"Because the object is to gather the soldiers as near the scene of action as possible. All our troops are being sent to the German frontier. One of the camps will be here, on the plains of Neerwinden, the great battle ground, where many of our army manœuvres have taken place."
"And is this the great battle ground?"
"Yes, the elevations about the plain have been filled with armies, and many a soldier has been slain on these historic grounds."
The boys looked about them, and they imagined how the soldiers of old must have fought and rushed hither and thither in the fury of the combat.
"It would be wonderful to see a battle here," said Ralph, half to himself, as he glanced at the hills beyond.
He little knew at that time that he would actually witness, not the battle between the ancient knights, that his fancy pictured, but the crash and roar of contending forces, with smoke and screeching shells and that on that very spot they would soon see dead and dying men, under conditions that would not permit them either to rescue or comfort them.
The boys soon became known to the others, and Ralph was the hero of the newcomers, as he had been wounded in one of the first fights that had actually taken place between forces in the field. The men never tired of telling how Alfred carried the first orders from a fighting force.
Here were two boys who had really been in an engagement, while most of the men who had been in the ranks for years had never seen an enemy in the field.
It had occurred to them that they ought to write home, but they believed that such a task would be useless. However, Roland informed them that the mails were still being carried and both boys now wrote the first accounts of their wonderful experiences.
How they detailed all the events, and the trials in their wanderings, and above all, of the great battle that they were in two days before, can best be left to the imagination. They were vivid boys' pictures, told with enthusiasm, and with pride.