stance those reserves must be brought
before they could stand shoulder to shoulder with their comrades. It
is not mis-stating the fact on the night of the 21st February when we
assert that those two French army corps, holding a trench-line
extending over some twenty-five miles, stood, for the time being and
for many hours to come, alone between the enemy and their objective.
They must fight not only to retain their positions, but must fight for
time--time in which General Joffre and his commanders could rush
reinforcements to assist them. Yet, though the battle had only lasted
one single day, it had proved every man in those two corps a stanch
fighter, every one determined to resist to the utmost.

"We here, in the neighbourhood of Brabant, my friends, hold fast as you
know," said the officer, his eyes shining with enthusiasm. "Though the
enemy have poured shot and shell on us, though they have blown our
positions up and obliterated our trenches, we are here; and, indeed, do
I not see before me a most cheery and merry company? Yes, another cup
of coffee as I smoke and talk. It is cold outside, and somehow coffee
soothes a man's nerves after such an ordeal. Well, then, here we are,
firm, and not thinking of retiring yet awhile. On the line to Haumont,
they, our comrades, hold their battered trenches, and, like ourselves,
have taught the enemy a severe lesson. Then, passing to our right, you
get to the Bois de Caures, which this morning was held by a French
garrison. If we in this position were plagued with the fire of enemy
guns, in that strip of forest our friends have been deluged, and their
positions torn asunder and blown to pieces, even their dug-outs often
being penetrated. The place became untenable, and yet it has been of
assistance in the fighting. It was mined, and when the Germans, held
off till that time by our sharpshooters, launched a division at it, our
fellows slipped away before the enemy, and, waiting till the Germans
were in the wood and pouring into the battered trenches, fired the
mines, killing hundreds of them."

There came grunts from that bearded veteran, a gleam of his even white
teeth, and muttered remarks from the others seated about the fire in
the dug-out.

"Terrific!" exclaimed Henri. "Absolute murder; yet, what would you?"

"Yes, what would you?" repeated the officer. "It is France, it is
liberty, it is the right to live as we wish for which we fight, against
the oppressio