ogether
and made good time as far as the first outpost this side of Louvain.

Here there was a small camp by a hospital, and the soldiers came out to
examine our papers and warn us to go no farther, as there was fighting
in the town. The road was black with frightened civilians carrying away
small bundles from the ruins of their homes. Ahead was a great column of
dull gray smoke which completely hid the city. We could hear the muffled
sound of firing ahead. Down the little street which led to the town, we
could see dozens of white flags which had been hung out of the windows
in a childish hope of averting trouble.

We talked with the soldiers for some time in an effort to get some idea
of what had really happened in the town. They seemed convinced that
civilians had precipitated the whole business by firing upon the staff
of a general who was parleying with the Burgomaster in the square before
the Hotel de Ville. They saw nothing themselves, and believe what they
are told. Different members of the detachment had different stories to
tell, including one that civilians had a machine gun installed on top of
the Cathedral, and fired into the German troops, inflicting much damage.
One of the men told us that his company had lost twenty-five men in the
initial flurry. They were a depressed and nervous-looking crew, bitter
against the civil population and cursing their ways with great
earnestness. They were at some pains to impress upon us that all
Belgians were _Schwein_, and that the people of Louvain were the lowest
known form of the animal.

After talking the situation over with the officer in command, we decided
to try getting around the town to the station by way of the ring of
outer boulevards. We got through in good shape, being stopped a few
times by soldiers and by little groups of frightened civilians who were
cowering in the shelter of doorways, listening to the noise of fighting
in the town, the steady crackle of machine guns, and the occasional
explosions.

[Illustration: Entrance to the Rue de Diest, Louvain]

[Illustration: The dead and the living. A Belgian civilian and a German
soldier]

They were pathetic in their confidence that the United States was coming
to save them. In some way word has traveled all over Belgium that we
have entered the war on the side of Belgium, and they all seem to
believe it. Nearly every group we talked to asked hopefully when our
troops were coming, and when we answered th