ehouses. Not until after the first shot was fired did we
who are in the army know how many army corps we had, or the names of
their commanders, or even the names of the officers composing the
general staff.

"A week after we took the field our infantry, in heavy marching order,
was covering fifty kilometers a day--thirty of your American miles--and
doing it day after day without straggling and without any footsore men
dropping behind.

"Do these things count in the sum total? I say they do. Our army will
win because it deserves to win through being ready and being complete
and being efficient. Don't discount the efficiency of our navy either.
Remember, we Germans have the name of being thorough. When our fleet
meets the British fleet I think you will find that we have a few Krupp
surprises for them."

I may meet these confident gentlemen tonight. If not, it is highly
probable I shall meet others who are equally confident, and who will
express the same views, which they hold because they are the views of
the German people.

At eleven o'clock, when I start back to the hotel, the streets will be
almost empty. Aix will have gone to bed, and in bed it will peacefully
stay unless a military Zeppelin sails over its rooftrees, making a noise
like ten million locusts all buzzing at once. There were two Zeppelins
aloft last night, and from my window I saw one of them quite plainly.
It was hanging almost stationary in the northern sky, like a huge yellow
gourd. After a while it made off toward the weSt. One day last week
three of them passed, all bound presumably for Paris or Antwerp, or even
London. That time the people grew a bit excited; but now they take a
Zeppelin much as a matter of course, and only wonder mildly where it
came from and whither it is going.

As for to-morrow, I imagine to-morrow will be another to-day; but
yesterday was different. I had a streak of luck. It is forbidden to
civilians, and more particularly to correspondents, to go prowling about
eastern Belgium just now; but I found a friend in a naturalized German-
American, formerly of Chicago, but living now in Germany, though he
still retains his citizenship in the United States.

Like every one else in Aachen, he is doing something for the government,
though I can only guess at the precise nature of his services. At any
rate he had an automobile, a scarce thing to find in private hands in
these times; and, what was more, he had a militar