The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-05-29


armed and bristling. to be greeted by
a volley Of gunshots, the thud OF bull
lets and the dwindling whine Of spent
lead. They leaped from shelter to
and themselves girt with a fitful hoop
Of fire, for the strangers" had spread
In the arc OF circle and now emptied
their rifles toward the center. The
defenders, however, maintained sur
prising order considering the sudden
ness of their attack and ran to join
the sentries. whose positions could be
determined by the nearer flashes. The
voice of a man In authority shouted
loud commands. No demonstration
came from the outer voids, nothing
but the wicked streaks that stabbed
the darkness. Then suddenly behind
McNamara's men the night glared
luridly as though great furnace door
had opened and then changed shut,
while with 1t came hoarse thudding
roar that silenced the rife play. They
saw the cook house disrupt itself and
disintegrate into a thousand flying
hmbers and twisted sheets of tin
which scared upward and outward
over their heads and into the night.
As the rocking hills ceased echoing
the sound of the vigilantes' rifles re-
Cured like the cracking of dry sticks,
then everywhere about the defenders
the earth was dashed by falling debris,
while the iron roof rang at the fusil-
lade
The blast had come at their very ell
BOWS, and they were too dazed and
shaken by it to grasp its significance.
Then, before they could realize what
1t BODIED, the depths lit up again till
the raindrops were outlined distinct
and glistening like a gossamer veil of
silver, while the Office building to
their left was ripped and rended and
the adjoining walls leaped out into
looking like ghostly, sightless eyes.
The curtain of darkness closed heavier
than velvet and the men covered in
their tracks, shielding themselves be-
hind the nearest objects or behind
one anothers bodies, waiting for the
siles. Their backs were to the vigil
lantes now, their faces to the cente".
Many had dropped their rifles. The
thunder of hoofs and the scream OF
terrified horses came from the sta
bles The cry of a maddened beast is
weird and calculated to curdle the /
blood at best, but with 1t arose a hi
man voice, shrieking from pain and
fear of death.
A wrenched and doubled mass of zinc
had hurtled out of the heavens AMI
struck some one down. The chokinG
Of the mans appeal told i
the story, and those about him broke |
into fight to escape what might fol |
low, to escape this danger they could |
not see but which swooped out of the |
blackness above and against which |
there was no defense. They fed only |
to witness another and greater light
behind them by which they saw them
selves running falling groveling
This time they were hurled from their
balance by conclusion which
iwarfed the two preceding ones. Some
'ew stood still, staring at the rolling
explosion, their eyes cleaning white,
while others buried their faces in their
followed arms as If to shut out the
relish glare, or to shield themselves
rom q blow
Out In the heart of the chaos rang
voice loud and clear:
Beware the next blastv
At the same instant the girdle of
rose up shifting the air
With their cries and charged in like
ladmen through the rain of detritus.
hey fired as they came, but 1t was
for there was no longer
fight. 1t was a rout. The defenders,
ceiling they had escaped destruction
My by happy chance In leaving the
unk house the instant they did, were
OF minded to tarry here where the
eavens fell upon their heads To
ugment their CONSERVATION, the ,
orses had broken from their stalls I
nd were plunging through the con-
lsion. Fear swept over the men,
ina, unTedSOnlIlg, courageous, anu I
ley rushed out into the night, col t
ding with their enemies, overrunning |
lem in the panic to quit this spot
ONE dashed off the bluff and fell +
mong the pits and sluices. Others g
IN up the mountain side, and covered
the brush like quail
As the strangers" assembled their
risoners near the ruins, they heard
ounded men moaning in the dark v
sss, so lit torches and searched out n
Ie stricken ones. Glenister came run a
ng through the smoke pail, revolver =
hand, crying: n
HAS any one seen McNamara" No y
he had, and when they were later as
mbled to take stock of their injuries =
, was greeted by Dextry's gleeful an n
q
That's the deuce OF fight. We q
MT got so much as cold sore among !,
i"
I'VE have captured fourteen" an y
kaw annouuaaA uonI Ahara Vtaau ha | "