第112章

"We are going to enter the Firth of Forth," was the general opinion.Even the brave soldiers, who perhaps heard the name for the first time in their lives, repeated the word with as important an air as if all the secrets of the military staff had been all at once revealed to them.

In the red light of the setting sun both shores appeared tinged with violet from the deep-blue sky and the grey-blue sea, the north shore being further off than the south.Favoured by a calm sea, the squadron, extended in close order to a distance of about five knots, made for the entrance of the Firth of Forth.

Full of expectation, the expeditionary army saw the vast, bold undertaking develop before its eyes.For nine hundred years no hostile army had landed on the coast of England.Certainly, in ancient times Britain had had to fight against invading enemies:

Julius Caesar had entered as a conqueror, Canute the Great, King of Denmark, had subdued the country.The Angles and Saxons had come over from Germany, to make themselves masters of the land.Harold the Fairhaired, King of Norway, had landed in England.But since the time of William of Normandy, who defeated the Saxons at Hastings and set up the rule of the Normans in England, not even her most powerful enemies, neither Philip of Spain nor the great Napoleon, had succeeded in landing their troops on the sea-girt soil of England.

Would a German army now succeed?

The outlines of the country became clearer and clearer; some even believed they could see the lofty height of Edinburgh Castle on the horizon.But soon the distant view was obscured and darkness slowly came on.

Hitherto not a single hostile ship had been seen.But now, when the greater part of the squadron had already entered the bay, the searchlights discovered two English cruisers whose presence had already been reported by the advance boats of the torpedo division.

In view of our great superiority, these cruisers declined battle, and by hauling down their flag, signified their readiness to surrender.From the sea, nothing remained to hinder the landing of the troops.The transports approached the south shore of the bay, on which Edinburgh and the harbour town of Leith are situated; and, after casting anchor, landed the troops in boats by the electric light.The infantry immediately occupied the positions favourable to meet any attack that might be made.But nothing happened to prevent the landing.The Scottish population remained perfectly calm, so that the disembarkation was completed without disturbance.

The population of Leith and the inhabitants of Edinburgh, who had hurried up full of curiosity, beheld, to their boundless astonishment, a spectacle almost incomprehensible to them, carried out with admirable precision under the bright electric light from the German ships.