New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-14

, seat, buSlly engaged IN watching my
! fingers. which seem 20 have funny
Jerking and trembling motion. J am
irving TO persuade myself the fault
lies i'm too many cigarettes. My car IS
safe half mile back, and perhaps the
/ time has come for me TO crawl back 70
B H. The fear Of being laughed at holds
me crampcd in Room 49,
The lieutenant passes me ms re-
volver, saying:
"You won't have 10 use IT, They
wont come within revolver shot. This
Is the fifth time i'm three days, and
we're still here. Try shot anyway
when they get closer
Risking a glance over the earthworks.
Five hundred metres! Get ready
I and aim low" ,
Just then hear a rattle like that OF
hail on zinc roof, and splashes Of wet
clay fall around US. =,
Count twenty, aim, then fire; calls
the lieutenant, and all down the line
the men start:
zone. two, three
Decidedly | must stop this cigarette
smoking.
teen"
A voley. then another; a third
Keep it up, boys" shouts the officer,
they're still coming
over our heads, the trenches behind
arc firing at will. Now the oncoming
Germans are singing. The sound IS
waited back toward Us with the smoke
of their volleys. To me il seems they
are right on top Of US, and that each
minute will bring a bayonet flashing
on the breastworks.
Behind US, midway between the two
trenches. a man rises from the ground
where he has been crouchlng. 1t IS
the captain.
Two shrill whistles at thirty sec
onds' interval, and the men shout,
arising from the trenches, Tor the
whistles mean:
Fix bayonets! CHARGE"
The little black zouave at my elbow
is like a madman, and in his efforts 70
crawl out and over the breastwork rolls
back into the ditch.
Behind US the shouts OF the others
are deafening. He'll is let loose. !
become unconscious of the Germans in
front. dragged in tornado from which
escape seems impossible.
"a Thousand Humming Birds.
Buzz Buzz A thou
sand humming birds seem TO fill the
air and rush by my ears.
No one is hit, but the rush forward
is started.
Now see greenish uniforms, so
close that | note some OF the faces are
bearded A thunder Of shouts behind
and beside me, a trample of running
, feet, and / am caught in the rush.
I Bayonets down, mouths wide open,
faces inhuman, eyes staring, yelling
like madmen, a thousand devils sing
, ing from some inferno, fall upon the
/ German lines. Men tumble, cries OF
/ pain rise shrill above the shouts, arms
/ like piston rods ram bayonets into
yielding flesh.
For five minutes century II
/ seemed not a shot is fired. Then
I from the tangled mass of men few
grazing forms spring out and run from
US. More follow; then the whole wave
? breaks suddenly, and the backward
rush Of the Germans begins in earnest.
Their cries of fear and pain mingle
with the shouts of the zouaves, and
the guns crack once more. A hundred
yards from me men are running, fall
ing, scrambling away from the pur-
suing French.
gather my senses and find myself
standing beside two men rolling on the
ground, zouaye and German. The
Frenchman's hands encircle the other 5
throat, and between curses he repeats a
question to the Bavarian, unable 10 an
swer:
have the lieutenant's revolver in
my hand. II is empty, but | cant r.
member aiming or pulling the trigger.
A long-drawn whistle and the last
shots are fired. The zouaves. painting,
laughing. shouting unintelliGibly, one
crying Historically, assemble around
their officers, each company by itself.
A few linger 10 fire a farewell shot at
the retreating enemy. The corporals
count their squads, crying out their
numbers, while over the field the COM
pany's doctors bend from time to time
over a wounded fighter. friend or en-
envy.
Back in the trench, the lieutenant
calls out:
Soup" and the men cheer. for to
them soup and IL is hot soup to-day
is more important than Bavarians.
That was easy says the officer,
turning TO me.
Two dead and only eight wounded
] in my company. After eating wen 20
out and count Williams men"