two hours the artillery kept up the Titanic duel. The fog was
lifting, though still heavy in some of the low-lying sections. The
Thirty-seventh was resting easily on its arms, ready for whatever might
happen.

"We may not see so much fighting after all," remarked Billy, after a
while. "The fellows in front seem to be holding pretty well. Perhaps
they'll throw the Huns back right from the start."

"Don't kid yourself," replied Frank grimly. "That first line is almost
sure to go. It's expected to. It's only a forlorn hope anyway. We'll
get our stomachs full of fighting before the day is over."

Even while he spoke there were signs of confusion up in front. Groups
of men came in sight evidently retreating. Machine gun crews, bringing
their weapons with them, were hurriedly setting them up in new
positions. There would be a few discharges and then they would be
forced to retreat still further. They were fighting splendidly, and
putting up a dogged resistance, yielding ground only foot by foot, but
to the experienced eyes of the boys there was no mistaking the signs.
The enemy had broken through the first line positions.

"Well, it's nothing more than we knew would happen," remarked Frank, as
his frame tingled with the excitement of the coming fight which he knew
would soon be upon him.

"That's so," agreed Bart. "But what gets me is that the line was
broken so quickly. I thought it would be afternoon at least before the
Huns got as far as this."

The lines opened up to let the newcomers through so that they could go
to the rear and re-form.

"How about it?" Frank asked of a machine gunner whom he knew, as the
man limped by him, supported by a comrade. "We didn't expect to see
you fellows so soon."

"It was the mist," was the reply. "The Huns got within thirty yards
before we tumbled to it. We did the best we could but they just
swamped our position before we could get our cross-fire going. Even at
that we mowed them down in heaps with our rifle fire, but they kept on
coming. For every dead man there were twenty live ones to take his
place. We put up a stiff fight, but there were too many of them. It
seemed like millions. They're coming now like a house afire and you
boys want to brace."

"We're braced already," muttered Billy through his clenched teeth, as
he gripped his rifle until it seemed as though his fingers must leave
their imprint on the stock.

There was a short period of waiting