CHAPTER II.
TWO YOUNG LIEUTENANTS.
Sturdy American lads, young though they were, Hal Paine and Chester Crawford had, when this story opens, already seen considerable military service. Each had received his baptism of fire during the heroic defense of the Belgian city of Liège, which had held out for days against the overwhelming horde of Teutons.
In Berlin with Hal’s mother when the war broke out, they had been separated from her and left behind. With Captain Raoul Derevaux, a gallant French officer, and Lieutenant Harry Anderson of the British army, they finally succeeded in making their way, after many desperate experiences and daring adventures, over the Belgian frontier, as told in the first book of this series, entitled [“The Boy Allies at Liège.”] They had reached Liège in time to take an active part in the defense of that city.
In escaping from Germany, each had done his full share of fighting and each had been wounded. They had finally reached Brussels, where they remained some time, while Hal’s wound healed sufficiently to continue his homeward journey. As the result of their heroic actions, the Belgian commander at Liège had mentioned them so favorably in his report to King Albert, that he had bestowed upon them commissions as lieutenants in the Belgian army as a mark of distinction for their bravery.
It was while waiting in Brussels that they again encountered Lieutenant Anderson, from whom they had been separated, and it was through his inducement that they now found themselves attached to the staff of Field Marshal Sir John French, commander of the British forces on the continent, engaged in scout duty.
At the time when this story opens they had been sent in advance of the main army on a reconnaissance.
The German advance through Belgium into France, up to this time, had been steady, although the Allies had contested every foot of the ground. Day after day and night after night the hard pressed British troops, to which Hal and Chester were attached, had borne the brunt of the fighting. But for the heroism of these comparatively few English, slightly more than one hundred thousand men, the Germans probably would have marched to the very gates of Paris.
But the arrival of the British troops had been timely, and under the gallant command of Sir John French, they had checked the overwhelming numbers of Germans time after time. The bravery of these English troops under a galling fire and against fearful odds is one of the greatest military achievements of the world’s history.