As the vessels approached the quays they were greeted with loud cheers from crowds of townsfolk, most of whom had never seen an Indian soldier before. They marvelled at the dark faces, the turbans, the soldierly bearing, and the fine equipment of our Indian brothers. Later in the day the troops were marched through the city. As our dusky warriors, with their bright eyes and gleaming teeth, swung along the streets, the people shook them by the hand and cheered them again and again. Young girls showered flowers upon them and pinned roses to their tunics and turbans. Perhaps it was the little, sturdy, smiling Gurkhas who aroused the greatest enthusiasm. As they advanced behind their pipers, men, women, and children clambered on to the tables and chairs of the cafés to catch a glimpse of them, and the air rang with shouts of "_Vivent les Anglais!_"[149] "_Vivent les Hindous!_"
The men were afterwards marched off to a rest camp, where they remained for a few weeks, preparing for the fiery ordeal that awaited them.
[Illustration: Sikhs marching through Marseilles.
[Footnote 134: _Bartholdi_, French sculptor (1834-1904). The statue of Liberty referred to is 200 feet high, and was presented in 1886 to the United States by the French Government to mark the hundredth year of American independence. It stands on Bedloe's Island, at the mouth of New York harbour.]
[Footnote 141: In French, _tête-de-pont_, a fortified position covering that end of a bridge nearest to the enemy.]
[Footnote 145: The French spelling is _Reims_.]
[Footnote 146: _Shar-tr´_, town, fifty miles south-west of Paris, on the left bank of the Eure.]
[Footnote 147: _Bō-vay´_, fifty-five miles by rail north-north-west of Paris, on the route from Paris to Calais.]
[Footnote 148: Bell rung thrice daily in Catholic countries, at the sound of which the faithful pray.]
[Footnote 149: _Vee-ve lays Ang-lay_ ("Long live the English").]
There was now a deadlock on the Aisne. The rival armies faced each other in trenches that had become almost as strong as fortresses, and both sides were powerless to advance. Every day there were attacks and counter-attacks, but they were very costly in life, and the ground gained was measured in yards. General Joffre had foreseen this as far back as the 18th of September, when he had informed Sir John French of his plan to bolt the Germans from their burrows.