By this time the Germans knew that the Belgians would fight to the last for their hearths and homes. Their pretended friendship now turned to bitter hate, and they went from village to village killing and looting. Goaded to frenzy by their terrible treatment, the Civic Guards and the peasants lay in wait for the Germans, and killed them whenever they could. About four miles north of Liége is the village of Herstal, the Belgian Woolwich, in which there is a great national factory for the manufacture of small arms. Most of the men engaged in this factory were with the army, so the women and children made up their minds to defend the factory. They armed themselves with revolvers and other weapons, and several times beat back the attacks of the Uhlans. When their ammunition was all gone they kept the Germans out by pouring boiling water on them from the windows. For two days they kept their flag flying. At last the Germans burst in and took a terrible vengeance on the women and children who had defied them so long. * * * * * With the fall of Fort Loncin the great German advance into Belgium began. Wave after wave of troops rolled over the frontier and surged across the open country towards Brussels. King Albert knew that his little army would be wiped out if it attempted to fight this vast array. His only hope was that the French would come to his assistance; but, as you know, they were not ready to take the field. On the 14th of August the Belgians withdrew from the river Gethe, where, as you will recollect, they had beaten the advance guard of the Germans. They now strove manfully to stem the torrent of the invaders near the town of Aerschot, a few miles north of Louvain. All their efforts, however, were in vain. [Illustration: Belgians defending a Barricade. _Photo, Sport and General._] [Footnote 201: On active service soldiers are supplied with compressed food which they may only eat when they cannot otherwise obtain supplies. In the British army the emergency ration is kept in a small sealed tin cylinder about five inches long. It consists of a cake of beef and a tablet of cocoa paste.] [Footnote 202: _Ton´gr_. For this and other Belgian names, see map on page 226.] [Footnote 203: German Lancers. The name comes from a Polish word derived from the Turkish.] [Footnote 204: Seaport and first-class fortress, capital of province of West Prussia, 3 miles from the Baltic Sea and 285 miles by rail north-east of Berlin.] [Footnote 205: So called from the cross which the Crusaders wore when they set out to free the Holy Land from the infidel. The First Crusade was preached in 1095, and lasted from 1096 to 1099.] CHAPTER XXV. DEEDS OF SHAME AND HORROR.