The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1903-06-05

the spear ana Ine SWORD. The instinct
of the desert, where there is always
much war, told them that the right
flank of the square was the weakest,
for they swung clear of the front The
camel guns shelled them as they passed
and opened for an instant lanes
through their midst most like those
! quick closing vistas in a Kentish hop
garden seen when the train races by at
full speed, and the infantry fire, held
till the opportune moment, dropped
them in close packed hundreds.
No civilized troops in the world could
have endured the hell through which
they came, the living lcaping high to
! avoid the dead clutching at their heels,
the wounded cursing and staggering
forward till they fell-a torrent black
as the sliding water above milldam-
full on the right flank Of the square
Then the line of the dusty troops and
the faint blue desert sky overhead
went out in rolling smoke, and the lit
tie stones on the heated ground and
the finder dry clumps of scrub became
matters of surprising interest, for men
measured their agonized retreat and
recovery by these things, counting me-
financially and hewing their way back
to chosen pebble and branch.
There was no sernbiance of any con-
certed fighting. For aught the men
knew the enemy might be attempting
all four sides of the square at once.
| Their business was to destroy what lay
In front OF them, TO Dayonet in the back
those who passed over them, and, dy-
Ing. to drag down the slayer till he
could be knocked on the mead by some
avenging gun butt Dick waited quiet
ly with Torpenhow and a young doctor
till the stress became uncomfortable.
, There was no hope of attending to the
wounded till the attack was repulsed,
so the three moved forward gingerly
toward the weakest side.
There was a rush from without, the
short hough-hough of the stabbing
spears, and a man on a horse, followed
by thirty or forty others, dashed
through, yelling and hacking. The
right flank of the square sucked in aft
er them and the other sides sent help.
The wounded, who knew that they had
but a few hours more to live, caught
at the enemy's feet and brought them
down, or, staggering to a discarded
rifle, fired blindly into the scuff1e that
ragged in the center of the square.
Dick was conscious that somebody
had cut him violently across his he'll
met, that he had fired his revolver into
! q black, foam flecked face which forth
with ceased to bear any resemblance
to face, and that Torpenhow had gone
down under an Arab whom he had
tried to "collar low and was turning
over and over with his captive, feeling
for the mans eyes. The doctor was
LABELLING at a venture with bayonet,
and helmetless soldier was firing over
powder stung his cheek. 1t was to Tor
penhow that Dick turned by instinct.
The representative of the Central
Southern syndicate had shaken himself
clear of his enemy and rose, wiping his
, thumb on his trousers.
The Arab, both hands to his fore
head, screamed aloud, then snatched
up his spear and rushed at Torpenhow,
who was painting under shelter Of
Dicks revolver. Dick fired twice, and
the man dropped Imply. His upturned
face lacked one eye.
! The musketry fire redoubled, but
cheers mingled with it. The rush had
failed, and the enemy were flying. If
the heart of the square We're shambles,
the ground beyond was butchers
shop. Dick thrust his way forward be
tween the maddened men. The rem
nants of the enemy were retiring, and
| the few-the very few-English cav
airy we've riding down the laggards.
! Beyond the lines of the dead broad
blood stained Arab spear cast aside in
| the retreat lay across a stump of scrub,
and beyond this again the illimitable
dark level of the desert. The sun
caught the steel and turned it into O
savage red disk Some one behind him
was saying, "Ah, get away, you brute!'
Dick raised his revolver and pointed to.
ward the desert. His eye was held by
the red splash in the distance, and the
clamor about him seemed to die down
to a very faraway whisper like the
whisper of level sea.
I ~ d.