ngland is proud of her kinsmen!"

CHAPTER XXVI.

TRAPPED.

It was two days later. The battle was raging fiercely. On all sides
men were dropping singly, in pairs, in tens and in hundreds. Since
early morning, when an advance guard of Germans had approached the
British line, the struggle had continued without a minute's breathing
space.

Gradually giving way before the English attacks, the German troops
fell back mile after mile, the English, in the section of the field
where the fighting had been going on, pursuing them closely. Unmindful
of their support on either side, the British still pressed forward,
until now they were far beyond either flank.

Suddenly from either side of the English troops came a thundering
volley. Taken by surprise, the British halted suddenly, while men
tumbled to the earth on every hand.

Before the officer in command could give the order to fall back, a
force of Germans was hurled into their rear, completely cutting them
off from any possible hope of aid from that direction. A thousand men
were in this little force now completely surrounded.

But the officer in command of the British was not of the caliber to
surrender. He was a typical son of Albion, a fighting man, none other
than Captain Harry Anderson, whose part in the expedition across the
Marne had raised him to that rank.

Advancing with his command, he soon found himself the ranking officer
still on his feet. Hal and Chester, who the night before had shared
his quarters, at the call to arms had plunged into the thick of the
conflict alongside the gallant captain. In spite of the terrific
carnage, in spite of the shot and shell that fell about them, they had
so far escaped injury.

Perceiving that retreat was cut off, Captain Anderson conceived a
possible escape. With a loud cry of "Forward!" to his men, he dashed
right into the face of a terrible rifle and artillery fire.

Men dropped as though mowed down by the wind, but the little column
halted not. They had spread out, fan-wise, at the command of Captain
Anderson, to avoid as much as possible the sweeping fire of the
Germans, and they now pressed forward at a run.

Completely surprised at this sudden charge by the little body of men,
that the German officers evidently believed entirely in their power,
and still more surprised by their desperate offense in the face of
overwhelming odds, the Germans, for a moment, gave way.

That moment was enough for the su