Lieutenant Maurice James Dease, of the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, was commander of the machine-gun section at Mons. Though he was badly wounded two or three times, he refused to leave his guns, and kept them in action until all his men were shot. He, too, died of his wounds, and the coveted Victoria Cross was handed to his relatives, who cherish it, you may be sure, with mingled pride and sorrow. Corporal Charles Ernest Garforth, of the 15th Hussars, also won the Victoria Cross on that dread day at a place about three miles south of Mons. His squadron was trapped, and the only road of escape was barred by entanglements of barbed wire. He volunteered to go forward and cut the wire, and this he did while hundreds of bullets flew about him. Thanks to his dauntless courage, his squadron was able to reach safety. Twice later he did equally heroic deeds, and never was the coveted cross more splendidly won. Lance-Corporal Charles Alfred Jarvis, 57th Field Company, Royal Engineers, showed great gallantry at Jemappes on the canal to the west of Mons. He worked on a bridge for one and a half hours in full view of the enemy, who kept up a heavy fire upon him. For a time he had the assistance of his comrades, but finally he sent them to the rear, and then all alone fired the charges which brought down the bridge. For this deed he was rightly enrolled in that glorious band of heroes who have wrought and fought and died to make us inheritors of deathless fame. [Illustration: Lance-Corporal Jarvis preparing to destroy a Bridge. _Drawn by Ernest Prater from a rough sketch by Lance-Corporal Jarvis._ Engineers destroy a bridge such as the above by fixing one or more slabs of gun-cotton in close contact with it. Wires are attached to the gun-cotton, and by means of electricity the charge is fired. The engineers must calculate the amount of gun-cotton required, and choose the most suitable position for fixing the charge, so that the explosion may have the desired effect.] [Footnote 21: Slight arch or upward bend.] [Footnote 22: Subaltern, officer below the rank of captain.] CHAPTER VI THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE. While our hard-pressed troops are retreating from Mons before overwhelming numbers of the enemy, we must turn to what is called the Eastern theatre of war and see what is happening there. Before, however, I describe the actual fighting, I must tell you something about Russia and the Russian army.