homeward journey. As the result of their heroic actions, the Belgian
commander at Liège had mentioned them so favorably in his report to King
Albert, that he had bestowed upon them commissions as lieutenants in the
Belgian army as a mark of distinction for their bravery.

It was while waiting in Brussels that they again encountered Lieutenant
Anderson, from whom they had been separated, and it was through his
inducement that they now found themselves attached to the staff of Field
Marshal Sir John French, commander of the British forces on the
continent, engaged in scout duty.

At the time when this story opens they had been sent in advance of the
main army on a reconnaissance.

The German advance through Belgium into France, up to this time, had been
steady, although the Allies had contested every foot of the ground. Day
after day and night after night the hard pressed British troops, to which
Hal and Chester were attached, had borne the brunt of the fighting. But
for the heroism of these comparatively few English, slightly more than
one hundred thousand men, the Germans probably would have marched to the
very gates of Paris.

But the arrival of the British troops had been timely, and under the
gallant command of Sir John French, they had checked the overwhelming
numbers of Germans time after time. The bravery of these English troops
under a galling fire and against fearful odds is one of the greatest
military achievements of the world's history.

Slowly, but standing up to the enemy like the true sons of Great Britain
always have done, they were forced back. They stood for hours, without