The true northerner., 1877-08-31

the Russians were greatly exhausted,
and could not hold ont much longer.
Just as they were despairing, and ready
to yield, q fresh battalion of Turks
swarmed up the field with fierce yells,
but they were responded to by still loud
er shouts as Radetzky's troops appeared
on the other side of the intrenchments
and hurled themselves upon the fated
assailants.
They were Just in time. An hour
later, and the Turks would have had the
Russian positions and been masters OF
the situation at Schipka pass. 1t was
one of the dramatic events of the war,
and as such will go down in history
When Radetzkv appeared on the Rus
sian redoubts the Turks fell back panic
stricken. There was n pause. turning
tide as it were. Very little fighting was
done the rest of the day, but Friday
morning again began the attack of the
Russians npon the Turkish position,
threatening the right flank. Fighting
hung very much in the valley, and the
reinforcements which the Ninth Division
sent down effected much perceptible
good. About 8 o'clock Gen. Dragimi-
rolf arrived with two regiments of the
Second Brigade. His own division,
Podolsk regiment, he left in reserve,
near the Khan Gitsmer regiment,
and marched up the road to the first
position. There was no alternative but
to traverse that fearfully dangerous road,
for the lower broken ground on the left
was impracticable, and reported, besides,
| nth pocbi nouo,,1-o n
Getiomermen lost heavily while making
the promenade, and, having reached the
peak, found no shelter, for the Turkish
rifle fire was coming from two quarters
simultaneously. So the infantry were
slowed away till wanted in n ditch re-
doubt. Radetzky and his staff remained
on the slope of the peak, and here
Dragimiroff joined, and was welcomed
by his chief Firing in the valley waxed
and waned fitfully as the morning wore
ON to near noon.
The Turks were very strong, evidently,
in their wooded position, and there was
an evident design on their part to work
round their left and edge in across the
narrowed throat of the valley toward our
rear. About IL firing in the valley
swelled in volume? 1t was wholly mus
kerry. The Russians had their tirolleurs
in among the trees on the Turkish slope,
leaving the bare ground behind strewed
with killed and wounded.
The ambulance-men were behaving adj
mirably, picking up the wounded under
the hottest fire, and, indeed, not a few
were themselves among the wounded
AS to the progress of the Russians in
the wood, little could be seen, their
cover was so thick, but it was clear the
battle waged to and fro, now the Rus
slams and now the Turks gaining ground
Occasionally the Russians at some point
would be hurled clean back out of the
woods altogether, the Turks following
them eagerly to it's edge and lying down,
while pouring out q CALLING fire. 1t
seemed an even match, for Turks and
Russians alike accepted valiantly the
chances of battle. The mad clamor of
battle still surges up around the serene
blue heavens. Wounded men come
staggering out from among the
swarthy trunks and sit down in
a heap, or crawl out to the ambu-
lance men on the slope. Generals and staff
are surveying the scene. Bullets here
are singing ike IL ueSI VI auSIy Wabpb.
One bullet strikes on the left knee Gen.
Dragimeroff, who has been standing
calmly in the face of the fire, looking
down upon the battle. One of the best
Generals of the Russian army is hors du
combat. He is as brave as he is skillful.
He never so much as takes his spectacles
off, but quietly sits down, and, ripping
up his trousersleg, binds handkerchief
around the wound. Surgeons gather
around him, but, like the true soldier he
is, he says he will take his turn when it
comes. He is carried out of the line of
the fire somewhat, his boot removed,
and the limb bandaged. Then he is
placed on a stretcher, and is borne away.
The last words on the noble soldiers lips
are fervent wish for good fortune to
the arms of the Czar.