Churchill standard. (Fallon, Nev) 1903-1908, 1906-05-26

back, slipping on a loose stone. Now he
fairly leaped ahead of us, his great sabre
sweeping down a row of bayonets as a
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 II was then a
primitive ~fght-hand to hand, face to face,
shoulder to shoulder. l struck out TO right
and left with but one idea-self-preserya-
ton. AS in a dream l heard the deadly
clash of metal, the putting and granting
of straining men; the blasphefny; the
Shrek of the wounded.
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, fighting with the absolute despera-
ton that comes into a mans heart but
once in a 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
right F~leis sseshtnadr S% de ! his c sabre li6e
again, STEADY. Wen have them IN the
run" But in my heart l knew that il
could not be so; that We must go down in
blood and dust, victims of a misguided
principle.
Then an ugly, squat Frenchman, who
had been felled some time before by one
of Lowenberg's lightning strokes, wriggled
up through the heap of dead. and with a
desperate thrust sent his .bayonet into
ened me. My beloved friend sank with a
gasp. A mist obscured my sight; for a
moment l weakened and my sword wa
Vered. Before | 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
1 ~,,11 gNaDea1 Gtt1lnnIx IN no NUhfplinp llkA
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 |
looked at F~leischmann. He stood erect.
with feet we'll spread. like some great
war-god a sabre In n. each hand hewinng,
jaws set with determination. He had
thrown away his coat long before; his hat
blood trickle down over his bronzed
cheeks. Into my heart came a great love
for this mighty fighter, Then my. light
vent out md nd, the he inrogrpritd s, n9lse OF war
1t was Fleischmann's voice in my ears
that Weakened me. l lay upon the grass
in a small, open she'd. He was bathing
my head with cool water. Quickly recol-
lection came back to me, and stung into
activity by my supposed danger rose to
my feet. But the danger was past. Saw
for the dead and rounded there was not
a Frenchman in sight. Fleischmann was
as calm as before the fight began. He
lOlU IlG that JlASl az liz WAS dbbul u / V
up. his comrades came to the rescue. We
were in full possession, but at what a
fearful cost! out OF ten thousand men
barely five hundred to answer the call.
l found Lowenherg lying on a heap of
straw, his light flickering. his mind wan
dering. AT intervals he gave orders, cried
man ballads. One of his under officers,
who was a 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
true Prusslans. And tell-tell his Males
ty.-" He, half rose, and raised his arm
Win VII, hoS cle ne e S ,d INST tr,od dF on r G9d and dob ase
ard feli 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
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 10 be
sition we could see far out on the plain.
l picked up a glass from a dead officer and
rama of war. Like moving patches of
dead grass appeared the opposing forces.
The brown khaki of the Germans and the
soft gray s~ea-island-cloth Of the French
gave distinction enough. There was no
smoke. fer this is the day of smokeless
powder. The center of fighting appeared
to be well 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 hurrylng up
the river bank, making for the Monte
Pelier crossing. And we with but half Il
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. d~iriGible type. with fans and
rudders. They circled above us, hardly a
quarter of a mile away, and swung down
toward the battlefield, heading into the
gale in regular formation. And as ]
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. | saw the whole army
moving north, a struggling. dis~organized
horde. They left behind them a brown
track. and as the sky lightened for a
moment | saw hat the track was hui
man-the bodies Of men prone upon the
earth. l called F"leischmann. "Look," |
cried. 1.-The army is retreating. See the
sparks around them. What does 1t
mean?'