eft Clerfayt at Saturday's dawn, as we left the Arch-Duke at
the same time, far short of the starting-point which had been assigned to
him.

Whereas the Arch-Duke, miles away over there to the south, had at least
pushed on to the best of his ability through the night towards
Pont-a-Marcq, Clerfayt did _not_ push on by night to Wervicq as he should
have done. He bivouacked with the heads of his columns no further than the
Ypres road.

Nor did he even break up and proceed over the remaining three miles during
the very earliest hours. For one reason or another (the point has never
been cleared up) the morning was fairly well advanced when he set
forth--possibly because his units had got out of touch and straggling in
the sandy country, or blocked by vehicles stuck fast. Whatever the cause
may have been, he did not exchange shots with the French outposts at
Wervicq until well after noon upon that Saturday the 17th of May.

When at last he had forced his way into the town (the great bulk of which
lies north of the river), he found the bridge so well defended that he
could not cross it, or, at any rate, that the carrying of it--the chances
of its being broken after the French should have retired and the business
of bringing his great force across, with the narrow streets of the town to
negotiate and the one narrow bridge, even if intact to use--would put him
upon the further bank at a hopelessly late hour. Therefore did he call for
his pontoons in order to solve the difficulty by bridging the river
somewhat lower down. The Lys is here but a narrow stream, and it would be
easy, with the pontoons at his disposal, to pass his troops over rapidly
upon a broader front, making, if necessary, two wide bridges. I say "with
the pontoons at his disposal." But by the time Clerfayt had taken this
decision and had sent for the pontoons, he found that they were not there!

His section of pontoons had not kept abreast with the rest of the army,
and their delay had not been notified to him. It was not until quite late
in the day that they arrived; it was not until evening that the laying of
the pontoons began,[6] nor till midnight that he was passing the first of
his troops over.

He did not get nor attempt to get the mass of his sixteen or seventeen
thousand across in the darkness. He bivouacked the remainder upon the
wrong side of the river and waited for the morrow.

* * * * *

So that Saturday ended,