"
Then he turned his horse toward the left of his line, where, a
little to the rear, lay the fresh troops that he had been holding in
readiness against this very moment. As he galloped across the plain,
his staff at his heels, shrapnel burst about them. Von der Tann
spurred to his side.
"Sire," he cried, "it is unnecessary that you take such grave risks.
Your staff is ready and willing to perform such service that you may
be preserved to your people and your throne."
"I believe the men fight better when they think their king is
watching them," said the American simply.
"I know it, sire," replied Von der Tann, "but even so, Lutha could
ill afford to lose you now. I thank God, your majesty, that I have
lived to see this day--to see the last of the Rubinroths upholding
the glorious traditions of the Rubinroth blood."
Barney led the reserves slowly through the wood to the rear of the
extreme left of his line. The attack upon the Austrian right center
appeared to be meeting with much greater success than the American
dared to hope for. Already, through his glasses, he could see
indications that the enemy was concentrating a larger force at this
point to repulse the vicious assaults of the Luthanians. To do this
they must be drawing from their reserves back of other portions of
their line.
It was what Barney had desired. The three bombs from the aeroplane
had told him that the Serbians had been sighted three miles away.
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