The daily sentinel., 1913-10-20

there was the shrieking and singing
of metal in the air.
T. II he ran straight over a ditch,
the brim with rubbish. leaped
ace OF low wall, found HIM
i wing his way up 1t, digging
his fingers into openings and pro-
jectlons. till he had thrown a leg
across and was on the top. There
he balanced n moment, then leaped
TO q stone flooring, and tumbled,
sprawlins like a spider. beside a
smoking cannon. When he sat up
In the dust somebody was swinging
machete high above his head.
Trench ducked and threw up his
hands, but there was no blow, for
somebody suddenly pitched. face fore
most, into the dust with a small red
hole in one temple.
Thanks. sergeant" gasped Trench,
getting on his feet With his re-
volver clutched in his hand, he stag
gered forward. He traversed the
whole width Of the redoubt, blazing
away pointblank five times at men
whom he met. When he reached the
wall which was nearest La Victoria
he found an officer backed up against
1t, who jammed his revolver into
Trench's face and pulled the trigger.
Trench heard metal click against
metal; the officer turned BLUSH
white. Trench pulled his trigger. and
the officer coughed and crumpled up
on the stone flooring, which began to
turn red.
When the American faced about aft
er that he saw the sergeant tearing
the government colors from the flag
pole in the center of the redoubt
Around him, cheering. stood twenty
men-twenty-five, perhaps. Trench
shuddered.
For while he lay on the stone
flooring. painting; about him the SOL
diers did the same. Then the ser
geant picked himself up and moved
over to the wall. below which lay La
Victoria.
"'Madre de Dios!" he calculated
when he got there. Captain. look
down therel"
The American walked across the
redoubt to the sergeant's side.
From the narrow streets OF La Vic
toria the government troops, in long.
winding columns, were pouring out
into the fields to the attack of OIL
wares on the ridge. Their arms and
accoutrements glinted In the sunlight,
and the steady beat of the drummers
at the head of the columns rose dis
tinctly to the hilltop through the
morning air. But 1t was not the ao-
tivity of the governments mon which
had drawn from the sergeant his ex-
clamation; nor was 1t that which
now caused Trench to rip out an oath
In English between his teeth.
Instead of seeing the revolution
lists below the ridge. in the hoilows
before La Victoria. Trench saw them
moving back over the ridge and down
the other side, the far side evident
ly in full retreat. 1t was an orderly
retreat, so far as he could make out,
for the men were marching slowly.
The sergeant tapped his arm.
"Aha!" he murmured. Captain,
look behind you"
Trench did. and saw. dropping down
the face of the hills of which the
redoubt hill was an outlying spur.
an army apparently as large as that
OF Olivares: an army. moreover.
which wore the government colors on
hats and shoulder-straps. Already
one portion of It, fully one thousand
men strong, had circled the base Of
the hilltop. and stood between the
ridge and the redoubt. cutting OF re-
treat for the forlorn hope in that d.
rection. Trench and the sergeant
looked at each other. The forlorn
hope was surrounded.
Then there was a yell from the d.