hey expected to visit later on.

Their days were full of happiness, peace, and contentment, and the last
days of July, 1914, drew to a close all too rapidly for them. They knew
next to nothing of the fearful storm brewing, until Dale happened,
towards the end of the second week of their holidays, to take up and
glance down the columns of a German newspaper lying on the table of the
hotel at which they were about to dine. His knowledge of German was
small, but was sufficient to enable him to grasp the purport of the
thick headlines with which the journal was plentifully supplied.

"Hullo, Max, look at this," he cried, pointing to the thick type.
"German ultimatum to Russia. Immediate demobilization demanded." "That
looks serious, eh?"

"Phew! It does," cried Max, taking the paper and rapidly scanning the
chief columns. "You may be sure that if Russia is in it France will be
too. My hat! what a war it will be!"

"Yes, and----By the way, this explains why those two Frenchmen we met at
the hotel yesterday were in such a hurry to be off without waiting for
breakfast. They had seen the news and were afraid that, if they didn't
get back at once, they wouldn't get back at all."

"That's it. There's one comfort, anyway, Dale, and that is, that neither
of us is likely to be concerned. There seems no earthly reason why
England or Belgium should come into this."

"No, and a good job too. We have enough troubles of our own all over the
world without butting in on the Continent."

For the next few days Max and his friend were again more or less buried
from the outer world. They had not, however, altogether forgotten the
great events that were taking place, and on reaching Bingen went so far
(for them) as to purchase a paper. Matters, they found, had grown far
more serious. Germany was already at war with Russia and France, and had
demanded of Belgium free passage for her troops to enter and attack
France.

Max was thunderstruck. He had never expected anything like this. That
Belgium, peace-loving Belgium, with her neutrality guaranteed by
practically all the great civilized Powers, should, in spite of it, be
about to be forced into a great European war had seemed unthinkable. Yet
so it was, and it seemed that war was inevitable, for Max did not
believe Belgium would ever allow foreign troops to cross her territory
to attack a country with which she was at peace. With Belgium, then, on
the verge of war, it behoved him to look