Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-11-19

claiborne jumped up MOI aho,,+ hir,
Then it was very
still, with the sabbath stiffness of
early morning In fhe hills. and he
heard faintly the mechanical click and
snap OF the rifles Of Chauvenet's party
10 they expelled their exploded car-
ridges and refilIed their magazines.
They're not SO bad bad luck TO
themr he mnttered I'm be ripe for
the little brown men fer L get through
With this.v ana Claiborne laughed a
little and watched Armitage's slow adj
vance out into the open
The trio behind the barricade had
not yet seen the man they had crossed
the sea to Kill, as the line of his APP
proach closely paraileled the long If
regular wall with its fringe of cedars,
but they knew from Claiborne's signal
that he was there The men had pick.
eted their horses back of the little fort,
and Claiborne commended their good
generalship and wondered what sort
of beings they We're to risk so much
upon 50 wild an adventure
Armitage rode out farther into the
opening, and Claiborne. with his eyes
on the barricade, saw a man lean for
ward through the cedars in an effort to
take aim at the horseman. Claiborne
drew up his own rifle and biazed away
Bits of stone spurted into the air be
low the targets elbow. and the man
dropped back out of sight without fir
ing.
1--WE never been the same since that
fever" growled Claiborne and snapped
out the shell spitefully and watched
for another chance.
Being directly in front of the barri,
cade be was in position to cover AT
mitage's advance. and Oscar mean
while had taken his cue from Armitage
and ridden slowly into the field from
the left. The men behind the cedars
fired now from within the Enclosure at
both men without exposing themselves,
but their shots few wild. and the two
horsemen rode up to Claiborne who
had emptied his rife into the cedars
and was reloading.
They are all together again. are
they?' asked Arrnitage. pausing a few
yards from Claiborne's rock, his eyes
upon the barricade
The gentleman with the curly hair
II drove him in He is a poor shot
yes?"
Oscar frightened his belt and waited
for orders, while Armitage and Clai-
borne conferred in quick pointed sen
tences
.'Shall we risk a rush or starve them
out2 I'd like to try hunger on Them
said Armitage
They'll all sneak off over the bridge
tonight If we pen them up. II they all
60 at once they'll break it down, and
Wen lose our quarry. But you want
to capture them aliye?''
Il certainly dog Armitage replied
and turned to laugh at Oscar, who had
fired at the barricade from the back of
his horse, which was resenting the in
dignity by trying to throw his rider.
The enemy now concentrated sharp
fire upon Armitage. whose horse snort
ed and paved the ground as the balls
cut the air and earth.
.sFor Gods sake get off that horse,
Armitage!" bawled out Claiborne. ris,
ing upon the rock. There's no use in
wasting yourself that way"
My arm aches, and I've got to do
something, Let's try storming them,
just for fun. It's a cavalry stunt, Clai-
borne. and you can play being the artii-
iaru that's srDnnrfiup ollr advance
Fall away there, Oscar. about forty
yards, and wen race for II to the wall
and over That harricade isn't as stir
as It looks from this side. know all