s
to stifle a sob before answering coolly, "Shall we be clear of the
Germans then?"

"I--hope so. Their armies dare not advance so long as we hear those
guns."

The girl could not reason in the soldier's way. She thought she would
"hear those guns" during the rest of her life. Never had she dreamed of
anything so horrific as that drumming of cannon. She believed, as women
do, that every shell tore hundreds of human beings limb from limb. In
silent revolt against the frenzy which seemed to possess the world, she
closed her eyes and buried her head in the hay; and once again exhausted
nature was its own best healer. When the convoy rumbled into Verviers in
the early morning, having followed a by-road through Julemont and Herve,
Irene had to be awaked out of deep sleep. Yet the boom of the guns
continued! Liege was still holding out, a paranoiac despot was frantic
with wrath, and civilised Europe had yet another day to prepare for the
caging of the beast which threatened its very existence.

The leader of the convoy was greeted by a furious staff officer in such
terms that Dalroy judged it expedient he and the others should slip away
quietly. This they contrived to do. Maertz recommended an inn in a side
street, where they would be welcomed if accommodation were available.
And it was. There were no troops billeted in Verviers. Every available
man was being hurried to the front. Dalroy watched two infantry
regiments passing while Maertz and Joos were securing rooms. Though the
soldiers were sturdy fellows, and they could not have made an
excessively long march, many of them limped badly, and only maintained
their places in the ranks by force of an iron discipline. He was puzzled
to account for their jaded aspect. An hour later, while lying awake in a
fairly comfortable bed, and trying to frame some definite programme for
the day which had already dawned, he solved the mystery. The soldiers
were wearing new boots! Germany had _everything_ ready for her millions.
He learnt subsequently that when the German armies entered the field
they were followed by ammunition trains carrying four thousand million
rounds of small-arm cartridges alone!

He met Joos and Maertz at _dejeuner_, a rough but satisfying meal, and
was faced by the disquieting fact that neither Madame Joos nor Irene
could leave the bedroom which they shared with Leontine. Madame was done
up; _cette course l'a excede_, her husband put it; while mademoiselle's
an