THE SEED OF EMPIRE.

BY FRED. M. WHITE. Author of " The Day," "The Nether Milletoße," "The Corner Houss. . itte Slave of Silence," " Craven. Fortune. •' The Scales of Justice, etc.. etc.

COPYRIGHT.

CHAPTER Bill. AND. AFTEE? . For perhaps the last time tlie German phalanx had hurled itself regardless of j cost on that small pieco of ground near the town of Ypres. That spot will never be forgotten, but will go down to posterity as the most costly piece of ground ever struggled for in the history of the ; world. Month after month Germany had j struggled for it, had shed the besst of her I blood and lost the bravest of her first , line of troops, to say nothing of a king s ransom expended on ammunition in a futile struggle for what appeared to be no more than a heap of ruins. The Kaiser has set his heart upon Calais, just as j Queen Mary did, and with much the same J result, and' it may be that when history j comes to pronounce its verdict it will be ; found that a madman's wild ambition was j the cause of his downfall. j This had been going on now for months; j one magnificent regiment after another j had been flung headlong against the British trenches only to be driven back j or wipel out altogether, and yet wearily ; dragging months saw the eagles no nearer I the end of that terrible journey. And ; it was much the same too in whatever j direction the greedy bird of prey turned . his bloodshot eyes- He had his "successes : here and there, uo loubt, but each of j these was at a cost that no country can i repeat many times and live. And so it j was at Ypres until the foe fell sullenly back, never perhaps to attempt another advance, or on the other hand to recommence the hideous slaughter which hitherto had been in vain, eor May was passing and June was at hand and England's great armies that had been slowly gathered together since last summer were getting ready. Indeed, hundreds of thousands were ready now to come, out and help those gallant fellow countrymen who nad done so much during all those terrible months. And goodness knows they had earned their rest goodness knows they had paid a big enough price to save Europe from the fate which had threatened it. Some time perhaps we shall know the real inwardness of the magnificent task that the first British army set itself to accomplish. What we should have done without them one shudders to think. What would have become of France ? Would France have been a second Belgium Would the heel of the conqueror .have been pressed on the neck of Pans: It is difficult to say, but the probabilities are that all these things would have happened. But our armies saved all that; we may not yet have broken the back of the dragon, but we have cut his claws and-we can see the blood streaming from between the scales of the monster. Daily the Germans assaults at Ypres grew less and less, daily it became appar- j ent that he reckoned himself beaten. And | hourly England and France were growing ! stronger. Hourly England was pouring her troops into France, and Australia and New Zealand and Canada were hurrying up their sons to the front. And, meanwhile, though Germany was still battering at the ruined walls of Ypres and struggling, fitfully in the direction of Warsaw, the whole nation was, as much in a state of siege as if it had been imprisoned behind the walls of a fortress. It was all very well to argue that they held a portion of France and Russia and the whole of Belgium; in reality this merely meant that they had managed to extend the size of their cage before the iron bars were - actually driven home. It means a little more time, a little more patience, and the loss, 110 doubt, of many more gallant lives, but really these only spell delay of the inevitable. Then, on the top of all this, another foe has raised its head, another foe not to be despised, a splendid and united nation with some four millions of men behind it, determined to uphold the right and shake off the fetters which Germany and her miserable ally had hoped to forge about her feet. It is early yet to prophesy, but Italy ' will do her part. And there may be others yet, so take it all in all we have no reason to complain about the outlook for the future. But the men at the front, such as the Musketeers, live wholly in the present; they have their work to do and they are doing it splendidly. , A week or two later'after the last German dash for Ypres had been finally smothered, what was left of the Mus- " keteers went back to their billets. They had been fighting incessantly now for six. weeks. They had had no rest night or day, and human nature has its limits. There were fresh regiments now by the score to take their places and they were looking forward to what, in comparison, they would call a holiday. For the most part the group in which we are interested had come out of the fray with hardly a scratch. There were rumours abroad to the effect that they might be sent home before long either to recuperate or to remain there until the battalion was at full strength again, and many wistful eyes turned longingly in the direction of the coast. "Do you think there is a chance of getting home '' Kemp asked his captain, at the first opportunity. "Of course, we can go on fighting if necessary, but for the present, I think we have had as much as we can stand. They might give us a chance now that so many of the new army are here."

" I think it's very likely," the captain replied. " I can quite understand people at home feeling rather nervous at first as to how the young troops would behave. But when day after day we have been watching Territorials fighting with all the zest and keenness of old soldiers, I don't think there is any cause for anxiety. By jove, fancy what a reception a regiment like ours would get to-day if we marched through the streets of London! And I ■»n't imagine anything better for recruiting. The regiment has done its work well .and we are all proud of it. But we are tired, and there is no getting away from tho fact. I don't want to boast, but I've been out here now since the first week in September, and I must confess that I should like to 6ee London again. Mind you, I don't say that we shall go, but we must have some troops at home, and ', what could we have better than seasoned 1 m a like ourselves who have been right through the campaign from the beginning? But don't count on it, and don't be disappointed in any case." There were others, on the contrary, who were quite sure that they were going back again. Ginger, for instance, had come to regard it as quite a settled thing. I don't want to leave it altogether," he said. "I don't think as I could go i back to the old life now, an' I don't know as I'll!. good for anything but soldiering, f I 'as any luck, an' Lord knows I've ad my proper share since September, I'll be- a sergeant-major one of these days. I shan't never do better than that, along o* my defective education. But Lor', that's good enough for me, good enough for any chap as didn't 'ope a year ago to be nothin' more than a pore devil of a caddie or a cove wot sells pipers in the streets. It seems almost impossible to imagine as I've got a fair chance to finish up with twenty-five bob a week or more, an' a thoroughly good . pension when I'm done with. But I ain't thinkin' o' that just now, Mr. Kemp. Wot I wants is to see London again, to 'ear the noise of the streets, an' the roar of the traffic, an' find myself a chap wot people looks at when I goes by, 'an' to realise for the first time in "my life as I've got money in my pocket an' more to come, D'you know, sir, as I 'aven't drawn a penny o' my pay since we come out? An' it makes my 'ead fairly swim when I think of the sprees : I've "got before me." . ' - . \ "You wouldn't do anything foolish," , Bentley suggested. " You've got a fine! future _ before you, Ginger, if you don't abuse it. It would be a thousand pities if you did anything silly now Now listen, to niej, and, bo advisee!." j

"I ain't gain* to do anything foolish," Ginger muttered. ""But if » chap wot's gone through wot I 'ave ain't* entitled to a- good spree I don't know 'oo is. One nice little spree along o' my pals just for a couple o' days, an' then to settle down to respectability afterwards. But I don't want to go unless they can spare me. If the good" ole commander-in-chief takes it to 'eart, or if 'o feels 'e can't whop those hlcomin' Germans wifout Ginger Smiff then 'e's only got to 'old up 'is 'and, an I'll take. on* a Staff job without a murmur." ' You will always bo the same, Ginger," Kemo smiled. " I don't believe anything would change yon. But if X were you I wouldn't reckon too much upon going home. Nothing has been settled as yet and we may have a disapointment." " Don't you want to go, sir ?" Ginger asked. "I couldn't tell you how much," Kemp responded. " 1 hardly like to think about it. But we've got to play our part and go through it ail without murmuring. I know Tommy's a born grumbler: there are times when I believe he would mutiny if he wasn't allowed to grouse. But there are some people who smile and do nothing, whilst there are others who grouse and. grumble and work like blazes. Tommy's one of the last. It will always be the same as long as the British Empire lasts." And with this epitaph on the British soldier we can leave the Musketeers, battered and weary and war-worn, and waiting anxiously and patiently for the holiday they so richly deserved. Wo can leave them and their fellows either to go to the front again or to come back, knowing that whatever their fate is they will work till they drop and fight till they die. We can leave them to struggle on, as they have from the first, never knewing when they are beaten or what it is to taste the bitterness of defeat. And we can leave the womenkind to watch them and pray for them, doing their work at home cheerfully and uncomplainingly; leave them in the hospitals, women like Nettie and Dorothy, doing a noble work with a patience that is divine and a steadfastness which is beyond words. For the end is not yet, the final victory is still hidden in the clouds and smoke of war. Truly it is a " Long, long way to Tipper ary. . „ ." THE END.