The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1915-07-17

they could get back to cover tho
dandy, Manuel del Rey, received bull.
let hole through the crown OF his nat.
A grim smile flickered across Buds
face as he saw the damage II hao
wrought, for he knew that Amigo was
in the hilis-and bullet shot down
hill goes high! Some trace OF what
was in his mind must have come 10
Del Rev as he halted In the shelter OF
the house, for he regarded the Ameri-
can sternly as Aragon spoke raploly
In his ear. But if they planned ven
geance between them the times were
not right, for rattle Of arms came
from the lower town and the captain
was up and away to marshal his men
to the defense.
So far In the siege Del Rey had kept
under cover. patrolling the streets
and plaza and letting the volunteers
fight, but now the war had shifted 10
his territory and his rurales were run
ming like mad. For, matching treach'
cry against deceit, the rebel leaders
had sent men around to slip up near
| the town and at the first fusillade from
the hillside they came charging up
the creek.
Then it was that the ever-watchful
rurales proved their worth. AS the
rebels appeared In the open they ran
to the outlying houses and, lighting
from the fat roofs, checked the ad-
vance until the miners could come to
, their aid.
| But in the confusion another party
of rebels had rushed down the gulcn
from the west, and while the fight was
| going on In the lower town they found
Judgment In big adobe house. And
| now for the first time there was fight
! ing in earnest-the house-to-house
| fighting that is seen at Its worst IN
| Mexico. While women screamed IN
the casa grande and the Americans
paced to and fro on the hill, the boom
of a dynamite bomb marked the begin
ming of hand-to-hand.
| IL there was to be a casualty list In
this long -looked for battle OF Fortuna,
the time was at hand when they could
begin counting the dead.
With a fearlessness born Of long IA
miliarity with explosives the Sonoran
miners advanced valiantly with their
hand misunderstanding powder cans
filled with dynamite and studded with
| Illuminating caps. Digging fiercely
through wall after wall they ap-
preached unperceived by the enemy
and the first bomb, flung from roof.
filled the adobe with wounded and
dead.
A dense pail Of yellowish smoke
rose high above the town and as bomb
after bomb was exploded and the yells
of the miners grew louder with each
success, the stunned invaders broke
from cover and rushed helter-skelter
up the gulch. Then there was prodi-
gious shouting from the Sonorans and
more than one triumphant grenadier
swung his can Of giant powder by the
sling and let 1t smash against the hill
in a terrific defamation.
In the big house all was confusion.
aid victory and, in spite of all efforts
to restrain them, the wives Of the
miners rushed into the open to gaze
upon the triumph of their menfolk.
On the hilltops the ineffective rebel
rffemen rose up from behind their
stone wall to stare, until suddenly
they, too, were seized with a panic and
ran to and fro like ants. Then, around
the curve below the concentration. q
tall man came dashing up on a pure
white horse. and behind him, charging
as he charged, came the swarthy va
quis of Alvarez. their new rifles gleam-
ing In the sun.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)