weather, no boats could be lowered. Those that were got out were
smashed up at once. No boats left the ship. What people on the shore
thought to be boats leaving, were rafts. Men did get into the boats as
these lay in their cradles, thinking that as the ship went under the
boats would float, but the ship sank by the head, and when she went she
turned a somersault forward, carrying down with her all the boats and
those in them. I do not think Kitchener got into a boat. When I sprang
to a raft he was still on the starboard side of the quarter deck,
talking with the officers. From the little time that elapsed between my
leaving the ship and her sinking I feel certain Kitchener went down with
her, and was on deck at the time she sank."

[Illustration: WHERE EARL KITCHENER MET HIS DEATH]

The British Admiralty, after investigation, gave out a statement
declaring that the vessel struck a mine, and sank about fifteen minutes
after.

The news of Lord Kitchener's death shocked the whole Allied world. He
was the most important personality in the British Empire. He had built
up the British army, and his name was one to conjure by. His efficiency
was a proverb, and he had an air of mystery about him that made him a
sort of a popular hero. He was great before the World War began; he was
the conqueror of the Soudan; the winner of the South African campaign;
the reorganizer of Egypt. In his work as Secretary of War he had
met with some criticism, but he possessed, more than any other man,
the public confidence. At the beginning of the war he was appointed
Secretary of War at the demand of an overwhelming public opinion. He
realized more than any one else what such a war would mean. When others
thought of it as an adventure to be soon concluded, he recognized that
there would be years of bitter conflict. He asked England to give up its
cherished tradition of a volunteer army; to go through arduous military
training; he saw the danger to the Empire, and he alone, perhaps, had
the authority to inspire his countrymen with the will to sacrifice. But
his work was done. The great British army was in the field.

CHAPTER V

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

In the very beginning Russia had marked out one point for attack. This
was the city of Cracow. No doubt the Grand Duke Nicholas had not hoped
to be able to invest that city early. The slowness of the mobilization
of the Russian army made a certain prudence advisable at the beginning
of t