Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-04

| faces scowlng savagely behind the rifles.
| 1t was half war, half riot-the reckless on
| slaught of outcasts bent on plumber. in
spired by lust yet guided by rude disci
| pine.
| l knew little of detail; faces were blurred.
unrecognizable; all seemed to note clearly
| was that solid, brutal, heartless. blasphem-
| ing line of desperate men sweeping toward
us with a relentless fury our puny bullets
/ could not check Reckless ferocity was in
| that mad rush; they pressed on more like
demons than human beings. / saw men
| fall; l saw the living stumble over the
| dead. l heard cries of agony, shouts
curses, but there no pause [ could
mark their faces now, cruel, angry, re-
| vengeful; the hands that grasped the We
randa ratings; the leaping bodies; the rifle
butts uplifted TO batter down our frail de-
lenses.
AS trapped tigers we fought. hurting
them back from the windows, slashing.
clrb bling, striking with fist and steel Two
lay dead across the sill before me. cloven
to the very chin, but their bleeding bodies
were hurled remorseessly aside, while
others clambered forward, mad from lust
of blood, crazed with liquor. With dubbed
guns we cleared it again and again. batter
ing mercilessly at every head that fronted
us. Then a great giant of fellow-dead
or alive | know not-was hurled headlong
through the opening, inert, limp weight,
that bore the two soldiers beside me to
the floor beneath his body With wide
sweep of my gun l struck him, shattering
the stock into fragments, and swung back
to meet the others, the hot barrel falling to
right and left like fail. They We're
through and on me. Wild as any sea rover
OF the north l fought, crazed with blood,
unconscious of injury. animated solely by
desire to strike and slay! Back L had TO
go; back-I trod on dead bodies. on wound
ed shreking in pain, yet no man who came
within sweep of tEat iron bar lived
loved to hear the thud of it, and fronted
those glazing eyes, my blood afre, my arms
like steel Through the red mist beheld
Cation for an instant twenty brutal
hands uplifted, and then hurled him into
the ruck beneath their feet. Whether
fought alone l knew not, cared not. 1heh
some one pressed next to me, facing as
1 did welding a sword like a madman
We had our backs against the piano, our
shoulders touched: before us that mob
swayed. checked for the moment, held last
by sudden overpowerng dread. | glanced
aside My companion was Brennan, hat
less his deep-set eyes aflame. his coat torn
off, his shirt ripped open to the waist, his
bare breast red with blood.
mo shootin, damn ye." shouted &Qse
hoarsely. No shootin'; Il want that Rep
alive!"
Through the swirling smoke I recognized
the malicious face of Red Lowrie as ne
pushed his way to the front. TO me II was
like personal challenge to combat
Rush them!' muttered into Brennans |
ear. .'Hurl them back a bit, and then |
dodge under into the next room.
l never waited to ascertain If he heard |
me- With one fierce spring L struck their
stunned line, and my iron bar sWept d /
clear space as it crashed remorseiessiy mo
them The next instant Lowrie and L We're
seemingly alone and fronting each other. |
wild cat enraged by pain looks as he did
when he leaped to meet me. Hate, deadly, |
relentless. glared IN his eyes, ana Win a
yell of exultation he swung up his long ri
file and struck savagely at my head with |
the stock. 1 caught it partially on my
barrel breaking its full force, an. even as
it descended upon my shoulder, jaDbed the
muzzle hard into his leering face. With
snarl of pain he dropped his gun and crap
pied with me, but as his hngers closed
about my throat. something swlflsd Gown
through the maze, and the maddened brute
staggered back, his arms uplfted, his red
beard cloven in twain
Now for it, Wayne shouted Brennan.
Back with your! |
with a dive / went under the piano l
heard the sliding doors shut behind US; and
almost with the sound was again upon my
feet
take the women to the stairs; those fellows
are not in the hallway yet, and We can
hold them there while.
In our terrible need for haste, and amid
the thick, swirling smoke filing that In
ner room almost to suffocation, l grasped /
the woman CHANGING to be nearest me,
without knowing at the moment who she
was Already the rifle butts were splinter |
ing the light wood behind us into slaves, |
and hastily dragged my dazed companion
forward The others were in advance, and
We CROPPED our way like blind persons out
into the hail. BY rare good fortune II was |
yet unoccuped, and as we took the few |
hurried steps toward the foot of the stairs
found my arm was encircling Celia MI
nor. The depth of despair within her dark
eyes, and the speechless anguish OF her
white face. swept for instant the fierce
rage of battle from nay brain.
do not fail US now, Miss Minor urged
kindly. 1--WE may yet hold out until help
"oh, it is not thate' she cried p.tifulIy.
But Arthur; where is Arthur? z =
~