The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-04-18

W bc ucilNtItu.
And as they filed away. there was
Dulloo. Now he was neither forage
gatherer nor water-carrier Instead of
being chained to two team mates, with
but one driver for tn three, lie
marched alone, with two men to guard
the precious load he bore. Lashed to
the light pack-saddle, one on each side,
were two cases of ammunition. Dull
loo was going into the fight.
The special correspondent and /
turned up along the mud wall to come
in ahead of the columns again at the
western point of concentration.
Up to this time the morning quiet
had only been punctuated, as it were,
by the slow firing of tie guns. But
now, as the head of the marching col
umn came within range of the Mann
lichers, the parapet of the city wall
broke into rafting roar. A sheet of
flame flickered along its front.
Then the word was given and our
attack was delivered. japanese, Brit
ish and Americans went in together.
Gaily they trotted through the gute
of the mud wall, the swords of their
officers flashing in the sunlight Once
in the open, the long lines of sklrmish-
ers spread out, and then all together
they went forward.
Instantly it was as Il new Chinese
army had REINFORCED the thousands al
ready behind the parapet The fire that
had swept the field before was doubled
and quadrupled. The special cor
respondent and I, looking over the top
of the mud wall and watching the
magnificent bravery Of the advance,
saw men fall In appalling numbers, al
though the line went steadily forward
The generals thought they could take
the city by direct assault, and their
plan of attack was the result of that
belief. They had agreed with the Rus
slams, whose work was on the east,
to have their flags hoistec on the city
walls by eleven O'Clock that morning.
1t was a bold, daring plan, with lit
tie to commend it besides its audacity,
but urged by the Japanese, because
they knew their old enemy could least
successfully resist such a move.
But just when the line should have
reached the crest of the attack, it fal-
tered and stopped. There it hung for
an hour, and then men began to strag-
gle back from the front with tales of
bitter losses, raging at the dreadful
folly of assaulting in such fashion an
impregnable position.
They delivered their messages for
help and went back to their work. Re-
endorsements went in, one company
then another, then third. Soon all
were gone, and there were hardly men
| enough behind the mud wall to take
care of the field-hospitals established
there, which were filling up with des-
perate rapidity.
Then came a call from some of the
British for more ammunition. There
was laconic command to a non-com.
| missioned officer of one Of the native
regiments, and he turned to the mules
| huddled close in behind the wall, out
of danger, with their valuable loads.
He was fine. outstanding Pathan,
| his huge grizzled beard curled back
of his ears, and a great buff turban
| topping his tall figure. With his hand
| on the mules bride, and one of rs
men following on each flank, he walked
| through the gate and out on the hard
yellow road, where the bullets spat
tered so thickly it seemed not q spar
row could live. All TOO dignity of his
fighting race was in his bearing, and
no contemplate Chinese should hurry
his gait.
| They walked steadily through the
hail of bullets that fell round them
and It made us wonder watching then
from the iop of the wall, Of what stuff
their hearts were made.
Fifty yards in the opla they wen
unharmed. The Chinese had theil
range, and it seemed as If every mar
on the pafapet was firing at them. An
other fifty yards then the man at tht
left thew up his hands, staggered for
ward step or two, and went dowr
at the roadside.
His comrades seemed not to know
that he was gone. They did not ever
look round, but went ahead in th'
old steady way. Twenty yards more
they made, and the man at the rlgh
was hit. He fell full length in thu
road, but the "non-com" went forward
with the mule. The ammunition wal
going in. 1t was an order, that wal
all.
He had almost reached the cover o.
cluster of mud huts beside the road
about half his distance had been GOV
cred, when we saw him waver an(
stop. Then he started on, took singl,
step. and pitched forward, shot, surely
through the heart.
The mule, all its attendants gone
was still unhurt. 1t looked inqulrlng
ly round, as If wondering what ha,
happened, then started on up tn
road. 1t cleared the group of mud hut
and came out in the open beyond them
Suddenly we saw 1t throw up 1t
head, brace its leg outward, swa.
from side to side, and fall In heap
, The ammunition had not gone In
Some one must try again.
They chose a non-commissloned OF
| ficer of the Wei-hai-wei regiment,
, smooth-faced. square-jawed, flne-eye,
South of England man. He had woi
the notice of half the field that morn
! ing by his steady bearing, and we fel
when we saw him that II any MAJ
: could take the ammunition In he wa
the one. They gave him two men o
his own regiment-and Dulloo.
III <noJ tho adip -stran ~ ovx