CHAPTER III.
HEROES.
All over Germany the corn stood high in the fields, ripe for the sickle.

Then suddenly the threatening shadow of war rose in the west like a black thundercloud in the blue summer sky, filling the harvest gatherers with anxious forebodings.

For fourteen days the people waited in painful suspense, not knowing whether to take up the sword or the scythe.

Then the cry of destiny came crashing through the country, terrifying and relieving at the same time: "The French have declared War!" That was on July 15, 1870, on a Friday.

Late in the afternoon the dismal news was spread in Berlin that the French ambassador at Ems had insulted the king, who had retired to the capital, and that a combat with the arrogant neighbors on the Rhine was inevitable.