“Oh, that will be all right,” said Stubbs.  “The king is a good friend of ours.  Why, only last night he said that if we desired anything all we had to do was to call on him.  Now, taking the king at his word, what we would desire most is to be allowed to witness the battle from that eminence.”

The Montenegrin officer hesitated; but only for a moment.  Then he said: 

“If those were the king’s words, he no doubt will forgive me for leading you thither.”

“Most certainly he will,” declared Stubbs; “in fact, he will thank you for bringing us to him.”

The officer, without further words, proceeded as desired, and ten minutes later, having left the big army automobile, they climbed the eminence and took their positions not far from where the king and the general staff stood viewing the Austrian lines through their glasses.

Even as they settled themselves as comfortably as possible, the first big gun of the enemy boomed.  Other big guns from the Montenegrin lines took up the action and soon the artillery engagement became general.  The air was filled with terrible din and it was next to impossible to make oneself heard above the roar of battle.

Hidden batteries in the Montenegrin lines were making their fire felt.  Shielded from the enemy in front, they were also, in most cases, made invisible to the Austrian air craft that continually hovered overhead, sheltered as they were in dense clumps of trees and bushes.

From the Montenegrin lines now went a small fleet of aeroplanes, seeking out the hiding places of the enemy artillery and signaling back the range to the Montenegrin gunners.

For an hour the duel of big guns continued without other action of any kind.  Now and then the spectators were able to make out the effect of an enemy shell as it struck within the Montenegrin line, but they were unable to determine the result of the Montenegrin fire.

Came the sound of a bugle from the rear.

“Something up!” shouted Chester at the top of his voice.

Hal nodded but said nothing.  He did not feel equal to making himself heard above the terrible roar of battle.

From the Austrian line suddenly issued a squadron of cavalry, closely followed by many other squadrons.  It became apparent to the spectators that the enemy had determined to silence the Montenegrin guns, or a portion of them, at any rate, by a charge.

On they came in the very face of a hail of lead that cut great gaps in their ranks, mowing men and riders down like chaff before a storm.  But as fast as the ranks were thinned, they filled up again as the Austrians continued their charge, while from their rear the great Austrian guns continued to hurl their messengers of death over their heads into the ranks of the Montenegrins beyond.

Straight for a little woods in the center of the long battle line the Austrian cavalry dashed, their intention apparently being to seek temporary shelter there before charging some other part of the Montenegrin line.