The Caldwell watchman. (Columbia, La.) 1885-1946, 1915-03-19
CHAPTER XIX-Continued,

NV" llle dulOludllCS anu the IllleS
from the redoubt to which the Browns
mad fallen back opened fire. So
close together were these bullet-ma-
chimes that the orbit of each ones
swing made a spray Of only few
yards breadth over the redoubt. where
the Browns gun-fre had not for mo-
ment ceased it's persistent Smelling,
with increasingly large and solid tar
gets of flesh for their practice. The !
thing for these targets to do, they |
knew, was to intrench and begin to
return the infantry and automatics'
fire. Desperately, with the last effort
OF courage, they rose in the attempt
rose into playing hose streams OF bull
lets whose close hiss was a steady UNI
dertone between shell bursts. In the
garish, jumping light brave officers
impulsively stood up to hearten their
commands in their work. and dropped
with half-uttered urgings, threats. and
oaths on their lips.
The bullets from the automatlcs
missing one mark were certain to tlnd
another, perhaps four or five in row,
auch was their velocity and power OF
penetration. Where shells made gaps
and tore holes in the human mass, the
automatics cut with the regularity or
the driven teeth of a comb. The men
who escaped all the forms OF slaughter
and staggered on to the ruins or the
redoubt, pressed their weight on top
of those in the craters or Rugged be-
hind the pyramids Of debris, and even
made breastworks from the bodies or
the dead. The more that banked up,
the more fruitless the efforts of the Of
ticers to restore order in the frantic
medley of shell screams and explosions
at q time when a minute seemed an
age.
Meanwhile, between them-this
banked-up force at the charges end
and the Brown redoubt with its auto
mates, the Gray gunners were making
q zone of shell bursts in order to give
the soldiers time to make their hold
of the ground they had gained secure
Through this zone Stransky and his
men we're to lead the Browns in
counter-attack.
At the very height Of the Gray
charge, when all the reserves were In,
dark objects fell out Of the heavens,
and where they dropped earth and
flesh were mingled in the maceration.
Like some giant reptile with it's YER
tebrae breaking, gouged and torn and
pinioned, the charge stopped, in with
ing, throbbing confusion. Those on
the outer circle of explosions were
thrown against their fellows, who
surged back in another direction from
an explosion in the opposite quarter.
From the rear the pressure weakened;
the human hammer was no longer driv
ing the ram. Blinded by the lightnings
and dust, dizzy from conclusions and
noise, too blank Of mind to be sane OF
insane, the atoms Of the bulk Of the
charge In natural instinct turned from
their goal and toward the place whence
they had come, with death from al
sides still buffeting them. Staggering
ly, at first, they went, for want of in
itative in their paralysis; then rapidly
as the law of self-preservation asserted
Itself in wild impulse.
As sheep driven over a precipic'
they had advanced; as men they fed
There was no longer any command, NJ
longer any cohesion, except of leg
struggling in and out over the uneven
footing Of dead and wounded, whil
they felt another pressure, that Of tn
mass Of the Browns in pursuit. OF al
those of Fracasses company whor
we know only the judges son an
Jacob Pilzer were alive. Stained wit
blood and dust, his teeth showing il
a grimace of hooking hate Of all hi
mankind, Pliers savagery ran free Q
the restraint Of discipline and civilize
convention. Striking right and lief
be forced his way out of the region c
shell fire and still kept on. Clubbin
his rife, he struck down one office
who tried to detain him; but anothe
officer, quicker than he, put revolve
bullet through his head.
Westerling, who had buried his fac
IN his hands in Marta's presence {