The San Francisco call., 1908-03-01
CHAPTER XIII
A Woman and a Ghost

-- courtesy OF Al6ultlclN. d-cNe~t1s
who came alive. if not with whole
skin. out of the encounter. and lived to
reach middle age under a new regime
so ~unappreciative Of his services that
it, cashiered him for getting drunk
within year from this date. He
ended his days as billiard marker at
the Golden Lion-a fact agreeable to
poetic justice. but pot otherwise ma
teriaI. While occupying that capacity
he, was always ready to open his mouth
to talk: provided he were afforded also
q. better reason for opening it.
Stafnitz and his men felt that their
hard work was done; they were within
touch OF Slavna, and they had no rea-
son, so they. supposed. to fear any at
tack. - The colonel had indulged them
in something: approaching to a carouse.
Songs had been sung and speeches
made; congratulations were freely Of
fered TO the colonel; illusions were
thrown out. not too carefully yelled. to
the predicaInent in which .Stenovics
found himself. Hard work, q good sup
per and plentiful wine had their. ef-
feet save the sentries. all were
asleep at 10 o'clock and game to sleep
til the reveille sounded at 6.
Their presence was a surprise. to
their assailahts. who had. perhaps, ap-
proached in. too rash a confidence that
they were first on the ground; but the
greater surprise befel those who had
now to defend the barges and the guns
When the man who had found the dead
sentry ran back and told his tale, all
Of them, from Stafnitz downward, con-
ceived that the attack must come from
stenovics: none thought of sophy and
her Tolsenians. There they were,
packed IN the barn. separated from
their horses. and with their carbines
laid aside. The carbines were easily
caught up; the horses not so easily
reached, supposing an active. skillful
enemy at hand outside.
For themselves, their. position was
gooc TO stand a siege But Stafnitz
could rot afford that. His mind few
where Scphys had. Throughout, and
oa. both sides the guns were the fac
Tor. which dominated the tactics of the
.fghL. 1t was no use for Stafnitz to
stay snug in the barn while the enemy
overpowered the bargees (supposing
they tried to hght), disposed Of the
sentry stationed on each deck and can
tured the guns. Let the assailant carry
-them Of. and the eolonel's game was
up. Whoever the foe was, the fight
was for the guns-and for one other
thing, no doubt-for the coIoners life.
we felt in the deuce of a mess d
Rastatz related. for we didn't know
how aany there were and We couldn't
see one Of them. The colonel walked
out Of the barn, cool as a cucumber.
and looked and listened. He called to
me TO go with him, and so did, keep
Ing as much behind his back as pos
siAle. Nothing was to be seen, moth
ing TO be heard. He pointed to the ris-
ing ground opposite. That must hide
them he said. Back he. went and
called the first half company. you'll
follow me in single file. out of the, barn
and round 70 the back Of it, let there
be foot between. each. Of you-rooTm
enough to miss. When. once you get in
rear OF the barn, make for the barges.
Never mind the horses. The second
half company viii cover the horses
with their fire Rastatz, see my detacb-
ment round then follow Wen leave
the sergeant major in command here
Now quick. follow mer
out he went and the men began to
follow in their order. had TO stand
In the. doorway and regulate the dis
tance between man and man. I hadn't
been there two seconds before a dozen
heads came over the hin ana dozan
rifles cracked. Luckily the colonel was
just round the corner. Down went
their heads again. but they'd bagged
two OF our fellows. 1 shouted to more
10 come out and at the same time or
oered the sergeant major to send a aIe
forward to answer the fire. I'm came
the heads again and they bagged three
more, Our fellows bIazed away in re-
ply, but they'd dropped too ouickly-I
don't think we got one.
Well, we didn't mind so much ahout
keeping our exact distances after that
and wouldn't swear that the whole
so OF US faced the fire; it was devilish
disconcerting, you know; but In a few
minutes thirty or five and thirty of us
got round the side of the barn somehow
and for the moment out of harms wav.
We heard the fire going on still in
front, only in a desultory way. They
weren't trying to rush us-and 1 don't
think we had any idea Of rushing them.
For all we knew, they might be 200
or they might be a dozen. At any rate.
with the advantage OF position. thew
We're enough to bottle our men up in
the barn, for the moment, at ali
events"
This account makes what had han
pened pretty plain. Half of Sophy's
force had been left to hold the enemy.
or as many Of them as possible. in the
barn. They had dismounted, and. well
covered by the hill, could make good
practice without much danger to them
selves. Lukovitch was in command of
this section Of the little troop. Sophy.
Dunstanbury and Peter. Vassip, also on
foot (tbe horses hoofs would have be-
trayed them). were stealing round. in
tent son getting between the barges and
any men whom Stafnitz tried to place
in position for their defense After
leaving men for the containing party.
and three to look after the horses. this