ont-a-Marcq, and
the effort that was to be demanded of it was more than should have been
justly demanded of any troops. Indeed, the idea that a body of this great
size, tied to one road, could suffer the severe effort of the rush from
the south to St Amand, followed by a night-march, that march to be
followed by heavy fighting during the ensuing morning and a further
advance of eight or nine miles during the forenoon, was one of the weakest
points in the plan of the allies. No such weakness would have been
apparent if the main body of the Austrians under the Arch-Duke had been
called up on the 12th instead of the 14th, and had been given two more
days in which to cover the great distance. But, as it was, the delay of
the Emperor and his staff in calling up that main body had gravely
weakened its effective power.

The league-long column thrust up the road through the darkness hour upon
hour, with its confusion of vehicles and that difficulty in marshalling
all units which is the necessary handicap of an advance in the darkness.
Long before their task was so much as half accomplished, it was apparent
not only that Pont-a-Marcq would not be reached at dawn, but that the mass
of the infantry would not be at that river-crossing until the morning was
far spent.

When day broke, though cavalry had been set forward at greater speed, the
heads of the infantry column were but under the Hill of Beuvry. It was
long after six before the force had passed through Orchies, and though
Kinsky learnt, in the neighbourhood of eight o'clock, that the cavalry of
the fifth column were up on a level with him and had reached the river,
the main force of the fifth column was not available for crossing
Pont-a-Marcq until noon, and past noon.

Kinsky, thus tied to the broken Bridge of Bouvines until Pont-a-Marcq
should be forced, saw mid-day come and pass, and still his force and that
of the Arch-Duke upon his left were upon the wrong side of the stream.

Yet another hour went by. His fourth column and the fifth should already
have been nine miles up north, by Mouveaux, and they were not yet even
across the Marque!

It was not until two o'clock that the passage of the river at Pont-a-Marcq
was forced by the Arch-Duke Charles, and that, as the consequence of that
passage of the stream, the French were taken in reverse in their camp at
Sainghin and were compelled to fall back northward, leaving the passage at
Bouvines free. Kinsky repaired the