t the king's first visit
to the battle line, and, as before, his departure from England and
arrival on the Continent had been kept a secret until he had reached
his destination. The king traveled by automobile from Havre to various
parts of the British and French lines, "somewhere in France,"
inspecting troops and visiting hospitals. The royal tour was brought
to a premature close on the morning of the 28th owing to an
unfortunate accident. The king had just finished the second of two
reviews of troops representing corps of the First Army when his horse,
frightened by the cheers of the men, reared and fell, and his majesty
was severely bruised. Twice the horse (a mare) reared up when the
soldiers burst suddenly into cheers at only a few yards' distance. The
first time the mare came down again on her forefeet, but the second
time she fell over and, in falling, rolled slightly on to the king's
leg. The announcement of the king's mishap came with dramatic
suddenness to the assembled officers and troops. The troops of the
corps which he had first inspected could hear from where they stood
the cheers of their comrades about a mile away, which told them that
the second review was over, and that the king would pass down the road
fronting them in a few minutes. The orders to raise their caps and
cheer were shouted to the men by the company officers, and then the
whole corps, with bayoneted rifles at the slope, advanced in brigade
order across the huge fallow field in which they had been drawn up to
within thirty yards or so of the road. In a few minutes a covered
green automobile was seen tearing down the road at full speed, and as
it drew up opposite the center of the corps the cheering began to
spread all along the line. In the enthusiasm of the moment the
majority did not notice that the car was not flying the royal
standard, and even when an officer, with the pink and white brassard
of an Army Corps Staff, jumped out of the car and began to shout hasty
instructions few realized their mistake and his words were carried
away down the tempestuous wind that raged at the time. Then the
officer hurried here and there calling out that the king had met with
an accident and that there was to be no cheering. A few of those in
the center caught his words, but the news had not spread to more than
a fraction of the whole body before the king's car drove past. A
curious spectacle now presented itself. Along one portion of the front
the m