, the litter of saddles and
equipment, made a picture not soon to be forgotten.

We returned to the entrenchments again, crossed them, and proceeded to
Ferrieres, where we at last found a road which turned off to the east.
We followed this for two miles, passing through the grounds of a large
chateau only to find the road barred by an impassable combination of
ditches, barriers, and barbed wire. We went back again to Ferrieres,
which we learned had been the seat of the British General Staff only
that morning, and from there continued southward for several miles to
another village called Pontcarre. Here at last we found a straight and
open road to the east. We turned down it at top speed, not having the
faintest idea of what was ahead, and ran for ten miles through
deserted farming country in which the only signs of life were two
French cavalry patrols scouting through the woods.

Just as night was falling, we approached Villeneuve-le-Comte. Watchful
sentries in khaki surrounded the village, and the fields around it on
all sides were packed with British troops, who had just arrived and
were in the act of bivouacking for the night. From them we learned
that the German army was less than three miles away at Crecy and that
on the morrow at dawn a great battle was to be staged. All the Allies
had been force-marching to get there in time.

On every side camp fires gleamed out through the gray of the gloaming
and their smoke mounted upward to mingle with the gray of the evening
sky above. Everywhere one saw men and horses blissfully resting after
the long, hot, and dusty march. The men lay upon the ground with every
muscle relaxed, while the horses, with drooped heads, stood first on
one tired hind foot and then upon the other. Long lines of motor
trucks loaded with ammunition were parked along the gutters of all the
roads and byways. Along the crowded highway a lane was, however,
sacredly kept open, and men looked twice before they ventured to cross
it. From time to time an orderly on a motor-cycle, carrying
instructions to subordinate commanders, would zip at a dizzy speed
down this narrow path which was flanked by almost unbroken walls of
men, wagons, and lorries.

The streets of the little French village were crowded full with
khaki-clad soldiers. A battalion of Highlanders were going through
inspection in the dusk. They now numbered only three hundred odd, but
two weeks ago in Belgium they had been eleven hundred stro