Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1906-05-25

along the line. Fleischmann had fallen
back, slipping on a loose stone. Now he
fairly leaped ahead of us, his great sabre
sweeping down a row Of bayonets as
scythe in ripe wheat. The French stood
in a pit dug around the brow OF the hill
and fought like demons There seemed To
be thousands Of them. Our revolvers were
emptied Immediately, and 1t was then
primitive ight-hand to hand, face to race,
shoulder to shoulder. / struck out TO right
and left with but one idea-self-preserVa
ton. AS In a dream / heard the deadly
clash of metal, the putting and gruntng
of straining men; the blasphemyi the
Shrek of the wounded,
Farther around the mill top our men
were falling back; and farther yet they
were clear inside the line, driving the
French before them. A few Of our men
gathered about us, and, almost surrounded
by the Infatuated French, we held our
own, lighting with the absolute despera-
ton that comes into a mans heart but
once in lifetime. We were fairly walled
in with the dead; yet as fast as they went
down others came forward There seemed
to be no end to the cut and slash, the
squirting of red blood, the glare of angry
eyes looking into our own with murderous
hate Lowenberg was on my right; at his
fail. STEADY, boys" he cried, and
again, STEADY. Wen have them on the
run" But in my heart l knew that 1t
could not be so; that we must go down in
bACSN e'AAN NAoAf fA1NAAii' VI a AAAA'oNi
Then an ugly, squat Frenchman. who
had been felled some time before by one
of Lowenberg's lightning strokes, wrigged
up through the heap of dead, and with
desperate thrust sent his bayonet into
Lowenbergs Vitals. All, God, how II sick
ened me. My beloved friend sank with
gasp. A mist obscured my sight; for
moment l weakened and my sword wa
vered Before l could recover, the butt Of
a musket appeared in the air Immediately
before me and descended upon my head.
My ears rang like a foundry. The whole
world seemed suddenly to be whirling like
a Fourth of July pinwheel, with multi
tudes Of sparks flying. l tottered back
ward and fell heavily upon the pile of
dead in the trench. AS / went down 1
looked at Fleischmann. He stood erect,
with feet well spread, like some great
war-god, a sabre in each hand, hewng,
smashing, cutting, his lips compressed, his
jaws set with determination. He had
thrown away his coat long before; his hat
was gone; a cut on his temple let the
blood trickle down over his bronzed
cheeks. Into my heart came a great love
for this mighty fighter. Then my light
went out and the horrid noise Of war
faded away into the great silence.
1t was Fleischmanns voice in my ears
that Weakened me. l lay upon the grass
in a small, open shed. He was bathing
my head with cool water. Quickly recol-
lection came back to me, and stung into
activity by my supposed danger l rose to
my feet. But the danger was past. Save
for the dead and wounded there was not
a Frenchman in sight Fleischmann was
as calm as before the fight began. He
told me that just as he was about to give
up, his comrades came to the rescue. We
were in full possession, but at what
fearful cost Out of ten thousand men
barely five hundred to answer the call
/ found Lowenberg lying on a heap OF
straw, his light Pickering, his mind wan
dering AT intervals he gave orders, cried
out to his wife, or sang snatches of Ger
man ballads. One of his under officers,
who was physician, sat near. He shook
his head in answer to my inquiry. There
was no hope
Presently my friend turned his head and
looked at me with eyes suddenly grown
clear. Adams he said, family, tell
the boys it was a good fight. They were
true Prussians. And tell-tell his Majes-
ty--' He. half rose, and raised his arm
with clenched fist. For God and the
Fatherland," he cried in ringing tones,
and fell back dead.
We turned the French guns in the direc-
ton Of the river and prepared to hold our
little fort for the expected assault, For
several hours there had been little or
no firing to the east, where the main
armies were engaged. 1t was late after
noon now. The sky was becoming over
cast, and the wind was rising.
Presently the sound of firing rose again.
All the guns in the world seemed to be
going off at once. From our elevated po-
sttiOn we could see far out on the plain.
I picked up a glass from dead officer and
put it to my eyes. There lay the piano.
rama of war Like moving patches Of
dead grass appeared the opposing forces.
The brown khaki of the Germans and the
soft gray sea-island-cloth of the French
gave distinction enough. There was no
smoke for this Is the day of smokeless
powder The center of fighting appeared
to be we'll down the bend of the Marine,
and as l watched l could see that the
water was full of black specks. The
French were being forced into the river.
A large body of the gray was hurrying up
Pelier crossing. And we with but half a
thousand men to defend it!
The wind increased in force. The skies
grew dark. And now, coming from the
south, appeared a shoal of small airships
of a new, dirigible type, with fans and
rudders. They circled above us, hardly a
quarter of a mile away, and swung down
gale in regular formation. And as l
watched a strange thing happened. The
ships were poised directly over the vic
torious Germans. Suddenly a series of
peculiar popping reports came to my ears.
/ saw the Germans breaking scattering
running away from the French. The
ground beneath them behind them, in
front Of them, sparkled, like the phos-
phorescent ocean. l saw the whole army
horde. They left behind them a brown
track, and as the sky lightened for a
moment l saw that the track was hu-
MANTLE bodies of men prone upon the
earth. | called Fleischmann. Look" |
cried. "The army is retreating. See the
sparks around them. What does it
mean?'