ies has lost 130 men out of 240."

(3) "We are fighting with the English Guards, Highlanders and
Zouaves. The losses on both sides have been enormous. The English
are marvelously trained in making use of the ground. One never
sees them, and one is constantly under fire. Two days ago, early
in the morning, we were attacked by immensely superior English
forces (one brigade and two battalions) and were turned out of
our positions. The fellows took five guns from us. It was a
tremendous hand-to-hand fight. How I escaped myself I am not
clear.... If we first beat the English, the French resistance will
soon be broken."

The admissions of prisoners that the Germans were amazed at the fighting
qualities of the British soldier, and had acquired a wholesome dread of
meeting him at close quarters, may have been colored by a trifling
disposition to be amiable in their captivity; but letters such as those
just quoted are honest statements for private reading in Germany, and
were never intended to fall into British hands.

Although Tommy Atkins makes occasional jocular allusions to the enemy as
"Sausages" there is no doubt that he considers the German army a very
substantial fighting force. "The German is not a toy terrier, but a
bloodhound thirsting for blood," is one description of him; "getting to
Berlin isn't going to be a cheap excursion," says another; and, to quote
a third, "in spite of all we say about the Teuton, he is taking his
punishment well, and we've got a big job on our hands."

XII

THE WAR IN THE AIR

Mr. H.G. Wells did not long anticipate the sensations of an aerial
conflict between the nations. Six years after the publication of his
_War in the Air_ the thing has become an accomplished fact, and for the
first time in history the great nations are fighting for the mastery not
only upon land but in the air and under the sea.

Fine as have been the adventures of airmen in times of peace, and
startling as spectators have found the acrobatic performance of "looping
the loop," these tricks of the air appear feeble exploits compared with
the new sensation of an actual battle in the clouds. Soldiers,
scribbling their letters in the trenches, have been fascinated by the
sudden appearance at dusk of a hostile aeroplane, and have gazed with
pleasurable agitation as out of the dim, mysterious distance a British
aviator shot up in pursuit.

"It is thrilling a