of blue and red-clad French soldiers, men of the line,
zouaves, chasseurs and all, plunged madly along. Little they recked that
many fell by the way under the storm of missiles that belched from the
hostile trenches; the lines closed over the gaps almost mechanically,
and only the figures that dotted the field after their passage told of
the terrible price with which the action was accompanied.

Now they were close up to the trenches, and some even leaping over the
redoubt, to grapple hand to hand with those who so desperately defended
it.

Brave though they were, the French had been so decimated in their mad
rush that it seemed as though there could not be enough of them left to
overcome the resistance of the defenders of the works.

It was while Rod was filled with this sense of anxiety that he noticed
something calculated to arouse new hope; for somehow he found himself in
sympathy with the French soldiers, perhaps because they had been the
under dog in the other war, when their fair country was overrun by
Bismarck's armies.

The wise French commander-in-chief, possibly General Joffre himself, had
seen to it that reserves were on hand to take up the fight after the
first line had hewn a way into the hostile trenches. Yes, there they
came along like a serried mass, or the waters bursting from a vast
reservoir after the dam has been broken.

He saw the living wave strike the first embankment and pass over. He
knew what terrible work must be going on beyond that thrown-up earth,
for in bayonet work the French have ever been without a rival. He pitied
the Germans who were trying to hold the first line of trenches so
valiantly, for they would mostly be either killed, wounded, or taken
prisoner.

The French guns still roared unceasingly, though that part of the great
Marne battle was already as good as won. Now their exploding missiles
were being hurled further on, so as to add to the perplexities of the
hurriedly retreating Germans, making for the next line of trenches,
which in turn would doubtless be just as stubbornly defended.

Josh it was now who used the glasses. As a rule Josh had always been
reckoned a generous fellow, sharing alike with his friends; but to-day a
spirit of greed possessed him. There was Hanky Panky, who really shrank
from such scenes as a battle--why bother paying any attention to him
when there was only a single pair of binoculars to go around?

Indeed, Hanky Panky made no further claim