The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1911-01-04

were locked firi&ly in their sockets, and that
the cut-offs OF the rifles were not set. Off
cersdrew their swords, laid them at their sides
in the etrenchcsand threw away the scabbards
while piles OF hayersacks and blanket-rolls
appeared, for charging men must 60 light
Five minutes before nine, Morton, hat
and coat of, sleeves rolled to the elbow, his
sword hanging from his wrist by a loop,
crawled into the gup-pits, where he found
Thatcher, stripped to the waist, waiting
gloomily among lis ugly guns They shook
hands rather soberly-more soberly than
they had done since one day at West Point
"I'm ashamed of you Thatcher said,
seriously "rm beginning to think you're
to blame for this folly Well be butchered,
the lot of us say, what have you and those
engineers been doing Steve?"
Morton's irrepressble grin broke out.
"You cold-blooded old fish, he scoffed
"You'd have burrowed and steamed in this
hole in the ground till the end Of time. The
generals man after my own heart; he'll
take chance"
Thatcher stared at him, unconWnced.
Morton glanced at his watch and rose.
"Now, young man" he said importantly,
"I'll explain bit If you'd looked at that
railroad with the eye of an engineer -ahem!
You'd have noticed that there's long
grade, two miles Of it, sloping straight into
the city. OF course the Burghers have torn
up the track, but track can be fixed! Three
weeks ago you'd have noticed that tangle Of
half-burnt, derailed box and hat-cars three
miles back Of us-and you'd have put two
and two together"
"What?" demanded Thatcher, with 50
much unwonted excitement that the steel
glasses slid to the end of his long nose,
what"
! "You just watch the railroad and my
chariots and horsemen," Morton went on.
"And, for the love Of Heaven, Billy, give US
all the noise and metal those tubes Of yours
will produced Well, cant be late to dinner.
So long"
From the direction Of the railroad sounded
distant, low rumble. Men in the trenches
pricked up their ears and listened The
rumbling grew louder, punctuated by sharp
clicks which could only be made by cars
hitting the worn ends Of hastily laid rails.
Sharp orders snapped through the waiting
lines and the men gripped their weapons
and rose to their knees. The rumbling
grew louder, and the staccato clatter Of
Maxims tore into the night. The enemy's
searchlights reeled about in great arcs,
throwing the landscape into high lights and
burying it in darkness like the flicker" in
a musical comedy. A sudden sputter Of
rihe-fire, settling into the measured crash Of
vollcys, came from beyond the railway, and
the rumbfng Of cars increased. The waver-
ing searchlights steadied, and their long
fingers of light pointed blindingly down the
lines Of glittering steel rails
Another order barked through the
trenches and the long rows Of dirty, nervous
figures sprang over the heaps Of earth as
though every man had been on steelspring
"Open out open out!' cautioned the low,
anxious tones Of the officers. Remember
the mines! Don't get past the wire
No shooting till we're among emf
The men bent low like runners and the
scufhng Of many feet mingled with the slow
patter of big rain-drops Into the fixed
glare of the searchlights came freight-car
its forward end smashed, its doors gaping,
but its wheels gaining momentum at every
revolution as it slipped down the long grade.
The enemy's lines toward the railroad were
suddenly pricked out in pattern against the
darkness by thousands of little spurts of fire,
with here and there longer jet of fame as
the batteries woke up. Through the grow
ing din of the enemy's fire sounded the
steady clatter of the missing Maxims, and
the crash Of the mysterious volleys beyond
the railroad.
From, the gun-pits Thatcher saw another
car, another and then solid string Of six
fat-cars, their wheels spinning as they
gathered speed, rumble into the broad bands
Of light. The artilleryman's solemn face
lightened, and his breath came quickly as his
trained ear realized that all the enemy's fire
was being poured out on the railroad Across
from his own position, beyond where the
brown infantrymen were scurrying through
the darkness, there was complete silence.
"Now!" ne yelled at the waiting gunners,
with a ring in his usually placid tones that
made them jump, and for Gods sake keep
'em high Don't hit Steve's Infantry"
As his first gun crashed he glanced again
. toward the railroad, and saw the enemy S
batteries frantically pitching common shell
at a trundling string Of cattle cars and "gon-
dolas."
Under cover Of the smothering darkness
the scattered lines OF running men painted
toward the distant slopes, the shrapnel from
Thatchers guns screaming above their
heads. To their right they could see the
glare light and hear the din of the strange
attack at whose nature only Morton could
guess And he, one fist gripping his Colt so