The San Francisco call., 1908-03-01


latter had to traverse, could make
good race o. 1t for the barges. The.
had all kept together, too. While thf
enemy struggled round to the rear c.
th.a barn in single file And they had
one great, perhaps decisive advantage.
of whose existence Peter Yassip, their:
guide, was well aware.
Forty yards beyond the farm a small
ditch ran down to the Krath; on the
side near the farm it had high, over
hanging bank. the other side being
nearly level with the adjoining meadow
Thus 1t formed natural trench and
led straight down to where the first of
the barges lay. It would have been
open to an enfiiade from the river, but
Stafnitz had only one sentry on each
barge, and these men were occupied in
staring at their advancing companions
and calling out to know what was the
matter AS. for the bargees. they had
wisely declared neutrality, deeming the.
matter no business of theirs; shots
were not within the terms of con-
tract for transport. Stafnitz. not
dreaming of an attack, had not recon
noitred his ground. But Lukovitch
knew every inch of it chad not Gen
eral Stenovics remembered that?), and
so did Peter Vassip. The surprise of
Praslok was to be avenged.
Rastatz takes UP the tale again: his
narrative has one or two touches vivid
with a local color.
when I got: round. to the rear of
the barn, I found our fellows scattered
about on their bellies. The colonel was
in front on his belly. with his head just
raised from the ground. looking about
him. l lay down, too getting my head
behind stone which chanced to be
near me. / looked about me, too. when
- . 4 IA
at first, for we could hear nothing. and
deuce man could we seei But it
wasn't very pleasant. because we knew
that, sure enough. thew must be pretty
near us somewhere. Presently the col
onel came crawling back to me. What
do you make of it. Rastatz" he whis-
pered. Before 1 could answer, we
heard a brisk exchange Of fire in front
of the barn. I don't like it, I said. I
can't see them. and I've a notion they
can see me, colonel, and that's not the
pleasantest way to fight. is it?' Cad.
you're right. said he. but they won't
see me any the better for cigarette
and then and there he lit one.
well. he'd just thrown away his
match when young fellow-quite
lad he was-a couple of yards from, US,
suddenly jumped from his belly on to
his knees and called out quite LOUD
L
panic-quite loud, he called out:
.'Sheepskinsr Sheepskins,' ] jumped
myself. and 1 saw the colonel start.
But by Jove, il was truei When you
took a snifS, You could smell them. OF
course / don't mean what the better
class wear-you couldn't have smelt the
tunic our lamented prince wore. nor the
one the witch decked. herself out. in
bat you could smell a common fellows
-g,a 4 a.
wind. unless the wind was lnfghty
strong
= 'Sheepskins it is.'. said the colonel
with sniff. 'yolsenians.; By CAD It's
Mistress. Sophia; Rastatz or some of
her friends, anyhow Then he swore
worthily:. -Stenovics must have put
them up to this. And where the devil
are they. Rastatz? He raised his head.
as he spoke, and. got. his answer A
bullet came singing along and went
right through his shake: il came from
the line of the ditclr He lay down
again, laughed a little and toek puff
at his cigarette Before he threw it
away. Just then one of our sentries
beloved from the first barge::. In the
ditch. In. the ditchl' Il wish you'd
spoken bit sooner says the colonel,
laughing again.,
:. While. this was passing. on Stafnitz's
quietly and cautiously down the course
of the ditch Under the shelter OF its
bank they had been able to hold . a
brief and hurried consultations What
they feared was that Stafnitz would
make a dash for the barges. Their fire
might drop half his men, but the SUR
yivors when once on board-and the
barges We're drawn up to the edge of
the stream-would still be as numer-
o1x 4 IL
the course of the ditch. which was at
present their great resource and pro-
lection. But if they could get on board
before the enemy. they believed they
could hold their own: the decks were
covered with impedimenta of one sorf
or another which would afford them
cover, while any party which tried to
board must expose itself to fire to
serious and probably fatal extent
So they worked down the ditch-ex-
cept two of them. Little IS they could
spare even two, it was judged well to
leave these; their instructions were to
fire at short intervals, whether there
was much chance OF hitting anybody or
not. Dunstanbury hoped by this trick
to make Stafnitz believe that the whole
detachment was stationary in the ditch
80 yards or more from the point where
IL joined the river. Only 10 strong
now-and one of them a woman-they
made their way toward the mouth of
the ditch and toward the barges which
held the prize they sought.
But a diversion; and very effective
one, was soon to come from the front
of the barn. Fearing that the party
under Sophy and Dunstanbury might be
overpowered Lukovitch determined on
a bold step-that of enticing the hold
ers of the barn from their shelter He
directed his men to keep up a brish
fire at the door; he himself and am
other malone Ossip Yensko-disre-
garding the risk, made a rapid dash
across the line of FIRE from the barn
for the spot where the horses were.
The fire directed at the door success
fully covered their daring movement;
they were among the horses In a mo-
ment ando hard at work cutting the
bands with which they were tethered;
the animals were half mad with
fright. and the task was one of great
danger.
Bun the maneuver was eminently sue
cessful. A cry of The horsesl The
horsesw went up from the barn Men
appeared in the doorway; the sergeant
major in command himself ran out.
Half the horses were loose and stam-
peded along the towing path down the