Daily Arizona silver belt., 1910-05-10
COPYRIGHT ielo BY AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION

had been assigned was to occupy line of trenches outside the earth works which partially protected New Orleans. An attack was to be made on the right flank of the British line; then these attackers would fall back behind the Notifications, It devolved upon Steele and his associates to aid in covering the retreat of the attack ing division and to repel the onslaught of the Britishers. which, it was well calculated, would follow
 The maneuver, as briefly indicated. was one of great strategic importance to the American side. General Jack son had outlined it to his staff, and they unanimously indorsed it.
 The onslaught began. The Ameri- cans valiantly assailed the forbidding lines of grenadiers. Cannon thunder ed, rifles spat their deadly missiles. swords glistened before the brightness of blue steel became dulled with blood, men and horses writhed and screamed in the death agony. prayers and curses were heard on every side amid the awful din. men who had souls and men who had lost their souls went down in the hellish holocaust to sin no more. fathers stabbed fathers and rode them down with sharp shod chargers. towards killed brave men and brave men killed towards, all on a springtime morning. for the ghoulish imp of misrule was running amuck among mankind. eager for the harvest of tears. suffering and death.
 A false king had decreed that honest men should murder one another in or der to support his dishonest govern ment. and so his men went forth to battle. singing hymns in cause they little knew was unholy.
 Gilbert Steele lay in the trench. barely deep enough to shelter him from the singing messengers of lead that threatened him.
 The exultation of the fighting man combating his mortal foe sent his blood a-tinging. thrilled his throbbing heart, captured his soul.
 The fears of yesterday, the premoni- tions of the night, were gone. He was going to win. and he was going to liye-for Madeleine.
 The impulse to jump from the mud dy trench and to rush single handed across the bullet swept field before him to the Succor of his hero con- rades, who were hand to hand with the foe, almost controlled him for the moment-then he gritted his teeth and mastered himself.
 He loaded his hot barreled match lock. Again and again he laid the smoke blackened barrel across the earthen mound and coolly aimed at a point above the belt line of red uni form. He was one of Wolf's sharp shooters, and he meant this day to justify the reputation of that careful ly picked band of patriots-men who could shoot the left eye out of wild turkey at fifty paces!
 And live up to that reputation he did.
 Heard suddenly from the lips of Gilberts commanding officer was the cry of Ready, men. Form into line! Fix bayonets! Go at them. boys! Charge"
 Almost before he realized what had happened Gilbert found himself in the van of a wild, triumphant dash across the open death zone that separated the trenches from the enemy.
 The Brtishers. having been re-en' forced by two regiments of fresh troops. concealed in the forest beyond. had shattered the attacking force of Americans. kept their flank from be- ing turned, had maintained their gen. eral alignment and held their position.
 The utter rout of the attackers was speedily.
 Hand to hand, face to face, arm to arm. man to man. fought the stubborn grenadiers who won at Waterloo with the rawboned. uncouth, untrained be- roes of the backwoods.
 Back. back they surged.
 But it was not the backwoodsmen the fur capped squirrel hunters nor Wolfs sharpshoters that fell back.
 The British grenadiers gave way be- fore the onslaught of men who, hay ing nothing but their lives to offer their country, freely offered all they had.
 In the fore part of the supporting column Gilbert Steele sped headlong into the fray. Grasping his musket by the barrel with both hands, he wielded the stock into the faces of his foes. Of sudden it shattered into pieces against the upraised gun of an Irish giant and he drew from his belt a wicked curved bladed dirk which he had purchased at a wharf in New Or leans from seaman who had brought it from Morocco.
 On he lunged. distancing his nearest friend. until he was practically alone in a struggle in q small group of the enemy at one side of the main conflict
 Eyes and nostrils dilated, nerves a-quiver. Gilbert Steele was superman when something struck him-SOme-