had succeeded for the
moment in escaping from the grasp of the Austro-Germans, the enemy was
steadfastly pursuing. Encouraged by a victory that must have more than
realized his most ambitious hopes, reinforced by captured guns and
material, he would wait only long enough to get sufficient strength into
position before hurling the whole of his weight once more against the
Italian line.

[Sidenote: Impossible to meet the second shock on the Tagliamento.]

To meet this second shock on the Tagliamento was not possible. The river
itself quickly became, as the rain stopped and the waters fell, too
easily traversable an obstacle to be worth fortifying. The line which it
would have imposed upon the Italian army was, moreover, too long to be
held in the depth desirable for resistance to the attack of superior
numbers. So the Tagliamento was occupied as an intermediate position
only long enough to shield the further retreat of the army and its
transport behind the broader and deeper stream of the Piave.

[Sidenote: The new stand behind the Piave.]

[Sidenote: Winter rains will delay enemy's heavy guns.]

Here at the time of writing the Italian forces are in position and the
enemy's advanced detachments have begun to register ranges and destroy
possible observation posts across the river with such artillery as they
have so far had the time to bring up. Whether the Piave line and the
rest of the Italian front to the westward, which has had to be modified
in conformation with the general movement of retreat, can be held
indefinitely, will probably be a question of heavy guns. If the enemy
can bring up his larger artillery before reinforcements of the same
character arrive from France and England, a further retreat from north
and east to another river line may well be necessary. Fortunately the
winter rains that have set in make for delay in the arrival of such
cumbrous war-engines as the Austrian seventeen-inch mortars, and it may
be that persistent mud and rain will compel the Austrians to be
satisfied with holding the considerable tract of territory that they
have won.

[Sidenote: Danger that Venice must be abandoned.]

[Sidenote: Cathedrals and palaces are protected by sand bags.]

But all preparations are being made to face the conceivable eventuality
of another retirement. The most serious consequence that this would
entail would be the abandonment of Venice and the necessity of bringing
that inestimable city within cl