went, stumbling, falling, getting up again some of them, never
rising again many of them. Bloody and mud-stained, powder-grimed and
sweat-marked, torn and panting, cut and bruised, with dry tongues that
swelled in their blackened mouths. With eyes that saw nothing and
everything--the sight of comrades torn to pieces beside them, the
falling of beloved officers, the tearing of great holes in the ranks,
and the closing of those holes by a living wall of others who offered
themselves for the sacrifice.

Forward they rushed, shouting and firing, tossing hand grenades into
the midst of the dust-gray bodies of the Huns that opposed them.
Onward they leaped and ran and staggered and jumped, but always
onward.

A yell on their left caught the ears of Jerry and his chums.

"Are we giving way?" asked Ned, grimly despairing.

"No! It's the tanks! Look!" screamed Bob.

And the tanks it was. A score of them, great lumbering giants,
impervious to everything save heavy guns, on they crawled, smashing
concrete machine-gun nests as though they were but collections of
vipers' eggs in a field.

These tanks turned the tide of battle at that particular point. For
the Germans were putting up a stiff resistance, and were about to
launch a counter-attack, as was learned later.

But with the tanks to protect them, to splatter death from their
armored machine guns, to spread terror and fear among the Huns, the
day was saved.

On rushed the Americans, Ned, Bob, and Jerry among them, while all
about them thundered the big guns, rattled the rifles, adding their
din to the tat-a-tat-tat of the machine guns.

And then the Germans, unable to withstand this withering fire and
being inadequately supported by their artillery, broke in confusion
and ran--ran to escape the terrible death that awaited them from the
avengers of a world dishonored by the Boches.

Wave after wave of storming troops now surged over the positions
lately occupied in force by the Germans. Up the wooded slopes they
swept, taking possession of dominant heights so long desired. The
objective was more than won, and the American position much improved.

The fury of the fighting began to die away. But it was still terrific
in spots, for there were many machine-gun nests left behind when the
Huns retreated, and the holders of them were told to die at their
posts. Many did.

When Ned, Bob, Jerry, and some of their comrades, led by an officer,
approached one of the dugouts