The Lakeland evening telegram., 1914-06-18

He walked back to the house, Jug
Cling his useless gun and keeping his
eye on the distant ridges. And then.
in a chorus of defiant yells, the men
In the federal trenches began to shoot.
In an airline the distance was some
thing over mile, but at the first scat
tering volley the rebels halted and
fired volley IN return. With a vicious
spang a few stray bullets smashed
against the reverberating steel tank.
but no ono was hurt, and the defend
ers, drunk with valor, began to shoot
and yell like mad.
The bullets Of the rebels, fired at
random. struck up dust-jets In every
direction, and from the lower part or
the town came the shouting OF the nom
combatant Mexicans as they ran here
and there for shelter. But by the
trenches, and in the rear Of the black
tank, the great crowd Of onlookers
persisted, ducking as each successive
bullet hit the tank and shouting en-
couragement as the defenders emptied
their rifles and reloaded with clip after
clip.
The rifles ratified continuous vol
ley; spent bullets leaped like locusts
across the fiat; men ran to and fro,
now crouching behind the tank, now
stepping boldly into the open; and the
defiant shouts Of the defenders almost
drowned the walls of the women. Ex-
cept for one thing 1t was battle
there was nobody hurt
For the first half-hour the Ameri-
cans stayed prudently under cover,
busying themselves at the suggestion
Of few American women in providing
a first-aid hospital on the sheltered
porch. Then, as no wounded came to
fill 1t and the rebels delayed their
charge, one man after another climbed
up to the trenches, ostensibly to bring
down the injured.
AS soldiers and bystanders reported
no one hit, and the bullets few harm
lessly past, their solicitude turned rap
Idly to disgust and then to scorn.
Strange as 1t may seem. they were dis
appointed at the results, and their re-
marks were derogatory as they COM
mented ON the bravery Of pelones and
Mexicans In general.
From q dread Of imminent attack, of
charging rebels and retreating defend
ers, and fight to the death by the
house, they came suddenly to desire
for blood and battle. for dead men and
the cries Of the wounded; and oil fear
of the insurrectos left them.
'Come away, boys" grunted the
burly roadmaster. who up to then had
led in the work; I'VE wasted our time
ON that hospital-therell be no wound
ed. Let's take ourselves back to tht
house and have quiet smoke"
Fright you are. Ed" agreed the mas
ter mechanic. as he turned upon hii
heel in disgust. This amt war
them Mexicans think they're working
for a moving-picture show!"
II bet you can 60 up on tha
ridge" announced Hooker, "and clear
out the whole bunch with my six
shooter before you could bat you,
eye"
But the superintendent was not 9.
sure.
Never mind, boys" he said "We'r,
worth lot Of ransom money to thos'
rebels and they won't give up 30 quick
And look at this now-my miners com
ing backi Those are the boys that will
fight! Wait till Chico and Ramon
Mendoza get after them!"
He pointed as he spoke to strag
Cling band of Sonorans. led by tn
much-vaunted Mendoza brothers, a
they hurried to save the town, and
cheer went up from the trenches a
the federals beheld reinforcements
But change had come over the fire
eating miners. and they brought othe
rebels In their wake.
AS they trudged wearily into tow
and sought shelter among the house
a great body Of men appeared on tn
opposite ridge, firing down at them a
they retreated. The battle rapid
turned into long.distanoe shooun
contest, with the rebels on the ridge
and the defenders in the valley, ant
finally, as the day wore on and thun
derstorm came up, 1t died out alto
gether and the rebels turned back t
their camp
Except for one lone federal who ha,
shot himself by accident there was no
single defender hurt, and if tn
enemy had suffered losses it was onl
by some such chance. But when tn
Sonoran patriots, holding up thei
empty belts, came clamoring for an
munition, the men by the big hous
took in the real catastrophe of tn
battle.
Seventeen thousand rounds of tn
precious thirty-thirties had been dt
livered to the excited miners and now
except for what few the Americans ha
saved, there was not a cartridge 1
camp Very soberly the superintendent
assured the leaders that he had n
more; they pointed at the full belts Q