ering blast of flame
sprang out and the enemy went down in heaps.

There were signs of confusion in the German ranks and the American
commander gave the signal to charge.

Out from their shallow trenches leaped the Army Boys, the light of
battle in their eyes, and fell like an avalanche upon the advancing
hosts.

In an instant there was a welter of fearful fighting. The force of the
enemy had been largely spent by their march over that field of death,
while the Americans were fresh and their vigor unimpaired.

For a brief space the Germans were pressed back, but they had
concentrated their forces on that section of the line so that they
outnumbered the Americans by two or three to one, and little by little,
by sheer weight, they pressed their opponents back. And behind those
immediately engaged, fresh forces could be seen emerging from the woods
and coming to the help of their comrades.

But Americans never show to such advantage as when they are fighting
against odds, and the battle line swayed back and forth, first one and
then the other side seeming to have a temporary advantage.

Frank and his comrades were in the very thick of the fight, shooting,
stabbing, using now the bayonet and again the butts of their rifles as
the occasion demanded. There was a red mist before their eyes and
their blood was pounding in their veins and drumming in their ears from
their tremendous exertions.

Slowly but surely, the fierce determination of the Americans began to
tell. The solid enemy front was broken up into groups, and the gaps
grew wider and wider as their men were pushed back further and further
over the ground that lay between the lines. In the center the
Americans were winning.

But suddenly a new danger threatened. A fresh body of German troops
had worked its way to a position where it could attack the American
right flank, which was but thinly held because for the time being the
bulk of the forces were engaged in pressing the advantage gained at the
center. If the enemy could turn that flank and throw it back in
confusion on the main body, it might lead to serious disaster.

At the point where Frank and his comrades were fighting, there was a
nest of machine guns that commanded the space over which the new enemy
forces were bearing down on the threatened flank. Several of the gun
crews had fallen, and the guns were temporarily unserved.

There was no time to wait for orders. Another minute and the gu