Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-08-30

men could live down there. Yet those
lines of men were persistent They came
on until. finding what they seemed TO
think n good position. they almost drop
ped out of sight. They were lying down.
but they could be made out. and the
shrapnel was playing low over them.
The cavalry that had been along the
fence by the crossroads had disappeared.
1t had passed on to the left as though
looking for trouble or bent on trouble
there. 1t had fought the other cavalry.
obtained and sent back Information that
the main body of the enemy was s.ti' in
one column on the road, that no spesl-
ton or deployment had taken place. Rnd
ii was believed that the enemys cavalry
had been frustrated in its efforts to get
information of the whereabouts, route OF
march, disposition. strength and char
acter Of the friendly main body.
The lines of men that passed through
the meadow behind the limbers and then
out in the fields between the ridges were
still moving on-not In straight and even
lines, but weaving and waving lines that
seemed to follow the folds OF the land as
though trying to take all advantage OF the
configuration of those fields. They were
nearly UP to the old road that ran length
wise of the valley, their left swinging in
toward the right of the support that had
been in the ditch along the road during
all the time it takes to tell this story.
Those long waving lines were stopping
now and then to fire. The ripping, splut-
tering sounds of many rifles came from
those fields. The enemys artillery was
not hurting much.
II you were on the ridge behind your
own guns you might see man with
both arms extended and waving them.
He was shouting, though perhaps no.
body could hear him:
Timber front and reari"
The teams were coming up. You
could hear some shouts and harsh me-
tallic sounds and perhaps you might
hear the man who had been waving
his arms yell:
pieces by the right flank! Marchi
Trot! March"
And the center battery went out in
the road that led over the crest and
down to the cross-road, where the
long lines of infantry were firing and
moving on. firing and moving on again.
A driver dropped from his saddle here
and there in the long dust-clouded
column. A horse went down here and
there, but the other teams went around
him as he was cut out of his harness that
his team and carriage might go on.
Down where the infantry were going
forward you could see that battery
turn OF the road to the right and the
notes of a bugle sang out above the
din:
Double section left oblique! Gallopl
March
And in an instant the command roar
ed out, accompanied by fast waving
arm:
ACtlOH leIt.
And in another instant those guns
were in the lines of infantry. And as
the infantry went forward, one gun
went forward, and then another and
another, until all four were up, and
then again and again was this done.
The infantry lines were now getting
SO close together that the friendly
batteries on the crest ceased to fire
over the men in the fields, but turned
loose again on the weak and feeble
artillery of the enemy. It was not do
ing much damage, but it should be
restained from doing even that. Be-
sides, the sound of those big guns on
the ridge were cheering to the advance
ing men, There Is a reassuring note
in the voice of a friendly gun.
The guns were working faster than
they had been worked before The
crisis was near. Along the long lines
of moving men there came the sheen
and savage twinkle of bayonets, even
though they do not sparkle as brightly
as they have on other red and smoking
fields. The men with the bayonets are
cheering and are closing in. The other
line. is firing, but the firing is high and
unsteady. A loaded rifle Is better than
a bayonet, but it depends upon the man
behind the bayonet. To a line shaken
up or shaken down by shrapnel, cheer
ing men close at hand with baycnets
carry fear to any but heroic or sternly
disciplined men. And that line OF men
who had come out of the woods at the
base Of the opposite crest were running