at Ypres when the gas came upon
them. Any troops i' the world would ha' been beaten. The Germans knew
that. They knew just hoo things were. And they knew that, if things
had been sae wi' them, they would ha' run or surrendered. And they
couldna imagine a race of men that would do otherwise--that would dee
rather than admit themselves beaten.

And sae, do you ken hoo it was the German officers reasoned?

"There is something wrong with our information," they decided. "If
things were really, over there, as we have believed, those men would
be quitting now. They may be making a trap ready for us. We will stop
and make sure. It is better to be safe than sorry."

Sae, because the human spirit and its invincibility was a thing beyond
their comprehension, the German officers lost the chance they had to
win the