XV. THE DOOM OF HULL 99 XVI. TERROR ON THE TYNE 110 XVII. HELP FROM OUR COLONIES 125 XVIII. RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN THE MIDLANDS 137 XIX. FALL OF BIRMINGHAM 150 XX. OUR REVENGE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 162 XXI. A NAVAL FIGHT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 174 XXII. PANIC IN LANCASHIRE 186 XXIII. THE EVE OF BATTLE 193 XXIV. MANCHESTER ATTACKED BY RUSSIANS 200 XXV. GALLANT DEEDS BY CYCLISTS 208 XXVI. GREAT BATTLE ON THE MERSEY 213 XXVII. THE FATE OF THE VANQUISHED 218 _BOOK III_ THE VICTORY XXVIII. A SHABBY WAYFARER 229 XXIX. LANDING OF THE ENEMY AT LEITH 235 XXX. ATTACK ON EDINBURGH 243 XXXI. "THE DEMON OF WAR" 248 XXXII. FRIGHTFUL SLAUGHTER OUTSIDE GLASGOW 256 XXXIII. MARCH OF THE FRENCH ON LONDON 268 XXXIV. LOOTING IN THE SUBURBS 279 XXXV. LONDON BOMBARDED 284 XXXVI. BABYLON BURNING 291 XXXVII. FIGHTING ON THE SURREY HILLS 299 XXXVIII. NAVAL BATTLE OFF DUNGENESS 304 XXXIX. THE DAY OF RECKONING 312 XL. "FOR ENGLAND!" 324 XLI. DAWN 328 _BOOK I_ _THE INVASION_ THE GREAT WAR IN ENGLAND IN 1897. CHAPTER I. THE SHADOW OF MOLOCH. War! _War in England!_ Growled by thoughtful, stern-visaged men, gasped with bated breath by pale-faced, terrified women, the startling news passed quickly round the Avenue Theatre from gallery to boxes. The crisis was swift, complete, crushing. Actors and audience were appalled. Though it was a gay comic opera that was being performed for the first time, entertainers and entertained lost all interest in each other. They were amazed, dismayed, awestricken. Amusement was nauseating; War, with all its attendant horrors, was actually upon them! The popular tenor, one of the idols of the hour, blundered over his lines and sang terribly out of tune, but the hypercritical first-night audience passed the defect unnoticed. They only thought of what might happen; of the dark cavernous future that lay before. War had been declared against Britain--Britain, the Empire that had so long rested in placid sea-girt security, confident of immunity from attack, was to be invaded! The assertion seemed preposterous. Some, after reading eagerly the newspapers still damp from the press, smiled incredulously, half inclined to regard the startling intelligence as a mere fabrication by alarmists, or a perfected phase of the periodical war-scare which sensational journalists annually launch upon the world during what is technically known as the "gooseberry" season.